A Little Vintage Thanksgiving

With Steve gone all week hunting, I seem to be busier than usual. Everything he would normally be doing I have to do. So there doesn't seem to be much free time for wandering around the gardens finding small precious things to photograph.

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This week we had a very cold snap and most of the leaves fell from the trees in one night. That evening, when I took out the pugs, the air was still but the leaves were falling as if they were great big snowflakes. I stood and could hear them falling from the trees all around me and into the woods. The big Virginia Creeper leaves on the house would drop from the very top and bring others down with them, creating tiny avalances. It was all quite beautiful.

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And the next night the first show flakes fell for a short time - something I always look forward to. It gets me in the holiday mood.

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I've decided to get back into some kind of shape and drop some pounds so I've purchased a rebounder (trampoline) over the internet. I have a treadmill but the past few years my knees have bothered me a lot so, after some investigation, I found that rebounders are easy on the joints and body. (I know swimming is actually the best thing for joint problem and exercise, but I can't swim so that's out!) It's an Urban Rebounder and came with 5 DVDs with 4 different workouts on each. The contraption also has a removable stabilizer bar for us old timers who have crappy balance too. It's temporarily in the breezeway but will be in the basement when Steve comes back. I bought a cheap DVD player and will hook it up to the tv in the basement. Now I just play the workout on my laptop. I began with the Senior (as in old person) workout and was surprised how hard it is just bouncing an inch or so - the idea is not to jump high. There is lots of arm movement and legs in and out and back and forth. It is only twenty minutes long, but you really work up a sweat and it will be a while until I 'm able to do the workout well. There is also a nice "Stretch Workout" that I really like. It's 20 minutes of gentle stretches that cover the entire body. That one I'll do after work - the other in the morning.

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I bought a dog tooth brush and dog toothpaste today to see if I can get Thea's breath under control. Her teeth are all crooked and has problems with food stuck in them (Uck, I know.) so she has bad doggie breath all the time. She loves to kiss and be very close to us so it's really getting to be unpleasant especially since she sleeps right up next to my head! The toothpaste is beef flavored so I'm sure she'll like the taste but she gets so silly and goofy with some things that I don't know how she'll take to teeth brushing. I can't imagine it's going to be easy. The directions say "go slowly and praise a lot". OK, we'll see. Maybe some of you would have suggestions . . .

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I also bought some more dog toys today. Yes, I bought all those last week too, but they were Walmart-cheap and Garm had all but one torn up in 3 days. The new dog toys are from the pet store and I made sure they had no tiny noses, ears, or tails that Garm could "work" on until that white stuffing comes out. I also cut off the tufts of "hair" that seem to be on the heads of lots of dog toys. He pulls and pulls on it until he rips it out. He's very thorough.

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I have some neat vintage Thanksgiving pictures that I found and put them up as screensavers . I change them every few days and it makes the holidays more fun for me. So, since I've no photos of my own this week, I'll show you these.

Aren't these little gems? They are like tiny works of art. ( Oh, and look how happy the native Americans are to see that ship sailing to their country. If they only knew what was in store for them, they sure wouldn't be waving!!)

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I will be celebrating Thanksgiving at Cindy's house, so I'll be snapping lots of pictures then. And on Friday, Sierra will be staying overnight for the first time. I asked Adeena what Sierra likes to eat and she said shrimp, bacon and chips! Obviously, she doesn't get that stuff regularly! At the store I found a little bag of frozen shrimp and ofcourse chips. I don't eat anything that comes from pigs because of the inhumane way they are raised and slaughtered so I tried to find soy bacon. Well, they are rearranging Pick 'N Save just in time for the holidays! so Sierra will have to do without bacon. Or maybe I'll run up to the natural food store and get some there. You know, the taste is nearly the same as real bacon so I'll bet I could slip it by her.

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At work we have both Thursday and Friday off so this will be a nice week. It is so quiet in the shop at this time because of lots of people are hunting and other people use 3 days vacation and have the entire week off. I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and after just reading a book on women living under Muslim rule in Iran, I'm very grateful that I live in our country (even thought it's somewhat confused now).

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My country . . . gave me schooling, independence of

action and opportunity for service . . . .I am indebted

to my country beyond any human power to repay.

Herbert Hoover

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Bye for now and Happy Thanksgiving,

Alyssa