With the cold weather, snow on the ground, and a halt to most outside activities, the pets become entertainment. This post is mostly about them and includes a new video, so take a look.

Pam happened to catch Blondie napping in the laundry room and thought the lighting was quite unusual. I agree. Here is the resulting photo, taken by Pam, of our 14 year old pack leader.

Blondie taking a nap

The kittens, Stirling and Vienna, are now 5 months old and are filling out. It appears both will be long in the body and not prone to getting fat, but it’s early days yet. Their activity levels are quite high!

Vienna catches a few rays
Stirling checks out east yard

I have a new video of the kittens playing with a favorite toy, Mr. Spring. You can watch the video without leaving this post by viewing it below. (Click the red “Play” button.) This is a feature I am experimenting with, embedding my YouTube videos, so let me know if you like or dislike it.

Outside, we have snow on the ground, the first accumulating snow of the season. We have been watching the birds at the feeder, the squirrels using the water bowl, and nuthatches and woodpeckers at the suet feeder. (Sparrows have also been using the water bowl.) I shot some video of birds at the feeder. This was taken through the library window while it was snowing and is not as sharp as I would like, but the birds fly away whenever I open the door to go outside.

On the medical front, I received word from the Mayo Clinic that my right shoulder could benefit from surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. This diagnosis is based on the MRI taken a week or so ago. I am just trying to decide when to have the procedure done as it means little use of my right arm for quite some time.

Pam made a trip to the dentist to have a filling examined. A piece of tooth had chipped off, leaving a rough edge. The dentist polished the edges for the time being; Pam will visit dental world in December to re-do the tooth with a more permanent fix.

Toby arrived Thursday night and will be with us until Sunday morning. There is a lot going on in his life as he has a new girlfriend and is planning to move from South Bend to Las Vegas. (More on that in later posts.) It was good to see him and have long conversations about where he is, what his hopes and dreams are, and what he sees for his future over the next few years.

Pam and Toby in the parlor
Toby

Otherwise it has been quiet. I have been shoveling snow as well as working on short videos. I had upgraded to a new web browser, Vivaldi, and mostly retired the Safari browser supplied by Apple on my Mac. Upgrading the Mac’s operating system would require purchasing new versions of the software I use most, a very expensive proposition, but the new browser is working fine where Safari was having problems. (With WordPress 6.1 and my blog software, for example.) The Vivaldi upgrade seems to be an interim solution so I won’t have to upgrade right now.

Pam came across this ad in the local paper. We are in the Bible Belt for sure.

We did not attend.

Photo Archive

Just a couple shots taken on motorcycle trips in Colorado

View from Kebler Pass Road
Overlook at Black Canyon of the Gunnison

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

The year seems to be moving swiftly toward closure. Company is in-house, medical and dental issues continue, Solstice cards are moving along well — but –January-type weather is visiting NE Iowa.

Exterior holiday lights installation is on our calendar for the weekend after Thanksgiving; the Elma holiday parade passes by Heart House that Sunday night. If the weather doesn’t improve to above freezing during the day before then, the main portion of our light display this year may be installed after the parade passes by…

Happy Trails.