Oh, what a beautiful morning!

Zkhat caught sight of it first!  She jumped up on my bedroom window and looked long and hard at what Winter did last night.

 Old Man Winter brought us at least 6 inches of new snow and while we can all complain endlessly about it, on this day there is nothing but beauty to see. (My son Mike and I planted that evergreen about 20 years ago, and I get happy every time I look at it!)

This is the little honeysuckle bush that is mostly expired, but it just keeps on, no falling down, and today its really beautiful. 

So now I see that our forecast for tonight is Scattered Flurries and northwest winds blowing 15 to 25 miles an hour .  We have jokingly said Flattered Skurries and now I even read it that way!
Wednesday we will be getting the very same thing.  High winds and Skurries!  I have a mental picture of those snow pictures where all you can see is roof and chimney of a house. 

The Ao4 in Kansas  is getting 70 degree weather and playing on their deck!  Stella ran out into  this snow, was up past her belly and headed back for the house.  I couldn't even get a good picture of her.

Are you getting anything like Winter?  Once new stuff starts coming, and then the wind gets high, you may not hear from us until May or June!

Wishing you well and hoping for the best!

Jo, Stella and Zkhat

Brand New Collar!

Hi EveryBuddy!

Its me, Stella, with a little different post this time.  We were given a new free collar if we would show it to you and tell you about it, and we agreed to do that.  This collar can be found at the dogbark collar store.

I have been wearing this collar now for a couple of weeks, its very comfy and well made.  Its called The ToughHound All Sports collar.  Its made out of a very durable polycoated webbing which they say, will last us for many years of work and play. The ToughHound's non-porous surface dries quickly, won't ever pick up bad smells and makes it easy to remove mud.  The collar also has what my Mom says is the best thing, a stainless steel, laser engraved nameplate which won't jingle or fall from its ring.

You can see, it has strong studs holding the collar and name plate together.  Here is a little better picture of the nameplate, which will feature your name, address, and phone number in case you get lost.  Which I hope you don't.

You can see how sturdy this collar is and another thing we like about it is, I like to go under bushes sometimes after some something, and it never frays this collar like it does my woven one.  In fact, my Mom says my woven collar is getting sort of ratty looking!  We ordered it in neon pink because me and my Mom both like that color on me against my black furs.  But my furs are so long now you can hardly see my new collar.  You can get lots of other colors though, almost anything you'd want.

So if you have any questions about this or think you might like one, go the DogBark Collar Store and tell them you are interested in the ToughHound All Sports personalized collar.

Thanks for stopping!

Cheers,

Stella

Life in Minniesnowda

Hello to Everybuddy!

It just doesn't seem to get above zero here at all in West Central Minniesnowda!  Stella makes her quick trips to the back yard and I stay inside!  We have been getting some laughs out of this cartoon.
As a school kid, we used to say Cold, you bet, I darned near froze my a-- off.  

For sure, I know my nose could go!

Remember many of us were touched by Dear Abby's passing last week and I found this poem that appeared on one of her columns:

Prayer For The Aged

"Lord, Thou knowest better than I know myself that I am growing older, and will someday be old.

"Keep me from getting talkative, and particularly from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every occasion.

"Release me from craving to try to straighten out everybody's affairs.

"Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details-give me wings to get to the point.

"I ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of others' pains. Help me to endure them with patience.

"But seal my lips on my own aches and pains-they are increasing, and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by.

"Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken.

"Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a saint-some of them are so hard to live with-but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil.

"Make me thoughtful, but not moody; helpful, but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all-but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end."

Seems as though lots of people carry some little piece of wisdom, folded up, in their wallet with something special from Dear Abby. This SHOULD be mine.

We are wishing you a great weekend, and lots of warmth, good things to eat.

Cheers and hugs all around,

Jo



Zkhat only says:

Fine, Zkhat and I'm not scared  of dogs!

What I didn't want to reveal!

This is Jo again.  My friend Loy wrote me a nice note today and told me what a good thing it is to get rid of all the stuff you no longer need. She says its even a good form of exercise, burn up those excess calories and carbs.  But, alas, my story is that I am an Attention Deficit Disorder Adult.  This is how getting rid of stuff works for me.

1.There are a half dozen old magazines in the rack .  I pull them all out and the first one has an article on How to Get Organized.  I'll just take a minute to look this over, and 15 minutes has me deeply engrossed with the piece.  It seems they are suggesting finding some shelves to put up and what to use them for.
I just want to throw away, not store.
2. The next magazine is on Knitting.  All kinds of patterns,  whoo, here is a nice one for a winter hat.  Just what I need.  But I know I don't have any of that yarn but maybe I should just go look in my yarn stash and see. 
3. Nope, I don't have any, maybe I will just take a quick trip to the yarn shop and see if I can find something suitable.  Wish I had this today, I need something to keep my head warm!
4. I got just the thing, and will start this hat tonight.  I just ran into a friend who has coffee on her mind, and after she picks up what she wants, we'll go warm up with a cup or two.
5. Coffee shop is busy today and we are enjoying just good old fashioned coffee with cream and a cookie, maybe two.  We get into a long conversation about that organizational article I was reading about, she doesn't agree with me about the shelves being sort of silly.
She says if you just have someplace to put things then once a week you can go through the shelves and see whats to keep and whats to toss.  Uhh, maybe she is right.
6.  Oh gee, its 5 pm already.  The time goes by so fast!  I have to get home and fix Stella her supper.  She wants it the same time every day!
7.  So I am back home, 4 hours later, I toss the other magazines into the Library bag for their Free Mag Shelf, keep the knitting magazine and am looking for the right size needles.  I know they are here somewhere.  At least I got rid of five magazines!
8. Tomorrow I will do better, I just know I will.

Stella and Zkhat are both sleeping through this.  They have decided I do better by myself than with them around.

Anybody else out there like me?

Cheers,
Jo

Just a cute little film!

After watching this you may have the feeling you are living in the wrong country . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=yEH4Yum4nN4


Too cold to go walking, so like Loy, I am tossing and pitching those items we no longer need!  Or maybe just boxing them for further consideration.  You know, when you grow up with a mother who lived in poverty during her youth, and married during the depression, throwing things away doesn't come naturally to you.  The words "Someone Could Use That" roll around in your thoughts.
But I never seem to find that someone, so pitch  it goes!

Here's looking at you!

Jo, Stella, and Zkhat

Uhn, so Where Have You been??

Hello Everybuddy!

We have been suffering a little cabin fever, a little bacterial infection, some mullygrubs, a little cold, just the usual winter stuff.  We have tried to read and comment, but just couldn't get a blog going for us.The rest of you seem to be doing  fine.

Dear Abby:  I'm going to miss knowing that you are out there somewhere thinking up clever comments for people who write you letters.  We all used to talk about you, years ago, sit around with a cup of coffee, and determine how WE might have answered some of those questions.  But all things considered, you were the Best.  One of your best responses and one I  use to this day is MYOB , yes, Mind Your Own Business.  Fits perfectly in so many places. So
Rest in Peace, and I hope you and your Sister Ann Landers, get along better Up There than you did down here.

Carson of 7MSN Ranch  recommended a book last week called A Dog's Purpose written by W.Bruce Cameron, and as far as I am concerned she deserves a Thank You for it.  What a wonderful book!  This is the story of one sweet dogs search for his purpose over several lifetimes.  You will laugh, you'll cry, you'll want to read it to a kid, and you will never look at your dog the same way again.  I hope you look for it and find it.  My copy was at my local library waiting for me.  If you have already read it, give us a shout about it!

Stella has been outside a good bit, even though we have little, very little snow and it stays sub-zero some of the time.  Last week it was one big skating rink around here.  We have been 30/30 dropouts in that sense. However, we do walk our errands and manage to get at the very least 30 minutes in every couple of days, depending on the weather.  Sorry, we are just winter chickens is all.  Oh, Stella says to drop the We on that and change it to Mom is . . . .OK, I accept!

Zkhat stays very busy.  She  is downstairs for sleeps and eats, upstairs for naps, downstairs at lunch time. upstairs for Playing Slinky, downstairs for dark and looking out the window at cars going by.  She seems happy enough and keeps her girlish figure which Stella and I both seem to have trouble with, and she is not revealing any of her secrets to either of us.

We hope you are all well and having a good winter wherever you live.

Cheers and hugs,

Jo, Stella and Zkhat

Happy New Year 2013!

January 1, 2013

There is something wonderful about writing down the month, day and new year, isn't there?

Today we have signed up for the 30/30 Challenge, thirty minutes  of walking for 30 days.  Thirty minutes is not much, but I was glad that Stella and I did not begin today.  The forecasters told  us that there were 24-29 degree below zero windchills and tomorrow will be in the upper 20s,which isn't bad at all.  Then once we get January's walking done, we will join the Idita Walking Challenge which runs through February.  Stella will love it !  Me, winter walking isn't my very favorite, but I don't mind it too much.

I am trying to change my header but the new Google just has me stumped.  I cannot lose the yellow/red from my old header.  Has anyone else had problems with this and perhaps a solution??

The Holidays were nice but I have to admit I am glad they are over and we can get back to our regular routine.

Wasn't it nice to hear from our Little Lorenza yesterday?  I miss that little fashionista and her life in Mexico.

From the three of us, we send you wishes for a Happy New Year, bringing you good health, happy times and good friends.

Cheers and hugs,
Jo, Stella and Zkhat