Here I Am, in 2026

 Hello Dear Readers.  I hadn't intended to take such a long break in blogging over the holidays, but it was rather more busy (and mentally difficult--I don't do well with lots of group events or schedule changes/demands that I be extremely flexible with my plans) than I had anticipated.  Since I don't blog via my phone, and I really had very limited access to the computer the last week or two of December, I found myself in radio silence until now.

Fear not!  All is well.  Maybe not totally relaxed and joyful into the brand new year (the brain/nervous system is still trying to reset), but here and hopefully blogging again regularly.  There's been lots and lots of family/grandkid time recently, so here's a few gratis pictures of DH pulling Faline, Buck and Sixlet on a sled behind the 4-wheeler to accompany this really non-themed post.

Our weather was cold and snowy in early December, prompting many people (who apparently don't pay attention to weather patterns year after year) to declare "We're definitely going to have a white Christmas this year!"

The weather warmed up the third week, even getting into the fifties for two days.  All the snow melted. As it typically does if we've had accumulated snow early in the month. On the 20th, it looked like this outside:

Those white spots were the remnants of the deepest drifted spots/shaded spots from earlier in the month.  Otherwise, things were bare and even a little green.

Christmas Day was green, not white.  On the 26th, the weather cooled off again, enough to have freezing rain and a fairly thick coating of ice.  So that day was grey.

But then it warmed back up, the grass got greener and we had all day rain the 28th.  Water was running everywhere, including through the new culvert we'd put in under the driveway and ramp area between the house and the barnyard back in 2024.

We ended up with a several acre 'pond' in the field for a couple of days until the winds picked up and helped evaporate off what hadn't yet soaked in.  On the 31st, the cold air returned, along with lots of high wind and blowing snow (and a 7-8 hour power outage). 

On the first, it was again white outside, as you saw in the pictures at the beginning of this post. Not a white Christmas, but a white New Year.  Today we're having off and on light snow showers.  

If you've made it through my whole fairly boring post here, Happy New Year!  Thanks for joining me at this little place here.  I'm hoping to have some meatier and possibly thought-provoking posts soon.