Winter and Christmas Time in Saco

No posting for several weeks! Sorry about that. I spent the week after Thanksgiving in New York and Washington DC but went to cut our Christmas tree at a local tree farm just before leaving for that trip. Cotton helped me...see below.

While out of town the first snowfall hit so gardening projects ended. I had finished most of the projects but one of the two manure piles will have to sit all winter and be spread on the garden in the spring. A big wind storm occurred while I was gone and it knocked down four sections of the old fence in the back yard. That repair will also have to wait until spring as it will require four new post. Hopefully the old fence sections can be reused though. If you want to take a look at the view of the field and that big garden spot you can go to the web camera web site during the day and see the fallen fence also. That first snow fall has melted but I am sure more will be arriving before long! http://saco.schlaver.com:90/

I am now in the Christmas mode and for me that means some decorating around the house but more importantly, baking. I have pies in the freezer from previous baking efforts so I concentrated on Christmas cookies. I made five different varieties and am showing them off to you on the picture below. I look forward to visits from all the Schlaver kids and grandchildren.

The wood stove is doing a nice job keeping the house warm and minimizing the use of oil. An oil delivery came today and I only needed 36 gallon for I barely used one gallon a day for the last five weeks. That is about the demand for hot water normally needed. Today's nearly zero temperatures did prompt me to also turn on the furnace though. Wood cutting and splitting are my winter's physical activities alone with the anticipated snow blowing of the 300 foot driveway. Those activities should keep me fit!

Merry Christmas to all and I hope you can look forward to an exciting and prosperous New Year in 2010!