Winter at the mouse house.

"Welcome to my home"

Well, that is the extent of my Christmas decorating so far.

Oh yes, and please knock before entering. hee hee!

Look at this creepy vine growing around the OH.

Good luck getting in there.

The feeders at our lot were once again empty today. I filled them again to the brim.

It was so cold and so windy. Ugh! It didn't take long for a chickadee to appear.

I hung up a fresh suet and this time I took it completely out of the container. (I'm learning folks)

A little messy but now they have access from both sides.

The bottom one is already frozen. Poor birds. But, I hear it is getting warmer this weekend. +10 by the weekend. :)

We have windows and don't they look pretty.

This will be Audrey's window in the garage.

I'll hang some feeders near by and when she gets bored with that she can head upstairs to watch the birds in the tops of the trees.

"What is this wacko woman talking about?"

All but the garage doors are in and we still wait for those needed stairs to be installed.

I have to get up-stairs to measure for things like kitchen cupboards, bathroom fixtures & so on.

Getting impatient here. *groan*

The trench was dug for the plumbing

and the well hooked up. These poor guys were cold but joking constantly.
I heard this one as I walked by...
"What does an 80 year old woman have between her breasts?"
......
"Her navel"

That one killed them.

Good Lord!

Well, so much for being in before the snow flies. But if we get the temperatures that are supposedly on their way, this snow will soon disappear. Here's hoping.

Stay toasty,
Deb

Winter is here - get out and walk.

Winter is here now in Ontario and days of over +10 will be few and far between.

Along with colder weather came the snow and slush today.

But that doesn't stop 'ol Kane from wanting his daily walks.

So he grabbed his coat and out we went.  

This will be his 13th winter with us. He was one year old when I found him at the Quinte Animal Shelter in Belleville.http://www.quintehumanesociety.com/ I saw his silly mug on-line and along with a friend drove 2 1/4 hours to look at him. End of story.

He is living proof that every dog deserves a second chance. And...he gets me up and out the door every day which keeps me healthier. It's a win-win situation.

Stay toasty,
Deb

A little random and "What's in your cookie jar?"

We had our first snow-fall on my last booked day for cat-sitting. I ended my service caring for the beautiful Dominique who is doing much better now since her illness early Fall.

I hope I can visit her in the future as she has become a very special cat in my life; one I love very much. I stayed with her as long as I could, gave her a hug and returned home feeling very low. This is a hard thing to shake. I guess it will just take time.

So, What's in your cookie jar today?
I baked up two batches of chocolate chip/ slivered almond cookies for whoever might drop in over the next few days.

Everyone has their favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, I'm sure. I use only local organic, brown eggs & I swear that makes them amazing.
AND...You only need one big bowl to do all the mixing.

Of course, the retired-guy will enjoy them. I bought a box of chocolate fudge cookies from the corner store at the end of our country road on Friday and we tried them with black tea. All I got from him was.."they aren't like your cookies." I had to agree. They were good but not home-made.

Just to help get into the Christmas mood, I baked to my newest Christmas cd, Tinsel Town by Jimmy Rankin. It is beyond a doubt the best I have heard for awhile. Jimmy wrote the title song and it is beautiful. It reminds me a lot of Jackson Brown music. There are many of the old favorite Christmas tunes on this recording and my second favorite song on the cd is "Have Yourself a Very Merry Christmas." This one makes me tear up.
And my kitchen company today was the ever-adorable Rae-Rae.

She is a cat that never lost her kitten face.

Nothing compares to the gorgeousness of the first snow-fall of the season (still snowing as I type)  and my grand-kitty Rae-Rae.

Stay toasty, Deb

Upside-down Apple cake

We've been busy the last few days; running around in circles mostly. 

I need a lot of tea lately for there is Lots of stress in our life right now. Sierra looks rather stressed, too, but she is just peeved because Joe is close by. If you could hear the growl you'd run for the hills.

Poor guy. They just don't like him. Audrey went screaming through the house tonight with him in tow. I really think he wants to play but they just won't have it. Thank goodness Rae-Rae loves him.

 I made a favorite cake; Upside-down Apple cake. I've been asked for the recipe again so here you go.
 http://justcats-deb.blogspot.ca/2014/01/upside-down-apple-cake.html

                                                      Apples and cinnamon sugar

If you like apple pie you will love this cake.
I still use my wooden spoons.
Funny how we always stick to what is familiar. This cake has been a favorite for twenty some years now. I actually get cravings for it. :)) This is a breakfast cake in our home. I split the recipe into two dishes so I could share it with daughter #2.

Our doors are in, our floor is finished in the utility room, framing is done upstairs but the stairs are still not done. :( There is a hold up in that area. Our windows are going in Monday. Tuesday will be another busy day as a trench is being dug for some pipes and the plumbing done. It's actually looking like it might become a cozy little corner after-all.

With Christmas just around another corner, and if you know me by now, I've been putting some thought to the size of the tree that we can fit into the house. I guess it will be an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny table tree for this year. I'm used to having three trees; a kitchen tree, the main tree & a tiny tree in the dining-room. This will be a challenge.
The retired-guy called me over to the ditch just outside our gate and said "Hey, look, there's our out-door Christmas tree this year."

 Sure enough, a beautiful little pine tree growing next to the ditch looked like a perfect tree to decorate with lights this year.  So, we will do that and call it 'our first Christmas tree in the country'. It will greet our company as they drive through the gate. And, help Santa to find Nan and Gramps' mouse-house this year.

It's very cold here and I find that everyone is starting to hunker down now. Warmer clothes & comfort foods seem to be all that people require. The cold winter ahead is on everyone's mind.

If you are tired of me yacking about the construction... please look away.

This is where the hot water tank and washer and dryer will go.

The retired-guy wants a chute put in upstairs for the clothes to go down into a basket at the washer. All I can picture is Audrey sliding down the chute and then high-tailing it back up the stairs to do it again. Woohoo!

Our stairs will go in here at some point.

I added suet to one of the tree branches today, put a fresh apple in the apple feeder and filled all the feeders to the brim. 'My birdies' should be good for awhile.

And before I left I decorated the out-house for Christmas.

Next time...

Enjoy your weekend & stay toasty,
Deb

I'll be back soon.

There's just so much going on right now.

I need to take a breather soon, though.

I'll be back.

hugs, Deb

Our mouse-house

We have been struggling with plans to fit our necessities into our little mouse-house for the winter.

One of the biggest dilemmas was where we could put a washer/dryer. We have decided to buy a stacking model and fit it into the space under the stairs to the apt. It will be warm there, and since only used once or twice a week,  it will be nice to have it out of the way. We'll be checking with our plumber this week to get his opinion on that. I hope its a go because space is gold upstairs.

We have large windows on order for the upstairs since a big part of living on this lot is to enjoy the view. Natural light will flood this small space. We also have a very large window going into the garage. The cats will love this one because I hope to attach a window-seat for their viewing pleasure. Since the windows upstairs are low they will be able to enjoy all the sun-puddles that appear.

I keep thinking it shouldn't take long to clean the whole house. :) *swish swish...done*

But I suppose Audrey will get into everything.

I will be putting shelves everywhere I can. I've been told to use as much wall space as possible.

I know I can do that.

The window over the kitchen sink will face the road, the same road I would look out to when I would help my gran with the dishes many years ago. At that time the road was gravel and her little clap-board house was at the top of a hill. We would notice every car that drove by since they were few and far between. Since then, the road has become busy, is now widened, paved and the hill has disappeared. But...it's the same road to me.

I hope I have room enough to bake a cake. And maybe make some soup. My kitchen is just one end of an open room. *hmmmmm*  Kitchen cupboards will be at a minimum. This is where shelves will come in handy.

We will miss our fire-place.

But it's only for one winter.

The chickadees are really enjoying the feeders. Besides them, the beautiful blue-jays have showed up. It will be interesting to see what flies by the drive-thru this winter. I'm hoping for cardinals.

More construction photos coming.
Stay toasty, Deb

(photos from the Beatrix Potter site)

Blue and White

I packed away my blue and white many months ago. Because my daughter had room in a storage shed the bin with the dishes went in there to only be opened again when we move. But, I miss seeing them. Blue and white has always been a favorite of mine.

Do you see Annie?

even Lily loves my blue and white.

Ok, I'll stop there but I do have lots more photos. Another time.

Stay toasty, Deb