Villhauer's Farm Blessings: Hap-Happiest Season

This may come as a shock for some of you, but I don't think Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year as the Andy Williams song says. I prefer early Summer. The weather is so much nicer. But I do believe that it is the hap-happiest season of all, sung later in the lyrics.

People complain that Christmas is over-commercialized, which is true, but the commercialization provides spirit and fun for the season. The problem is the timing. There is no reason why the Christmas store decorations, all modes of advertising, songs on the radio, TV show specials, etc. should begin the day after Halloween. When to start all the festivities becomes the question and discrepancy. Retailers tend to jump the gun. Couldn't they
just wait until the beginning of December to start
hammering us with all the sales?

As for decorating our homes... I say, to each his own. Regardless of what anyone else thinks, I start the decorating after Thanksgiving, even before December rolls around. We are out of town during ten days of the month, and I want to be able to enjoy the decorations longer than three weeks.

So, this week I have been busy putting up the tree; and hanging the lights, mistletoe, and holly as I sing to the music of Deck The Halls and It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas.

Colossians 3:23 reminds us that: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." So I also sing Joy To The World as I set up my Nativity Scene.

The young adults left sometime during the night Friday, after I went to bed. Saturday morning Carol and I bid farewell to Cathy, Ralph, Ben and Joe. The Leiningers went east to Ohio and Joe, Dan, Valencia, Courtney and Mike went west to Iowa. Carol and I were home alone... Whoo hoo! Abbey was not feeling too well, so was happy to have a quiet, relatively empty house to rest in.

     With the wind and low temperature, it was a little too cold for a long walk, so we took a few shorter ones (throughout the day) to give all three dogs, and ourselves, some exercise. Above, we were at Becks, with the
                                                   dogs on the trail of ground squirrels.

     Carol got the turkey started cooking in the morning while I cleaned up after Friday's dinner and guests. We savored the smells while chatting and sharing photos, other people's blog posts, and Facebook chitchat. I even got some help with Words With Friends.

We had our turkey dinner with a great barley/kale dressing Carol made and some tasty mashed potatoes with parsley. Then we loaded all three dogs into Carol's car and went to Moraine View to walk in the woods. The hiking trail was open to hunters, so we decided to walk on the road, which was not well protected from the wind, but presumably safe from hunters.

Late in the afternoon, Carol finished carving the turkey while I cleaned stalls and did feeding chores. We watched some TV but were falling asleep, so went to bed before 9pm.

I ran into Church to work in the nursery, but then came home so Carol and I could "play." Riding was first on our agenda, so Carol brushed the horses while I picked hooves.

We got Amiga and Roni saddled and then started with Amiga. I showed Carol how to free lunge her, but Amiga went crazy, running around in the round pen. I don't know what set her off, but it took several minutes to slow her down and catch her.

While I went to get Roni, I had Carol walk Amiga around so she would calm down and get used to Carol. We tied Amiga to a post while I lunged Roni and Carol took some photos.

Finally we were ready, or rather the horses were ready to ride. I gave Carol some instructions and watched her for a few minutes. She caught on quickly, was great at making needed adjustments, and did a fantastic job. Amiga was very well behaved. I hopped on Roni while Carol practiced. Then we ventured beyond the round pen into the side pasture. We had a nice ride together. I was thrilled with how well it went, and look forward to taking others on rides come spring.

Carol and I had a big, late lunch of leftovers and then went for another quick walk before she left. She took this photo of Brother sunning in Amiga's stall sometime.

      I got the idea for this Sunday sunset photo from Carol who had taken a similar one Saturday night. Joe watched football in the evening and I was soon off to bed.

     I was 1 of 12 Water Lilies Monday morning. I did a bunch of cleaning in preparation for holiday decorating, including washing window sills and walls.
                                                      I brought in the numerous tubs of

decorations and got started on the kitchen first. I had Christmas music playing and was merrily going about my work. I did go out to do chores and took care of some other little odd jobs. Then Joe and I went to Growth Group as usual.

Tuesday flew by but I feel I wasn't very productive. I did have a riding lesson with Roni. He was really testing me, which he doesn't usually do during a lesson. Josh had me stick to the exercise we were on and keep correcting Roni. We didn't progress much, except I realized the importance of not moving on if my horse is not performing as asked. He just kept wanting to rush, both when I was walking and later gaiting him. So I would stop him, back him up and start again. We did this over and over, until he did as I asked.

Part of my chores included emptying feed bags into feed bins for the horses, cows and chickens. I also filled the bird bath and feeder. Too much of my day was spent here, working on this blog, but I did end the day doing some more Christmas decorating. This was the full moon rising at 4:30pm.

Joe put together the Christmas tree with the help of Abbey and Kaysha.

I then set to work putting the lights on the tree that I had bought, on sale (75% off), after Christmas last year. I wanted something new and different since many of our old lights were not working. Well, the three new sets of lights were not enough, so I had to put further tree decorating on hold.

Wednesday morning's full moon setting. For some reason, I woke up every hour from 1:30am on. At my usual "get out of bed" time of 5:30, the sun was already shinning... come to find out, our bedroom clock was an hour slow. I was late for chores and the horses and chickens let me know. I had to have my cup of tea, so did not have time to get to Water Lilies.

While standing at the kitchen window, which is why these photo's aren't great, I watched Roni and Zorro working out their spot in the pecking order.

Roni has gotten tired of being picked on by Zorro, so he was "fighting" back.

Imagine 1000 pound puppies chasing and wrestling. With the paddock now divided in half, they don't have as much room to run, so I get a little worried about them.

I had received in the mail, summons for Jury duty for Dec. 17th - 21st. That was not going to work... would impede this hap-happiest season for me, especially with Britney coming home on the 16th. So I called and deferred it until the third week of January (only a 4 day court week :-).

All morning I cleaned and decorated. I ran into another snag... One set of the dinning room lights, that are wrapped around garland, did not work. I put it on hold, and would repair if possible and then add to my shopping list if necessary. I looked at last year's photos to remember where and how I had put things. I was thinking, this year's photos are almost the same. There are some differences, like the new lights on the tree and star a top it, the mini village I never unpacked last year added to the little tree in the office, and different candles set about.

Joe came home from work just as I was sitting down to eat a late lunch.
I went out to do a little yard work...

finished cleaning up dead flowering plants, and stored away all my flower pots and lawn figurines. Then I took Roni for a ride, after first working him in the round pen. Joe had come out to do some work in the barn yard and was even willing to take my picture.

I rode Roni to Lisa's to deliver a note with some money I owed her, and proceeded west following the path along the tracks till it ended. We rode waterways and in un-plowed bean fields back to Lisa's. Here we are looking back at where we had been.

Lisa's horses came to greet us as we were headed home.

During my ride, I did get pitched from Roni's back, landing on my feet and keeping one hand on the reigns so he wouldn't run off. We were gaiting along, fairly smooth and relaxed, and he spooked at two big old tractor tires leaning up on a fence by the path. In the blink of an eye, Roni came to a dead halt and spun to run away. Because I was relaxed in the saddle and momentum was taking me forward, I lost my balance. In a split second, I decided to dismount, swinging my leg up and over the saddle.

I got right back on and we continued our ride. Although Roni was a bit wound up, jumpy, and rushing most of the 90 minutes of our adventure, I still had fun. It was such a pretty day, we were exploring new territory, and I was enjoying life. Above, Amiga and Zorro came out to greet us on our return. To the left, Roni got to eat while I put away tack and brushed him. He had worked up a little bit of a sweat.

After dinner, Joe and I did our usual Wednesday night TV watching of Parenthood and Survivor.

I went to Water Lilies Thursday morning, since I missed the day before. It is always a fun way to start the day, the ladies are so lively. Back home I continued cleaning, unpacking tubs of
decorations, packing up knick knacks,

and decorating while listening to Christmas carols. My biggest decorating accomplishment was the fireplace mantle.

A few hours outside doing chores and other odd jobs, was a nice break from the inside festivities. I even took Kaysha for a walk for the first time since Carol left.

Joe grilled steaks for dinner and watched TV by the fire with Abbey.

It was a very warm and mild Friday morning and the thought of riding Roni instead of Water Lilies crossed my mind. But my hair needed washing and I like to save money on showering, plus I love the ladies... so I drove to the pool at 7:40 am.

     Drying off back home with a second cup of tea and some cookies, I got so sleepy, I went up to bed for a nap. Over an hour later, I slowly awoke to a world of sunshine. I did some more decorating, but quickly lost interest because I came across some more burnt out lights and it was just too nice outside.

     So, I took Roni for an enjoyable ride after doing some ground work in the round pen. Today we went along the tracks, east as far as we could go. Just before reaching a fence causing us to go north towards 150, this pack of hounds came trotting by with their noses to the ground, hoopin' and hollerin'. You would think it was Christmas Day.
                                                     They made Roni a little nervous,

but paid no attention to us because they were tracking something. I rode up an embankment at the fence, and saw a hunter, with shotgun in hand, in his bright orange. I guessed he was with the 5 hounds. I was glad I had my "don't shoot me" orange on.

Across 150, I started down the road I often take to Moraine View. I was going to make a big loop, going past Marj's and down Brian's road. About half way, I decided it was farther than I had time for, so I cut across the field following the utility poles. It had been plowed and was kind of tough going for Roni. I had him stop to rest two times, but he did not want to stand very long. He did get a good work out, and we were both glad to come out on the road at Brian's house.

I brushed Roni and then let him have a good roll in the paddock before turning him out with Amiga and Zorro.

He looks funny in this photo because he was shaking his head and swishing his tail, sending the dust flying.

I continued to enjoy the day outside, taking Kaysha for a walk and picking up road ditch trash on the way home. After doing a good job cleaning stalls, I also rinsed out all the water buckets and bowls. I hadn't had lunch, so I came in for an early dinner. Joe was napping in preparation for a night out playing cards. I finished the day, and this month, working on this blog and doing more decorating. I didn't make much progress because I spent a great deal of time replacing burnt out light bulbs and batteries and hot gluing broken decorations.

See what scientists did to get more people to use the stairs instead of the escalator. This video (click on photo to watch) about making stairs fun to use, just goes to show that fun can change behavior for the better. I also think fun has a lot to do with what makes this the hap-happiest time of the year.