Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Hibernating

December is not our favorite month. 
It's cold, we have to spend too much time indoors, and
there's simply not enough daylight. 
I suppose I could use the extra inside time to keep this blog updated, but no.
Our current default state is hibernation.

 Alex has found a temporary solution to our couch-is-too-small problem
by claiming the upholstered coffee table as her own.
The few toys you see in the above picture are about all that remain 
relatively in tact out of the three dozen or so she grew up with.
She has decimated the others, with a little help from Smooch.
The upside is she doesn't chew on any of my stuff. Yet.

 

Hockey has been our saving grace this winter. 
I splurged on a season TV pass so I can follow my Washington Capitals,
which means it's hockey night in New Mexico two or three times a week.


Alex finds herself in the penalty box whenever she gets too rough with Smooch.


You may have noticed an absence of all things Christmas in my house.
These geraniums are as red and green as it will get around here.
I don't do Christmas any more. I've never been a big fan of the holiday, 
and Christmas music sends me right over the edge. 
If you're thinking along the lines of "she must be so lonely and depressed," please stop.
I'm not! I just don't like all the hoopla, and out here in nowheresville, it's really easy to ignore.


I might add that nowheresville doesn't seem as remote since my phone 
can pinpoint my location right down to the room I'm standing in. How creepy is that?


All the animals are healthy and happy, which is the best gift of all
any time of the year.






When Alex isn't chewing up her toys, she's fixated on the feral beast.


Have your social media feeds been overflowing with ads from ruggable
Mine have, and I was powerless against their marketing tactics, which basically involve 
a lot of dogs. Check out their instagram feed. You'll see what I mean.


But you know what? Their rug system is effin' awesome and we are madly in love,
and they're not paying me to say that.

You: Is this post ever going to end? She goes silent for a couple of weeks 
and now she won't shut up.
Me: One last thing.

I received this gift from someone who knows me too well. Thanks, Ethel!
If the text on the video is too small to read, here's what it says:
Whenever things don't go so well,
and you want to hit the wall and yell,
here's a little dammit doll
that you can't do without. 
Just grasp it firmly by the legs
and find a place to slam it.
And as you whack the stuffing out
yell "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" 

(view with the sound on, but not too loud if you're at work)


22 comments:

  1. Love the rug!!! And Alex in the penalty box? melt my heart. Honey, you don't know the meaning of not enough light until you've been in a Quebec winter! Dammit, dammit, dammit!

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  2. Did Smooch play with toys before Alex? So fun to see her and Alex together, what a big change that has been for all of you! Lisa G in TN.

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  3. Love the long post! Love the glimpse of how things are at The 7MSN. So glad the nerd toy is being as tough as its label said. Glad to know all is well! And I totally would not being doing all the Christmas stuff if I didn't have a kid....so I get it!
    JaneK

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  4. Hi there Carson. Nice to see you and all the critters again. We've missed ya'll! That is a very pretty rug. I'll recommend it to friends with pups. As for the Christmas decorations, I'm one step up on you... a 1 foot high wire Christmas tree with teeny tiny colored balls purchased at Walgreens. Merry Christmas!

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  5. Got a great note from a friend last week explaining that her favourite part about Christmas ... is January! Oh how I SO relate to that! I'm not a fan of the dark of December either. I've been watching the calendar day by day by day. When I get a calendar I mark the sunset times on it - and the moon cycles. And on December 21st I put a BIG OLD SUN FACE with "Come back! Come back!" Three more sleeps and that ball of light pauses ... and then turns back our way! YES!

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  6. Soooo good to catch up with you and your "kids" -- thanks for bringing us up to date! And I think a lot of us could use a Dammit Doll!!!

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  7. Oh my gosh, your post is so spot on. Just yesterday someone asked if I would mind telling them why I wasn’t into Christmas. So I told her, the same reasons as you and more, where upon she began telling me the meaning of Christmas from her religious point of few....didn’t need that, but I might have used that new doll of yours. Instead I just told her that was a good story and moved on. Here’s to red geraniums and poinsettias, in my case, and twinkling lights that make our Christmasless homes a joyful place to hibernate throughout the ‘holiday’ season and long winter days.

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  8. Thanks for the much needed chuckle. You captured my sentiments exactly! I'm going to play your video whenever I need to vent! Happy winter solstice to you and your wonderful critters! I do appreciate reading your colourful posts. Please keep 'em coming!

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  9. Dammit doll appropriately looks like Trump...I may have to get one.

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  10. George's winter coat is so luxurious. Too much dark everywhere. With the solstice I begin the countdown to baseball spring training (and leaps of sunshiny days) in earnest.

    I love the movie White Nights with Barishnikov, Hines, and introducing Isabella Rosselini. Dance, cold war intrigue, love story. Opposite - sun never really sets. May watch it before there is a significant turn toward light.

    Alex doesn't care about a penalty box. She duzz what she duzz. You can have a warm two dog night out there in Nowhere.

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  11. I'm glad to hear you don't shirk Christmas stuff because of bad memories - my husband does. But he allows me to turn our German yard/house into an American Christmas spectacle, with moderation. (Nothing moving, nothing blinking - just bushes done up in green blue and warm white, and our windows in multi.) The neighbors still call it Las Vegas *sigh* cuz in these parts, you only put up white lights. Anyway, I need to yet again point out another cultural difference. Here there is no way to become overwhelmed with the season, because there is no store that you walk into and hear Christmas carols. No radio station plays them either, that I can find (and I look). If I want to hear carols, I've got to go to You Tube. Maybe it's different in the big cities, but out here in the country, I am doing everything I can to replicate my childhood celebration of Christ's birth. And You Tube supplies the songs.

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  12. WOW your rug is off the hook cool! I don't celebrate Christmas anymore either. I lost my brother and Dad within 3 months of each other 2 years ago. Every since then, I do not have it in me to put up a tree or decorate my home. No longer depressed, I do find it fun shopping for Christmas on-line. But this is where I can get into some serious trouble...my motto is: one for you, one for me. And I do like seeing everyone's lights up around the homes. But in all seriousness, it's a real pain in the ass to decorate for Christmas and I love my all-year-round décor just as it is. Glad all your furry friends are healthy!

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  13. It's good to hear from you and to see those sweet faces. I LOVE the doll! My son needs one badly. I don't have an iphone, but Dave does. He registered it with the icloud's find my phone app. I've used that app in the past to find HIM. When he and our son took a motorcycle ride across the Blue Ridge Parkway one summer I could follow their progress by finding Dave's phone. I used the satellite view and could see the scenery they were seeing. Just for fun, one day I called him and told him that I knew they were at a WalMart, even where they had parked their bikes, and I could see the campground where they stopped one night. It made me feel connected to them. It's a great way to actually find your phone if you misplace it, I guess, but it's a better way to find a person if you have access to their account. But, our devices know way too much about us.

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  14. I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas. I don't like all the food (like you can't have this year round), I don't care to put up the decorations and lights (I only do this when my grandson comes to visit), and don't even get me started on all the forced cheer. I do love looking at all the decorations and lights that other people put up. More power to them!
    Thank you, thank you for the pictures and updates on George and Alan.
    I love the rug. Is it machine washable? I will definitely be checking these rugs out.
    I need a dammit doll, too! So droll. I have a feeling I am going to be needing one soon. We have beautiful desert in front of our house and I just saw some men there looking at it with the intention of building homes on it. I feel my Monkey Wrench Gang coming on! :)
    Have the best holiday season you can and a lovely New Year's!
    Linda D.
    Tucson, AZ

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  15. I also don't do Christmas decorations. I had years of going overboard with it and maybe I wore it out :).

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  16. I am pretty sure you can turn off the find you thing on your phone, I just don't know how to tell you how to do it. I am sure someone on here can tell you if you want to do it. Sue

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  17. When I first got my laptop I was looking at Etsy and found a seller of "F--k you bunnies" I laughed so hard you can guess what happened! I hope you have a wonderful Capital season! D

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  18. Northern AB gal12/20/18, 10:25 AM

    Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!! This is what I was waiting for - my 7MSN bucket runneth over, lol. I'm good for a while. :)

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  19. Happy Hibernation Day!!!! XXXXXXXXXX

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  20. Those geraniums are as beautiful as ever.
    I'm also hibernating. It feels like such a right thing to do in winter.

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  21. Happy Birthday, Carson!! I hope you're enjoying your retirement. It's a wonderful life, isn't it! Hugs to you and all your animals.

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  22. Omigod! I'm in love with that close-up whiskery donkey schnozz, but then you started with the Dammit Doll and I started laughing, then I choked, then almost passed out. Best minute I've had in a long time! I'm so glad you resurfaced!

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