Bullets in the in-between time

We are in that amorphous time of year between Christmas and New Years when not much happens. I love it. So, I'm going to take advantage of it and do a bullet post since Friday is when Christmas and New Years fall as this year.

• Hydrants that don't freeze is a wonderful thing. J. put heat tape on the hydrant in the barn a week and half ago and then we had above freezing weather. I held my breath on Christmas Eve to see what would happen with sub-zero temps. When I pulled up on the handle... liquid water! It was beautiful. 
• The surprise winning gift for R. this year was a game called, Feed the Woozle. R. is tough to buy for. She has a limited amount of things that she actually enjoys playing with; most gifts are either ignored or become an issue when she loves them so much that she cannot stop playing with them. It makes it hard to figure out what to get her. The game was one I found when I was out doing other shopping and decided it looked like a possibility. It is a cut-out of a friendly monster and in an egg-and-spoon fashion, the child walks the spoonful of "food" to the monster and tried to put it in his mouth. I am really surprised at how much she likes it; usually things which do not involve sitting at the table are completely ignored. This she loves and has played it multiple time since Christmas. I love it because it masquerades as therapy hitting some of the challenges that she has. 
• I've decided that publishers need to put a plague warning on books. I had started a book a few days ago which was a thriller/mystery type set partially in Vietnam (the reason I picked it up). It wasn't until a good halfway through the book, when you are too invested to turn back, that I realized it was actually about biological weapons of the plague variety. I don't know about you, but I'm just not feeling the plague/pandemic story lines at the moment.
• L. received quite a bit of clay as well as a new book about creating clay animals. Look at what she made this morning.

A polar bear

and a penguin with a baby.

• J. changed the faucets in our bathroom. They look so much better. Not only were the old ones terribly ugly, but they worked extremely poorly. I'm thrilled to have nice looking, functional faucets. J. really does not like to change faucets because of the need to become a contortionist to reach what he needs to.
• P. has made is safely back to South Carolina.
• TM gave K. a huge amount of nerf bullets for his small nerf pistols. K. was thrilled, as you might imagine. This has meant that the toy loft has been turned into a perpetual battle ground for the past two days. The younger people have upended a couple of card tables to be movable ramparts and the nerf bullets are flying continuously. I have taken to yelling, "Cease fire!" every time I need to cross the room.
• TM and Y. took a trip to a newly found Asian market yesterday and came home loaded with snacks. We have more pandan cakes than anyone I know, I'm pretty sure.

• I forgot to post a funny picture from Christmas dinner on my last post. This is G. and L. after they decorated B. with all the paper crowns which came in the Christmas crackers.

• Here is Delta, TM's guinea pig. I admit, because Delta lives on the 3rd floor, a place I rarely venture, that I sometimes forget we have a guinea pig in the house. He's pretty cute, though.

• The animals all had a very nice Christmas as well. The horses got peppermint filled horse muffins, which they love. The cats got a can of wet food, which they love. And dogs got a variety of toys and treats.

K. had brought down the beanbag to sit on while we opened presents, but Kenzie quickly co-opted it and never gave it up.

Aster, under the coffee table.

Midnight, who had come home with P.

Amazingly, I don't have a picture of Olive, who spent most of the morning sound asleep on her new dog bed.

• I came very, very close to putting Christmas totally away today.
• Because of A. moving into her apartment in the middle of January and the bedroom shuffling which will ensue, I have a feeling I will need to make another trip to IKEA. That's too bad, isn't it?

And now, I need to go say good-night to people. Tomorrow is grocery shopping, preferably before the storm they are predicting hits.