Santa Is Still Here

While taking some pictures off the back deck the other day I spotted something unusual.

For some reason, Santa is still lurking around Coyote Ridge.


If he is waving and acting friendly hoping to get some Christmas cookies, he is out of luck as I polished off those suckers a LONG time ago.

I hope that he leaves soon as it is pretty freaky to look outside at any time of the day or night seeing him watching and waving.

So I guess the only options are to shoot him or not look outside.I opted for the non violent option and will fixate on something more soothing like the fireplace.


Now where are the marshmallows?

Tune in again soon for another edition of "Now What Are They Doing?"

Cardboard Fireplace?

Yes, you read that right. You talk about "one time use" or disposable.

Here is the real story.

Sue's company likes to decorate and each department can do it's own thing.

Their group wanted a fireplace with stockings hung with care....you know the drill.

Sue volunteered to make a fireplace. Here are some pictures.

It all started with a box.


Lets see...cut here, fold here, tape here.....


And now.....A Fireplace!


Amazing! And, no, the fireplace does not have tail lights. I sat the fireplace on the tailgate of her truck to get a picture.

I have a few more ideas for stories, so I do hope you tune in again soon for another edition of "Now What Are They Doing?"

The Hauling of the Wood

This past weekend we did a little wood splitting and hauling.

Son Ben and his charming wife Anna were over for beer and BB-Q last week and commented that they were out of firewood for their outdoor fireplace. well, guess what? We just happen to have plenty.

I split some of the larger pieces and loaded a couple of rows into Sue's truck to take over to their house.

And of course, we unloaded it.

With three people unloading, we were done in a flash without even breaking a sweat.


I can remember living in Northern Minnesota years ago and we heated with wood almost exclusively. The only time the furnace came on is when it was -20 outside. You talk about going through the wood. We had a very efficient stove, but even still we would go through about four cords of wood per season. Considering a full cord is 4'X4'X8', that is a mighty big woodpile. The wood was "free" but the trees had to be cut down, de-limbed, cut into sections, split, loaded. hauled home, unloaded, stacked outside, brought inside and eventually loaded into the stove. Now I know why we said that a single piece of wood would heat us 10 times!

Now we have a gas fireplace that is actually rated as a furnace, so we can enjoy the flames without the mess.

We keep the wood burning confined to the outside these days with a campfire pit that we really enjoy.

We really enjoy sitting out there at night with a fire listening to the coyotes howl.

Most of the leaves are off the trees now with just the oak leaves hanging on for dear life.


Won't be long now before we have the snow removing equipment all set for the season. That is hard to believe as it was 77 and sunny yesterday and 70 again today. Go figure!

Tune in again real soon for another edition of "Now What Are They Doing?"