Down With Decorations - Dog Park - Making Plans

 It's that time... Sadly the Christmas decorations need to get stowed away for next year.

We started with the tree. Bit by bit, each ornament was carefully packed away. Fond memories of each one. Who gave it, what were the circumstances, and especially the homemade ones by the grandchildren. Wrapped in tissue paper, put in little boxes and organized for next year. On one side there was a box of oddball things that needed to just go to Goodwill.

Chelsea was our decorator with arranging the lights on the tree. She did such a good job nesting the lights in deeply and tucking them around branches. It took quite a process to get them off again! She did a great job.

The tree is artificial but looks very real. It comes apart in 5 pieces and stows into two big huge boxes that we have left over from when we purchased our e-bikes. A lot easier to store it in boxes than stuffing it into those tree storage bags.

Bit by bit, all of the little knickknacks around the house were gathered up and stowed away in the Christmas totes. A couple of years ago I bought all of these green totes with red lids. No missing the fact that they are Christmas decorations! Steve started carrying them out while I had one last mug of Tom and Jerry eggnog drink. It's the end of the bucket. The local stores don't carry it after the holidays. I rationed it out to stretch it for the whole season.

Here is most everything stacked up and ready to go out into the garage. I feel a little sad, but I'm glad everything is organized and ready for next year.

We waited until it warmed up to 30° today about noon. We put on our jackets and boots and headed on out with snips and pliers to remove all the staples and wire ties on the front porch decorations. Brrrrrr!

Are we the only ones who store our Christmas decorations in toilet boxes?

Steve used the needle-nose pliers to pull out the staples in the columns. I carefully rolled up each red velvet ribbon so I know which ones I need for next year. Since they are all the same length and they make the right amount of wraps on the columns. 

I think they look like peppermint sticks. 

We gathered up the garlands and the lights to stow away in the boxes as well as the big snowflakes made from plastic dollar store hangers. We have little tiny white rubber coated screw in hooks inserted all along the porch ceiling that we can hang the lights from. We leave those up year round. Makes it a lot easier to put up the garland every year along the underneath edge of the roof line.

Last but not least is our little pergola between the She Shed and the garage. I ran a little short on ribbon last year so I have to cut a new piece this year of the length of the one on the right so they are both symmetrical for next year!!

OCD much? 

Stowed away safe and sound in the garage until next year.

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Earlier this week, even though it was cold out, we had a chance to stop at the dog park in Oconto Falls.

Nick has only been here once before. We were glad there weren't any other dogs around so he could run and play with the ball that we brought along. We got him some good exercise cuz it's been so cold we haven't really been taking as many walks as we should. With him being nearly two years old, he has a LOT of energy to burn off every day.

I just love this sign that they put up there on the fence. It is located next to a receptacle that dispenses doggy bags and a little trash container too. No excuse for not cleaning up after your dog.

Nick had a blast playing with his red ball. Back and forth and back and forth he went between Steve and I. We also worked on some training with him on recalls. You know "COME" and "SIT" and "STAY". Basic obedience stuff.  Being in the fenced in and secured area, we can do some practice off-leash. Hopefully if he ever accidentally happened to be off-leash, he would listen to our training and decide to come back to us. Sometimes, he gets so focused on other things that I don't think he would even hear us, much less pay attention to any commands. Good reason to keep him on leash every single time he is out the door. 

Of course, I had to make a little video of Nicholas having such a fun time: 

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Speaking of pets, our granddaughter Chelsea got a new pet for her birthday. I guess this makes it our "Grandsnake"? His name is Skittles and he is a het bald pied python. 

Chelsea loves animals. She also has a hedgehog named Kiwi. Plus two family dogs and two family cats. 

I don't think we have to babysit... But I did have a pet garter snake when I was a kid, so I'm not too squeamish about them. His name was "Snakely Whiplash".  

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Now that it's been so cold out, I had a little bit of time to work on my current quilt. Vermont Maple Leaves. I mentioned it before that I was inspired by a quilt we saw at a Vermont Visitor Center the previous fall.  I am up to about 30 blocks. I think I will need closer to 80.

While I am sewing, Steve and Nick hang out in my She Shed with me. It is such a cozy place to be together even if he's watching football and Nick is chewing on his toys. 

I am tucked away at my sewing desk in the corner working on my quilts.  

I really enjoy sewing on this cute little antique Singer Featherweight sewing machine. I do have other fancier bigger and newer machines, but this one is just so adorable. I love creatively putting together these leaves and little patterns of contrasting and coordinating prints and fabrics.

Oh, I forgot to mention one more thing that Nicholas got for Christmas. It is a "goat ball" seriously. It is made for goats to play with. It is a little smaller than a yoga ball. It has a polyester fabric cover that helps prevent punctures. 

It's exactly what Nick needed to keep him from biting the ball.

We ordered them from Amazon. We got a set of two. We can take the other one in it's deflated form with us in the motorhome. That way if we ever camp someplace with a fenced in dog area, he can play with a ball. 

The deflated ball is folded up small and tucked inside of the polyester fabric cover. There's a small opening with a zipper. Once the ball is inside, the attached inflation tool can pump it up to full size. They can be ordered in 18-in or 22 in size. Then they are plugged and the zipper is drawn over the opening. 

Here Steve has it almost totally inflated on Christmas morning. What is nice, is they can be deflated for storage or for traveling. Perfect!

Here is the second one still in the box, that we will take with us in the motorhome during future travels. 

He really seems to enjoy the ball. He can bite the cover occasionally with his teeth and drag it around if he wants to. Mostly he drives it around like a soccer ball, and pretends it's a great big sheep that he is herding. He makes it go exactly where he wants it to go and brings it right back around to us so we can kick it up in the air again. 

Here is a link to the balls: 

VercanMonth 4 Pcs 2 Set Goat Ball

That's about it for today. It's time to sit back and relax a little bit by the fireplace, and enjoy my last Tom and Jerry.  Starting to make traveling plans for the upcoming year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!