Dumb People on Ice

No, that is not the name of a some new Disney skating show...

Remember the dumb people I had posted about on the blog the other day, the ones who were ice-fishing on the thin ice where we were parked on our Rig Exercise Day?    Well, now our local news had THREE separate instances of dumb people dying after going through the ice in that same area.  It's too thin yet this time of year.  We have not had enough deep freezing stretches of temperatures to make it safe.  Even our river is open water from shore to shore again, and was only lightly frozen over for a few cold days in November. Why these people insist on doing dangerous stunts like going out on the ice when it's so thin is NUTZ!  I like fishing just as much as the next person, but it ain't worth DYING over!   Nor risking the lives of the emergency response crews going out trying to pull your dead frozen carcass outta the ice either.




On the RVing side of things, remember last winter when we were in Arizona?   We stayed a few days at the Lazy W ranch near Elfrida, AZ   Here is our blog post of that time:

Blog post from last winter at the Lazy W ranch in Elfrida AZ

Our blogging friends Al and Kelly of  http://thebayfieldbunch.com    are there in the area now, and his blog post this morning was about a visit over to the place.

 http://thebayfieldbunch.com/2011/12/lazy-w-rancha-walk-around-some-old.html 

What a great post, and makes me long for getting back to that area soon!  I see the pics and it immediately brings me back to wandering around the desert here and feeding the birds and enjoying the tiny little sleepy desert town of Elfrida.  Looking in every direction at the mountain ranges in the distance, and feeling the sunshine and warmth on the face.  Having never been there before, my senses were even more heightened to take it all in.  Reading Al and Kelly's blog in advance, I knew what to expect by photos, but wowowowwzerrrrr once we got there, the photos just didn't do it justice!    THAT is why we want to travel full time in the motorhome, to see, to experience, to feel, to smell, to touch, to be there.

I know a weaver gal who just bought a pecan farm nearby and hope to stop in and see her sometime when we get into the area again.  We really enjoyed exploring that area, and my blog goes on for 4 or 5 days worth of posts about things we did when boondockng in that part of Arizona.  Thank you, Al and Kelly, for arranging our stay at the Lazy W and introducing us to Jeannie and Ray with the wonderful donkeys!  



Well, I have to face the fact we aren't there right now, and turn the mind back to frozen cold Wisconsin.   The tree is up, the presents are wrapped, the out of state gifts are mailed, the greeting cards are out in the mail, and most of my customers orders from my Etsy and Artfire online stores are done and shipped.  Got one more order last night, and one more  customer to pay me before I can ship it out.  It's been a very good year for socks, hats and scarves.  Rugs, not so much.   Last holiday shopping season I sold quite a few rugs.  Things go in cycles sometimes, I guess.

Later today I am going to bake up some sugar cutout cookies, and let little Chelsea Beedle Bug girl help me decorate them on Friday.  The day care is closed on Friday for the day care teachers' holiday, and it happens to be one of mommy Erin's busiest days in retail at her chain of stores, plus daddy Mark has to work too.  Guess that means we get a play day with the wee one!   Steve is going to be home too, so he can help her decorate the cookies.  Fun fun fun!  Then we can send a tray of cookies home with her, to serve later on the weekend when we all are gathering at Erin and Mark's house.

I heard a new term that fits for the little passel of three toddlers we have on hand as grandchildren:  GRANDTOTS   .... dontcha just love it?  

We will be meeting up with all the other families and grandtots and everyone for the Holidays, so looking forward to lots of hugs and kisses and watching their beaming little faces.  During the Packer Game on Christmas Day night (7pm game)  I am assigned the arduous task of keeping all THREE grandtots busy in the playroom so the rest of the family can watch the game in the livingroom.

Ahhh such an imposition to force a Granmuddah to play with grandtots and a slew of new toys, books and jammies ... and I will be in charge of getting them all to sleep sometime between 7 and 11 when the game ends?   So sleeping grandtots in their new jammies can be toted out to warmed up waiting cars for the trek home again....  
Singing a few songs in my brain when thinking about it....

Over the river and through the woods....  

Silent Night.... Holy Night.... 

Up on the Housetop reindeer paws....

With visions of sugarplums (and cookies!) dancing in their heads....