It's December, What Happened With November~

Our Christmas card insert above~

It has been a really crazy past 7 weeks and more is on the way.  I have been feeling on the low side and just dealing with one day at a time.  This has not been easy, but I love life and I always make the best of it...thinking positive is much healthier than thinking negatively.  It's just doing life and doing it well...keeping the faith and enjoying each day as it comes~

Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slideshow presentation after                                                                you have read the narratives~

I am joining in the fun with Eileen at:

http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/

Saturday's Critter

Anni at:

http://id-rather-b-birdin.blogspot.com/ 

I'd Rather Be Birdin'

 Linking to I'd Rather B Birdin'

    

Maggie's  MOSAIC MONDAY

                                              https://normandylife.blogspot.com/

& 

Stewart for:

http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/

Wild Bird Wednesday

Our Christmas tree was up and adorned before Thanksgiving which is our tradition~

More Knee Surgery~

This morning I sat and read over the information that my DR gave me yesterday.

He has mentioned capsular thickening.

He is going to do an Arthroscopic procedure called Capsule Release surgery on the 29th of this month.

He is suspecting Plica Syndrome which can be suspected when you have my kind of symptoms. I looked it up on the Internet to better understand and it states that in some patients, particularly those who may have had injuries, or multiple surgeries over the medial aspect of the knee, (I have had two) the medial synovial plica may become very thick and fibrotic and may catch over the medial aspect of the medial femoral condyle.

I am confident that this will take care of and resolve any further issues with this silly knee. It's as it would be that when you have had 7 years of problems on and off with one knee, that eventually the other knee is going to take some force...the force has landed softly and I want to keep it that way. Looking forward to having this all taken care of and on the mend, once again.

It worked out beautifully as on the week of the 18th, my husby turns 70, and then on 21st, I will.  Our 48th wedding anniversary is on 22nd and then Christmas on the 25th.  I am so thankful that my surgery comes after the festivities~

The husby and I went down to the Ohio River and had dinner the other week.  This was right at sunset~

   

A week ago this past Sunday on my way to Bible study and this handsome White-Tailed Deer/buck was making his way across the frost and fog covered Bluegrass lawn.  There was enough colour left in the trees, to make the images pop~  

I had taken the images of the Red-Shouldered Hawk above on my way into the city for PT the other day and on my way back home, stopped again...

LOL I was thinking what kind of bird is that...is it even a bird...

No...it was a Red Fox Squirrel~

My weeks are filled with three days of driving into the city for my Physiotherapy appointments as well as checking on some of the local birds that I can see this time of year.  This stunning Red-Tailed Hawk was in a tree just a mile from returning to our home...love the beauty of this one~

 We have quite a few Buffalo/Bison farms in our state and this is a new one near where we live.  I stopped by the other day while driving home and noticed one of them had gotten a branch caught over one of'his horns.  I watched until it got the thing off as well as traffic had begun to move~

A Doe was running past a break in the fence along the lane and ready to leap over the fence in front of her when I snagged this quick glimpse~

The pair of Bald Eagles that I have been keeping up with for the past three years had used that same nest.  A large part of it fell away this past July and they have been working on one in a tree right next to old nest.  Someone had been getting way too close to the nest, even taking up to sitting in a chair some 100'~from nest with a HUGE camera...I am so sorry, but you just don't do that.  I had a little chat with him and I am hoping that he will honor my request.  The Eagles had been missing for some 10 days after his two day visit and then on Monday morning I captured these from a good distance.  One of them was breaking a branch to take up to the nest...still building it up and I feel so much better now~

Some of the country lanes, there are still little spots with colour~

Bah Bye little Shrew. A very hungry...I believe to be a first year Red-Shouldered Hawk because it still has a splash of the dripping rufous feathers running down it's chest, and has already earned it's red shoulders ;) was wire hunting as I came home from the market this afternoon. I had stopped in a parking lot to observe and I had barely gotten the car turned off and it went to the ground, bringing up a tiny Shrew and devoured it whole in less than two minutes from it's capture. The hawk held tightly to it when an American Crow tried a dive bomb, hoping it would drop it's meal~

The image above was taken before the heavy clouds took over the evening before

I got up super early to go and get a good spot to photograph the Super Moon the other day.  Where we live there are just so many trees that get in the way of nice views.  Once I arrived at the selected spot, I parked the car, put down the window and nothing but heavy cloud coverage...oh well, I saw it, did you?

Dawn following the Super Moon setting~

Thanksgiving Done, Christmas On It's Way~

Those silly girls, what are they doing with Santi Hoho hats on anyway ;)  Their mommy was having too much fun using Pic Monkey again.  That is our Silveit who will turn 3 next month on the left and our Meaka turned 8 on this past Tuesday.  We love them so much~

I wanted to introduce you to my friend Peter Jones blog.  He works so hard to make such beautiful and interesting post shares and I think he deserves a few look-sees and then you decide.

http://spanishnature.blogspot.com/

Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slideshow presentation after you have read the narratives~

I will be linking up with Judith for:

www.lavendercottagegardening.com

Mosaic Monday

&

Stewart for:

   http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/

Wild Bird Wednesday

&

Sylvia for:

Skywatch Friday

We had the tree on the left for a good decade and it had begun to lose way too many of it's little greenery and so last year, I pitched it and began the quest 2 months ago for a new one.  Oh My Goodness...sticker price wake up call!  The old tree was 7' and cost under $100.00 brand new.  The new one on the right is 9' and the sticker price was $596.00.  Ah but I got it at Belk for $219.00 including shipping and handling.  I had a couple of things that I had to work on once it arrived, such as section three had none working lights even after changing out bulbs.  Hence I had to un-wire a pre-lit and then use lights I had already and rework them in.  Then the lower branches just did not seem full enough.  You could see through the tree too much for my liking.  I purchased 24 of those long twigs and all was perfect after that~

Above a Red-tailed Hawk and below during the Thanksgiving Day holidays, my older daughter Hillary, her twin boys and my youngest daughter Ashleigh and her husby who were visiting from Florida, all went ice skating.  No I did not, do not, will not ever ;)

Oh and yes, that is a goat, she lives in the yard behind the ice skating rink~

An American Kestrel enjoying a tasty treat of a Grasshopper~

I had to go out early a couple of mornings and I became a sunrise chaser along with my two dogs.  Yes that is sunrise, not sunset, and it was glorious~

The image below, I tried placing on a different setting, but the truest colour was what you see above~

I have seen a bunch of Wild Turkeys in my life, but never had I seen one preening before, at least that I remember.  I could hear the strangest noise like someone raking leaves.  It turned out to be their tail feathers dragging the ground and making crispy leaf noises~

Part of the family and friends that came to our Thanksgiving Day brunch.  My daughter Ashleigh's husby, in-laws and sister-in-law, as well as Ashleigh and her friend Limor~

That kit-cat is my adorable Survhee Pipka, always fun to be around.  She has the most pleasant disposition, and Meaka with Silveit below~

Before Thanksgiving, we also had the pleasure of treating Miss Maci to a third birthday celebration.  That is my middle daughter Brittany and her family having a great time with our youngest grandchild~

Another American Kestrel posing for the camera as well as another sunrise, this time at Crystal Lake down the lane~