'Twas Two Weeks Before Christmas...

 ...and every mouse...had fled frozen fields for the warmth of my house.

My wife found their droppings and said, "I'm not pleased, to think that these varmints are taking their ease...

"...inside my warm dwelling; this outrage won't stand!

What will you do?"  Then I raised my hand:

"These mice, they are finished!  Kaput and Kersplatz!

No way they'll survive for we have three cats!"

Then we beheld our mog desperados...

Kitty...

...and Smokey...

...and Buddy El Gato.

Disciples of Garfield were these lazy creatures,

with eating and sleeping their dominant features.

Ignoring those three hebetudinous chaps,

I scrounged all around til I found an old trap.

And later that evening 'ere mice came a-creeping,

I set the cruel deadfall then got busy sleeping.

So early next 'morn, at dawn's early light,

I sprang from my bed to find what I might.

But what did my wondering eyes finally see,

but a clean, empty trap and a note left for me:

"Thanks for the cheese, but what would be better,

instead of old muenster, could we have fresh cheddar?"

"And what's with this platter?" my mousy pals asked.

"We might have been killed if we hadn't been fast!"

'Twas then that I thought of the great Robert Burns

and his famous lament to a mouse that he turned

Out of warm hearth and home as he plowed in his field.

Did I want to partake in his life time of guilt?

The best laid plans it is easy to see,

Gang aft agley and I think you'll agree

There was nothing to do but give them their cheddar.

After all, 'twas Christmas, and what could be better

Than showing the love God has for His swarm,

by letting them stay inside where it's warm?

So out went the trap, but the mice?  Man alive!

We're quite overrun but I guess we'll survive.

And lifting a quote from St. Nick's yearly flight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!"

original artwork by Diane Dempsey

No need to thank me; just doing my job.

Decorating continued this past week, and one of the things Karen decided to do this year was create a Christmas village above the soffit in our circular kitchen:

one third of the overhead view...

...and another third...

Here's a closer look at some of the individual vignettes...

the paintings were done by Wayne Wirgau

love the forest of birch trees as the backdrop

tough to see in this pic, but the yellow smiley face rock is a tip o' the hat to Rogers City

The really exciting part?

In a few weeks we get to take it all down.

Overnight we've gone from this...

...to this:

...with temps in the 50's and wind gusts of 55 mph.

Watching out for falling widow makers...

...and hoping Santa and his reindeer really DON'T know how to fly...

Gotta love Michigan weather.

If you've got a coat on, just spread your arms, give a little jump in the air and you'll be blown out the back door...

...as we fly through the parting shots department...

no, I did NOT clap my hands

sunrise at Larry's cottage...

...and sunset on the frozen shores.

told ya it would look better when it snowed

never drink “elf lemonade" at Christmas time

gotta be climate change, or maybe systemic racism?  hmm...

Christmas is racing upon us and will be here before you blink, but remember:

Or, as the Apostle Paul encourages us in Ephesians 5, verses 15 and 16:

"See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Hang in, mcm fans...

It Wasn't Easy...

...but we held off the onslaught of Christmas...long enough to actually celebrate Thanksgiving.

I'm glad we did...always a good idea to pause and give thanks to God in heaven for His manifold gifts.

living room tidied up...

...dining room table ready for the feast...

...feast prepared, courtesy of Karen...

...and time to give thanks, then enjoy

Obviously, we used our finest china for the meal...the disposable kind...made cleanup a little easier.

As mentioned previously, we had a slimmed down guest list...my oldest who's usually here with a couple of his kids flew out to San Diego this year to be with his oldest daughter:

She's in the navy and in port for a while.

And apparently I failed to release the hounds in time so both of Karen's daughters and their S.O.'s made an appearance later in the day, after we'd already eaten.

Oops, wrong pic...hold on a sec...

Amy and Pete, Sarah and Alex

There we go.

One person we missed who used to join us regularly is my 2nd son, Ryan...

...he celebrated his first Thanksgiving in heaven this year, and someday, in God's time, I'll join him.

Oh...and of course, the Lions lost to the Bears, 16-14, on a last second, 28 yard field goal, moving them to 0 wins, 10 losses, and 1 tie on the year.

Unless I'm mistaken - a rare, but not unheard of event - that puts Michigan solidly in the top tier of purveyors of both incompetence and hopelessness.

Impressive, but still way behind Washington, D.C.

When it comes to being the worst, Brandon's still the best.

And in the O Boy Ain't This Fun department, today we woke up to this:

I guess it's beginning to look a lot like...well, you know.

Let the games begin.

So today is Black Friday...

pic of a local mall courtesy of Karen's son

...which makes it a dandy time to be working from home, though I have to say the mall looks busy, but not crazy.

Even so, my agenda has been given to me by the boss:

Well, maybe it just feels like that when I'm climbing up and down ladders and running extension cords.

The end result will be a little less over the top (I hope).

With any luck, we'll have The Castle Frankenstein all gussied up and ready for Christmas before you can say "why the heck do we do this every year?"

That's gonna hafta do it for this post Thanksgiving edition of the AMC.

I'll inundate you with pics and regale you with tales of decorating woe next time.

Until then, in this season of gratitude, remember...

later, mcm fans...

Wished A Happy Veteran's Day...

...to my favorite veteran...who served with honor in Afghanistan as well as stateside.

superman doesn't always wear a cape

Due to the staggering incompetence of the corrupt and cognitively impaired doofus currently squatting in the White House, an important truth has been lost re: our 20 years in Afghanistan, and it is this:

For two decades, people there - especially women - who had been oppressed by the Taliban, were able to enjoy the fruits of freedom.

Women were able to be educated, to walk freely down the streets, even run their own businesses.

Brandon and Co. definitely turned it into Situation FUBAR, but that doesn't detract from what our military accomplished for 20 years.

Thank you, Benjamin - and to all veterans everywhere - for your service to our country.

As it happens, the most beautiful great-granddaughter in the universe (no, really; I checked) turned 2 recently...

she knows "good" when she tastes it

why o why must I be chained in this car seat?

...and we got to celebrate with her.

Big fun, and looking forward to many happy returns!

A while ago I mentioned some potentially shocking news...

re: hickory golf.

Well, here it is...my new clubs:

And a closer look:

Except for Calamity Jane on the right, those ain't hickories...they're Majek Hybrid irons...a 3, 5 and 9 iron.

To make matters worse, I'll probably end up buying a Majek Hybrid sand wedge as well.

So...what gives?  After 7 years of happily swinging my hickories, what the heck just happened?

Well, first of all, I reserve the right to go back to my hickories whenever I want to...and I probably will whenever I play a suitable course.

The one I've played the last few years is perfect for my hickories; a combination of par 3's and short 4's, very little water, no sand traps, wide fairways.

Hickory clubs have a tiny little "sweet spot" - literally about the size of a nickel - so if you don't hit them just right (a common occurrence in my world), you don't get the direction / distance you need for a "good shot".

I'm a duffer, so generally not a problem.  I soldier on and the extra stroke or two per hole doesn't bother me (much).

But this new course I played at the end of the season is very different.

It's all par 3's, so distance generally isn't an issue...unless  there's water or sand traps involved, and guess what?

There's both water and sand traps on every hole, not to mention narrow fairways.

Long story short, I rapidly tired of losing 2 or 3 balls per round.

I could bag it and just go back to playing my "old" course, but  a)  it's 45 minutes away vs 10 minutes for the "new" one, and  b)  it closed in early October, while the new one stayed open into November.

After some agonizing, I finally decided to pop for 3 new hybrid irons...they're advertised as high in forgiveness quotient (i.e., they have a much larger sweet spot).

sales puffery?  we shall see...

In the real world that's supposed to translate into fewer bad shots (i.e., less golf balls in the drink).

They have many 5 star reviews, and as new clubs go, they're inexpensive.

My "new" course is closed for the season now, so haven't tried them out anywhere other than my backyard with wiffle golf balls.

After some swing adjustments - the shafts are longer than my hickories - so far, so good.

But the acid test is months away, so gonna hafta wait awhile to see how I / they actually perform.

It's going to be a looooong  winter...

It's that time again, folks...

Uh, well...no, not that  time...it's time to skedaddle out the back door before someone sees you here...

...and you have to make up some lame excuse. ("I was minding my own business when suddenly 3 large men grabbed me and forced me inside...")

On your way out you have my permission to cast a wistful glance or two at these late fall themed parting shots...

got the last 2 lamp posts installed

the view from the courtyard

finally starting to drop some leaves

the view pulling into the driveway

a brief snow shower turned my greens into whites

Mr. Otter stopped by Larry's cottage...

...for a brief visit

Are you ready?

The big day is less than 2 week away now.

later, mcm fans...