News From the Ranch, Episode 1823

Posted on December 24, 2020 by prairiemoonquilts in Prairie Moon Ranch, What's New

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Prairie Moon Ranch! And if you don’t celebrate Christmas, I hope you are at least enjoying the holiday season as a time to slow down, take a breather, and enjoy family.

Our family is not gathering this year. I need to keep My Cowboy safe, and our father just turned 86 years old, so we’re protecting him, too. And we’re usually not a family who does things for Christmas in a big way, anyway, so it’s not a big deal for us to skip one meal together. I’m sure my sister will enjoy her time off without having to cook for everyone! I know I’m relieved FOR her!

The one thing I’m saddest about is that this is our first Christmas since our brother passed away back in March, and his husband is in the city all alone, and we can’t get together with him. That’s the part that hurts the most.

My Cowboy and I don’t do much for Christmas here at the ranch, either. I don’t decorate because we have cats and never have company, so it’s not necessary, and I seriously don’t have the time or talent for that, anyway!

Our one tradition is on Christmas Eve, so tonight, we will be watching “Christmas Vacation”, and the old original “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” movies. I’ll wear my grinch pjs, and drink eggnog, while My Cowboy runs the DVD player on the computer for us. He doesn’t like eggnog, and wouldn’t touch it with someone else’s mouth, but I did make an apple pie this morning, so we’ll probably add some of that to our evening on the couch.

And this guy . . . will probably be wedged in between us.

One week from today, on New Year’s Eve, Tucker will have been with us for 2 months already! We love him so much. He has learned a lot, and he’s such a happy, playful boy. He’s completely potty trained already, except when he wants to get revenge for something he perceives as unfair in his treatment, like not getting to go outside with My Cowboy EVERY time the door opens. He’s so smart — he throws temper tantrums, takes revenge, and seriously thinks about things!

He likes to put his nose at the crack of the door, and as soon as it opens, he shoots out like he’s been shot out of a cannon, barking orders before he can even see what he’s barking about. One day last week, he did that, misjudged the gate opening, and got caught on it, and tore the skin on his side. We rushed him to the vet, and he got 5 stitches. Two days later, he tore some of them out, and had to go back. But we’ve got things down to a routine now, and he’s doing much better.

We know he’s doing much better because he’s back to his normal playful, bossy self now. It was a sad few days at first!

Stormy is having a midlife crisis, at 4 1/2 years of age. He has taken to running out the door when it opens, and going outside. He knows nothing about the outside world, or traffic on the road, or predators, or I’d let him stay out there; but I also want him to be safe and stay healthy, so I keep going after him and bringing him back indoors. I’ve tried to tell him that there’ll be none of this:

. . . if he moves outdoors permanently! He’s not making the connection.

Thelma and Louise have been with us for 14 months now, and they are the sweetest girls. Thelma loves to help in the studio, but she has to be carefully supervised, and sometimes often gets banished for misbehaving. Louise wants to come in, but I’ve let her in in the past, and she hides, and then I can’t find her to remove her from the studio, so it’s just easier to not let her in in the first place.

And this is Ranger’s FOURTH Christmas! I gave him a banana peel treat this morning:

He’s grown into such a large, fine boy! I can’t say “gentleman”, because he’s NOT nice to the girls at all, especially if there’s food or attention involved. But he’s still a momma’s boy, and I’m OK with that. He will still come running if I call him, and none of the stubborn girls will do that!

Here he is at 6 weeks old, helping with chores. Such a darling cutie! And still a darling cutie!

It’s now officially winter, and today is bitter cold and hella windy. Our guinea fowl took to sleeping on the back porch railing, no matter the weather — they’d roost there during snow, rain, wind, whatever — and we felt sorry for them. So we built a little shelter ON the back porch railing, so they could use that to get in out of the wind, snow, rain, whatever. What do they do? Perch just BESIDE the shelter. I know they’ve been in it, but I’ve never seen them all roosting in it for the night. I don’t know what to do for them. They won’t go in the goat barn, they won’t go in any of the huts, they won’t go in the barn . . . silly birds!

But the cats like the shelter! Rufus is taking a nap in it out of the wind:

In other ranch news, I’ve been working on some of my remodel projects, and also doing a lot of quilting.

I’m almost done with my kitchen remodel, so when I’m done, I’ll give you a tour of it. The other night, I finally painted over the growth chart from the family who lived here before us. A bit of a sad moment, but the time had finally come. Those five kids are all grown and gone now!

I’ve finally begun sewing those 480 pinwheel blocks together that I made a few weeks ago:

And I’m on almost my last customer quilt of the year. I still have 3 more to do after this, but hey, there’s still a week left in this year! This particular one is king-sized, and has a lot of custom quilting on it, so I’ll be showing it in a future post and talking about my design choices and how I did them once I get it finished, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.

So that’s what’s been going on around here. I hope you are all having a nice, cozy holiday season, and staying happy and healthy. Merry Christmas!!

25 responses to “News From the Ranch, Episode 1823”

  1. Johnna Clarke says:

    Merry Christmas to you and all your family!

  2. Sharon Sauser says:

    Merry Christmas and I hope you and your “family” of animals have a safe and happy New Year. (Poor Tucker.)

  3. Maxine E says:

    Merry Christmas to you and your family! Love that Ranger! He will always be my favorite!

  4. Linda Kamp Waugh says:

    Hi Shelley!
    I loved hearing about your family of pets! Great photos and thanks for sharing your life with me. My brother passed away in August and it’s so hard without him. There were 8 of us and mom and dad are both in another world and a heavenly one along with my bro.
    We brought up 4 beagles in our 37 years together. They are in doggy heaven. We won’t get another dog, though I miss my four. We like traveling and it’s so difficult to leave them for 2-3 weeks.
    Take care and enjoy winter.
    Linda Waugh

  5. Janet M Smith says:

    Merry Christmas to you Shelly and Cowboy as well as your menagerie. Your love for them comes through in your posts which I love reading. Happy New Year.

  6. Ann Ostermann says:

    Merry Christmas to you and your cowboy Shelly!

  7. Kerry says:

    Awww love the animals – all of them. Guinea fowl must be like our muscovies! We also built a shelter for the boys because we’ve had some awful weather lately. Do they go in there? Nope. They hunch all forlorn in all the elements thrown at them. The girls and the oldest drake and the youngest two drakes are in the chicken run which could be better but it does have shelter. The chickens are in the barn living the life of Riley! The kitties are upstairs pestering HRH!
    Our tradition is Die Hard and we used to have a Chinese takeaway but since moving, no Chinese restaurants near, so we made our own goodies. Well, HRH did. So much nicer!

    I love the quilting – the borders are amazing. Looking forward to the next pics of it.

    So Merry Christmas to you and your Cowboy and the menagerie and hopefully we will have a better 2021! Take care and stay safe xxx

  8. Robin Hoover says:

    Merry Christmas, Shelly and Cowboy. Hope you have a great holiday!

  9. Candice says:

    Merry Christmas, dear Shelly! Just reading about all you do makes my head spin. I know how hard that first Xmas is after a sibling dies is. My heart aches for you. But put some rum in that egg nog and take a big slug for me and enjoy your beautiful life on the ranch with your Cowboy!!! XO Candice

  10. Kate says:

    Greetings to all from rainy Massachusetts.
    I miss having animals and delight in living vicariously through your stories. My life has been called to help others and have had little energy left for my own sewing. My heart goes out to all those who have experienced losses this year. It seems like that is everyone. Last year was my first without my oldest brother. His wife of sixty-three years asked me to go to a church service for those who had suffered loss. They called it a blue Christmas. It was amazing. It was somber but morbid. It was uplifting and I left with hope in my heart. This year there will be time to reflect on Hope. Take care and may Divinity fill your spirit.

  11. Wendy says:

    Merry Christmas to you, the Cowboy, Ranger and the rest of the Prairie Moon gang! I’m with Cowboy on the eggnog, but you go ahead and slurp it right up – I think you’ve earned it!

  12. Vickie says:

    Oh Shelly and Family! I
    Loved reading all about, you all❣️Thanks so much and Happy Happies to all of you❣️ Can’t wait to see this king beauty your finishing⭐️

  13. Beverly says:

    Shelly, thanks for sharing. I always enjoy reading your posts. You are so busy and seem to get a lot done. I am happy for you.
    This has been a different year for me and I did’t get much quilting done. I am looking forward to working on my memory quilt this next week and year. It is our memories of traveling throughout the United States and visiting our National Parks. I am going to have this one professionally quilted.

  14. Angie in SoCal says:

    Merry Christmas to you and Mr. Cowboy. Sherry I’m praying the weather is gentle on you – we’re actually having a winter here in SoCal. You wouldn’t call it that with the temps in the low 60s by day and low 40s at night, but it’s a change for us. Last year I hardly wore my winter coat. A short fleece jacket was enough.

    We’re staying home for now as the state is under tier 4 for COVID. Not a issue at this house as I have my quilting and reading, and husband has his plants. Will miss the kids.

  15. Shirley Guier says:

    Merry merry Christmas Shelly. Our Christmas will be quiet too.

  16. Merry Christmas!!
    I love hearing about all you do.
    My kiddos wanted all the Christmas stuff up this year, so they helped. Now, I’m not sure if they will be around when it needs to come down, but it is pretty.
    Your quilting is amazing.

  17. Dortha says:

    Merry Christmas. I love reading your blog. Love the animal stories. Hope you and your cowboy stay healthy and Covid free.

  18. Laura says:

    Hi Shelly,
    So different this Christmas for us with no one around. Plenty of time for me to thank God for his Son.
    I have no interest in the quilting (long arm stuff) but I read every word just in case there’s anything that might catch my attention. The animal stories are wonderful. Quilt blocks and other info is good. You are a fabulous writer to follow. You can put out stories as good as the quilt info and quilting you do.
    Thanks for being a little part of my world.
    Merry Christmas to you and your Cowboy.

  19. Suzette Harris says:

    Merry Christmas!,

  20. Raewyn says:

    Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoyed your Christmas Eve traditions and the change of pace that Christmas brings.

  21. Cathy Wight says:

    Merry Christmas to you and Cowboy! I sure miss seeing you and hope 2021 will eventually bring an opportunity to get together. Stay safe and enjoy the holidays.

  22. Debbi says:

    Merry Christmas Shelly and cowboy, and all the family!

  23. Darlene says:

    Hope your Christmas time was enjoyable – it is certainly different this year. Love all the photos of your pets. I can’t wait to see what you do with the pinwheels 😀

  24. Cheryl DaSilva says:

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and Cowboy and Tucker Thelma and of course Ranger sissy and all the others🎄🥰🎆🎊
    Stay Safe
    Cheryl

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