Belated elf

La Gringa had one of these posted on her blog and I thought it was so funny I had to make one, too. Christmas may be over, but the elves don't know it, and besides, it's still snowing.

Cow Snow

We have a saying in the Denver area: If the air smells like cow_ _ _ _, it’s going to snow. True. That’s because fifty miles north of us is the small town of Greeley that claims the largest beef processing plant in the country. Have you ever smelled a feedlot? When the prevailing winds shift and come from the northeast, those are upslope winds that bring the biggest snowstorms. And the smell of cow manure. So if we smell Greeley that means snow.

Today it sure smelled like Greeley, but the flakes were few and far between. And it was preferable to the smell of jet fuel which is what we usually get at work. We’re across the street from a busy regional airport. No wonder I want to come home and smell the flowers. But there aren’t any.

Come to think of it, maybe we weren’t smelling Greeley after all. The National Western Stock Show started this week. All those stockmen brought a lot of cattle to town. In fact, they parade them down the streets of Denver to kick off the show.

About 30 Longhorn cattle from the Searle Ranch in Monument are driven by cowboys on horseback up Wynkoop street towards 17th Ave for the beginning of the National Western Stock Show Parade on January 15, 2008. (Post / Helen H. Richardson)

I’m probably not going to the stock show. I went once about 20 years ago. But I'll salute the spirit of the festivities with my version of a cowgirl outfit from Halloween a few years back.

Yee-Hah!

And it still smells like Greeley outside.

10 months...but who's counting?

I can hardly remember how to make an entry on my blog, but it's starting to come back to me. It seems that I've taken almost a year off and while I've been occupied with other things, you all have been gardening and visiting each other and with any luck (and lots of time) I might actually catch up on some of your activities.

My garden was lackluster this past summer and Christmas is over but I can combine a bit of both in the photo above. Remember my Pink Flamingo ? He became a part of the holiday decorations this year. Two visitors to my house recently commented that the flamingo is the ugliest thing they ever saw, but I'm enamored of it.

Once the hustle and bustle of the holidays was over I decided I should do a jigsaw puzzle. Years ago my mother-in-law used to have a puzzle in progress every Christmas Eve and we'd all contribute to putting it together. That memory surfaced recently so I found a puzzle in the basement that I'd gotten at a garage sale. See the missing pieces? But there's also an extra piece that is a duplicate of another one. But it was worth fifty cents anyway.

A belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!