Out with the old.....

Happy New Year's weekend!  We've been keeping busy.  Even though we were late in putting up our inside Christmas decorations I felt a need to clean up and sort and decided to take them down on Thursday.  As is my wont, I made the job harder than it needed to be.  Have you ever had the crazy idea to cut the lights of a 7ft pre-lit Christmas tree?  550 lights?  OMG  All I can say is think about it before you start. What a job!  My hand is still sore from the wire cutter.  But I did it!  I really like this tree and look forward to putting it up next year with some small LED lights, not the blazing bright light it had.  I couldn't even look at it in the dark!

I meant to finish these pillowcases before Christmas so I could put one in The Tramp's stocking.  Didn't do it, but they are finished now and on the bed.  I bought the fabric on a whim when I saw it in the store.  I just love it.

Since it was so sunny, breezy, and balmy today we figured we'd better take advantage of it and take down the outside lights.  It was so gorgeous I first took a walk around the pond.

I could hear the kingfisher chattering from the trees.  He's across the pond in front of the white house.  He is very hard to spot and never lets you get close so I was thrilled to spot him and get near enough to snatch a couple of photos.  At max zoom of course.  :-)

There he is! 

The mergansers are hard to get close to as well.  These are the first decent photos I have of them.  They swim away so fast!  There have been up to ten of them on the pond at one time.  I'm assuming it's because the fish population is recovering nicely.

There are always robins in the bradford pear trees harvesting the fruit.

Ah well.  Back to work.  The Tramp decided to sort by type and carefully tie up our light sets.  We lost four sets to squirrel damage and half of one other set stopped working for no visible reason.  We've learned our lesson.  Next year we won't hang lights on the trees.  :-)

The dogs basked in the sun on the porch.

Ngaire wondering when it will all get more exciting.

Maisy basking happily in the sun.

Are you done yet?

How long do you want me to hold this pose?

The sun is too bright!

Ivy alertly watching for movement in the neighborhood.

Gosh it was a beautiful day!

Of course then we decided to have a major clean out of the garage that took until dusk fell and aching backs said stop!  :-)

Oh my!  I hear fireworks outside.  Happy New Year!