Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

For the past few years, the Christmas Eve celebration with my folks has been held on the eve of Christmas Eve.  That's so we all get a break from one another:  who wants to see their family both on Christmas Eve and then again in the morning?!  I mean, really . . . !  :p  Anyway, I think we all like how it works out, so that is the plan again this year.  After this blog post and a comprehensive round of outside chores, I'll pull myself together and head in to their place for the afternoon.

Even though I'm not going into the office today, this morning marked the third day of getting up (trying to get up!) with the alarms.  I feel like I slept pretty hard and soundly last night, despite Maisy (and, therefore, everyone else) needing to go out around 3:30.  And, despite our house guest, too!  Yes, Swamp River Ridge is hosting an unexpected visitor through Monday night:  a 9-month old or so black puppy named Lexie!  Her parents planned to drop her off at the local kennel last night on their way out of town but didn't call first . . . and so didn't realize, until the last minute, that the kennel was closed for the holiday!  Whoops!  When her stressed owners called last night to ask if I could stop by their house to let her out each time I drove by, I quickly said, "Don't you two worry about a THING!  Leave all her stuff in the porch, and I will pick her up on my way home.  She'll spend Christmas with me and the rest of the crew."

Tucker wouldn't let her into the back seat of the truck last night, so she got to ride shotgun up front with me.  And, once we reached the winter driveway, I taught her how to be a plow dog (BRACE yourself when we "gently" smash into a big pile of snow)!  And, unlike Tucker - who I FORGOT to teach that lesson to the first time he went plowing with Maisy and me - she didn't roll off the seat once!  ;)  The only "problem" we've encountered is the fact that she likes to chase the cats.  Dosie is dumb enough (or should that be "smart enough"?) to just sit there, so there's no danger of things toppling over as they run through the house.  Bonzi is another story, and I have NO idea where she took shelter after the last disastrous crusade, even though I've looked for her.  I think she'll be plenty happy when I take Lexie away for the afternoon!

The main road, unplowed, yesterday.

To my surprise, the main road was NOT yet plowed when I got out to it yesterday morning.  But, that just proves that we did get such a good amount of heavy snow that the County Plower Extraordinnaire had to tend to other people & their roads before mine.  I drove for about 1 1/2 miles, being pulled this way and that, before I finally "gave up" and dropped the plow.  I plowed for about 4 or 5 miles until I came to the same turn-off that I mentioned in my last post.  Then, there were enough tracks to successfully follow.  And, within a mile, I met the plow coming up the road.

Red arrow denotes Plow Guy.

Okay, I've been super side-lined by Facebook chats, so I'd better cut this short.  More later tonight or tomorrow!

Merry, merry!