Merry Christmas to All

Well, I finished my Christmas newsletter and sent it out. I e-mailed it to people whose e-mail addresses I had, saving me a lot of money in printing and stamps. It's pretty long, but there are lots of pictures. If you want a copy of it, let me know and I'll e-mail you one.

I guess I haven't posted since the middle of August when Kolton was born. He's four months old now and has REALLY grown! He has acid reflux, so they've had them put cereal in his bottles since he was a few weeks old. I'm sure that has helped his weight gain. It must have also helped the acid reflux, because he's a much calmer, happier baby than Madison was when she had that.

I always have Thanksgiving here, so Kay and Randy came the day before so she could help me get ready. She and I went to the Dragon Buffet, while Randy drove through McDonald's. That evening, we baked the pies and made the dressing and the green bean casserole. I had already baked the squash. It's a good thing we did all that Wednesday night, because I woke up sick on Thursday. I got up and stuffed the turkey and went back to bed. I got up two more times, to make the sweet potato casserole and to make the gravy, which no one else knew how to do. Then I lay in bed while a dozen people ate in my family room. My kitty, Oz, kept me company. Kay took me to the ER that night and I was dehydrated and had flu and bronchitis. That's the last time I babysit for a little girl who is throwing up two days before Thanksgiving!

I have a new cat, but Oz hates her. I thought she would be company for him when I was on trips. My friend, Connie, and I were hiking in a park in Dayton, birdwatching, when a little cat came walking out from behind a tree. She was very friendly. I picked her up and she started purring. I know they have great horned owls there, and they're not above eating little cats, so she came home with me. With a male cat named Oz, of course I had to name her Dorothy. Her middle name is Marie, for the lady who donated the land for the park. She lived there till she was 104. Oz won't come out of the bedroom, so I have a litterbox and food and water in my bedroom! She wanders in, he hisses, she comes closer, he bats at her with his (declawed) paw, she bats back with her claws, and they both snarl. We shut her out of the bedroom at night. I'm hoping they'll become friends yet.

I went to Kay's the first weekend in December. I shut Dorothy in one part of the house and Oz in the other so they wouldn't kill each other. We did lots of shopping, mostly for the kids. Then Kay came back with me on Wednesday evening. We stopped in Dayton for my Photo Club Board Meeting, then came on home. Carson's birthday party was at Burger King on Saturday, Dec. 13. He was four. On Monday I met Randy partway and he took her home. They'll be back on Christmas Eve. We'll go to Heather's for the day, so they don't have to drag the kids out in the cold or haul all those toys back home.

I'm working on an outline for another book for Chicago Review Press. This one will be on environmentalists and will include Audubon, Thoreau, Rachel Carson, John Muir and others. I think it will be an interesting project.

Now I need to print out newsletters for those without e-mails and address the envelopes and get those sent. More later.