66

I had another birthday last week, this one to mark the end of my 66th year here.  Like most people, that number doesn't make sense in my brain, but my body is aware of the mounting years of use.

I had a nice day of phone calls, cards, Facebook greetings, text messages and then a chorus of Happy Birthday sung by the Bridge group.  I ended the evening with basketball at Chetek, the Luck boys played Baldwin-Woodville in a holiday game.  BW is a much bigger school than Luck, so it was exciting to see them get the win.  Gage had 24 points and a good game.

The morning of my birthday I had the Sears appliance repairman here to work on the washer.  When he left I was pretty sure it was not repairable.  Sure enough, the next morning I got an email from the Sears Home Warranty folks telling me that they were going to replace the washer.  So, I had the option to take a check and I did that.  I got right over to our Sears Homestore and bought a nice new Kenmore which will be delivered and set up on the 10th of January.  I'll probably have to visit the laundromat one time to get me through, but that's okay, it's not a big deal.  It will be nice to have a new washer.  I'm glad that I have kept the home warranty with Sears, it gives me one phone number to call for any appliance problems, and all the premiums were paid for with this failure.

Friday night was another ballgame.  The Luck boys won again.  Gage did not have as good of a showing but others stepped up.  After the game, Kyle, Heather, Lois, Harry, Stella, Jude and I went out for a bite to eat at Adventures.  It was a very nice evening with the family.

Great niece Emily was at the game.

Great nephew Jude sporting his Christmas Eve battle scar.
He's a resilient little guy.

I feel like I had a really nice birthday this year, thanks to the attention of all my friends and family.

Life is very good.

Silent Night

Merry Christmas all.

This photo is Luck,  Wisconsin on Christmas Eve night. 

Losing is hard

Last Friday night I watched Great Niece Alyxis play basketball in Spring Valley.  It was a tough loss for the girls, but I was impressed that they continued to hustle and play hard the whole game.

It's early in the season, I am pretty sure we will see good improvement in the play execution and teamwork by this group of young women.

Nice shot Lex!

Win or lose, I still love to watch her play.

And she always has a post game hug and smile for me.

Alyxis and her Great kAunt Wanda

Woody the Woodpecker was here

I used to love that cartoon, Woody the Woodpecker.

Woody first aired in 1957 and wrapped up his TV run in 1958, but I must have watched syndicated reruns for years after.  Woody was always involved in some kind of escapade and often times the script included nuggets that only the adults would recognize for more than just cartoon humor.

Flash forward 60 years, and a real life Woody the Woodpecker comes to my bird feeders quite often.

Today it was the female.  The distinguishing mark is a red stripe along the beak, clearly missing here, but very obvious in the male of the species.

These huge birds can really plow through a suet block.

Often, these large birds do a trapeze act to hang on to the suet log and still manage to peck away.

But today, she perched on the platform seed feeder right outside the living room window.

More than once, but never caught on film, I saw her long stringy tongue dart out to snag a sunflower seed.  It would happen in a split second.

She was also stretching her neck up and back, in some kind of display that I did not understand.

Maybe she saw a reflection in the window?

I'll never know.

Anyway, I enjoyed seeing her up close.

Her feathers are beautiful.

Under her chin, a little lacy effect of white, perhaps a nod to Ruth Bader Ginsburg?

Just the tip of her ~2 inch tongue.

Posturing for some reason known only to her.

 I enjoyed her visit today, and the fact that it was a sunny, winter day, made it all the better.

Peaceful

Not a creature is stirring. 

I had hoped to go watch girl's basketball in Luck tonight,  but snow flurries off and on during the day took me out of the mood. So,  I'll stay home and watch with 🤞fingers crossed that our local contestant on The Voice makes it through to the next round. Chris Kroeze has done well so far, I've been voting and streaming his song to help move him along. 

Outside,  I got my big candles lit up on the front steps.  This is the view from my Wyze camera that is mounted on the garage.  I think it looks quite peaceful.

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Update: I have relocated the security camera to the front porch. I learned that another company was making enclosure for the little Wyze camera. I ordered one from Amazon and attached it to the pergola over the front door. Now I should not get any more false alarms as the camera can no longer see the street so it will not alert me to all traffic in the neighborhood, only if that traffic is in my driveway. I'm quite pleased with my inexpensive security system. The wise camera was twenty bucks and the enclosure was another 12 dollars. Here's the new view. The bright spots of light are the tops of the Christmas candles, so they are only temporary.