Merry Christmas to all of the friends and family of the Matt+AM pack! We all hope that your Christmas season is as beautiful and blessed as our is.
It's been pretty busy around the den lately. Dad and Mom built a hearth pad for our new wood stove - it only took them 8 trips to the hardware store, and 1 trip to the emergency room. Yup, Mom caught her paw in the circular saw while ripping a board for the trim. Fortunately, she was wearing gloves, so it was a millimeter or so short of the nerve and artery, and while she's got a lovely scar, her left index finger is just fine. Another good thing about living in a small town - no wait at the emergency room!
We haven't been hiking much lately - the weather has been kind of crazy for this time of year. We've had some really cold weather, then it warms up and rains - no white Christmas this year! Just some leftover ice piles that are slippery as all get out. BTW, Mom and Dad invested in some Kahtoola Microspikes this year - a mini-crampon - and they work much better than Yaktracks on ice.
It's also been pretty quiet on the fire front. We've only had one chimney fire call, and that one was an easy one, and a couple of medical calls. Dad and Mom have been busy putting together some powerpoint training slides for new firefighters - since this is an all-volunteer effort, nobody's had the time (or the training) to build a real training plan or a curiculm. It's a slow process of course, but it should improve continuity and make it easier for new firefighters coming into the department.
Mom continues to sing with her church choir. They're doing the Christmas Vigil Mass tonight, with a full 30 minutes of 4-part harmony pre-Mass music, plus a bunch more during Mass, along with the normal Christmas carols. Mom has discovered that she's actually a better musician than she thought she was - the time to actually practice really helps!
Dad continues to work on reloading for his pistols - he makes it to the range every week or so. Which is a good thing, because you may remember that Mom saw a mountain lion a while back? Well, a mountain lion has been creating some minor havoc in our neighborhood - it's taken a small dog, been blamed for running a horse to death, and created all kinds of controvery between the old-timers, hunters and California-type newcomers. Here's an article - if you're interested enough to read it, make sure you scroll down through some of the comments - some of it is really amazing and kind of scary. Good thing Dad and Mom built this nice fence so me and Blockhead can run around on our property safely. http://www.ravallirepublic.com/articles/2009/12/18/news/news91.txt
Talk about everybody overreacting!
Dad and Mom have also been getting out in the evenings for fun stuff a little more often too. They've been to three concerts in the last couple of months - the Bitterroot Chorus Christmas concert (all volunteer choir), an Irish band named Solas (very good) and just last week, Kathy Mattea - she brought just a small acoustic band with her, and they were awesome! They did all of her big hits, some beautiful Christmas stuff, and a version of the Stones' "Give Me Shelter" that knocked our socks off! Next year they'll suscribe to the entire season - they didn't find out about this series until it was too late.
So, that's pretty much the news from here - have a happy, quiet, blessed and fun Christmas!
Matt, AM, Daphne and Schultz
.jpg)