Treeburn 2007

Another year bites the dust, and as we say hello to 2008 we rid ourselves of some of the spare baggage of 2007, i.e. used Christmas trees. A small gathering this year but still lively. Hope all your new years glow like a tree on fire!

David Jaden Gramblin

I will have a link to more images by this weekend.

Merry Christmas from Eastside Orbans

Happy Christmas to all!!

(Mom's earrings designed by Cathy Orban)

The stockings were hung by the chimley

Sugar levels enhanced with fudge and xmas cookies, Wild Orbans prepare for the annual visit from Santa and the elves.....

10 Fingers 10 Toes

David Jaden Gramblin. 12/23/07 5.33am. 8lbs 1 oz, 20 1/2 inches. mother and baby doing very well. I'm into hour 33 of the baby extravaganza and running out of steam. I'll add some photos soon, and announcements via snail-mail to follow.

Winter Solstice Offerings

From the bottom of my audio bag, I offer a story which draws my spirit to and time to time which I draw from. Hope you enjoy...

Another Solstice

A Happy Winter Solstice to all ye pagans, and anyone else who cares. Taking the rare opportunity to use someone's digital camera, I humbly offer these photos from the day.

Another Birthday

Another day another birthday. That pretty much sums up December on our birthday calendar. We've got 16 birthdays spread throughout the month as well as a few anniversaries and of course "the big one". Haven't heard any news from DGram but soon should have another name to add to the list.
We love you P.E. , glad you've made it another year and hope you're here for many more.

Old-timers

Yeah, they both have joined the quarter century club. Congrats!

Sometimes it seems like...

thanks for keepin' the blog alive. Sorry to hear about your troubles, glad to hear you're dealing with 'em. Sometimes it's a good kick in the ass to know you're not suffering alone. Talked to 'Hawk" yesterday; they finally got power back on and "prairie" is home for a visit. The rhythm of the season has been bent but not broken; we're trying to get back on track...finally have a tree in the house and made fudge and cookie dough last night. Unfortunately C's mom is in hospital with broken hip so we'll have another strange holiday. Thanks for all b-day thoughts and wishes and by the way Wild Horse Feed & Seed has received the package...thanks babbling brook!

12 Broken Days of Christmas

Upon Monday the heat went down and the teeth were a chatter,

Tuesday night Gwen and I awoke with fright from a cabinet crashing clatter,

Last but not least the house was finally settled at peace,

When today while away,

With no more than a creak, the damn cold water line sprang a sky shooting leak!

We are skipping Christmas caroling and moving straight to liquored eggnog this year ;-)

Hope everyone has their heat back on in O.K.

Happy Happy Happy Birthday

Felize Cumpleanos you rascals, One good looking family there. Here's my imeem addition for the errrr (year?). I know its not May nor Spring but its my version of Christmas...

Birthday Girls

We survived the storm and celebrate in style with lots and lots of sugar. Of course the twins don't need any more sugar as they are quite sweet enough. Here's a few photos from years past...time sure flies!

How Tinman shared his big day

Even though the twins don't turn 9 until tomorrow, eleven girls took over the kitchen and made Christmas ornaments and ate commercial quantities of sugar. Very fun. Ivy and Alaina hosted 9 friends and Steve documented the extravaganza. Happy birthday to all and to all a good night.

The Ice Storm Cometh

Woke up this morning to a quarter inch of ice on everything. Luckily the ground is still warm enough to keep the roads safe and we happen to be in the corridor with the least accumulation. Expect more of it the next 48 hours so probably looking at a day or two off for the kiddies.
That's it for the weather report, now back to the news...

Feral Carols

The debate rages on: what is the worst Christmas carol? My pal Beth would cast her vote for the 1950s ditty "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas," which, according to Wikipedia, was performed by a little OKC girl as a fundraiser to buy a hippo for the zoo. Go figure!

Personally, I would pick "Christmas Shoes," which is the sappy tale of a little boy who wants to buy a pair of shoes for his sick mama so she'll look nice if she "meets Jesus tonight." That's nice, but ... shoes? It's just too melodramatic and weird for a Christmas carol, in the country song "I lost my car-dog-house-wife" tradition. And the children in the chorus who sound like aliens .. bizarre.

Any nominations?

Winter Evening

Horses scrounging for bits of green. Soon it will be down to seeds & stems. Thank goodness for a barn full of hay!

Mt.Manure

Centrally located in the confines of the WildOrbanRanch, Mt. Manure is ever changing. From meager beginnings it grows day by day ,wheel barrow by wheelbarrow. As it grows it compresses under it's own weight untill it must be turned over. After it has been turned several times and has a chance to 'stew in it's own juices' the manure becomes a nice organic fertilizer. This black gold is mined by local and not so local gardeners but no matter how much is taken away the mountain continues to grow.
You might think someone with access to this bottomless supply of fertilizer would have the best garden in the county, but unfortunately this is not the case...I do grow a nice bed of weeds! We get our share of peppers and tomatoes, cucumbers and such but can't seem to keep up with the ever encroaching weeds and grass. I guess maybe I'm still rebelling against my childhood which seemed to be filled with weed pulling, bug picking and cultivating. More respect to Jim Orban who still gets the job done and does have one of the best gardens in the county!

Heavy Horses

The Girls are very excited about leaving their Cloverbuddies behind and becoming "big" 4-H members - they got to vote in the officer elections for 2008 held last weekend. But, while still happy little cloverbuds, we went to visit the Clydesdale's who live west of Claremore in October. The kids got to ride in the cart, drive the 1-horse hitch and to ride a Clyde too. Very gentle giants but could squish your toes if they step on your foot.

Down on the Farm

Here's a classic scene from the old homestead. Every morning five stalls, about 25 pounds each. In foul weather when the horsies are impounded it's necessary to clean the stalls twice. Needless to say, we endup with quite a large pile-o-crap...not all bad.
Next up: manure mountain.

In a one-horse open sleigh

Here is an ever-so majestic example of the beasts on display at today's Christmas parade in Lawrence. I like this parade because it forgoes all the overhyped, plasticky, gimmicky, wasteful nonsense of this "religious" holiday (who are we kidding?) and instead what you have is a parade that is very quiet and almost... boring. About 80 sleigh teams from around the central Midwest come to town, put bells on their horses, and trot four blocks downtown. This year the attraction was the "Express Personnel" Clydesdales, who were so wussy (or high profile? are there clydesdale assassins?) they actually drove the team down the street in a semi truck.

Coming back to the George Costanza post, it would be nice to regress to a time when I could enjoy the holidays without feeling guilty about how much I have compared to other people, how much energy is consumed by little old me. What is to be done? Maybe this is just a "new adult" feeling that will subside with time, cynical as that sounds. I can't change the world by fretting and frowning, but I can do a little here and there and otherwise try to make those around me feel happy. Just like these wee donkeys pulling that cart, real progress is slow going.

So instead of being a grinch, I think I'll count a finch. (Audubon Christmas Bird Count)