Monday, December 05, 2005, 20:36
And the Glory of the Lord Shone Round About Them. . .
There's nothing like standing around outside at night in 5 degree weather for a half an hour singing Christmas carols to make a person feel chilled to the bone. I figure I might warm up again someday. Maybe in April or May.
Our church choir provided the music for the Live Nativity in town Sunday night. You might know that the weather would be cold for the event. The lady standing in front of me was so cold, she started shivering and was shivering so much she couldn't hold onto the music. So, I held onto the music for us while she put her hands in her pockets. (Good thing I'm much taller than she is!) We were all dressed to the teeth, too, but it's still cold when you're just standing around.
The event, which has been held for 10 years, usually draws around 100 people, but because of the cold weather, we sang for an audience of 20.
The donkey, named Buckwheat, sang, too! He brayed while we sang. Either he was joining in, or it was a comment on our singing.
The sheep joined in as well, with a baa-baa here and a baa-baa there, bless their little woolly hearts. (I would have liked to have had some of their wool, but I decided the sheep probably needed it more than I did.)
At one point, I considered going over and telling our pastor to pick up the pace and read the Christmas story a little faster, but I didn't want to be impolite.
I also thought about telling the rest of the choir to sing faster -- but in retrospect, I think we were singing as fast as we could.
In the end, the Nativity was a success. Afterwards, we all went to the restaurant next door for hot chocolate and cookies. Didn't help much, though. I was cold for the rest of the night, and it wasn't until I covered up with a couple of quilts and blankets that I finally started to feel warmer again.
I was hoping that Randy could have gotten pictures of the Nativity as well as pictures of the choir, but we were in what is known as Tower Park, next to the municipal building, and the only streetlight was directly behind us. The rest of the park was darker yet.
Isabelle -- My poor little Isabelle has an "ouchie." I'm not sure if she's got an abscess or if she banged the back of her hock getting up and down off the cold ground, but she's got a big knot on the back of her leg (on what's known as the "point" of the hock). I noticed the knot Saturday morning. It looked as if it had been draining down her leg, plus her leg was swollen all the way down to her hoof. I called the vet. He was busy on the other side of the county all day, but when he got back to the office later in the afternoon, he set out some antibiotic and anti-inflammatory. Randy went into town to pick it up. Isabelle doesn't mind the antibiotic because I can mix it with her feed. She hates the anti-inflammatory (Bute) that comes in a tube and that I have to squirt into her mouth. As soon as she sees the tube, a distinctly worried and alarmed expression comes into her eyes. If I can manage to get the tip of the tube into her mouth, then I can usually get the meds in. Then she stands with her lip curled up. I suppose it tastes terrible.
The vet said I should give the medicine 4 or 5 days to work, and that if her leg doesn't look better by the end of the week, one of the vets should come out and take a look at her.
As my dad always used to say: "When you've got animals, if it's not one thing -- it's something else."
LeAnn R. Ralph
Saturday, December 03, 2005, 20:28
Woodworking
You should see the mallet that Randy made for me last weekend. He found the plans on the Internet and then used scrap hardwood that he had lying around his workbench.
"I don't think you could hit anything too hard with it," Randy said, holding up what he had made. "I don't think it would stand up to that."
"Well, maybe not," I said, "but I know what I am going to use it for."
"Hitting me when I'm not paying attention?" Randy asked.
Actually, once he mentioned it. . .
"No, of course I'm not going to hit you with it when you're not paying attention. Not that I wouldn't be tempted," I said, "but that would seem to be a waste of a perfectly good mallet."
"Ha-ha," Randy replied.
"No," I said, "I'm going to use it as a kitchen gadget!"
"Really?" Randy said.
"Yes," I said. "It will be perfect for crushing walnuts, peppermint candy, graham crackers or pretzels when I need them for a recipe."
"Oh, hey!" Randy said. "It would work for that, wouldn't it."
I don't own a food processor. It would just be something else to wash and to find a place to store it in the cupboard. But even if I did own one, I wouldn't use it to crush walnuts or peppermint candy, graham crackers or pretzels. I'd spend more time washing the food processor than I would in getting the stuff crushed. What I've done before this is put my walnuts or candy or crackers or pretzels in a plastic bag and then whack away at it -- or roll over it -- with my rolling pin. The rolling pin works, but it's kind of unhandy and unwieldy. The mallet, I'm thinking, will be much easier to use.
And now I'm looking forward to Randy's next project -- a rubber band shooter! He's going to make them for the little niece and nephews for Christmas. They range in age from 4 to 10, so it ought to be a lot of fun. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
