Christmas Day Catch-up

Merry Christmas, my friends! I wasn't sure I would have time to post today, but here I am. I hope you're all enjoying your holiday today. We made it out of our hilltop hideaway, known affectionately as the Three Cats Ranch, in good time this morning. We got out just by the skin of our teeth, though. 

Backing up a few days, we had a pretty view of Mt. St. Helens.

Since we were hosting dinner on Christmas Eve, we couldn't leave sooner than Christmas Day. We gave ourselves a leisurely schedule to pack. During that time, I made some Double Chocolate Decadence Biscotti. 

This was a new recipe to me. I want to mess with it a little bit before I share it with you. The biscotti were softer than I like them. I've had success with replacing the butter with egg yolks in the past, and I'd like to try it with this recipe. They taste good, but they aren't crispy enough for my taste. As you might guess, that didn't stop us from eating them.

Also, I started on the first of nine blocks for the Blackwork Baskets quilt. By Friday morning, I'd filled the first hoop.

I decided to stitch these in stem stitch. I like the nice smooth line I get with that.

Okay, and so Christmas Eve started looking downright scary for people wanting to get out with a big fifth wheel the next day. Also, I worried the kids wouldn't be able to make it up to our house for Christmas dinner, and I'd made a *LOT* of food. We had a big prime rib to feed six people with leftovers. Also on the menu: garlic mashed potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts, and tart green beans with bacon. I baked a cranberry cheesecake as well. As it turns out, they were able to make it with no problems at all. Mae brought a beautiful charcuterie board, and we had a wonderful evening.

Earlier on Christmas Eve, we decided to go ahead with our plans to take the fifth wheel down to the Ford dealership in our little town of Newberg. We were fairly certain we'd be able to get out with our four-wheel drive truck, but we worried about towing a big trailer even a little way on slushy/snowy/icy/winding roads. We were glad we did. When we awakened this morning, it looked like this:

Another good reason for taking the fifth wheel down the hill was low-hanging branches. We hadn't really thought about that, but we know now. It's a little hard to see in the busy image below, but you can see the branch I've marked with a red arrow. It was only about five feet off the ground, and it would have loved scratching the paint off the side of the fifth wheel. As it was, we could drive around it with the truck.

Since we can't get over the pass at the Siskiyou Summit, we drove to the Oregon coast, and we'll head south from here. We're spending our first night in Winchester Bay, Oregon. We even had a little sunshine and blue sky when we arrived.

This is the view from our living room window. 

The kitties are such good travelers. They knew just what to do, including becoming immediately consternated at the sight of a man walking by with a stupid woofie.

We knew it was a stupid woofie because all woofies are stupid.

Just look at it over there...acting stupid.

Checking the mailbox one last time before leaving home, we found this little cutie sent by my good friend, Darlene. Thank you, Darlene. Darlene made this little kitty with her embroidery machine. She stuffed it with crackly paper, and the kitties are testing it out for her.

Sadie took first "crack" at it.

Look at this, Smitty! It looks just like you!

Lemme see that, Sadie. The colors are purrfect, but I think the tail is all you.

Oh...I see what you mean. Yes, a purrfect comma tail...like mine.

Sadie was distracted when she noticed an open cupboard she had yet to explore. She had to strrrrrrrretch to her full height...and she isn't very tall.

Yeah...we shut that down pretty quickly, and she went back to her treat bowls. When the food bowls are in their places, everything is good in kittyland.

Okay, so today was just a day of driving, getting out of the way of snowpocalypse. We're expecting snow to fall to the valley floor by tonight, but we should be fine over here next to the Pacific Ocean. We're here for just one night, then heading south to Fortuna, California, tomorrow. We'll spend the next three nights there, recuperating from a very busy week.

Tomorrow's post will be my "Best of 2021" post, and so I won't update you again until the 27th. I hope you all had a very merry and peaceful Christmas. We're just happy to be headed south where we'll find warmth in a day or two.