Last Night at the Ranch and 159 Sledding Santa Entries....

Louis Dean and his son have been working on the bathroom plumbing all afternoon.

They only stopped when Dean had to leave to teach his Karate class tonight.

They will be back at it around 10:00 in the morning.

The shower is now hooked up and the sink and toilet are not far behind.

I walked down to the meadow this afternoon for a last visit. We must go home tomorrow. The light was beautiful at 5:00 - 6:00 and played the yellows and greens against each other in the trees. I forgot to take a photo - I was so enthralled with the magic of observing fall happen right there in front of my eyes.

I phoned a dear friend while I was still in the meadow and we had the best phone chat! I just love talking to Linda and we have such great discussions.....about all sorts of things! At one point, the ducks were honking and the roosters were crowing and things got so noisy we had to say goodbye!

I walked back to the camper and started supper and then took the peelings and scrapings from the vegetables down to the goats. Sherry was just bringing them in. I helped her transfer her baby peafowl and the fancy white chickens with feathered feet from the daytime tractor pen to the sturdy pen for the night. They would be easy prey for the coyotes if left in the more flimsy one. Sherry likes for them to be able to get out on real grass during the day.

I have always loved looking in the windows of houses at night.

When I was a little girl, Mother would take us for car rides at night. My favorites were the windows with the little curtains pulled up in the middle of each side - very old fashioned and so homey and cozy they seemed to me. When I came around the camper and saw in the window, I snapped this photo and felt grateful for the little lights and the cozy feel of our camper home.

I served roasted carrots, potatoes and onions.....

along with Pulled Pork BBQ sliders and Bush's Sriracha Baked Beans.

While the food cooked, Louis Dean and I sat with our wine on the deck and admired the last campfire of October.

The sky was sprinkled with tiny diamond stars and the air was chilly.

A perfect evening to be here.

This afternoon I painted on my Santas......

I really like the way this one is turning out.

Green leaves and holly berries will be painted around the fence pieces and I may brighten up the sky a tiny bit.

I have one more session to do on this Chimney Santa and I need to fix his eyes. They look like they are closed and that won't do!

For the second Chimney Santa I thought it would be fun to turn him the opposite direction.

Another long session with this one, too.

So far, I think I have put in 3 solid hours of painting on each one of these Santas.

I try to paint a complete canvas in 4 hours. Now, those 4 hours are spread out over several days, allowing the oils to dry enough to work the other colors around them. That's why I keep several paintings going at the same time.

Next Wednesday morning Louis Dean will draw the winning name for the Sledding Santa Giveaway.

As of this moment, there are 159 entries. Every comment since October 15th - both on the blog and/or on the Facebook link has counted as an entry.

I love this photo from earlier tonight!

Louis Dean is standing in the doorway saying......