On one of the cards I got when I went to the post office yesterday, Yunlin asked a question that maybe not everyone who reads here knows the answer to: why do we call it Crooked Acres?
It’s a pretty simple answer, actually. This house is 81 years old, and over time, the house has settled, and everything isn’t as square as it was when it was built. It was while we were renovating the house (we spent seven months renovating the house before we moved in, and wasn’t THAT a lot of fun!) that I realized just how crooked some areas of the house are, and I said in frustration “God, everything in this house is crooked. Even the property line isn’t straight! Everything is crooked!”
A minute later, I said “Crooked Acres! That’s what I’m calling this place!”, and it’s stuck ever since.
(If you’re interested, you can see a room by room comparison of the house, before and after, here. The majority of the renovation consisted of painting, putting up molding around the ceilings, and having the floors done.)
Sights from around Crooked Acres.
We haven’t decorated for Christmas in three or four years – at least, not in the house, I decorated the front porch a couple of years ago – but I really love Christmas lights, and so this year I bought a small tree to hang on the wall! I need to do something about hiding the cords, and the tree is shaped oddly (needs to be floofed, I think), but walking down the hallway and seeing the reflection of the tree lights in the picture hanging near the front door makes me happy.
Catie made a set of these, and I love them.
I was stumped for a tree topper, didn’t like any of the ones in the store, and then I was looking through my ornaments and found this. Cat angel – please, is there anything more perfect for us?
This is my hands-down favorite ornament of all. I think I bought about 10 of them, several years ago.
Santa-hat bumblebee.
Another fisherman-with-lobster ornament.
Made by a reader. Aren’t they adorable?
That’s right, a nativity in my house, and lightning did not strike me dead!
I love this floppy-legged cow. I’m actually not quite sure why it’s considered a Christmas decoration, except that I bought it at Christmas time, and it’s wearing a bright red sweater, so there you go.
I know these are cheesy, but I just love to turn them on at bedtime and lay and watch the lights change. Don’t judge me.
Cardinal with a mouth full of seeds.
Tufted Titmouse.
Tufted Titmouse and… Sparrow, maybe?
Sparrows, perhaps.
Woodpecker.
Angry Muppet is annoyed. You’d know that if you could see her face.
The rooster with, as someone so aptly termed it yesterday, the feather leggings. We have other feather-legged chickens, but this guy’s legs are especially feathered.
The head rooster, on his way to do something important, apparently.
Chickens love pasta.
Featherhead.
Head rooster, keeping an eye on Angry Muppet.
Chickens are good for taking care of the leftover junk food.
Panoramic shot of the chickens.
Zombie hen is purty (as Mary Ellen pointed out, Zombie hen wants graaaaaaaains. Graaaaaains.)
According to Fred, this is a kestrel. Whatever it is, he was eyeballing the chickens. Edited to add: apparently it’s a Red-tailed Hawk (thanks, Nevermind!)
(It wasn’t as low as it looks in this picture. I had the long lens aimed at it.)
No chickens for you, Mister Kestrel Red-tailed Hawk!
We put straw in and around the cat house in the back yard. The cats weren’t sure what they thought about it at first, but if you look closely, you’ll see Tom Cullen’s green eyes peering out from the back of the cat house.
OldCat has an interesting post up about tails, go check it out here.
Finally, a shot of all four of them! That’s Clay in the front, and of course y’all know the gorgeous Jax. Next to Jax is Opie, and in the scratcher is Tig.
I don’t know what’s going on over there, but Opie clearly finds it interesting.
Tig gives us his smoldering look.
The gorgeous Jax with water on his chin.
Opie (front) and Tig (glaring in the background).
His eyes have mostly changed, but I love that you can still see just a bit of blue around the edges.
Joe Bob is a shoe hoarder, obviously.
“What? I’ve got four feet. I need a lot of shoes!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2010: “My nose is dirty and I DON’T LIKE IT.”
2009: If that look on her face doesn’t say “smug”, I don’t know what does.
2008: I suppose I can live with being woken up at 4 in the morning, stumbling to the door, and opening it to let them out into the house.
2007: No entry.
2006: Last night, I had every kitten but Merry asleep in my lap
2005: No entry.