The mouse wars are over for now!

Yes, the mice are gone for now....even after all this cold weather the past week and a half. I was even brave enough to thoroughly clean and put everything back in the drawers and cabinets. We'll see.........

And the house survived the cold weather perfectly - no busted pipes, leaks or other consequences - except of course, the power bill!

I spent the weekend cleaning, and Tom worked outside taking down some trees to improve our view from the deck.

And here are a few presents for the Roost that I forgot to include in earlier blogs.....

One of my colleagues at the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation gave me this window hanging - it doesn't compete with Lee's message on her barn, but the sentiment is the same!

Tom's ex-wife gave us this great collage of family photos taken at Savannah's birthday party in November - it is our first hung picture at the Roost!

And Lucy found this great chicken for us - she now guards the "Twin Suite"!

Happy New Year!

We spent the holiday at the Roost....It was an interesting weekend, weather-wise. We planned to go up on New Year's Eve, but they were having gusts up to 70 mph, so we stayed home until New Year's Day. That day turned out to be sunny and beautiful. Rilla came up that day for her complimentary weekend for winning the "what's Tom doing?" contest.

Our neighbors, Donald and Brenda, came by to see the house and bring us a beautiful bouquet of flowers as a housewarming gift. That night, we all went down the hill to the old house, and Lee and Danny had the traditional New Year's meal - ham, collard greens and blackeyed peas for health, wealth and happiness during the new year.

We woke Friday morning to a beautiful snow... It was all gone by the afternoon, but it was beautiful while it was coming down!

We're still fighting the mice, but there's really only one stubborn one that loves the area under the kitchen sink. Tom will be meeting the exterminator up there this week, so hopefully the problem will go away soon......I'm tired of storing all my pots, pans and cutlery on the kitchen counter!

Tom cut down some straggly trees, and I finished ironing the drapes. That's about all we accomplished this weekend. My cleaning service in Winston gave us a beautiful apple pie candle that looks amazingly real for Christmas, and we brought it up to the Roost. It looks perfect in the kitchen!