Not As Planned

Thanksgiving did not go exactly as I'd planned or hoped and it's no one's fault but my own.  Bless all my Kids for their kindness and my friends for their patience.

Some of the guys stayed over.  Dave sleeps best in the recliner, and Larry took the only available bed.  Joe and Pete got stuck with the couches.  Couldn't get the downstairs gas fireplace to light and it was like a deep-freeze down there.  Larry and Joe took off in the morning.  It's been a long time, but Dave, Pete and I watched back-to-back Man Flicks, action films, all day.  If I left the room, I'd come back and ask how many had been killed in the few minutes I'd been gone.  "Three, with number four coming up."  Definitely a guy thing.

The crew had taken over barn chores Thursday night.  The goats are well into their routine.  There was only one mix-up when Cindy and Sheila got put into the wrong stalls.  Yesterday morning, Sheila complained long and loud about having to sleep in "her" (Cindy's) bedroom.

It never got out of the 30s yesterday and a cold, cold wind blew.  I'm thankful for all the extra firewood.  We needed it!

I'd hoped for a longer visit with Pete.  Years go by sometimes before I see him, but he had to take a bus back to SoCal to deal with insurance and how to get transportation.  All in one piece, and nothing broken or needing a Band-Aid.  It's all good.

Day Off

My apologies, but I'm taking the day off.  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  I'm particularly thankful for my family and friends who took over when I bailed out early.

Giving Thanks

There are many, many reasons in my life for which to be thankful, but today I am especially grateful that my son Pete walked away unhurt from a hit-and-run accident last night that totaled his car somewhere out in boonies of the San Joaquin valley.  I was plugging along in the kitchen about 5:30 when Pete called to tell me that traffic was so bad that it had taken him three hours just to get north of Los Angeles and he might arrive here a little later than planned.  He thought he was somewhere down around Merced.  I warned him of the icy roads up here and to be careful and not push it.  (The chili was made, cornbread not yet.)

Not ten minutes later the phone rang again.  Pete's voice was shaky as he told me he'd been rear-ended, his car was totaled (rear wheel completely sheared off), and after hitting another car, the coward had taken off like a bat.  "Are you hurt?!"  "No, Mom, but I don't know where I am and how I'm going to get out of here."  While he waited for CHP to arrive, and being reassured that he truly was unhurt, I put out calls to his siblings.  I am also grateful that my family truly is "one for all, and all for one."  After a flurry of round-robin calls and it was determined that the police had given Pete a ride to the town of Tulare, Larry headed out to go get his brother.  Larry would take Pete home for the night and they will be here today.

And, silly me, this is what had me worried for the travelers.  This is hail, not snow, although there were flurries of snowflakes off and on throughout the day.  A half-hour of hail left hail two inches deep in places.

It had been one of those "wading in Jell-O" days.  I did get a lot of the prep work done, but there is much left to do.

Ralph and Celeste had the right idea.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just A Minute

Overcast, windy and cold(!) yesterday morning.  It was, as our friend Pooh would say, "...a blustery day."  Helper Dude showed up just as I was ready to step out the door to head for the barn.  I really wouldn't have blamed him had he chosen to stay warm indoors at home, but he chose to work.  He set about splitting rounds for firewood and I went about my chores, shutting the big door to the coop and leaving the play yard gate open for the goats.  Rain held off until I was back in the house.  I'll say this for HD, he doesn't dog it with any task.  In two hours, he'd split and stacked nearly two cords of wood.  He's a good kid and a great help to me.  With rain pelting down at last, he roared off on his quad, headed to his next job.

I much prefer those "aha!" moments.  Instead, what I had yesterday was a "smack yourself in the forehead, duh" revelation when I realized I had no pumpkin for the pumpkin pies.  Happily, there was a let-up in the rain when I headed up to the local grocery store.  Coming back down on the S-turns near Happy Valley Rd., there was a breathtaking break in the clouds and I pulled over to take the shot.  It only took a minute and rain again kicked in as I drove away.

Back home and the groceries unloaded (never waste a trip for just one item), I glanced out and saw this.  The cold nights of late have finally brought color to the hills, too pretty to pass up.  In the minute it took to step outside, a flurry of snowflakes fell and then it was over.  Back inside, with that wealth of firewood on hand, I lit the stove.  Frugal versus frozen, I chose to be warm.  After dark, hail pounded on the deck.  That didn't last long, either.

Fully expecting to see snow this morning, the deck is surprisingly clear.  That could change in a minute.

Pete is making the long trip up from SoCal today.  Me?  I'll be doing all the prep work for tomorrow.

It was a good day.

The Big Picture

Narcissus must be in turkey seventh heaven.  He's been crooning to his reflection in the truck bumper for some time, but yesterday he discovered the "big picture" in the glass of the shed storm door!  Oh joy!  A full-size image, and he turned this way and that to admire that fine boy, singing all the while.  That shed is where I store the feed for the wild birds, the first stop in the morning routine.  Narcissus was reluctant to leave his mirror but I needed to get going.  Coming back up later from the barn, I found him there again, preening and strutting back and forth.  I don't know whether to laugh or feel bad for him.

I guess downstairs won't see much action when the gang gets here on Thursday.  There is a gas fireplace down there, but I discovered the danged thing won't turn on.  Early last week I put in a call to a repair service and left a desperate message.  They called me back yesterday.  The earliest appointment I could get is December 10.  That's fine for Christmas, but isn't much help for Thanksgiving.  Trust me, it's like a deep-freeze downstairs and unless the Kids are dressed for the Arctic, the bar won't get any takers and woe betide any sleep-overs in the frigid dorm.  (I've got plenty of sleeping bags, just in case.)

As for the upstairs, on our afternoon outing, Bessie Anne and I took advantage of the sunny day to stock the wood rack on the porch.  Unless it gets really cold, I make do with a heavier jacket indoors and hoard the firewood like it was gold.  I can't ask guests to do the same.  The sky (barely visible just now) doesn't look promising, but if the rain holds off, Helper Dude is coming today to split more rounds.  He knows he will be on his own because he only has the morning available and we all know where I spent my morning hours.

I get up early.  My cellphone prefers to sleep in and it takes awhile for it to wake up and face the day.  I compulsively check the weather app first thing.  Half awake, CP gives me yesterday's temps.  "No, dear, it's Tuesday, not Monday.  Please catch up."  It knows what day it is in Chino, but it takes coaxing to give me the correct day and forecast for Fair Play.  Oh well.  Until CP wakes up and gets with the program, I can check the house thermometer and when it's light enough I can look out and see what the day might hold in store, weatherwise.

Prepping for what is to come, I turned off unnecessary water faucets yesterday so those pipes don't freeze.  Deck plants will have to depend on nature's water for the duration.

Perfect Ending

So many things got checked off the To-Do list yesterday, this in the midst of watching the last NASCAR race of the season.  After sitting on my duff for days, it felt so good to finally accomplish something.

At the end of a productive day, walking out into this sunset was the icing on the cake.  But there was more to come.  The weather app on my phone is still showing a snowflake for Wednesday so, in the spirit of being proactive, I pulled the winter fleece sheets out of the linen closet for my bed and a flannel set for the guest room.  I'd forgotten how comfy, snuggly good it feels to climb between those soft sheets.  No ice-cold shock to the feet last night.  It was the perfect ending to a really good day.

Hatches Battened

It has been so warm the last few days (low 60s) that I've been holding off covering the window openings in the goat barn.  The girls do love to look out and the breeze has been cooling their stalls, so I waited.  Even a jacket was too warm in the barn yesterday, making it hard to think that winter is just around the corner.  However, given the rainy, cold, even snowy forecast for this coming week, discretion seemed the better part of valor and I'd rather put up the board covers in sunshine rather than have water dripping off the eaves and down my neck.  Always curious, the girls were in my way as I worked.  I'll still hear their complaints when it rains, but now they'll be protected at night when temperatures drop.

Since Pete is coming up a day ahead of Thanksgiving, I've been trying to think of a dinner menu for that night.  Obviously, chicken would be a foul (pun intended) in light of turkey the next day.  It was a bad case of wishful thinking when I bought some baby Brussels sprouts, hoping that Pete had outgrown his aversion to green vegetables.  "Would you consider roasted Brussels sprouts, Pete?"  (No pause.)  "No."  Hmmm.  In response to some following suggestions, the third time he mentioned cornbread I decided chili and cornbread would be it.  Doesn't take a brick wall to fall on me.  I got the hint.

As is often the case when there are many items on the To-Do list, I am overwhelmed into inaction.  Not much got done yesterday besides battening down the hatches on the barn.  I seem to get more done as the deadline approaches.  In the meantime, the list continues to grow.