November 25, 2011



A peek at the winter sun





Rose and her fire wood sled












Sated. That is certainly the word for yesterday, and even into this morning. We spent Thanksgiving day cooking and doing crossword puzzles, then ate at about 2:30 pm. It was one of the best holiday meals I have ever eaten: turkey cooked with strips of bacon crisscrossed on top and basted with a mixture of butter and red wine infused with seasonings, bourbon sweet potatoes, gravy, novelak (a Lithuanian bread stuffing loaf), cranberry sauce and green bean casserole with french fried onions. I was a little concerned that the wine might overwhelm the taste of the turkey, but it simply gave it and the gravy a full bodied taste.  The bacon on the turkey is a Southern recipe.  Moments before we sat down to eat, it began to snow. A perfect day.

On Wednesday we pulled the skewed tire and tracks off one side of MAX and discovered that all except one of the lug nuts attaching the axle extender had come off. Nothing was broken, but the bolts need to be reskored. The only way we can figure that happened is if JB got interrupted and forgot to tighten those nuts. The day had warmed up to 32, which made everything much easier to do than when it was 17!

JB had purchased an inexpensive plastic sled on Tuesday for me to use in bringing the fire wood to the house.  (See photo above.)  The wood shed is uphill from the house, so I just have to be careful that the sled doesn't get down before I do.  Certainly a lot easier than carrying the wood.  Might even use the sled for sledding.  The only problem is that while there are some great downhill runs, there's just no safe place to stop unless I can turn the sled easily.  I could keep going right on down to RJ's and land on his roof.

A lot of the snow melted on Wednesday, but it turned cold again that night and was back down into the mid twenties on Thanksgiving.  JB had planned to drive his Jeep to town today to buy a kit with which to reskore the bolts on the axle extender, but now everything under the new fallen snow is ice.  He thought he might just put on his YakTrax and walk down to my Jeep, but the way it's snowing and blowing out there right now, I doubt he is going to do that.  Not sure why he wanted to go Down There on Black Friday anyway.

And speaking of great deals, I got several on-line last night.  No waiting in line.  No pushing.  No shoving.  I love the Internet!

As we sat eating our Thanksgiving dinner and watching the snow fall, it was another of those moments when I realized just how lucky we are to have had the opportunity to make this life for ourselves.  It is difficult to be away from family during the holidays, but there's really no place else I'd rather be than Up Here. 

Thought for the day:  Every moment of the year has its own beauty.  Emerson