2010 - Day Three Hundred Fifty Nine...

Merry Christmas to you all. I hope you were able to make and enjoy your observations of the season as you saw fit, that is the whole point of living in a free country. A very big thank you to all of those that work every minute of every day to ensure those freedoms are maintained. ALSO, I hope you all received the gift or gifts of your liking, which is a lot different from getting what you deserved.

We now return to our regularly scheduled program.

I found out the hard way (or the cold way) that there were certain things that I wish I had done yesterday A). Before it rained and B). Before the temperatures outside plunged to coldness. Okay, so it was about 45 or fifty degrees when I went outside to feed the cattle and take them a fresh bale of hay. It felt A LOT colder. And several of the cattle were in the barn, and were not that thrilled to exit so I could put out their feed. The whole process took about 45 minutes or so, which in not terribly longer than it takes under normal circumstances, BUT ten minutes in a cold pasture is like an hour in ordinary human being minutes, if you get my point. Otherwise, everyone was pretty happy. This is a photo of the steer calf, Chairman Moo, who is getting his winter coat on. I love it when they get all fuzzy in the winters!

The chickens, on the other hand, were not thrilled that they did not get to do their 'free-range' routine today. We were heading out to have Christmas dinner with our friends Michael and Lynda, so we left the house about noon, and did not expect to get home until after dark, which is exactly how things turned out.

Michale and Lynda and their son Josh had all prepared a wonderful dinner of crown roast of pork and all the fixings that go along with it. There were three other friends on theirs that joined in on the festivities; Robert who we have known for many years from back when I was a recreational bike rider, and John and Roseanne. John is with the Architecture School at UT (I think) and I apologize I am not sure if Roseanne is gainfully employed. A lovely time was had by all. I also asked if their dog enjoyed bones (he does not) so I asked to for the bones from dinner to bring home for the Bear-Boy. AND THEN WE FORGOT THEM! That's okay though, Lynda is coming out this coming week, so I will ask her to ferry them out to us then.

A nice ride home, and once we got here, I needed to go close the girls up for the night. I collected five eggs, and then had to go out to the pastures to turn off the water since we are supposed to have a pretty good freeze tonight. Better safe than sorry. Even turning the water off back there is no real guarantee that nothing will happen. Water and cold (really cold) weather do not make a great combination, and you never really know what to expect.

But, it is all done for now, and we expect no real issues. I will know better tomorrow. By the way, I was rewarded with some very lovely gifts from several people. I am the luckiest man in the universe, no really, THE LUCKIEST and the happiest, too!

Deeds, Actions, Changes, DELICIOUS DINNERS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN.