27 December, 2010 The year is almost over...

Been a busy week.   We've had the usual "chores" like washing dishes, clothes, feeding the goat, chickens and buffalo, bringing in wood, preparing meals, etc.  I've spent quite a few hours writing and Susan has been sewing a bunch.  We've been melting snow for water rather than drive to town when we don't have to.  We have plenty of free snow but gasoline gets expensive.  Besides, who wants to go get in the car when the high temperature is hovering around ten degrees (F)?

The cat helping me with dish washing.

We still have tomatos ripening that we picked green in the fall.  As we get enough for a couple of drying trays we slice and dehydrate them.  The pumpkins we picked green have also turned yellow.

One load of venison ready for the canner.  I finally moved one of the deer into the shack and ran the stove for a couple of days to thaw it out enough to skin and cut up.  They've been frozen solid since the day we shot them due to the cold temperatures.  This is the second time I've had this problem in Montana.  

We had someone who wanted hamburgers so he bought them and we cooked them up.  Susan made buns instead of buying them.  I made up the hamburger patties.

I should have used the griddle.  I could only fit half of them fit in our largest skillet.

The cat is supervising while Susan cuts material.

The finished product.

The cat and dog playing near the door.

The cat helping Susan run the hand sweeper.  These non-electric alternatives to a vacuum cleaner work pretty well on short carpet and rugs when used regularly.

I got the electric vacuum cleaner out for the thick carpet.  I had to run the generator to use it so Susan did some sewing with her electric machine.  The ear protection is because I was running the vacuum cleaner at the time.

Our oldest so and his wife came up Christmas Eve.  He broke a front spring coming in on our road.  (Have I ever mentioned that the road in is not vehicle friendly?)  The upper leaf spring broke right next to the plate on top of it.  The front end was sagging so we jacked the front up which took the pressure off the broken spring and clamped it down to the remaining spring then cut a short piece of chain and bolted it around to hold everything together so he could get back home.

This is the final repair.  He made it back to Kalispell without trouble.

About the time they left we had another set of kids show up with our newest grandchild.  I was still in my pajamas when they handed him to me. 

Now it's Grandma's turn to hold him.

The next day in his mother's lap. 

This is our third youngest grandchild.  On the way back home from Kalispell we met another set of kids at Taco Johns for dinner.  It's the first time I've eaten at one.  They have good food there.  The drive home was ineventful but slow.  The highway was snowy and icy so 45 mph was top speed.  Every time a vehicle passed going the other direction we were blind for the next several seconds from the snow they kicked up.  That isn't much fun when you live in a state where the whitetail deer is a common hood ornament.

Now we're back home.  We picked up some movies at a red box since our youngest son was going into town today and could return them so we watched movies today while we recovered from the holidays.