We enjoyed another quiet Thanksgiving at home this year.
Grayson harvested a grouse for the frying pan the day before Thanksgiving. He's spent some time on his own hunting the state land near the house, but the grouse had eluded him until this week.
Seasoned and pan-fried, it was a tasty pre-Thanksgiving dinner.
After Thanksgiving, we put up the tree.
The boys are our tree-decorators, hanging ornaments and dressing up Dino for the picture.
Dino sporting his reindeer antlers.
Our final repairs from the 2018 earthquake were completed this month. It took 2 years, but we finally got the house back into pre-earthquake condition. The drywall repair and re-painting was the last job. It's nice to have the numerous cracks in the drywall gone. In two years we've replaced all the foundation piers and beams which required the house to be lifted on hydraulic jacks, repaired cracks in the foundation, rebuilt a deck and replaced another set of deck supports, repaired/painted the exterior siding, replaced damaged windows, re-hung the damaged chandeliers and light fixtures, replaced and repaired damaged drywall and painted the interior, replaced some plumbing and the damaged hot water heater, re-landscaped the grounds to repair the fissures and landslide damage on the bluff, and refinished the floors. We still have some countertop and carpet damage to work on, but for now we're finally finished with the big repairs.
With the rugs removed to refinish the wood floor, you can really see the effect of the sun over the years. This wood floor is just 13 years old, but the sun has faded the exposed portions quite a bit. We refinished, but didn't re-stain the floor, but still was able to get most of the earthquake damage sanded out of the floor.
Before the cold weather hit, I added some guards and markers for the Norway spruce saplings, partly to help protect them from snow loads, and partly to encourage the moose to walk around them this winter (instead of walking on them).
The pumpkins we harvested have been put to good use. Jolene made some delicious pumpkin pies these last two months.
Before the snow fell this Fall, we had some cold weather that turned the hay flats frosty.
Halloween came and went. We had fewer trick-or-treaters this year, probably due to the pandemic (so there was more leftover candy for us!).
Our coldest temp so far at the house, -4 F. December usually brings us some temps in the -20s, so we're not looking forward to that.
Before we were banned from eating-in at restaurants, we made a quick stop at Olive Garden, where Landon and Grayson focused on the desserts.
Grayson's hair got out of hand for a while, and while at the barber shop he tried to make the barber stop at this point of his haircut, calling it his Patrick Mahomes look (but I asked the barber to go back and get the rest of it).
Our family has experienced a lot of tough losses this year. First my sister, Buffy, then my two uncles Robert and Charlie, and then my Aunt Fern. Here we are facetiming through the phone for Fern's funeral. On the phone you can see Gramps speaking at the graveside service standing by the coffin. It's been a tough year in a lot of different ways, but we are always thankful for God's grace and love in our lives. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
