American Thanksgiving

Today is meant to be a day for giving Thanks to omnipotent beings for our lives, our prosperity, our ability to have a feast sharing the fall harvest, and to count the blessings of all that we have.  Very few people actually do that.  I have done so, fairly frequently, for a number of years.
   I remember the Thanksgiving after my husband was released from the hospital, after having a bad bout of ketoacidosis and a mini-stroke.  His family didn't want us to join the normal family gathering at a brother's home, a few miles away. Jeffrey wanted a "real Thanksgiving dinner" but he didn't want me to cook it, so we went out to eat - at an all-you-can-eat buffet place.  This was the day after he had been discharged, and all of the doctors and nurses swore that Jeffrey was "absolutely fine."
  We went in, paid, got our trays, picked a tables, and then went to forage - there were all kinds of things to eat, besides the usual Thanksgiving offerings.  I lost Jeff while filling my plate, and, after sitting back down for a few minutes at our table, I went to look for him.  He had filled his plate with macaroni and cheese, which he had in one hand, and he was standing at the dessert spread, eating pieces of pie out of his free hand.  I finally got him back to the table, and got him to wash his hands on the way there.  Once we sat down, he started eating his macaroni with his fingers.  Of course, people were staring at us from all of the tables around us.  I commented that he could get more in his mouth at one time if he used a fork - and had the return comment that everyone knew it was proper to eat macaroni piece-by-piece with your fingers.  -  He did eat all of the macaroni and cheese on his plate.  -  then he scampered off to the dessert table again and brought back a brownie, pumpkin pie, apple pie, a piece of chocolate cake, and a bowl of ice cream.  He didn't eat all of that, thank goodness.  I tested his blood sugar as soon as we got home, gave him insulin, and then took him 100 miles away to his "usual" hospital, who checked the records from his last stay at the Fredericksburg Hospital and were appalled....  They didn't even have an endocrinologist working at the hospital, and his diabetic ketoacidosis  had never been addressed while he was a patient there.  He spent the next 5 weeks in intensive care at Fairfax.
   So I look at my position on this day - I am working, I live in an apartment with a good friend, who loves my cats.  We are both pretty healthy.  We laugh a lot.  We go outside and walk a lot.  We have enough money to keep our bills paid, and keep food on the table and in the pantry.  With our bus passes, we can travel anywhere in a 100 mile radius at no charge.  I have a lot to be thankful for.

Preparations

A final, pretty day before actual fall weather arrives - we're expecting a high of 80 degrees today, and a high of 40 tomorrow.  Tomorrow night's low is forecast at 17....  Guess I need to get out the turtlenecks and sweaters, as well as the long pants.  I'm sitting here in jersey shorts and a cotton T-shirt and am sweating at 10 a.m.  Don't think it'll be like this tomorrow!  The weather folks say we'll have rain, changing to snow tomorrow afternoon and evening - and that we might have 1 to 2 inches of snow...  I'd rather have a nice, steady light to moderate rain for a couple of days.  We just need the precipitation - we're pretty dry and fires are a hazard, especially with the wayward winds we have here.
    I need to go out and purchase a pile of canned food for the kitties before Saturday; and I'll also pick up the makings for our Thanksgiving Day meal....   Think we'll have a small ham, gravy, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, peas, biscuits, and apple pie. We'll probably have a half-turkey for Christmas - or a large roasting chicken. With nasty, chilly weather coming tomorrow, I'm going to make my ham and five bean soup tomorrow.  I'll have to soak the beans tonight - Anasazi, pinto, black eyed peas, garbanzo, and great Northern.  They'll simmer all day tomorrow with a pound of diced ham, and then I'll make biscuits around supper time....
   And, since the weather is supposed to be dank tomorrow, I'll sew up the new Thanksgiving and Christmas table cloths.  I don't have a sewing machine, so I'll be hand sewing the hems.  Each tablecloth is double sided, with a different print on each side.  I've already purchased the cloth, washed, dried, and ironed it.  All I need to do is make two cuts, pin and sew.  Time consuming, but easy - if the cats don't decide to eat the thread as I'm sewing.
   I also watered our two surviving plants today.  I guess I'll be bringing both of them inside tonight.  Hopefully Nedi won't decide to devour all the leaves on the honeysuckle tonight...  He generally ignores the ivy.
   I hope that all is going well in your life, and in your world!

The First Thanksgiving and the Infamous 1637 Thanksgiving

The Mayflower, with it's group of 102 Puritans arrived at Cape Cod in September 1620.  The ship had planned on arriving in Virginia, a far more temperate climate.  In October, the ship sailed across Massachusetts Bay to what is now known as Plymouth Rock.  Throughout that brutal first winter, most of the colonists remained on board the Mayflower, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy, and outbreaks of various contagious diseases.  Only half of the Mayflower's original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March 1621, the surviving settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from an Abenaki native, who greeted them in English. Several days later, the Abenaki returned with a member of the Pawtuxet tribe, Squanto.  Squanto had been kidnapped years before by an English sea captain, and had been sold as a slave.  He learned English and Spanish, before he escaped to London, where he signed on as an interpreter for an exploratory expedition, so he could return to his homeland.  English and Dutch traders had already been in contact with local tribes up and down the New England coast - and they spread contagious diseases which the Native Americans had no immunity against.  The Puritans found an abandoned village near Plymouth Rock, and named it Plymouth - never realizing that the local Wampanoag tribe had named it Pawtuxet - before the majority of the native villagers succumbed to smallpox.
  Squanto, previously a slave of the English and Spanish, taught the group of English refugees, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate maize (corn), how to extract the sap from maple trees, how to catch fish in the local rivers, and which plants were poisonous and needed avoidance.  He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the local tribe, the Wampanoag.  That alliance would endure for more than 50 years, and, tragically, remains one of the sole examples of harmony between the native tribes and the European colonists.
   In November 1621, after the Pilgrims' first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the new colony's allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit.  This feast, which lasted for three days, was what is now called the "first Thanksgiving."  It was a combined celebration of the Fall Harvest and a giving of thanks to God for the groups survival for the first year in their colony of Plymouth.  While no record exists of the historic feast's exact menu, the Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow (my many, many-times Great Uncle) wrote in his journal that Governor Bradford sent four men on a fowling mission to prepare for the event, and that the Wampanoags arrived with a gift of five freshly killed deer.  It is also suggested by historians that the menu included ducks, swans, geese, seals, and lobster. Many of the dishes were likely prepared using traditional Native American spices and cooking methods.  The Pilgrims did not have ovens at that time, and it is assumed that sugar was not to be had, so pies, cakes, confections and desserts were probably not consumed.
  The Pilgrims at Plymouth had their second Thanksgiving celebration in 1623 to mark the end of a long drought.  The drought had threatened that fall's harvest, and it prompted Governor Bradford to call for a religious fast. Days of fasting and thanksgiving on an annual or occasional basis became common practice in other New England settlements as well.
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Let's skip ahead eleven years to 1634...  There are quite a few new European colonies in the area around Plymouth.  The native Narragansetts and Mohicans are allies of the English at Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth and Saybrook.  The towns of Wethersford, Springfield, Hartford and Winfield are established between 1633 and 1636.  The Pequot tribe is being squashed on all sides, and wants to expand into Wampanoag, Mohican, Narragansett and Algonquin territories.  The native tribes are contesting the control of fur trading with the Europeans.  The Mohicans  traded with the English, the Pequot tribe with the Dutch.
   There were a series of murders and retaliations between the Pequots and both the Dutch and English.  Then the Narragansett joined in, and killed an English trader doing business with the Pequots.  The Narragansett, however, convinced the English that the Pequots were responsible for the death of the trader named John Oldham.  War broke out between the Pequots and the European settlers.  Governor William Bradford, who organized the first two Thanksgivings at Plymouth, was still the leader of the Plymouth colony.
  William Newell, a Penobscot tribal member and former chair of the anthropology department of the University of Connecticut, claims that the first Thanksgiving took place in 1637, and that it was not "a festive gathering of Indians and Pilgrims, but rather a celebration of the massacre of 700 Pequot men, women, and children." In 1637, the Pequot tribe of Connecticut gathered for the annual Green Corn Dance ceremony near (what is today) Mystic.  Mercenaries of the English and Dutch attacked and surrounded the fortified village; everything was burned to the ground, and anyone attempting to escape was killed. The Governor declared a public day of Thanksgiving.
   Governor William Bradford, in his famous History of the Plymouth Plantation, celebrated the Pequot massacre: "Those that escaped the fire were slain with the sword; some hewed to pieces, other run through with their rapiers, so as they were quickly dispatched and very few escaped. It was conceived they thus destroyed about 400 at this time.  It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire, and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stink and scent thereof, but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gave the prayers thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them, thus to enclose their enemies in their hands, and give them so speedy a victory over so proud and insulting an enemy."
   The remaining Pequots were rounded up and sold into slavery in the Caribbean.  It became illegal to say the word "Pequot" in New England.
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So, why do Americans celebrate Thanksgiving?  Please give some thought to both sides of the history.  After all, several of my ancestors came to what is now the United States as refugees, and they took the land and ways of life of the native peoples.
   Personally, I just thank the powers that be for family, friends, enough to eat, a roof over my head,and my two loving felines.

Assorted Photos - Assateague Island and Thanksgiving

Green heron

Bald Eagle

Marsh sunset

Jabba the Turk

Thanksgiving - Harvest Festival - or Both?

Ever since people have had communities, with some type of leader, and then, with the addition of communal religion, folks around the world have celebrated festivals to mark certain times, and/or "thanksgivings" - especially as organized religion became widespread around the world.  There really is no difference between a harvest festival or a "thanksgiving."

   A Harvest Festival usually occurs around the time of the main harvest of any given region, usually at, or near, the end.  Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times at different places.  Harvest festivals typically feature feasting, both family and public, with foods that are drawn from the crops that come to maturity around the time of the festival.  Ample food and freedom from the necessity to work in the fields are the two central features of harvest festivals - eating, merriment, contests, music, and romance are common at harvest festivals around the world.  And, the word harvest is from the Old English word hærfest, which means Autumn.  Harvest then came to refer to the season for reaping and gathering grain and other grown products.

  Prayers of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among almost all religions after harvests and at other times.The Thanksgiving holiday's history in North America is rooted in English traditions dating from the Protestant Reformation. It also has aspects of a harvest festival, even though the harvest in New England occurs well before the late-November date on which the modern Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated.

  In the English tradition, days of thanksgiving and special thanksgiving religious services became important during the English Reformation in the reign of King Henry VIII and in reaction to the large number of religious holidays on the Catholic calendar. Before 1536 there were 95 Church holidays, plus 52 Sundays, when people were required to attend church and forego work and sometimes pay for expensive celebrations. The 1536 reforms reduced the number of Church holidays to 27, but some Puritans wished to completely eliminate all Church holidays, including Christmas and Easter. The holidays were to be replaced by specially called Days of Fasting or Days of Thanksgiving, in response to events that the Puritans viewed as acts of special, or divine, providence. Unexpected disasters or threats of judgement from on high called for Days of Fasting. Special blessings, viewed as coming from God, called for Days of Thanksgiving.

  In the United States, the modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition is commonly, but not universally, traced to a sparsely documented 1621 celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest.  Pilgrims and Puritans who began emigrating from England in the 1620s and 1630s carried the tradition of Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving with them to New England. Several days of Thanksgiving were held in early New England history that have been identified as the "First Thanksgiving", including Pilgrim holidays in Plymouth in 1621 and 1623, and a Puritan holiday in Boston in 1631.  The practice of holding an annual harvest festival did not become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s.

  Thanksgiving proclamations were made mostly by church leaders in New England up until 1682, and then by both state and church leaders until after the American Revolution. During the revolutionary period, political influences affected the issuance of Thanksgiving proclamations. Various proclamations were made by royal governors, John Hancock, General George Washington, and the Continental Congress,  each giving thanks to God for events favorable to their causes.  As President of the United States, George Washington proclaimed the first nationwide thanksgiving celebration in America marking November 26, 1789, "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God".

Home Photos

Sunrise in my back yard

Fruit and dessert table on Thanksgiving

Lovey, acting shy

The Snow clan: (left to right) Bob, Rich, Kathy (kneeling in red jacket), Erin, Mike, Evie, Sarah, Michael, Jim, Kathy, Olivia, Brian, Tracey (kneeling in dress), Brian, Kent (kneeling), Tim, Andy, Laura (kneeling), Adam, and Jenny.  Not pictured: Jim, Paul, Jaime, and Betty.

Thanksgiving and Plumbing

I had planned on posting yesterday, but other circumstances intervened.  And if today's blog seems a little disconnected, it's because I'm eating breakfast and trying to watch the Florida versus Florida State football game while I'm writing. The weather has been wonderful - temperatures in the 50s, an occasional breeze, sunny skies - and it's supposed to stay that way until Wednesday when the weather people say the high will be 25 and the high on Thursday will be 15.  Yuck.
    Thursday was a very good day - we had 25 of the family gathered - that's the Snow family, my sister's husband.  Ages ranged from Evie, at 18 weeks, to Bob, a father-in-law, in his early 80s.  Grandma Anne spent Thanksgiving in Berthoud with her son and daughter, saying that such a large group was a little too much for her.  Fran and Corky were vacationing in Hawaii; and the South Dakota Snows stayed at home due to health issues; we were missing more than 15 this year.  But we had a fantastic feast at the Niwot Grange and everyone took extra helpings home.  In no particular order, there was:  deviled eggs, stuffed celery, fresh fruit, nuts, two turkeys, a smoked ham, gravy, mashed potatoes, candied yams, Szchewan stir-fry veggies, steamed veggies, a green bean casserole, cranberry-orange relish, three kinds of stuffing, pickles, olives, figs, a chocolate trifle, the Snow family orange rolls, five kinds of home-made pie, and Mike's cocoa-date-nut balls.  Believe me, we all ate way too much, except for Evie...
   After cleaning the Grange, we headed home - which, for me meant Lucy's house.  After I fed and walked her, I went over to Tugger and Sasquatch's and fed and loved them.  Then I went back to Lucy's and collapsed.  Friday morning started with an hour's walk and jog with Lucy, then her breakfast; then over to Tugger and Sasquatch's for their care.  Rosie's walk was next, and a stop by the Snow house to visit with Boo (for Rosie).  Back at Lucy's, I read for an hour or so, and then took her out for her noon walk.  Then I came home to Lovey and Nedi.
  As I stepped inside the apartment, I thought the air smelled damp - like I had just stepped out of the shower - but I hadn't been home for 30 hours...  I closed the door, and stepped onto the hall rug.  It squished under my foot.  I turned on the hall light, and it burnt out as it lit up.  I turned on the closet light, and it burnt out as it lit up.  I stepped into the walk-through closet, and the closet rug squished.  I turned on the bathroom light, and said a few dirty words - the bathroom had more than one inch of water on the floor, covering both rugs in there.  I looked at the tub, which was dry, and switched my eyes to the other side and saw the bathroom sink had backed up and overflowed, and was still at full capacity, with water dripping into the floor and also into the kitty litter boxes.  Super yuck.
  I set my stuff that I had with me at Lucy's on my bed, opened the back door so the kits could go outside and relieve themselves, and walked right over the the apartment manager's office.  I was completely amazed, because, for the first time in 9 months, the office door was open, and JC was at his desk.  I briefly told him what I found, and he followed me back down, bringing a wet vacuum.  I learned very quickly how to wet-vac  and managed to get all the water sucked out of the sink first; after a quick empty run, I had my floor dry.  (I had taken my rugs out onto my patio.)  We put Draino and waited for 45 minutes; then I poured hot water down the drain.  It flowed perfectly - away, down, out of sight.  I was relieved.
  Twenty minutes later, the people who live above me used their garbage disposal.  I walked into my bathroom and watched the water rise in my sink.  So I called JC, since his office was closed, and left a message about what I had just observed; then I sent him an e-mail doing the same.  Then I called our emergency maintenance man - who, it turns out, was out of town.  JC stopped by, looked at my sink, and called the plumber.  Then he relayed the message that the plumber would be here somewhere between 2 and 5 hours from the time of the call.....  At least he came last night, and I didn't have to wait until today to be able to use water again.  (And Martin said that he was getting rice, noodles, celery, potatoes, and peas out of the drain.  He said the folks who live above me must not realize that our units and pipes are over 50 years old, and our disposals are not made like new ones....)
   So I'm going to watch football today and tomorrow, and walk dogs until it gets too cold for us to stir outside (not to mention the snow)...  And I'm going to thoroughly enjoy myself - and not worry about plumbing!

Thanksgiving and Hanukkah Wishes

Yesterday evening, the first candle in the menorah of Hanukkah was lit -  Happy Hanukkah!

Today, we Americans celebrate Thanksgiving - Happy Thanksgiving!  I am thankful for my hardy ancestors who were living in what became Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia at the time the pilgrims of the Mayflower were blown into Massachusetts Bay at Plymouth Rock.  My many-times great uncle was aboard that ship (Nocks side of the family, but with the surname of Wentworth).  My brother-in-law's ancestors were also aboard the Mayflower.   Thank you all....

Weather, Critters, Plans

With a quick reference to yesterday's blog entry - the horse in JFK's funeral parade was named Black Jack. You can see photos of him and his replacement, along with an informative article at:  http://www.horsecarecourses.com/horse_of_the_week/2012/02/black-jack-the-caparisoned-horse-at-jfk-kennedy-s-funeral.html
   It's been relatively warm in Boulder for the first part of November - but we had a high of 14 on Thursday, along with 5.8 inches of dry powdery snow.  Yesterday we got up to freezing, and snow melted off the sidewalks, roadways and driveways.  Last night we had another inch or so of snow fall - still light, dry, and powdery - not good stuff for making snowmen, snowcats, or snowdogs.  My cats are outside playing in the white stuff right now - the patio door is open, and they can come inside whenever they want.  I hope it will be soon, as my toes are starting to become a bit chilled, even though I have wool socks on.  I've been putting out a few more nuts for the squirrels, now that the weather has taken a bad turn.  -  Of course, it's a good turn for the ski resorts here in Colorado; Copper Mountain has already had 58 inches of snow fall, not counting what they've made with their snow guns...
  Of the four college football games I'd like to see today, only one is available in my area - and it's on when the 50th anniversary show of Doctor Who airs on BBC America, and in 74 other countries around the world simultaneously.  NPR did a short piece on the phenomenon of Doctor Who today, and played a sound clip that made me smile - because I knew, without a doubt, that Tom Baker (who portrayed the fourth Doctor) was speaking.  And I have always loved Tom Baker - on stage, on television, or in the movies.  It made a very good start to my day.
  I am staying at Rosie's at the moment, and have been doing so since Thursday morning.  I'm also running over to care for Cooper, Lola, Belle, Pounce and Tipsi on Tamarack.  I was supposed to be feeding, medicating and loving Tugger and Sasquatch over the weekend, also, but their owner became ill and didn't travel.  I'll start taking care of T & S on Wednesday, instead.
  The Snow clan will gather at the Niwot Grange Building for Thanksgiving this year.  The younger siblings, Kent and his wife Vanessa, are both just out of the hospital in South Dakota, so we won't see them this year - nor their two sweet kids, Dominque and Karissa.  But it seems that everyone else will be there.  Kathy and Jim will spend Christmas in Santa Fe, getting to know son-in-law Michael Fleetwood's family, so the kits and I will be staying at the Snow house for Santa's visit.  Boo will be ecstatic!

The Family Thanksgiving...

We had a very nice Thanksgiving get-together; 25 of the 63 we invited came - some couldn't get away, and Grandma Anne is suffering from severe bronchitis, so she stayed up on Sugarloaf Mountain. Some of the younger married couples have already split up since last year and are getting divorced. I spent most of my time with Edna, one of the sisters-in-law's mother. Edna is 78 and has an attention span of less than 90 seconds, so I was worn out by the time the feast was finished. But we had all the normal Thanksgiving dishes, except yams. Sister Kathy cooked the yams with pineapple rings and a little bit of brown sugar, and placed the large pan on top of the range to cool. Something slipped in one of the cabinets, the cabinet door popped open, and a brown glass bowl fell out onto the counter stop beside the range. The bowl shattered. Most of the fragments went into the yams. Luckily, the glass shards didn't cut any person or the two dogs - but the yams were a mess, so they were unceremoniously dumped into a trash bag and into the trash can. Jim, my brother-in-law, was going to "look through" the dish and remove any glass he found, but Kathy and son Mike were able to over-rule him. We had one table of gluten-free snacks and appetizers; and another table of gluten-free main dishes. Then was another larger table with all the goodies that contained gluten. My two fruit and berry platters and the corn pudding was gluten-free, but my brownies were on the other table. I brought home one brownie and a little of the fruit - nothing else....

   There were cheese and crackers, chips and dips, the fruit platters (seedless green and black grapes and pomegranate-infused craisins; and berries: raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and strawberries); a 28-pound turkey, with gravy and two kinds of stuffing; a 15-pound ham; mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffed mushrooms, corn pudding, corn bread and orange rolls; and then brownies, white chocolate walnut fudge, apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie and whipped cream. That's not mentioning the coffee, tea, mulled hot cider, sparkling apple juice, sodas and water that we also had in abundance... Since we were at the Grange building, alcoholic drinks were not allowed - otherwise there would have been wine and beer, too. I walked with brother-in-law Dave over to his house and brought back a couple of floor lamps for more lighting; and was able to view the new gazebo he built last month, and was able to meet the new dog - a pale golden guy with what looks like white wings on his shoulders. His name is Gabriel, and he's part dachshund (and, I think, Corgi); 10 months old and a package of bouncing, active pup.

   My kits were upset with me yesterday because I wouldn't let them out to play. They've been out for 2 hours now, and both have come back inside asking for love. I can't wait to sleep and snuggle with them again. - Today is the last CU home football game for this season (poor guys have won only 1 game so far). I didn't get to see any of the pro football games yesterday, but I've looked at the scores. I was happy to see that the Lions and Redskins were winners. I blew a raspberry at the monitor when I read that the Patriots and defeated the Jets... Tomorrow I'll be cheering for the Gators and the Gamecocks.

   I hope that your Thanksgiving was wonderful, and that this weekend will be even better!

Sunday

The kits were very happy to see me this morning - fresh can of food plus fresh crunchies plus loving hands.... I took care of Ooch about 7 this morning; having given Tessa, Dhisana and Lily their breakfast at 6:30.   I had homemade huckleberry pancakes for breakfast. Read the newspaper, walked Tessa. Have the TV set so I can switch between the Redskins-Eagles game and the Jets-Rams with one click. I enjoyed the football games yesterday. Got enjoyment from watching the Gamecocks win; had to follow the Gator game via the scoreboard.... Had a blast watching Stanford upset Oregon and Baylor take out Kansas State... Doesn't that mean that Notre Dame is the only undefeated team this season?

  I had ten more people request to be added to the Wildlife Watch newsletter yesterday afternoon and this morning... I'll soon be headed back to the Thore house, so I can watch the Broncos game; and then wander three doors down to have afternoon tea with Alexy and Lillian at 5 p.m. I'll probably watch the first part of the game tonight, but at 9:00, I'll switch over to PBS and watch Ken Burns' new show "The Dust Bowl."

  We have beautiful weather today - just above freezing at daybreak, 60 degrees outside now (nice and sunny), and about 40 by 8 p.m. We're expecting good weather through Wednesday, with Thanksgiving being cloudy and cooler (high of 55). I've checked out how to get to the Niwot Grange building, in case I have to drive; and I've double-checked my Corn Pudding recipe. It was also nice to see that King Soopers is having a good sale on fresh berries, so I won't have to spend everything on the fruit platter... Hope the rest of your weekend is enjoyable!

Playing With a Puppy; Lincoln

OK, I have climbed down from my maternal pedestal (the last blog) and feel like I'm pretty much back on an even keel. (I love mixing metaphors!) The temperature didn't drop that much last night, so it was above freezing when I wandered over to the local bakery and purchased an apple danish (without any icing). We are totally socked in with clouds, and there are clouds wreathed around the Flatirons and the tops of the Front Range hills and mountains. I just had a squirrel come inside via the patio door, so I went out and replaced the piles of unsalted peanuts and blueberry shredded wheat - and there are a few snowflakes drifting down. Cashew and the older squirrels know that the interior door mat is "neutral" territory -the kits aren't allowed to chase them, and they can eat inside in peace when it's snowing outside... Late yesterday afternoon, Nedi and Lovey were acting a little odder than usual; they'd go outside, run back in, look at one another (as if they were asking, "What was that?"), peek out the window, and run back out. I finally had to see what they were up to. My next door neighbor, Chris, was on the patio with his new lady, Sherri. Sherri had brought her 10-week old miniature Chihuahua with her. Wearing a minuscule red and green knitted sweater, this little dog weighed about 8 ounces. It was so excited to see the cats, and it wanted to play with them - it would bow down as an invitation, and then dart around. My cats wanted to chase her, but weren't quite sure what she was.... With me standing out on the patio, both Lovey and Nedi let the puppy approach them, sniff their noses, and lick their faces. Both kits even played a little bit of chase with the puppy. It was sooo cute!

  Remy has an acupuncture appointment this morning, so I'll be walking the Rs a little later than usual, and then taking miss Lucy out, too. Tomorrow morning, I'm due at the Thore residence between 6:30 and 7; I'll be at that house through the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I'll be coming home for a few hours each day, but will generally be over there. I'm also pulling some extra duty with Rosie and Remy, and I'll also be feeding and medicating Sasquatch, Tugger, and Ooch during that time. I guess that I'll be making a fruit platter, corn pudding, and one small pan of brownies for the family Thanksgiving - this year, we'll be meeting at the Niwot Grange,not at some one's house.... I don't know yet about our Christmas-New Years family get-together. I'll be house-sitting at a large house, but it's Rosie and Remy's - and they are table and counter surfers - stealing and eating anything within reach; plus Remy barks at all strangers.... We'd have plenty of room, but I'd have to place the dogs in the garage, and then deal with their barking, so I can't host this year, as I did last year. (Mainly because it isn't fair to the Rs.)

  I am looking forward to two movies that are to be released between now and Christmas - Lincoln and The Hobbit. One of my friends asked me the other day about the possibility that Lincoln had suffered from Marfan's Disease. I did some research and was amazed when I came upon a web-page that detailed all of Lincoln's medical history. I had no idea that he had been kicked in the head by a mule when he was a child; I had no idea that he had apparently drowned and was left floating face-down in a creek for 15 minutes as a child; I had no idea that Mary Todd Lincoln was a spouse abuser - she gave her husband black eyes and beat him with broomsticks and fire tongs.... It was amazing! I wonder if any of these things will be shown in Spielberg's movie?

  And, finally, the young man who has been arrested and charged with the mass shooting at the Aurora movie theater is definitely disturbed. We know he has been under psychiatric care for some time, and I'm sure his defense team will use an insanity plea. I was surprised to hear the young man had been hospitalized a few days ago, and that a major hearing had been postponed. A rumor was out and about that the young man was suffering from a severe migraine headache - then it became known that he had been ramming his head into the concrete walls of his cell. (Maybe he needs to be kept in a padded cell, or rubber room?) That, to me, seems to be an indication that he is sane and that he is trying to harm himself in order to prove he is insane. I have no idea if this is true, but having read a lot of mystery books, and police procedurals, I just have this sneaking suspicion....

A Super Bowl Doritos Ad?

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  There were about 30 relatives at the Snow gathering, but Grandma Anne was at home, and I missed her.  My corn pudding and fruit platter were great successes, as usual - no fruit left to bring home, and only a single spoonful of pudding.  We were at Laura's house in Fort Collins, but it wasn't until we were on our way that Kathy thought to mention that Laura had fallen off the roof of Grandma Anne's house last month - and had dislocated a hip and now had a plate holding her lower leg bones together.  But I was able to have nice conversations with Laura, Tracey, and Kathy (Jim's sister), as well as a lot of the youngsters.  We were all shown the three different Doritos commercials that Adam had made and sent off to the Super Bowl Doritos ad competition.  All three ads feature my nephew, Mike Snow, as the person eating the Doritos.  We're all hoping that one of them will be chosen to air.
It was a beautiful, clear blue sun-shiny day yesterday with highs in the mid 60s.  Today, we are completely overcast, and even though the thermometer reads 50 degrees, the humidity is at 80% and we have a good wind blowing off the snow in the mountains, so it feels like it's 28 degrees outside.  Lovey and Nedi are laying on the patio right now; Shady and Cloudy forgave me for keeping them inside yesterday when I opened their cat door this morning.  But as I was leaving to come home, I had to chase Smokey away - he's a large cat that lives on Poplar, a block away.  Shady is a total pacifist, and Smokey takes huge wads of fur off Shady, who just goes belly-up when attacked.  But Smokey was stalking Cloudy this morning, and I don't know if she would have fought back or not....
I'm looking forward to football this weekend.  Alexy will return home Sunday afternoon, so I'll probably leave her house in time for me to see the Broncos game at home.  Then Monday, I start back on my usual walking routine while staying at home with the kits, and working on uploading the Snow and Sanford family genealogy....
Have a wonderful weekend!

Thanksgiving Week Will Be Busy

The temperature has actually dropped since I first arose this morning - it's gone down to 23 degrees, and it was 27 when I got up.  It's clear and cold out; walking to the store this morning I was heading east and saw glorious orange-painted clouds against a light blue sky, looking straight up I saw a bright crescent moon, and looking west, the mountains were gleaming gold from the sun, while the snow was a very soothing pink.  It was gorgeous.  Yesterday I spent loving the kits and watching football.  The Gators and the Gamecocks won; I turned to NCIS when the CU Buffs were trailing 21 - 0 in the first 7 minutes of their game - it was just too painful.  And, I had forgotten that Mark Harmon's USA TV movie had originally broadcast on November 6th; so I was highly gratified that I could see Harmon portray Lucas Davenport in "Certain Prey" last night.  I really enjoyed it - considering they had to put a 400-page book into less than 90 minutes of screen play.  John Sandford's books are better, but I like having Mark Harmon as eye candy, so I'll give it a thumbs up.
I will be busy this week - I'll be walking Rosie and Remy, and Olie, Annie and Bentley daily; Monday through Wednesday I'll be caring for Aiko and Yoshi, feeding, walking, and keeping them company; Tuesday through Sunday I'll be staying at Alexy's taking care of Shady and Cloudy.  Lynn doesn't know if her daughter will be around all the time to care for Tessa, Lilly, Lyra and Dhisana, so I'm also "on call"  for their house.  (Not to mention taking care of and loving my own kits!)  Thanksgiving Day, I'll be headed up to Fort Collins for the Snow family gathering - at least Kathy doesn't have to work this year - so I'll cook up some old-fashioned corn pudding and make a fruit platter.  Since we have family members with gluten and dairy allergies, as well as a few diabetics, I'll be making the corn pudding with almond "milk" and a sugar substitute... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this recipe will turn out well!
I spent an hour on Ancestry.com (free at the public library) but didn't find anything new about my great-great-grandfather in that small amount of time.  I was able to look at the original Civil War pension applications, and found that Singleton Busey had used the name William J. Morgan (not Margan) while he was a member of the Kansas Indian Home Guard. And I was surprised to find that both of his wives were granted pensions after his death - both Nancy E. Busey and Mary A. Morgan were granted pensions, I guess because he actually served twice, in two separate units.  (I still think and feel that that is weird...)  And even though I have a date of death for SW Busey of 1900 (aged 82), there is also a record of an "aged man" named SW Busey marrying a widow in 1910....  I gotta dig some more!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is being composed and sent from the house of Ooch. He is talking to me even as I type, wanting me to come into the kitchen and watch him eat. He is an old sweetie.

Happy Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be thankful for: a roof over my head, my two kits, a job that I enjoy and that keeps me busy, and friends that I made last week to friends that go back to our year in kindergarten at Lake Forest. As the years have gone by I have made some of you laugh and some cry, some happy, some angry, and some sad - I think that's what life is about, caring and sharing, loving, living life, and growing in all areas as best as one can. Thank you for being my friend!

Our American holiday of Thanksgiving came about through the church. Churches would declare a day of fasting and prayer when they felt the government and leaders had need of better consideration of what the populace was enduring. Thanksgiving was originally a feast day to celebrate the fact that the pilgrims had lived through their first harvest in Massachusetts. My brother-in-law's family traces back to the original Mayflower settlers; the brother of my many-times great grandfather arrived on the Mayflower (my direct ancestor came a 6 months later and was soon busily employed as the settlement's coffin-maker). The tradition of observing a day of thanksgiving spread throughout the colonies, but was celebrated on different dates. In 1789 President George Washington proclaimed a National Thanksgiving Day in honor of the new United States Constitution. In 1846 Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of a magazine called Godey’s Lady’s Book, began a campaign to have the last Thursday in November designated as a national Thanksgiving Day. Her campaign resulted in victory in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln decided that the national Thanksgiving Day would be held on the last Thursday in November. In 1941 Congress named the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day, which is not always the last Thursday in November. - Please enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We'll be happy to get to 40 degrees today - it's grey, cloudy and blah outside. We're expecting a light sprinkle of snow this evening, but nothing that will stick. We hope to have snow again on Saturday night - maybe a little more than tonight.

A wonderful lady (whom I regard as my sister) asked where my arms disappeared to in the previous photo (me outside Abilene, KS) - and I had to look to figure out what was going on. I had my hands behind my back while Kathy took her first photo using a digital camera - mine. Otherwise I'd probably have crossed my arms under my bosom and above my belly and looked even stranger! It was the first time I've ever stopped and eaten at a Sonic Drive-In.

I made 2 gallons of corn pudding yesterday evening and two lemon pound cakes before bed. I still have to wash and pat dry the blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries and arrange them on the serving tray (with a center of almonds). I'm currently at home, and need to shower and get back to Brandi's to finish preparing the fruit & nut tray. I need to check in on Ooch before we go up to Fort Collins for the Snow gathering; Brandi's folks get home late tonight; I get to sleep at home with the kits tonight, and then start off with Rosie and Remy Friday morning. Saturday morning I get Smiley and Silver, while Sunday afternoon I also acquire Suki and Boo - along with Ooch each day, too. My one hope for the weekend is that I get to watch the Florida - Florida State game on Saturday.

I got together most of my items for my first care package for my adopted soldier in Iraq - I'll put it in the mail tomorrow. It is Thanksgiving Day. I am thankful for my friends and family scattered throughout the US; I am thankful that I can have two wonderful cats like Leofgifu and Banichi; I am thankful for the health that I have, the roof over my head, and the food that I eat. I am thankful that I can read anything I want, whenever I want. I am thankful that the internet gives me a relatively inexpensive way to stay connected with my extended family, friends, and the world at large - since I am such a terrible letter writer. (That's why I make myself write to Matthew in Iraq once a week!) Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you today and every day!!