No, we’re not having venison. But this beautiful boy was in the near field when I got home last night. An 8 point white tail buck! I haven’t seen one this big in quite a while. The field was full of deer. There was a smaller 4 point buck, as well as the twins from this spring!

There is a Kroger Store across the river in Ohio that I always go to when I’m on the hunt for something special. It’s as close to a Colorado grocery store that I’ve found in this area. They carry a lot of hard to find items and let’s face it…if you’re going to go to all the trouble of making a Thanksgiving dinner, it might as well be fabulous, right? 

It was a busy day here at Marshmallow Ranch. I started out the day bone weary because unfortunately, it was one of those nights that I tossed and turned till 4:00 in the morning. I knew I was keeping my sweetheart awake and there’s no need in both of us being sleep deprived. So I finally got up and went to the guest room. I keep it cooler in there and it wasn’t anytime and I was sound asleep. Still, I woke up pretty early and was ready to get to work.

Every once in a while, I have a night where I sleep like a baby. I woke up suddenly at 6:30 yesterday morning to the incessant chirping of Mr. FixIt’s phone announcing an impending snow storm. I was sure I was awake for the day, but I fell back to sleep and woke up at noon! I rarely do that and it was delightful to wake up thoroughly rested. Still, not rested enough to want to do much of anything.

I fiddled around at the farm yesterday morning. I packed up my things to head home. I went down and looked at the hot water heater. We turned it off when we had trouble with the pump on the well last year and hadn’t gotten around to relighting it. I thought If I fired it up, it would keep the basement fairly warm should the electric go out for any length of time this winter. Unfortunately, when I started it up, I noticed the exhaust pipe wasn’t drawing…I could feel the air blowing back into the room. Something you definitely DON’T want. So, I turned it off and tried to check out the pipe to see if a bird had made a nest. I didn’t have a flashlight, and the one on my phone wasn’t powerful enough to get a deep enough look. I put it all back together and left it off till I can get Mr. FixIt out there with me to help. It entails getting up on a ladder and I didn’t want to climb too high without a spotter. 

I awoke to a “beep” and a red flashing light at 4:00 yesterday morning. I was sleeping so soundly, it took me a bit to figure out what year it was, let alone what planet I was on. I searched for the source of the flash. It was the control for the electric blanket. On this particular blanket, if the electric goes off while the blanket is turned on, the control flashes all the buttons red until you turn it off. A safety mechanism, I suppose.

I walked in the back door and it was as if a tuning fork was placed in my chest. It was raining and the sound of the drops on the tin roof was more magnificent than any symphony I’ve ever heard. Immediately, I was at peace and looking forward to a couple of days here at The Farm.

I’ve been monitoring my social media usage the last few weeks. With the lead up to the election, I found my stress level rising. Add the new roof and trying to get the a-frame camper back from the shop and getting everything buttoned up for winter and my stress alarms were bing-bonging all over the place. 

I have to say, during the last couple of elections, I let my better angels take a back seat and opened my mouth in ways and at times I shouldn’t have. It cost me friendships that I held dear and I’m saddened by that. I know it cost me readers and I’m sure glad you stuck it out with me. Going into the midterms, I made a concerted effort to keep away from the third rail and it made my life much easier.

I haven’t said anything about the recent loss of Leslie Jordan. I was saddened to hear of his passing. I always got a kick out his reparte with Karen on will and Grace, but I kind of felt a little went a long way with him. Then, the pandemic hit and something magical happened. Leslie started posting a couple of times a day to Instagram..sharing his light and love with the home bound.

I told Mr. FixIt yesterday that it felt like we’ve been running at breakneck speed since spring. And, I suppose in many ways, we have. It’s been an incredibly busy year and we have accomplished so much. Getting the roof over the family room finished was our biggest goal before we shift gears into winter and we are so relieved to have that part behind us.

This has to be one of the most stressful weeks we’ve ever had since we’ve been married…short of the two small strokes Mr. FixIt had in the spring of 2020. Everyone worked so hard and we are so grateful and so proud of them. I honestly did so much stuff yesterday, I can hardly remember it all…it became a blur after a while.