Wit, Wisdom & Wonder

All in all, it didn't go too badly though we did have moments of hilarity and terror.

First off was my glitch - I bought an expensive, fancy meat thermometer that apparently registers 80F degrees higher than actual temperature. Against my better judgment, I allowed Josh to pull the turkey out of the oven only to realize while carving that the inside was still cold. Ugh. Back in the oven for an hour. Thankfully, I follow an old trick my Grandmother taught me of pouring a few inches worth of chicken stock in the bottom of the roasting pan, along with potatoes and veg, so the stock steams the turkey while it cooks. Makes for a fairly moist turkey, even when there's a cooking snafu.

My famous stuffing turned out great and thankfully I made four bags of stuffing cubes-worth so there's plenty of leftovers. I brown Italian Sausage (four rolls), add several pints of chicken stock and along with sauteed white onions, celery, garlic, celery salt, oregano, etc. makes for a very tasty stuffing. Mashed potatoes were a bit too mushy but the menfolk didn't seem to care. Tryptophan won out, so the men napped for about an hour afterwards. I woke them up for pie and the annual watching of Pumpkin Chunkin.

This morning, the snow is almost all melted but for a few patches to which I am most grateful. Finding duck eggs is always a bit insane as they lay practically anywhere, then add finding off-white eggs in the snow to the formula and you have a real contest of wills. I unhooked the waterer heater, heat lamps and let the chickens out to forage. Life is back to normal (for us) around here.

We aren't terribly imaginative with holiday decorating at the house. I pull out and dust off the menorahs and set them in the windows. We hung a blue belled wreath on the front door. There's talk of blue & white lights. I'd ordered Hanukkah candles back in October but they screwed up the order. I have no idea when or even if they are coming.

In comparison, the neighbors around the corner have a very bright and very loud holiday display. It's 10:30pm as I write this and the Christmas tunes are STILL going. I've had to keep the Basset Hounds inside because otherwise they want to howl along. Which gets the ducks going as a sort of quacking choir. The basset duet was so enamored of the music, Doodle somehow got himself trapped inside the duck pen to be closer to the music. The rabbits massively disapproved. On the other hand, the chickens apparently are atheists. Or tone deaf.

It's no quite cold enough at night to freeze water, since it's hovering just over freezing. I've a bag full of replacement water bottles ready just in case, if it's not tonight it will likely be soon. I pulled the heat lamp down lower over the new chicks to protect them, hopefully that will be enough. I'm somewhat concerned about the Rhodies so I'll be bundling up and going out to add more hay to their coop and throw a few blankets on the top to block the sides of any draft.

I'm tempted to toss the gals in with the chicks to see how they do or tuck them away in a dog crate in the blue shed but for Bio-Security purposes I need to keep them separate for at least another week and a half. It's clear I need a better plan for them going forward.

Quite a few of you know about Josh and I's ongoing war to "out tacky" each other. For some reason, the trappings of paganism and Judaism feature heavily in this.

I mention the above to alert folks to the upcoming creation of a yard menorah by Josh.

Be afraid. Picture goodness to come.

The Halloween box arrived this afternoon from Mum. Fabulous goodies inside:



Leaves from their trip to Dorset, VT "for your seasonal altar".
a roll of Halloween candy corn ribbon
a lovely kitchen witch (she's on a micro-broom) that was my grandmother's
a card with explosive holiday themed glitter inside
three wood centerpieces, one with candle (old family decorations)
a huge Jack O'Lantern bell (old family decorations)
a flying pig (kid you not, this was from Dad!)
a bag full of "Ghost" Dots

http://www.cracked.com/article_15001_insane-japanese-halloween-costumes.html

Hmn...