Well, TGIF night, that's for sure. My day started out at 9 am on the farm. No water, the frost free spout is officially frozen. We took a 50 gallon barrel to Amanda's and filled it. 3 times. Back to the farm where we dipped it out with 5 gallon buckets and filled the tank. OK, time to set hay. Except the tractor won't start. We spend about an hour trying to jump start the tractor, give up and wrap a chain around a big round bale of hay and drag it out to the animals. One egg that wasn't frozen, hooray. On the way home, we lost power steering in the truck, apparently a bearing froze up on the tensioner pulley and the belt broke. If it had been warmer than 7F, with wind chills of about -20, the truck might have overheated. We limped it to Dave's, where he fixed it and we came home. Right now there are blizzard conditions and white outs and the wind is about 25 MPH. Did I mention that I woke up with a sore throat? Elery made chicken soup for supper and I'm sitting here with a cup of tea and a bag of Hall's cough drops. Tomorrow we go out and see if we can chop down through the frozen ground to find the problem with the water. The valve is 5 feet under ground, so we may or may not get that fixed. If not, we'll be hauling water in barrels for a couple of months. (sigh) Clink with my cup of Irish Breakfast tea, and think about me about 9 am tomorrow, out in the storm, using a pick ax to break frozen ground. Yes indeed, we farmers just sit on our butts and wait for that government subsidy, that's what we do. Annie

TGIF indeed, I'm clinking with a cup of peppermint tea. Johnliu, I really like turkey, although I'm not a fan of stuffing. In fact, we had smoked turkey for supper and will have turkey again next week. Are you having visitors, or only the family? I say make whatever they like best and they'll be thankful! Rob, that IS exciting, mostly the visitor, I'll be watching to see who it is. I had to smile at the thought of The Boy, dropping parachutes off the deck. Ashley climbed up onto the roof and dropped eggs, her project was to make something that would protect the egg from breaking when dropped from varying heights. Yeah. Bubble wrap worked really well when I sent that dozen farm eggs to dishesdone in New York, and it worked pretty well for the project, but she eventually made a foam rubber "nerf" type container. What will that contribute to her knowledge as an adult? Darned if I know, LOL. Dedtired, good luck on those walks. Of course, walking in snow up to your armpits does burn a lot more calories. (grin) Lars, I'd definitely go for the free fish. I thought my herbs were finished here, we've had snow a couple of times. I knew the sage would grow through the snow and I'll have rosemary for some time, but parsley and thyme are both green and growing too, I didn't realize they were that cold tolerant. Diane, the second week of deer camp is the most wonderful time of year. (With a big nod to Da Yoopers, LOL) It's cold here and we're supposed to get anything from an inch to 9 inches of snow this weekend. A woodstove would feel good. Alexa is probably partying right now, I live a boring life... Today we raked the yard and cleaned the house well, we have our first potential buyer looking at the house tomorrow. I have all my fingers and pretty much everything else crossed. So, we're going to the farm to check on the calves in the barn that are being weaned and we'll insulate the pump house before it gets too cold. I'm hoping to negate the problem of the pump freezing if it gets more than 20 below zero without running a drop light out there. I don't know if it will work, but if nothing else the insulation will help the light keep it a bit warmer. It's completely underground, it'd make an awesome root cellar if I didn't have a well in there. Tomorrow we are projected to have a high of 24 and a low of 18, plus snow. I guess it's time to break out the hats and gloves... Annie

TGIF everyone. I've been too busy to get into the holiday spirit this year. Bagged putting up a tree, and didn't bother with the usual lights. Work is decorated and that's where I spend most of my time. We'll go to The Kid's for Christmas and she's all into being a Martha (Stewart), so I don't feel too deprived. It's a long weekend for me, with a rare Saturday off. It's been an odd week, including bunch of deadlines, contentious meetings and being the victim of a random act of kindness (detailed on the Conversations side). I started out my weekend Thursday night with a deep tissue massage... came home, had a glass of wine and fell soundly asleep in my chair. Ahhhhh....... Today was a trip to town for a doctor appt. during our first real snow. People got complacent, I think...wrecks and ambulances everywhere. So we grabbed some groceries and ran for home. I got my sis's package mailed.... main mission accomplished. Tomorrow I'll wrap the kids' presents, put together goodie baskets for work. Maybe bake something using the wonderful crystallized ginger one of my girls brought me from Australia. Sunday DH made an appointment for a hearing test. At noon. At Costco. On the Sunday before Christmas. argh. Clinking with a cup of eggnog laced w/ rum. Be healthy and travel safely everyone.

Wow. That's one nice looking Clematis Edward. Clematis season has long since passed here (except for the yet to bloom but invasive Sweet Autumn Clematis). The hybrid Clematis leaves around town look pretty bad by now from their exposure to our summer heat and various fungal diseases. Your climate sure suites that vine beautifully and again that pairing with Vertical Horizon is a great combination...........Maryl