Turkey just waiting for our dinner.  Notice all the yummy crisp skin is missing ... and so soon!  We both like to snack on the skin while waiting for the rest of the dinner to get cooked.

I have to say however, this year for the first time in 50 years our turkey was tough.  It was a name-brand that most people brag about.  It is only the second time I've used this brand and I remember the last time many years ago it wasn't that good.

The turkey was not dry.  I have always cooked mine in foil, then uncovered for the last 30 miutes to get a nice browned, crispy outside.  No change in the program this year either.  I noticed when we started to remove the skin, it was thicker and sort of hard to tear.  It tasted good, but when we cut into the meat it was tough, not tender.  Juicy but not overly so.  I know it got done and I'm sure it wasn't over done.

My daughter thought maybe they're putting in additives these days that's doing something to our food.  I wouldn't be surprised.

The rest of the dinner was so good.  We had baked sweet potato in the skin.  Just scoop it out, add a little butter, salt & pepper and eat.  Also gravy,  dressing with mushrooms, onions, water chestnuts, giblets and spices, we had made macaroni salad the day before (so it can ripen, daughter says), pumpkin dessert (better than pie!), and pecan pie.  Oops, almost forgot the cranberry sauce ... whole berry, of course.

Oh my, I ate and ate and ate.  Its now 11:30 am Friday morning.  I just finished another plate of everything except dessert.  Excuse me now, I have to go downstairs and get some pie.  No shopping for us, just more food.  There's always tomorrow.

God bless everyone.  I hope your thanksgiving was bountiful and blessed.

Thanksgiving is only two days away.  Today we clean house, tomorrow we make macaroni salad, pecan pie, and whatever else we can think of that will help a busy schedule.  My daughter is such a huge help and makes this 'big' deal a much smaller deal.  Now we can enjoy each others company on Thursday without getting so tired.  I can't stand in the kitchen as long as I used to, so every little thing helps.

I was thinking this morning laying in bed about my favorite Thanksgiving dinner we ever had.  My husband and I had just moved to Idaho with our two small children.  We spent every dollar we could scratch together for the down payment on our house.  We had moved at the end of September and couldn't find a house to rent so we bought one from a friend.  He was building it and had offered to let us move in early.

My husband didn't even have a job and with our savings now gone, Christmas was going to be a very small one.  Thanksgiving ended up being small too because when he finally found a job, got hired the week of Thanksgiving and on Wednesday night slipped on ice in the shop and broke his ankle.  With no insurance and no savings left, he went to the hospital, got his cast on and came home to suffer not only the pain but the loss of his dignity.

Since we had no money we had to eat something other than turkey for our T-dinner.  I decided on chicken as our best alternative.  We already had one in the freezer and it kind of looked like turkey.  Our seven- and eleven-year old children asked why we were having chicken instead of turkey.  My lame excuse went something like, "Oh, we decided to just do something different this year to give the poor turkeys a break".

That seemed to satisfy their questions.  All four of us shared a roast chicken that year.  There was plenty to eat and it gave them a sense of family that Thanksgiving is supposed to give.  We felt so blessed to be eating.  The entire day was filled with fun and laughter and to this day, my daughter doesn't remember that we didn't have a turkey that year.  My son and my husband are no longer with us,  but years later all we remembered was a wonderful family love fest.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. 

Today is Dexter's 11th month of life.  Not sure of his exact birthday but we're close.  We celebrate on this date anyway.

He is getting so big.  He's still a puppy though, and is so exuberant.  He was running around in the snow early this morning, his first experience with snow.  I'm not sure he can figure out what it is.

Bella on the other hand at three years old, is quite satisfied to lay in the house snoozing.  She has gotten quite used to sleeping in my bedroom at night, and doesn't want to go out just in case she doesn't get to come back in.  But we always call her and she's right there waiting.

I just finished spinning up the alpaca blend from Serano Alpacas in Kentucky.  I love this colorway of reddish brown and a lighter more copper color.  These were spun up separately, plyed together for a tweedy look.  It probably will be woven into a scarf, maybe with some of the merino / silk yarn I bought recently at Blue Flag Weaving in Sandpoint.  The alpaca is fuzzy and soft, the merino / silk is is soft and shiny.  They should look really pretty together.

My daughter had headed to the vet's with one of our sick kitties a couple days ago when all of a sudden she was back in our driveway honking her horn for me to come outside.  She said there was a big fire right across the road.

Actually it was across the highway from our access road.  Fortunately I had taken my phone and we called 911.  It looked like a burn had gotten out of control somehow.  The fire was crowning in the trees and went from the bottom of the hill all the way to the top.

The fact that it was pouring down rain made me sure it was a lot bigger than they had anticipated. We went to town yesterday and it was still smoking.  Always so scary for us, we are surrounded by forests.  It wouldn't take much.

In 1910 there was a devastating fire that went almost from Spokane WA to the MT and ID state line.  People who were around during that said it sounded like a freight train.  I have read the accounts of this terrible fire and sure wouldn't want it to happen again.

I've still been working on spinning up the brown alpaca fiber from Serano Alpacas.  This batch is called Farm Blend and is a multi-hued light chocolate brown color.  Previously I had spun up four ounces of a red-brown alpaca color and will ply this with that first batch.  It should be a very muted but beautiful tweedy brown.  And at eight ounces will be enough to make a scarf.  Soooooo soft!