Thanksgiving at the farm.

Sweet Boy now knows how to say tractor, combine, grain cart, truck, cow, and dammit dog.

We worked cows on Thanksgiving. Yes. Indeed. Early dinner (1:00) and working cows the rest of the afternoon..... interesting. But the weather was nice so we went for it. Nothing like working cows in a sweatshirt in November. Sweet Boy wandered around and was generally helpful. For a while he walked in big circles kicking cow pies.... then he walked up and down the raised walk by the alleyway. No nap and no fussing.... who is this kid? Hot Stuff ran the "tailgate" on the squeeze chute.... and did a very fine job for a city boy. Cows aren't his favorite thing but he played along.... maybe it was the promise of beer when we were done?!?! He didn't wock Dad on the head once with the tailgate and he hardly swore at all. Brother ran the rest of the squeeze chute.... his timing is fabulous. Mom did medication and kept the dog under control. Dad did the doctor stuff.... Do you really want the details on that? Pregnancy testing... that's what we were doing. Sister brought the cows down from the barn and ran the gate. Her boyfriend did the front of the alleyway.... he did a fine job keeping the cows off Dad's back. I ran the back of the alley and did the eartag numbers. I got about 14 slivers but I didn't get the pole slammed into me or pinch my fingers once.... always a hazard when you are shoving a metal pole behind a bunch of cows that are nervous about going up the alleyway. These old girls pretty much know the drill so there aren't usually a lot of wrecks but working with animals always has surprises.

Friday we went to the river and played around. Sliding down the dirt hills & hiking. Sweet Boy had a blast.

Today we fired a big pile of branches.... much fun for the firefighters in the crew.... Now we are getting settled in to eat more leftovers and watch the Carroll College Saints football game on tv.... then we will head home to try to beat the predicted blizzard that is coming tonight.... highs in the single digits tomorrow....