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OK, so I've been lazy lately.... again. But here is all the news that is news in Ottertail country. One afternoon I found Peg on the couch knitting something with a couple of sharpened pulpsticks.

Chris and Hailee showed up weekend before last. I remember a tent something like this with my Uncle Larry, only it was with chairs and we had a lamp inside, as I recall.

She really seems to like these giant dog toys that Rosie and Bryn used to play with. Still hamming it up for the camera.....

This was a duet that defies description. Really Hailee does quite nicely on the piano, with no pounding of keys while shrieking. That's what I do when about 3/4 of the way through most songs.

A lot of Christmas ornaments were made, but no messes ;-) Again, just kidding, most of her projects are mild compared to the messes I made when her age ((that is a total guess, but somehow I think it's true)).

Crochet hooks, can this be for real?

The action moved outside later, as there was a fresh snowfall, about 3" with temps in low 30's. Perfect for snow"person" making. Now it occurs to me that changing the "man" in words to person does not really fix the gender issue, as the "son" in person is not gender neutral.... So I believe the correct term would "off spring"??? Per'son' becomes per'offspring', snowman becomes snow 'peroffspring'. Carry this forward to any word that contains person and we get some interesting results:
A Chairperson is simply a Chairperoffspring.
Personage is now peroffspringage.
And personable becomes peroffspringable.

But I digress........

And here we have 'Snowflake' and Hailee, both happy lookin' and about the same height......

Pa got in on the action, too. They moved around so fast I had trouble getting good photos. Of course, I stayed in the house so I would not get wet and cold....

After a few days of warmer weather we decided to rename Snowflake. She is now known as Eileen...... work with me here, O.K.????

Check out the newly added "Reactions" check-boxes at the end of each post. Please use them, but don't consider them an alternative to comments.......... ;-)

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Thanksgiving, 2009

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Since Peggy and I are not heading anywhere for Thanksgiving, and Rose is heading to Milwaukee to spend the holiday with Bryn and their mother, I guess this re-run of a past Thanksgiving will have to do...... This is from 2004, the year Lucy decided to move all the tables into the long living room so all could sit at one table. I was skeptical at first, but it worked out really well......

Everything is all set for the festivities.

It made for a very pleasant afternoon meal.

Lot's of people were around for the day.

Hey, Tim even showed up... not a regular occurrence on Thanksgiving.

Oh, yeah, looking forward to this collection..

This is a first, the cooking crew hanging out around the deck. Charcoal, a grill..... hmmmm.

The kitchen was always full of people and lots of preparations going on.

Yay!!! Way to go, Dennis!!!

Late November grilling, can't be beat.

Not sure about this weird snowman....

Hope everyone has a good, relaxing Thanksgiving!

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November update.

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I had the first week of November off work.... furloughs were approved, so I took advantage. I spent the first part of the week doing some hunting at the Ottertail. This being the rut season, I was hopeful....

No luck at home, so I spent the latter part of the week up at the cabin in Wintergreen country. Ivan had most of the week off as well, so we spent some time hunting up there. I saw zero deer up there, Ivan got a look at one nice buck, no shot was available. The first picture was what greeted us one morning at the cabin.... as in the second photo, trackin' snow.

Not being obsessed with hunting, I took the relaxed attitude and took advantage of not having to get up for work. I got up whenever I happened to wake up, usually around 7:30 or so. Ivan was out fishing most mornings, late season trout at Patterson lake.

Ivan got enough for a couple of meals of fish and potatoes, and they were certainly enjoyed! Tom was also at the cabin for a couple of days. He spent his time cruising the woods, checking new areas and such. He had his dog and shotgun with him, but he got no birds. The grouse population is supposed to be up right now, but none of have seen many birds.

The snow was really nice to look at, but made it really wet in the woods. Temps in the mid 30's, so it was sloppy til it all melted. Dan was at the cabin for a bit, too. He tried for trout at Patterson one morning, but nothing was biting.

The last day we were at the cabin started out with a light fog with full sun behind it. Turned into a beautiful day and I hunted at home Saturday and Sunday with no results.....

This is Ivan's uncle Carl Fisher. He lived a few hundred feet from where the guys' cabin is located. Carl had some health issues this year and he passed away a month or so ago. His presence in Wintergreen country will be sadly missed.

Back to Ottertail Country...

So.... I went back to work for the week of Nov. 9-13. I discovered that I had one more vacation day than I thought I had, so I arranged to use it in two hour blocks during the next week. That was a good idea, as it would let me hunt the last few hours of each day. Soon it would be gun season and bow hunting would have to wait until mid December.

Tuesday the weather was great. Well, for sitting and not getting cold. I got to the woods at 2:45 and sat up there in my Hemlock tree, soaking up the sun. About an hour later I saw a deer picking it's way toward me. It was a buck! It took quite a while for it to get to me, and I thought it was going to pass in an area where I could not get a shot. It stopped, modified it's course a little, and my opportunity was there.

It dropped about 40 yards from my tree. So I field dressed it, got the four wheeler and got it pulled to the Ottertail. There I loaded it into the truck to take it for registering. This was all done before dark!! I like that kind of hunt, not tracking half the night and getting to bed at midnight. The new wheeler worked fine..... :-)

This was the view from the Ottertail that evening. Much like the photo I have at the bottom of the blog page. That was from about a dozen years ago.....

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