Saturday bullets - Nov. 28, 2020

I was going to skip the bullets this week, but then realized that there were a few things that happened other than Thanksgiving.
  • The first turkey carcass has been in the roaster with some vegetables becoming broth for the past two days. It made very good soup tonight. I have a couple of gallons that is going into the refrigerator to cool so I can skim the fat off and put through the pressure canner tomorrow. The second carcass went into the roaster tonight, so a couple more days and I'll have a few more gallons to can. This usually lasts us all year.
  • In other food storage news, I drove to Moscow today. Well, Moscow, Iowa where I met my brother. It seems Moscow, IA is a halfway point between our two homes. In the parking lot of a gas station we switched pounds and pounds of frozen beef from his coolers to mine. My freezer is now restocked for the coming year.
  • I am out of frozen chicken and had been hoping not to see a good sale for the past month or so. I wouldn't have been able to take advantage of it because I wasn't sure how the beef would all fit. Now, I can see that there is still a bit of room, so will go back to hoping for a really good sale on chicken.
  • Sometimes the arguments about who gets to hold the kitten are trying.
  • W. has installed the wood burning stove in the shed for heating, and today, J. went and picked up a bunch of free wood from a friend. The shed is such a small space that it doesn't take a whole lot of wood in the stove to heat it up pretty well.
  • My laundry is more under control than it has been in decades. This is entirely due to the fact that I have officially off-loaded laundry duty to all but two children. This means I am only doing laundry for four people. I can do laundry twice a week and stay caught up. This is significantly better than twice a day. 
  • I am thankful for every day that it isn't cold enough to freeze the water in the water buckets and stock tanks. Soon we are going to have to switch to the heated buckets, but that doesn't help the hydrants if it gets and stays too cold. Then I will be lugging buckets of water from the house to the barn. I am willing to put that particular task off as long as possible.
  • We've had such a long break from school due to Covid and Thanksgiving, I'm a little trepidatious about how Monday is going to go.
  • Nefertiti is still not entirely thrilled with the kitten, though Apollo would very much like to play with her. The other day I happened to notice that Apollo was sitting on a chair at the dining room table and Nefertiti was on the table right in front of him. Every so often I would see his little head pop up and Nefertiti would take her paw and try to smack him. It was like the feline version of Whack-A-Mole. 
  • While we're on the subject of kittens, this is what happens when the kitten jumps up and misjudges where he is going to land.

We all decided that that should be G.'s piece since he is her kitten. (This was pumpkin pie number two out of five pies. It could have been a much more serious offense.)
  • And because we don't seem to have enough animals in our house, look who arrived tonight.

This is an 8 week old Guinea pig that TM offered to take from a friend who discovered their household was allergic. He doesn't have a name yet, despite many people offering a great many choices. We are also thinking that he is going to need a friend since, if memory serves, they are social animals and don't like to be alone. 
  • There is one more day to watch Hayden and Her Family during the online premiere of the documentary. Tomorrow (11/29) at 4pm central time, there will also be a live Q&A with the film maker, me and J., and at least one of the camera men. To see the film, go the link and purchase a ticket which will give you a link to watch the movie. To watch the documentary, register with the button on the link and it will give you a Zoom meeting invitation. To my overseas reader who asked me about watching. I know there have been other people who have bought tickets who are not in the US, so it is possible. Hayden and Her Family

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