We're In the Cattle Business Now

After mastering the poultry business, we decided it was time to move on to cattle. Our "herd" consists of one steer, T-bone. We bought him from our friend Chad, and he's now frolicking in Tom and Tracy's pasture with three llamas. We're hoping to relocate him to our freezer in about three months.

Tom and Tracy have a large pasture which wasn't being grazed by "agricultural" animals. They need an animal to meet their agricultural exemption for property taxes; T-bone needs grass. It's the perfect partnership. I spent about 4 hours retrieving T-bone and taking him over to the pasture. I doubt I will see him again until he is packaged in delicious, frozen packages.

Christmas Tree

Today we made our fifth annual trip to find a Christmas tree. We went to the same spot we found last year. There was very little snow to be found, but we still had a good time. Once we arrived, Karen fed Marcus while Sprout and I set off in search of a tree. She didn't find a tree for us, but she did notice lots of cow manure. I think she said "THATS POOP!" and laughed hysterically about 50 times.

I think this may be our best tree yet. I's a balsam fir. I put some lights on it and snapped the picture below. We'll decorate it tomorrow.

You may have noticed that our tree does not have a skirt. Karen said, "I was waiting to make sure we're going to get a tree every year before I spend $20-30 for a tree skirt"

Me: "We've made it five consecutive years now and we have small children. So what kind of commitment do you need in order to go ahead with this *large* investment?"

I'm guessing this tree will have a skirt soon. Anyway, we followed tradition and visited a hot springs on the way home. It was pretty crowded, but Sprout really wanted to swim so we stopped. She had a great time while Karen and I glared at some unattended, unruly kids. Once we got home, we had breakfast for dinner. It seemed fitting since I had pie for breakfast.

Thanksgiving 2012

We hosted Thanksgiving again this year for 15 of our family members. As you can see above, Marcus came dressed for the occasion. He enjoyed milk and some mushy green stuff. I think it was green beans.

We cooked a much larger turkey this year, and it cooked much more quickly than we expected. It was done at 10, but dinner wasn't until 1:00. We just turned it down and it turned out fine. Dinner was great, and I'm still enjoying the leftovers two days later. I am a firm believer that pie is the true breakfast of champions.

The next two pictures are proof that it is impossible to get three kids to pose for a picture simultaneously.

 

After Dinner, we watched some football. Sprout and I crashed out on the couch.

Welcome Home Stewie!

Way back in the summer of 2011, I went fishing in Alaska with Marty, Ben and Steve. I was fortunate enough to catch a large male king salmon. I finally got him back from the taxidermist, so I thought I would share some pics.

5.25 Months

 Marcus passed his 5 month mark last week. He has become much more active, but he is a pretty happy kid most of the time.

 

 Marcus has started eating...everything in sight. He chews on toys, fingers (yours or his) and rice cereal. These two pictures show how brown his eyes are.

Halloween

Halloween began with a trip to see Great Grandpa. GG answered the door wearing his scary mask; Sprout was not impressed.She pretty much gave him the stink-eye the entire time she was there.

  

Fortunately, Alex and Katie were more forgiving.

 We hung out with the Macks for the evening. They are much more festive than we are.

 

We took all of the kids over to see  Karen's parents. Once there, the kids ganged up on Justin.

 Marcus chilled most of the time.

 That is, when he was able to breathe. He spent much of the day with the tiger's face covering his. I think he may be on to something, as was able to take a nap anywhere! Sprout was really in to her cat costume. She wore it several more times over the next week. We even drew whiskers a few more times for her.

 MEEEOOWW!