I took Wednesday off from work to help clean the house and set up for Thanksgiving but, as usual, Kathryn did most of the work for the meal. Thursday we were joined by Rob & Linda, BillieJo, Joel, Stone and Dakota for our holiday.  it was nice to be able to chat and catch up with family.  Thursday evening we pretty much got everything put back, table cloths washed, laundry, dishes washed, etc.

Friday morning I met BillieJo in Barneveld to pick up Stone & Dakota.  Meanwhile Kathryn met Kellee at the Verona Thurway exit to pick up Izzabella.  All the grand kids were staying at our house for an overnight.  We re-convened shortly before noon and after lunch the kids went outside and went sledding for ~90 minutes. The kids went back outside for more sledding at 4pm before dinner.  Shortly before bedtime Kathryn took the girls out to the hot tub.  The warm water worked well as Bella crashed shortly after my bedtime story, and Dakota followed shortly thereafter.  The boys slept upstairs – Stone in the bed and Eric in his sleeping bag on an ThermaRest on the floor. Late Saturday morning I took Stone and Dakota to met Joel in Poland, while Kathryn and Eric took Bella back to Syracuse and then ventured onto Rochester where they met Kathryn’s friend Judy and spent the night at Tim’s house.

Saturday afternoon I brought two carry-all’s of wood up into the garage (worth a couple of weeks).  I tightened the fit of the door on the woodstove, drained and re-filled the hot tub and watched football games.

Kathryn and Eric returned on Sunday about 1pm.  Kathryn and I went to cut wood near our old silo site from two dead elm trees that had blown over.  Walking up there we encountered a deer laying in the water in the ditch.  The deer had been hit by a vehicle and broken it’s hips or back.  Although it could stagger to it’s feet it couldn’t stand or walk.  It had probably lain soaking in the ditch for most of the night and all morning.  We ended up calling the State Troopers to dispatch and dispose of the deer.

We finished cutting up the dead elm trees and transferred the wood to our shed where much of it was thrown on the ground to be split at a later time. We absolutely, positively agreed this would be the last firewood we would cut for the winter. Eric and I manged to get our lawnmower driven into the basement where it is a little warmer and drier. I still need to get our driveway outlined with fence stakes so the snow plow guy knows where to plow.

Eric starts his Travel Team basketball schedule with his 1st game tonight at 6pm vs VVS.