More Thanksgiving

Mom, my assistant, is resting before everyone arrives. She did lots of dishes especially - couldn't have done it all without her! She left for home today. As Diane & Glenn say, she never stays long enough. We needed a few more days to make our Christmas cards!

Mom, Bill & I took the triplets to Pizza Hut and DQ Fri. night along with a stop at the grocery. Mom bought the boys some of their favorite cereal and snacks.









Two of our desserts on Thanksgiving - apple crisp and pumpkin pie. Peggy also brought a Layered Pumpkin Pie that is Dave's favorite. It was really good. Sat. night our desserts were French Silk pie and pecan pie.

The boys loading their plates. Our peninsula was great for a big meal - lots of room. I totally forgot to take people pictures on Thanksgiving.

1st Thanksgiving in New House - Twice!

Wow it's been a busy last few days! We had Lacey a couple of days and nights. She was a little helper with cleaning and cooking/baking. I was sure she wouldn't want to eat any turkey after seeing it thawing and the meat being taken off the bones but she tasted a first little bite and said "this is delicious!"

Her favorite - blueberry pancakes.









Lacey's teacher French braided her hair and she loved it so the next day, Lacey asked her to do it again. She had to tell her that she would do it for her once a week!

We had Bill's family minus Jim here on Thanksgiving and mine on Sat.

Deer in Town

I was coming back into town yesterday and saw 3 deer below the house Glenn & Amy used to live in. The one on the right is a buck - I had never seen one up close before!

Bill has been power washing equipment still but we had rain last night and it is off and on today so now he's doing bookwork and met with a seed corn dealer this morning.

Diane, Mom & I went to Algona for lunch at Maggie B's and looked at the shops today. Maggie B's is a tiny place with only 4 tables but very busy. Maggie and her two helpers make homemade pies of all types every day. Seems like the cream pies with meringue are the most popular (the cream pies were sold out by noon). Lots of call in and large carryout orders while we were there plus a line out the door.

Have Thanksgiving dinner both Thurs. and Sat. and a stamp class Tues. night to get ready for.

Sunny Days

Wed. we headed to Mason City for some shopping. We keep a continuous list going since shopping is not close and we don't go very often. We needed some counter stools and Shopko had some that we thought would be ok. Farm & Fleet is also in Mason City and they have a great toy section so we got some Christmas shopping for the small nieces and nephew done! Bill is excited about what he found for Matthew since so far he likes farm stuff! While he had fun looking at F & F, I got Thanksgiving stuff at Walmart.


I'm taking advantage of the nice, sunny days we're having to get some cleaning done. Today is a good day for scrubbing some things outside and washing windows. Had a couple of very small nicked spots on the marbled walls to touch up. The painting gals had left a piece of sponge for me just in case. Glad to finally get that small thing done.

Bill is still cleaning up equipment but glad for the nice days to do that icky job. Tim's back pain has gotten worse so he's had some dr. appointments and is supposed to take it easy and see the next dr. on the 30th.

Reed called me as he and Ross were headed home for the weekend (with lots of laundry he said). They want to have breakfast here tomorrow so Aunt Cindy needs to go get a couple things at the grocery!

Bunker

The national weather maps have shown rain for Iowa the past 2 days but we've had nice, sunny days with beautiful sunsets.

Today the elevator was open until 2:00 but there sure weren't as many trucks and wagons going by as there were yesterday.

This is a picture of the bunker (the white thing on the left). It's a pile of corn on the ground basically covered with a tarp that usually gets torn and blown off during the winter! Expensive temporary solution. This was taken several days ago so it's bigger now plus they're putting up a 2nd one.

Baked bread again today (this is after rising and before baking). I really like this pumpkin - it was a gift from Uncle Neal & Aunt Jan when they stopped to see us 2 years ago. I'm getting back in the routine of cooking again now that we're done with Harvest - gearing up for the big Thanksgiving feast! All the years I was single, I had all these great kitchen gadgets that I never used (like the Pampered Chef loaf pan). I'm getting to use them now! There are very few restaurants around here so people just don't eat out much - which isn't all bad.

Bill is at a fire mtg. tonight - they're burning an old house in town.

Appetizer

We had a really nice day of laziness yesterday. In the afternoon, we napped during the NASCAR race and then had pizza. Then the wait for the Colts game to start. They didn't play as well as they should've, won by 1 point at the last second, but they're still undefeated!

Today is sunny - rain to the south of us per TV weather. Bill was here with the ripper this morning and going to a couple other farms to redo some of the areas that had the worst tire ruts and the areas that have been muddy. There were lots of loads of corn going toward town at elevator opening time this morning.

He's going to Algona for a hair cut late afternoon. Farmers don't stop for haircuts during harvest. Mine actually looked really bad this year too! Diane has been busy running the mail route just about full time lately - the full time guy is getting ready to retire so seems to be using up some days. She didn't have much time left for her hair customers. Plus she's pregnant and tired (due June 20th).

With the holidays coming up, thought I'd share this recipe I got from my Aunt Jan. I served it at my last stamp class and everyone loved it!

Corn Dip

2 cans Mexicorn or Fiesta corn
1 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 c. Hellmann's mayonnaise
4 oz. grated Monterey Jack cheese
4 oz. grated Pepper Jack cheese (or all Monterey Jack)

Mix together and bake in casserole dish at 350 for 30-45 min. until slightly browned on top. Can be served hot or cold with Doritos or Fritos.

(I have pie pans that are like crock material and a little deeper than a regular pie pan - that's what I use to bake it in)