Decked the Halls...

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I have decorated the house for Christmas. I love tradition!

A fabulous Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. Sean flew in from Des Moines to 80 degree weather and we cooked a feast. Christy made a brussels sprout dish and a Paula Dean pumpkin dessert that was out of this world. Katherine whipped her potatoes into a frenzy, made the gravy, a fresh salad and an upside down apple pie. John's turkey, stuffing and Minnesota wild rice dish were also delicious.

Perfect!

Sean and John do prep work

Cool Fall Morning

It is getting cooler here by the day - the high today is only 70! BRRRRRRRRRRRRR. John took this photo this morning (the overnight low was 30, so the pool was steaming).

Looking forward to Thanksgiving next week - Sean is coming!

Branding

Our boss, Philip (a native Texan) had a few co-workers over yesterday afternoon to help brand the new longhorns (and give the big ones their shots). John (a Chicago native), Christy (originally from Atlanta), Dave (Ohio) and myself (a Minnesotan) put on our boots and hats and went out to his ranch. After we used the ATVs to get the last 2 stragglers into the stalls, the vet arrived. Shots were administered and then we got down to the serious business of branding.

Philip branded himself (the burn looks like a "1") and then he branded the 2 new longhorns. Noone passed out. I believe this is considered a successful branding.

What are those gringos doing over there?

My favorite cowboy

Beep! Beep!

In an attempt to reduce our carbon footprint, we bought a used Mini Cooper last week. John caught these pictures on his cell phone as I drove it home.