Today was absolutely beautiful with temps reaching into the upper 70's with plenty of sunshine and a slight breeze. We took our walk nice and early and were back home just as the sun was coming up over the horizon. It's the perfect time of day to be outside and enjoy the sunrise.

Today was a day for company and visiting. Ned S. stopped in just as we were finishing breakfast. He wanted to find out the results of John's MRI and had some suggestions for exercises that might help his back and neck. John then took a walk over to the driving range to look for some golf balls--don't ask me why--we have more than we will ever use. Stan M. then dropped in for a visit and brought us up to date on what has been happening around the fort.

After lunch we decided that since we were feeling pretty much pain free, we would head down to the Par 3 course and try playing some golf. We played only five holes when John thought it was best to stop since we are scheduled to play a best ball scramble with friends tomorrow afternoon and he didn't want to overdo it today. So far there are no ill effects from playing today.

On our way home we stopped off to visit with Jenni and Lloyd Johns. They just arrived back at the fort Thursday evening and we wanted to say hello and welcome back. We were at their place for a while and then the guys wanted to head over to Unit 37 to look at a place that's for sale right next to Chuck and Lois Endris. We all ended up visiting at their place until supper time. Just about all of our Winter Texan friends have returned--the rest should be here sometime next week. Plans are in the works for some fun.

I will soon be starting my third year of blogging and have decided to spruce up my blog page. I hope to have the changes made sometime within the next few days, so when you check in don't think you're at the wrong site. Have a Happy and Blessed New Year!!

This morning we were up bright and early once again to head back to Uvalde and the Urgent Care clinic--this time for me. For the past couple of days I had been having neck and face pain and was concerned that it was Shingles. With the holiday weekend looming, we thought it best to get things checked out. We arrived as the doors were unlocked, got registered immediately, and went right back to an exam room. Fortunately, Dr. Peraz was on duty, and after some questioning, determined it was a flare up of my autoimmune disease. He prescribed a steroid to take down the inflammation and sent us on our way. Of course, next stop was Wal Mart to get the prescription filled and then we hit the road back to Fort Clark.

Once we returned home, I took my pills and a two hour nap while the medicine got to work. I'm happy to say that both John and I are on the mend. He went to the driving range while I napped and said he was able to swing the golf club without any ill effects. There was a condo party this afternoon, but we opted out and took a nice walk instead. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us during this time--your prayers are very much appreciated.

John and I were up nice and early so we could arrive at the Urgent Care clinic in Uvalde when it opened at 8 a.m. We arrived just as the doors were unlocked and were soon taken back to an exam room to see Dr. Peraz. The doctor explained the results of John's MRI saying that he has a lot of arthritis in his neck and that the space between discs is being compressed by it thus pinching the nerves. He suggested staying on the meds he prescribed a bit longer since they seemed to be helping and John is feeling much better. Once he gets off of them and things don't continue to improve, the next step is seeing a neurologist about receiving an injection in the neck area to reduce more of the inflammation in that area. The final step would be surgery to clean out the area around the nerves in the neck. After talking to several folks this afternoon, John has decided to take a wait and see approach.

The doctor gave John another prescription for one of the meds, so we stopped at Wal Mart to get it filled and then made a stop at the hospital to pick up the MRI film and report so he would have it to give to another doctor if he chooses to pursue that avenue of treatment. After we got home John made a couple of salads for lunch and then we took a nice long walk around the fort. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and so enjoyable to be outside. John went to wood carvers this evening and when he got home, we watched a couple of the college bowl games that are being televised over the next week.

The warm sunny weather has finally settled back in here in Texas and I, for one, am very glad. The temperature was about 15 degrees warmer than yesterday when we took our morning walk.

Today was Weight Watchers, and since John couldn't play golf, he decided to tag along to Del Rio with me--he even sat in on the meeting. Afterwards we stopped for lunch and then went on to Wal Mart to pick up the few items we missed yesterday. While we were in Del Rio, Urgent Care called from Uvalde to say they had the results of John's MRI and that the doctor wanted to see him tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will be good news.

When we arrived back at the fort, we stopped at the RV park to see if the Bevins had arrived. We found them parking their camper, so John helped Gene get it in place while Jeanne and I visited. It sure was good to see them again. From there we went over to Unit 37 to see Darlene and Everett. Darlene was visiting with a neighbor, so we only saw Everett. Visiting took up the remainder of the afternoon and we got home just in time for supper. We spent the evening working on the computer and watching a couple of favorite TV shows

Even though the temp was quite cold this morning (31 degrees), by afternoon it had warmed up to a high in the upper 60's. The sunshine bought out the golfers and folks driving around in their golf carts.

John had his MRI scheduled for 10 a.m. in Unvalde, so we were up early and on the road by 9 a.m. Once we reached the hospital it took a little time to get registered and back to radiology. The MRI took about 35 minutes and then we were out of there and headed to Wendy's for a quick lunch before stopping at Wal Mart. We wanted to take advantage of the after Christmas sales and pick up some cards for next year along with a few grocery items.

For this evening's supper we went to the RV park for their potluck. There was a small crowd tonight as many people are still away for the holiday. We learned that some Winter Texans arrived yesterday and more are due over the next couple of days. There should be a good sized crowd next week and we'll resume playing 31.

The morning was cold (31 degrees) but crystal clear with a good covering of frost when we left the house for our walk around the golf course. As we were walking along we came across a dead owl. We couldn't see any injuries and were wondering if it froze to death.

The fort returned to its normal Monday activities, so John headed off to wood carvers where he learned that several of our friends will be pulling in by tomorrow evening and others should be arriving by the end of the week. Gene Bevins called this afternoon to let John know he was on his way and to get ready to have some fun.

By this afternoon the temps reached the upper 50's so we decided to get outside and enjoy the sunshine by taking any walk. It sure felt good to feel the warmth of the sun on our backs as we walked. We're forecast to have sunny skies the next 10 days--bring it on!! We ended our day watching some news and Monday night football.

Our Christmas weather was partly sunny with strong winds and cold temps so we skipped our morning walk. Before we left for church I finished preparing the jello salad and John put the giblet gravy in the crock pot to warm up while we were gone.

The numbers were way down in Sunday school and the morning worship service--many folks were gone for the holiday weekend. When we got back home we gathered up the salad and gravy and headed over to Sandwicks. Eight of us gathered around the table for a delicious meal and a lot of fun conversation.

From the left - Ralph, Gerald, John and Lois
Carlson, Dave and Valada Sandwick, me

After we returned home, we enjoyed a good Skype visit with Matt and Amy's families in South Dakota. We were able to see what several of the grand kids got for Christmas and catch up a little on what everyone has been doing. John and I had a very enjoyable Christmas Day, but we still missed being with family.

It rained overnight and continued throughout the entire day which resulted in a pretty gloomy and cold Christmas Eve. Things were pretty quiet here on the fort and we spent most of the day inside staying warm and dry.

This morning John went to the post office, picked up a few groceries, and then stopped at Ralph's to get the turkey giblets. When he returned home he started on the giblet gravy for tomorrow's Christmas dinner. I spent a good portion of my day on the Shutterfly web site making a 2012 calendar with some of my photos and preparing a Jello salad. In between working on the calendar and making gravy, we also watched the NFL games.

This evening we attended our church's Christmas Eve Candlelight Service which was followed by a meal of hot soups, snacks, and cookies. We ended the day with our annual viewing of It's A Wonderful Life and The Christmas Story. We never get tired of watching these wonderful classic movies. Merry Christmas!!

The clouds and colder temps returned again, so there was no golf game today. It was 36 degrees when we left the house for our walk and the highs for this afternoon only reached the low 50's.

Following our walk and breakfast, I spent the morning cleaning up around the house and finishing up the laundry that I started yesterday. John made a trip to the post office and stopped in at Ralph's to pick up the turkey giblets for the gravy he is to make for our Christmas dinner at Sandwicks. Unfortunately, the turkey wasn't thawed enough to removed the package of giblets so he'll have to get them tomorrow morning.

This afternoon we made up a couple of plates of Christmas cookies--one for Lois Carlson and the other for Ralph. Our good friend Lois is currently battling cancer and has been undergoing radiation treatments for the past five weeks. John and I only visited with Lois for a few minutes as her physical therapist arrived to work with her. We then headed around the corner to Ralph's where we met up with Gerald and spent some time visiting with him and Ralph. As we started home, we decided to go into town and Subway and picked up a sub for supper. Our evening was pretty quiet--watched some news and then a movie.

The temperature was 36 degrees when we left the house for our morning walk, but the sun was shining and there was no wind. As they day went on, the temps warmed up very nicely and we had a beautiful afternoon.

John and I spent the morning baking more cookies--this time we made some applesauce/raisin drop cookies. Actually, John did most of the mixing and baking while I worked on laundry and finances.

After lunch we decided to head down to the Par 3 so I could play some golf. John was going along just to watch and maybe do a little putting. While I was getting ready, he happened to walk around the side of the house and saw a puddle on the ground where our water line comes into the house and outside faucet. He turned off the water at the street and then dug a hole down through the mud to the water line--there he found a crack at the joint where the pipe comes up for the faucet. It just so happens that our neighbor across the street is a retired plumber. He was outside working on his truck and came over to see what was going on. He diagnosed the problem right away and knew exactly what was needed to repair it. Steve and John ran into town to pick up some parts and had everything fixed and the water back on in a couple of hours.

John and Steve working on the leak. Fortunately
the water line is only down about 12 inches.

By the time the leak was repaired and the ditch filled back in, it was too late in the afternoon for golf. Hopefully the weather will be nice enough tomorrow to try playing again. A bit of good news--the MRI has been approved and now just waiting for a call to let us know when it is scheduled.

When we were spending our winters in northern Minnesota, I couldn't wait for December 21st. After weeks of the days getting shorter, this date meant that we had finally reached the shortest and darkest day of the year. Now, we had no where to go but up, and each day would begin gaining a minute or two more of daylight. Wintering here in south Texas, we don't have those long hours of darkness and I don't miss them at all.

The clouds and cool weather returned today, but we still managed to get in our morning walk. After breakfast we made a quick trip to the post office, library, and then the local grocery store to pick up a few ingredients needed for baking some Christmas cookies. John was getting bored hanging out around the house and needed a project to keep him occupied.



John's back was a little more painful today, but he still managed to roll and cut out the cookie dough. We sampled a couple cookies when they cooled and I must say they were pretty tasty. This evening was spent watching a few TV shows and then a movie. We're still waiting to hear about an MRI.

Sunny skies continued today but with cooler temps and strong winds. John had another restful night and felt well enough to take our morning walk. The medicine he's taking now seems to be keeping the pain under control. He still has numbness and tingling in his right arm, so we assume that means the nerve is still being pinched somewhere.

The gals I play golf with on Tuesday mornings canceled today due to the cold and wind, so John and I decided to make a run to Del Rio to wash the car and pick up a few grocery items. There is so much dust in the air and on the ground, that every time it rains, the vehicles get coated in a thin layer of mud-like dirt. The car wash was busy this morning, but we were able to find an empty slot and get the Honda cleaned up and shining again. By the time John got the car done it was noon, and that meant a stop at Wendy's for a quick bite before hitting Wal Mart. It took us longer to check out than it did to do the actual shopping--we need to stay away from stores until after Christmas.

Tonight was the first RV park potluck supper and card game of the winter season so this afternoon I made a hamburger hotdish for the meal. There were quite a few empty places around the tables as many of the Winter Texans won't be back until after the holidays. Five of us stayed after the meal and played 31 with Paul winning both games. He was so happy to finally beat John as John had defeated him several times last year. Even though we both lost, we had a good time this evening visiting with folks we hadn't seen since last spring.

We had more much needed rain overnight and it continued through mid-morning until the clouds broke up and the sunshine came through. It turned out to be a beautiful day and we all appreciated seeing the sun again. The trees have been dropping their leaves and are starting to look a little bare now. We'll probably have to rake the yard one more time.

The Mesquite trees are dropping their leaves.
It's like seeing fall for the second time this year.

John was finally able to sleep the entire night without pain waking him up. We're not sure if the pinched nerve is healing or if it's the medicine he's taking that's giving him relief--we're just glad things seem to be settling down and he's able to get around. We're still waiting to hear from the Urgent Care doctor about the MRI.

Since he felt so good this morning, John headed off to wood carvers while I did some cleaning up around the house. Sandwicks invited some folks over for Christmas dinner, so after lunch we decided to stop over their place and see what they wanted us to bring. Our plan was to stay for only a few minutes and then head into town and the post office. We ended up visiting the entire afternoon and got home just in time for supper. We spent a quiet evening watching the Monday night football game.

It was another cloudy, misty morning as we left the house to attend Sunday school and worship service. This was the first day for our Winter Texan Sunday school class and as usual we had very good discussion and sharing.

John was feeling better today even though he had a rough night. He is able to sleep about five hours before the pain in his back wakes him up and he has to get up for an hour or so and then it seems to ease up enough to return to bed. After lunch we took a walk around the fort and golf course. There were only one or two people on the course and one other walker. This weather has sure kept folks inside and fort activity at a minimum.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the Broncos game and then settled in for the finale of Survivor.

Today marks a week of cloudy, cool weather. I think everyone here is ready for some warm weather and sunshine, I know we are. John and I slept in a little later this morning and then he made a nice breakfast of bacon, eggs, tea, and toast. When I finished eating, I grabbed my MP3 player and took a nice, long walk. It felt good to get outside in the fresh air for awhile.

Stan M. stopped in this morning to visit with John and fill him in on what has been happening around the fort. After he left, we spent some time watching college basketball and catching up on emails and finances. I made a quick trip to the post office and Picos where I picked up a pizza for supper. Our day was pretty low key with John trying to rest and find a comfortable position to relieve his back pain.

Today the weather was cloudy, but the temps weren't too bad--highs in the 50's. John opted out of walking this morning, so I gathered up my MP3 player and enjoyed a good walk listening to Alabama's greatest hits. The pain in John's back comes and goes, so he spent his day once again resting and watching TV. We didn't hear anything from the clinic about his MRI and are hoping they will call on Monday and let him know what's been decided about it.

My day was spent doing laundry, cleaning up around the house, and reading some more of my mystery novel. The weather has kept the fort pretty quiet and we haven't seen very many golfers go by our place on their way to the third tee. We're suppose to have more cloudy, cool weather with showers throughout the weekend, so we'll probably just stay home and keep warm and dry.

Today was another cloudy and cool one with a few showers thrown in throughout the afternoon. John didn't have a good night, so he spent the morning resting and catching up on his sleep. I finished up the Christmas cards and got the December birthday cards ready for the post office. After resting all morning, John felt he needed some exercise, so we took a short walk around the golf course. It still gets painful for John to walk for any length of time, so this clinched the decision to have the MRI. We're just waiting to hear back from the doctor as to when he can get it.

After lunch, Ralph R. stopped in to check up on how John was doing and stayed for an hour or so visiting. The other day the propane tank on the grill ran out so after Ralph left, we decided to make a quick run to the post office and then onto Del Rio and Amistad Propane to get the tank refilled. We then made another stop at Home Depot to pick up a new battery for the cordless drill. By now it was time for supper, so our final stop was Wendy's for a quick meal before hitting the road back to the fort. We ended our day watching some TV and working on the computer.

This whole "thing" with John's back/neck is turning into a real puzzle. He had a rough day yesterday as far as pain was concerned, so we decided to get up nice and early this morning and head back to Uvalde and the Urgent Care clinic. We arrived just as they were opening and he was taken right back to an exam room. Fortunately, he saw the same doctor from last week. While we were sitting in the waiting room, John said the pain was just about gone, but when he stood up to walk back to the exam room, it flared up again. The doctor gave John a prescription for a drug that targets nerve pain and thought he should get an MRI of the neck. Okay, now we have a plan of action and are now waiting for a call to set up a time for the MRI.

After leaving the clinic, we went across the street to Wal Mart to get the prescription filled and to also purchase another box of Christmas cards. It took some time before we could pick up the meds, so we stopped in McDonald's for a quick snack and then picked up a new chair for our computer desk and a few other items we just had to have. Now for the crazy part. On the way home, the pain in John's back started going away and by lunch time he felt pretty good. We had a break in the clouds, and since the afternoon was so nice and balmy, we decided to take a walk. John was able to walk without pain and as of this posting his back and neck feel good. Is the nerve finally loosening up, is the hard pain at an end? Should he still proceed with the MRI if the pain stays gone? We'll just have to see how it goes over the next couple of days. We can only hope John is over the worst of it and will return to normal, whatever his normal is.

I got the Christmas cards finished up this afternoon, so they can be dropped at the post office sometime tomorrow. This evening we watched Survivor--can't believe Ozzie won the challenge. He's my favorite and I'm rooting for him to make to the finals. Also had a nice Skype visit with Matt and Sara.

Since the weather remained cold and wet, I decided it was a good day to do more that just think about doing our annual Christmas letter and cards. John's back pain was back in full force, so he spent the day resting and trying to find a comfortable position to gain some relief.

It took most of the morning, but I got our letter composed and printed off. Then it was addressing and stuffing the envelopes. I'm short about five cards, so I'll have to pick up another box before I can cross this job off my list. We were invited to a potluck birthday dinner this afternoon, so in between working on the cards, I made a salad to take and also managed a couple of more loads of laundry.

There was quite a crowd at the RV kitchen to celebrate Harlan's 80th birthday and Jerry's 70th. The main dish of red beans and rice w/cornbread was provided and everyone brought a dish to share. There was quite a variety of dishes and deserts to choose from and if you went away hungry, it was your own fault. It seemed everyone had an enjoyable time eating and visiting.

This evening we settled in to watch the finale of The Biggest Loser. Tomorrow we'll head back to Uvalde and Urgent Care and see if we can figure out our next step in dealing with John's back/neck problem.

Today was another cloudy, cool, soggy day--the third one in a row. The moisture is really needed after months without rain, so we try to have a positive attitude about the gloomy and wet weather.

After breakfast, John headed off to wood carvers. This morning's group met in the RV park kitchen because Wallace is away until after Christmas. Their numbers were down this morning because some other folks have also left the fort to visit family over the holidays. While John was gone, I took care of my usually Monday morning chores--changing bed linens and doing some laundry.

We were running short on some groceries, so when John got home we decided to take a run to Del Rio for lunch and shopping. Since the weather was on the chilly side, Wendy's Chili and baked potato sounded like a good choice for lunch. Our next stop was Sears and then on to Wal Mart where we ran into Chuck and Lois Endris several different times while searching out the items we needed. It was then back on the road and home to Brackettville.

John's back/neck flared up again today, so maybe he overdid the activity and will try resting more tomorrow. We ended our day watching a couple of favorite TV shows and working on this year's Christmas letter.

Our day was a pretty busy one. First, the good news. John's back/neck problem seems to be improving. Late yesterday afternoon, the back pain started to subside and, as the evening progressed, it kept improving. This morning he was able to get right out of bed and move about pretty freely. Since he was feeling so much better, we felt he could make it to church and the potluck dinner to follow.

While we were eating breakfast, a flock of wild turkey hens wandered through our yard. We have noticed them in other parts of the fort, but this is the first time we have seen them out our way. They are a lot of fun to watch as they strut around the yard.



I had started a Jello salad last night in the hopes we would be able to go this morning, so I just had to put the finishing touches on it and it was ready to go. As usual, the ladies of Frontier Baptist prepared a delicious meal and there was a large variety of foods to eat. After we got home from church, John wanted to take a walk and, I glad to say, he was able to do so without pain. Hopefully he is on the road to full recovery.

This afternoon the Kinney County Arts Council sponsored their annual Christmas Tour of Homes. There were five homes on the tour--one was a restored and renovated 1873 Barracks building. John and I spent some time with the owner learning about how he restored the property and his desire to preserve the history of his home. All the homes on the tour were just beautiful and represented many different styles and interest.

We had a fun time this evening visiting with Matt and Amy's families via Skype. At first it felt like a three ring circus with six adults and six kids trying to talk at the same time. We were able to see new Bibles and hear about the ice fishing and fish that were caught this afternoon. John and I were also able to give them a tour of our house and show them our Christmas tree. After saying good night and good-bye, we ended our evening watching the NFL before calling it a day.

Our Christmas Tree

We had a very unusual occurrence here today--it rained the entire day. That probably doesn't sound like a very big deal to some folks, but rainfall has been scarce in this area for over a year and is very much appreciated. The rain drops meant the morning walk was canceled and that we could sleep in as long as we wanted this a.m. There's something about a cloudy, rainy day that makes one want to curl up under the covers, stay in bed, and not feel guilty about doing it.

John spent the entire day laying around resting his back/neck. When he got up this morning the pain was strong as ever in his back and his arm and his fingers were numb. Everything seems worse when he first gets up. This evening the pain suddenly lessened and he's feeling the best he has in over a week. Hopefully he's turned a corner and whatever is the source of the pain is getting better.

I made a trip to the post office for mail and then to the library to return a couple of books and pick up a new mystery. Overall it was a pretty lazy, rainy day in Brackettville.

The temperature has finally returned, more or less, to normal for this time of year. It was in the mid 40's when I left the house for my morning walk. John had another rough night and just wasn't up to going with me. Since I'm walking alone, I thought to use my MP3 player to listen to music, but I forgot to charge it up last night, so I ventured off without it.

John spent his day relaxing and applying cold and then heat to his neck. There are times when the pain is just about gone, and then returns as strong as ever. We'll have to see how things progress over the weekend, and if there is no improvement, go back to the doctor and come up with another plan of action. This afternoon I worked a little on finances, thought about starting the Christmas cards (notice I only thought about it), and pretty much just hung out around the house doing some odd jobs. We have a few social events coming up over the weekend and next week, so we're hoping John will be able to attend. We ended out boring day watching one of our new movies.

We had another sunny but chilly day. The temp this morning was 36 degrees when we left to take our walk. Even though he didn't have a good night's sleep, John decided to try walking this morning. He only made past a couple of houses and had to call it quits due to pain. I needed to get some exercise, so I continued on alone but walked a little shorter route than normal.

John thought he was going to have instant relief from pain after receiving the steroid injection. That has been his experience in the past; however, this time is a different story. As the day has gone on, he has had some improvement, not much, but some. Hopefully he had so much inflammation that it is taking some time for the steroids to work. We spent the day inside with John resting and watching TV while I did a little organizing. I hadn't had a chance to straighten up our storage shelves, so today was a good one to tackle that job. We are now officially settled in and everything stored away where it belongs.

The weather forecast is for warmer temps overnight and in the 50's and 60's during the day. We're hoping the last of the cold weather is over for now.

After suffering the past two or three days with shoulder pain, John decided to get up bright and early this morning and head to Uvalde and the Urgent Care clinic. I called yesterday and found that it's first come, first served. When we left the house, the temperature was 24 degrees, so we thought many of the warm blooded Texans would not venture out until later in the morning and we might luck out and not have to wait long to see the doctor.

We arrived at the clinic around 8:15 and found the waiting room completely empty. John got registered and within 15 minutes was taken back to an exam room. It wasn't long before the doctor came in, listen to John's symptoms, and felt the problem was not in his shoulder, but a pinched nerve in his neck. John had also been experiencing tingling in his arm and some numbness in his fingertips, a sign of nerve involvement. He suggested a steroid injection to take down inflammation in his body and also gave him an anti-inflammatory prescription. After receiving the shot, we had to wait 15 minutes before leaving just to make sure he had no adverse reaction to it.

After leaving the clinic, we headed across the street to Wal Mart to get the prescription filled. Since we left the house so early, we stopped in at McDonald's for some breakfast and then shopped for a few groceries before picking up the medicine.

We got back home a little before noon and decided since it was still pretty cold outside and were house bound again, to tackle the job of wet mopping the floor. It was pretty dusty from the house sitting empty since last spring. With John using the Swiffer and me following behind with the mop, we got the job done in record time. Our floor looks nice and clean and there isn't a dust bunny to be found. John's shoulder is feeling better than it was, so hopefully we'll get a good night's rest this evening. If the shot and meds don't eliminate the pain, the next step would be an MRI of the neck. Sure hope the injection works.

John's shoulder was still painful this morning, so we decided to cancel our walk. That was just fine with me as the temperature this morning was in the low 30's. Even though we had sunshine most of the day, the temps didn't get out of the 40's. From inside the sunny day looked nice and warm, but when you stepped outside, it was pretty chilly. We only saw about four people go past our place playing golf.

Since we were pretty much house bound again, I tackled some laundry, baked a couple loaves of bread (which helped keep the house nice and warm), and then went for a haircut. John pretty much vegged out all day and rested his shoulder. If it's still painful tomorrow, we'll head to Urgent Care in Uvalde. He needs to find out exactly what he's dealing with--sore muscles or injury to the shoulder.

This evening John put some corn out in the yard and we had our first deer visitors.

We ended our evening watching the finale of The Biggest Loser, working on the computer, and taking care of some finances.

John has been having some shoulder trouble today, actually it started yesterday. He thinks all the raking and digging he did in the yard last week has aggravated the shoulder he had repaired 16 months ago. The pain kept him up most of the night; however, he still wanted to take our regular morning walk. We got a short distance from the house and he found that the arm became too painful to continued, so we turned back home. I know it must have been painful as he didn't even go to wood carvers this morning and he never misses carving.

I put a call into our doctor's office, but there were no openings this entire week and right now John is on a waiting list to get in. He's decided to rest the shoulder for a day or two and see how it goes. He has full range of motion without pain and didn't feel anything pop or tear while he was working, so we're hoping he just strained a tendon. Ralph Ramsey dropped in around noon and suggested John try using some liniment he has for sore muscles. After lunch John went over to Ralph's, picked up the liniment, and we applied some to the sore muscles. Still to early to tell if it's working. If it remains extremely painful, we'll have to see about going to Urgent Care in Uvalde.

The weather was actually cold today, so we stayed holed up in the house and kept warm. John spent most of his day watching TV while I did some cleaning up around the place and started a new mystery. The cold weather looks like it's going to hang around the next several days and that makes it a little easier to be house bound.

There was a big change in the weather overnight. The balmy temps of last night were replaced by cloudy skies, mist, and highs for the day in the 50's. The weather seemed to keep most people inside today. We didn't see a single person playing golf.

We attended the Sunday morning church service and then spent the afternoon watching the NFL games, decorating the Christmas tree, and doing some work on the computer. All in all, it was a pretty quiet day. Hopefully the warm weather and sunshine will return tomorrow.

Today was a very busy one for us. Unit 38 was having a group garage sale, so we were up and out of the house nice and early to check out the sale and see if we could find any bargains that we couldn't live without. Our plan was to give the sale a quick look and then head out to Del Rio for some Christmas lights and to get our cell phone batteries checked out at Radio Shack. You think we would have learned that there is no such thing as a quick in and out. We didn't find anything that we needed, but did spend quite a bit of time visiting with folks that we hadn't seen since last spring. More Winter Texans are returning to the fort every day.

First stop of the morning was Kit and Jerry's place

We hit the road to Del Rio with our first stop at Radio Shack. Our cell phone batteries don't seem to be holding a charge as long as they did when we were in Minnesota. The clerk checked them out and said that since they are Verizon phones, they may be using more power to pull in the signal from the cell towers. He also said that Verizon does not do well in this area. So, I guess we will be charging the cell phones every evening instead of once every two or three days. Next stop was Wal Mart for lights and a few groceries. We decided on an early lunch and pulled into Wendy's before driving back to the fort.

The weather is forecast to turn colder with possibly some rain, so John wanted to bag up all the leaves and branches he raked up over the past few days. I held the bags open while he shoveled up all the debris. We managed to fill seven large trash bags and now our dirt yard looks pretty good, or as good as dirt can look. As we were taking a little breather our neighbor, Neva, came to visit bringing us some Christmas treats. She is such a sweet person and we enjoyed our visit.

Since the afternoon was warm, sunny, and beautiful, we decided to head down to the Par 3 for a few holes of golf. John wanted to stop at Wallace's first to pick up a sample for carving before we went to the course. As we were driving past the RV Park, we saw that John and Theresa and Paul and Melinda were there--both couples had just arrived and we getting settled. So, of course, we had to pull in, say "Hi", and visit for a few moments. As we pulled into Wallace's I told John not to linger or we were never going to have enough time to play before we would need to get ready to go to the Christmas Parade. We ended up only playing five holes and practicing some chipping and putting.

Just returned home from watching the Christmas Parade. There we some very nice floats and, of course, many decorated golf carts. The parade ended up downtown Brackettville where there were booths set up selling foods and crafts. I think the entire population of the town came out for the event. It was a perfect night--warm and balmy.

Blooming Oleander at John and Libby's place

It's hard to believe that we've been here in Texas a little over a week. We are just about completely settled in and are starting to get into a regular routine. The weather was a little cooler today as the clouds hung around and there was very little sunshine peeking through.

This morning John worked out in the yard digging up mesquite tree shoots and raking up more dead grass. He now has several piles of debris that need to be bagged up and placed out by the curb for pickup. My plan for today was to start decorating the Christmas tree, but after testing the strings of lights, I found they did not work. After about an hour of working on them and trying to replace bulbs and fuses, it was concluded that we would go to Wal Mart and purchase some new ones.

With the tree decorating on hold, I baked some brownies to take to this afternoon's Condo Party. This was the first one for us since we've been back. There was a good crowd as many of the Winter Texans are now at the fort. We had a good time visiting, catching up, and eating some delicious snacks. We were also sorry to learn that a few of our regulars will not be wintering with us this year.

As the holidays approach there are many special events coming up. The first is a Christmas parade tomorrow night. It looks like we'll be kept pretty busy over the next few weekends.

The temps were in the low 50's and the skies overcast when we left the house for our morning walk. It was around noon that the clouds cleared out and we had a beautiful, sunny afternoon.

The weather was perfect for working outside, so we decided to take advantage of it and put up the outside Christmas lights and get the wreaths hung on the doors. Last year we didn't remove the hooks for the lights, therefore it didn't take long to get them back up. By the time we got that job done we were ready for some lunch. Since John and I have been trying to watch what we eat, he has been making delicious salads for lunch every day. Not wanting to waste the nice weather, we then headed down to the Par Three course and played a round of golf. The rest of the afternoon was taken up by a couple of visitors--Ned and Stan.

The wood carvers meet again on Thursday evenings, so after supper John gathered up his tools and headed over to Wallace's place. While he was gone, I cleaned up the kitchen, worked on the computer, and watched a little TV. When John got home we ended the evening watching the Eagles lose to the Seahawks.

Today was another beautiful blue sky Texas day. The temps started out cool this morning, which made it comfortable for walking, but by mid morning we were able to be in shorts and short sleeved shirts.

After breakfast John went across the street to the driving range and spent about half an hour hitting golf balls before heading to the golf course for his Wednesday morning game. There is a group of fellows that play nine holes every Wednesday morning. Today there were 8 guys, so they formed two teams of four. John's team shot one under par--he didn't know the score for the other team.

While John was gone, I put out a few more Christmas decorations, mopped the bedroom floor, and did some laundry. There are still one or two little boxes that need to be unpacked and then everything will finally be stowed away. When we went shopping last Saturday there were a few items that we forgot so after lunch we went to Uvalde and hit their Wal Mart. It was a perfect time to shop as the store wasn't very busy. We decided to have an early supper and stopped at Wendy's before hitting the road back to the fort.

When we got home I put the groceries away and John took a walk over to the driving range to look for golf balls. While he was out, he ran into our new neighbors and ended up visiting for a bit. We ended the day watching Survivor and a couple of other TV favorites.

It was such a beautiful morning that we took a little longer walk than usual. There was nothing pressing that had to be done at home, so we just took our time and enjoyed the weather.

After breakfast John spent most of his morning raking up broken limbs and dead leaves in the yard. Actually, he raked the dirt. With the extreme drought and heat this summer our grass is completely gone leaving only dry, powdery, dirt in its place. We found the house to be very dusty and dirty on the inside, so this morning I started washing some of the windows and got the front door cleaned up. The dust was so thick on the glass that when I sprayed the glass cleaner on it and started to wipe it off with some newspaper, the dust actually turned to mud. I had to go over the glass several times to finally get it sparkling again.

John wanted to play golf again, so following lunch we headed back down to the Par 3 course. Today's game didn't go as good as yesterday's, but that's the way it goes--one day good, the next, poor. On our way home we decided to stop in to see our friend Ralph Ramsey. He had a new fan that needed to be installed, so while we were there, John put it up while Ralph gave direction. From Ralph's we went next door and visited with Dave and Valada who just returned home from a month in Mexico. John T. was also there, so we were able to touch bases with him, too.

We got home just in time to start supper and enjoyed a very quiet evening watching The Biggest Loser and working on the computer.

With temps in the low 30's this morning, we started out our day in jeans and long sleeved shirts. The strong winds of yesterday departed overnight, so it was much nicer walking this morning.

We are getting back into our Fort Clark routine. Monday is wood carvers, so after eating breakfast, John gathered up his tools and headed out to do some carving--his first project is another elf face. When he was done with carving, he headed to the post office to pick up some mail and then made a stop at the fort office to pay a tax bill. While John was gone, I changed the bed linens and started some laundry. The last time I did some was a couple of days before we left home. There was quite a pile of dirty clothes to get clean. I also drug out the Christmas decorations and started putting some of them out in the kitchen area.

Following lunch, we headed down to the Par 3 course to play some golf. I can see some improvement in my game over last year. I even chipped the ball in for par on the second hole. It warmed up this afternoon, so we had to trade in our jeans for shorts before hitting the course.

We didn't remove the pin and my ball got
caught between the pin and edge of hole for par.
Red arrow pointing to ball

John got some new clubs and has been trying them out. He has had some good shots and some not so good. He just needs to keep playing and get use to them.

John practicing his putting


A beautiful day for golf. You can see the trees
on the course are beginning to turn

When we returned home from golf, John worked outside raking up some dead branches and leaves in the yard. While he was working outside we had a few more visitors stopping by to chat.
The evening was quiet--just watched some football and did some reading. For those who asked, there is nothing new about the mouse. The traps in the car remain untouched and we haven't seen any in the house. I think he realized it was warm outside and decided to take his chances in the outside world. Time will tell if I'm correct.

I think we bought the cold weather with us to Texas. This morning the temps were much cooler and we needed to bundle up a little more for our morning walk. Still, it's better than what we left a week ago.

Today we slipped into our Sunday routine of walking, breakfast, and then heading off to church. It was fun visiting with our church family before the service and catching up with what folks had been doing over the summer.

It was very windy all day, so we decided to skip golf and watch some NFL. We were just getting into the game when Sam and Leta stopped in for a visit. John and I spent the entire afternoon with them hearing about their summer adventures in New Mexico, getting caught up on what has been happening here at the fort, and making plans to get together for some golf.

Our evening was spent watching The Amazing Race and Sunday Night Football. This week we hope to get up the Christmas lights and get the house decorated for the holidays.

We needed to do some major grocery shopping, but didn't want to venture into Del Rio on Black Friday. We decided to chance a trip today thinking that the crowds would be smaller after the sales of yesterday. John and I got up around 6:30 a.m. and we on the road an hour later. It seems we made the right decision, there was not much traffic in Del Rio.

First stop was the feed store to pick up some bird feed--wow, did the price of seed go up from last spring. We might have to rethink feeding the birds if we can't find some less expensive food for them. Next we went to the car wash to give the Honda a bath. It was pretty dirty from hours of highway driving. Final destination was Wal Mart. We never saw so few cars in the parking lot before. John and I were able to get everything on our list and didn't even have to wait in line to check out. Since we had such an early breakfast, we stopped at Wendy's for an early lunch before hitting the road home.

It took a while to get everything unloaded and put away, but now the pantry is pretty well stocked. I also picked up a new HP wireless printer and spent some time getting it set up. Late this afternoon our pastor stopped by to welcome us back and shared some of his Alaskan adventures from the summer. We are looking forward to seeing our church friends tomorrow.

The evening was pretty quiet--just watched some college football and another movie.

It was almost 60 degrees this morning when we left the house for our walk. Since we were more rested today, we decided to walk our longer route around the fort. It seemed strange to hear birds singing after not hearing any for the past few months.

After breakfast John headed into town to pick up a couple of mouse traps. We didn't discover that we had a hitchhiker on our trip down until we unpacked one of the cardboard cartons and found a pile of peanuts in the bottom. We had some for snacking in a plastic bag and found a small hole in it when we unloaded the car. I didn't think anything about it, just thought I caught it on something when getting it from behind the front seat. When we saw the pile of nuts in the box, we knew we had a problem. Not only did the mouse take some peanuts, he, or she, also had the nerve to bite into one of my Hershey's Chocolate Bars--to me that's the greatest insult. No one touches my Hershey Bars!! There are now two traps in the Honda--one with peanut butter and the other with cheese. So far, the traps remain untouched and the Hershey Bars are safe and sound in the fridge.

Once the mouse situation was addressed, we continued with the unpacking. Mid morning Stan Metcalf came to visit for an hour or so and soon after he left, our neighbor lady, Neva, stopped over to welcome us back. She didn't come in as she is starting a cold and didn't want to infect us.

We have a dead tree in the yard, so following lunch, John spent some time cutting branches and getting it ready to come down. While he was working, Chuck Endris, a carving buddy, stopped for a visit.

Since it was such a nice afternoon, we decided to take the golf cart and head over to Unit 37 and do some visiting. We spent some time with John and Lois Carlson. Lois learned earlier this month that she has brain cancer and is currently going five days a week for radiation treatments. She has such a positive attitude and I think she lifted our spirits more than we did her's. Next stop was Wallace's shop where John spent some time looking at the carvings Wallace made over the summer and deciding what he might want to work on this winter. John will back to carving next Monday morning.

John spent some time this evening visiting with his brother in Ohio via phone and then we watched one of our new DVD movies before calling it a day.

After two and a half long travel days, we needed to get back to our morning walks. It was a pleasant shock to walk outside and be met with warm air--at least if felt warm to us. The temperature this morning was 49 degrees, 30 degrees warmer than when we left home. It felt good to stretch our muscles and get some much needed exercise. As we wound our way around the golf course and back streets, we found that six new homes have been added since we left here six months ago. One new house, which we saw when we drove in, is right across the street from us. We know the folks who who put it in, but they are gone for the holiday, so we'll have to wait until they return to learn about the house.

John spent most of the morning setting up all the outside tables and chairs, hanging up the bird feeders, cleaning off the deck, and charging up the golf cart batteries and getting that running again. I got about half the crates unpacked and all the food items we brought down put away. Things are still pretty chaotic inside, but we couldn't resist taking off after lunch to enjoy the beautiful weather and playing a round of golf on the par three course. I had trouble on the first tee--couldn't hit the ball and when I did, it didn't go very far. I hadn't played any golf since last April, so I was pretty rusty. John did a lot better than me, but also had a few problems. We soon got back into the groove and both of us were happy with our games, considering the long lay off from the game.

It was pretty quiet on the fort as many folks are gone for the holiday. Tomorrow we'll see about visiting with Ralph and checking out our friends in Unit 37 along with more unpacking. It'll take several days to get everything unpacked and in place, but there's no rush.

After almost 11 hours on the road, we arrived in Fort Clark Springs, Texas. As we pulled in the driveway, a carving friend of John's pulled right in behind us. He stopped just long enough to give hugs and welcome us back before heading on his way. John turned the water and electricity back on and then we unloaded the car, just dumping everything in the house. We then made a stop at the new Subway to pick up a couple of subs for supper and the grocery store to get some milk and a few other items to hold us over until we can do a major shopping run. After two long days on the road, we just vegged out tonight watching some TV before calling if a night.

We were up early, repacked the bag, said good-bye to Amy, Dave, and the boys, and were on the road a little after 7 a.m. After driving for an hour, we stopped at McDonald's for breakfast and then started the long drive south. We pulled into Blackwell, OK around 5 p.m. Tomorrow we hope to get to Fort Clark by late afternoon.

This morning we were up nice and early, got the last of the boxes, computer, and baggage loaded into the car. Then it was a last walk through to make sure everything that needed to be was either turned off or unplugged. Final items were turning off the water and leaving a little To Do list for JD. As we were walking out the door, I looked at the outdoor thermometer and saw that the temp was 18 degrees. We are sooooo ready to head where it's warmer.

We had sunny skies and dry roads throughout the day. Our first stop was just outside of Fargo, ND to gas up the Honda ($3.13 per gal.) and have lunch. From there it was a straight run down I-29 to Sioux Falls, SD. where we are spending the night with Amy's family. Tonight we attended Isaiah's 4-5th grade concert. We have never been able to attend any of their school activities living so far away, so this was a real treat for us. Their program was outstanding.

Isaiah is under the little white dot.

Tomorrow we hope to get an early start and make it to northern Oklahoma. It's a little warmer here in South Dakota, but it doesn't take much to beat the temps at home.

The cold weather continued today and I must say I will be very glad to get out of it. We will be down in the single digits tonight.

We missed church this morning as we needed to get the ham cooked and sliced before heading up to Matt's. John packed the turkey, ham, pie, stuffing and gifts into the back of the pickup and we got to Matt's in plenty of time to reheat the food before it was time to eat. Sara did her usual great job of setting and decorating the tables and Hanna and Rachel took the time this past week to make place cards for everyone.


The meal was served buffet style and there was plenty of food for everyone. There were three tables set up--one for the girls, one for the boys, and one for the adults. There are just too many of us now to all fit around one table.

Filling the plates

The boys chowing down

After the meal, everyone sat around visiting and then it was time to get the birthday celebration started. We had five grand kids with fall/winter birthdays--Jenni (9), Josh (11), Hanna (13), Sam (14), Isaac (18). The gifts were opened starting with the youngest and on up. I think everyone enjoyed and appreciated the presents they received.


Now that the gifts were given and the meal having had a chance to settle, it was time for pie. Our choices were pumpkin, cherry, apple, and cheese cake, which was made by Rachel. She is becoming quite the chef and does a great job for an eleven year old. With eating finally taken care of for a few hours, the men retired to the living room to watch football while the ladies cleaned up the kitchen and played a game. The kids all bundled up, they're a very hearty group, and headed outside to play football and ride the four wheeler. There is just enough snow on the ground to make tackling a lot of fun. John's sister and her family left soon afterward as they had a long drive home, but the rest of the us hung around and continued to snack on leftovers and play some cards.

We certainly had a wonderful Thanksgiving and birthday celebration--what a send off for our trip south. Before we left, all the kids and grand kids gave us big hugs and wished us safe travels and a good winter. It is always hard to leave for such a long period, but all are faithful to keep in touch and now that we have Skype, it will be even better. We are all packed and ready to go--first stop will be Sioux Falls, SD to visit with Amy' family. Fort Clark friends, we're on our way!!!

We dropped back down into the deep freeze again today--our highs only reached the mid teens. Thank goodness we only have one more day before we can leave this cold weather and snow.
We have been watching the weather for our route south and so far it looks like sunny weather all the way.

Today was the final packing day as we'll be gone all day tomorrow for our Thanksgiving/birthday party. We got the last of the boxes filled and John started loading the car after lunch. Everything is in except those last minute items you need to use right up to the last moment. We gave the house a quick dusting and vacuuming and did a final walk through to make sure nothing was missed. Now we can relax and enjoy tomorrow.

Sara asked me to cook the turkey and bring a pie for tomorrow, so this afternoon, I baked a pumpkin pie and when that was out of the oven, put in the turkey. When it was done and cooled down, John sliced it up so we'll only have to reheat it tomorrow along with the stuffing and ham. We spent the evening watching a Christmas movie and some college football. Hard to believe we're down to one day until we leave.

There was a heat wave today--temps got up into the 30's. Nothing much different going on today. Just kept on packing and double checking our lists to make sure we weren't forgetting anything. Took a quick trip to Bemidji to pick up a small ham for Sunday's Thanksgiving meal--found out we were having three additional folks, so thought to play it safe as I wasn't sure the turkey we have would be large enough to feed everyone that's coming. This evening we watched some TV and football before calling it a night.

We had another very cold day--temps only reaching the upper teens. At least the sun was shining and the winds were light.

Matt called this morning and asked John if he could come up to the job site and pick up the air compressor and take it back to his place and get it warmed up. The compressor sat out in the equipment trailer overnight, and with temps of 5 degrees this morning, the electric motor would not turn over. John hauled it back to Matt's garage where he hooked up a propane heater and got the compressor running. He then got it back to the job site so the guys could use their air equipment.

After lunch, John went back up to the job to see how the guys were making out and took these photos.

All exterior and interior walls are up


Isaac sweeping snow from between the studs
He finally broke down and put on insulated coveralls

We did more packing today and now only have those things that have to wait until the last minute. We plan to head out in three more days.

We woke this morning to strong winds, cloudy skies and temps in the teens. There was about an inch of snow on the ground and we had snow flurries throughout the day. John shoveled the driveway for the first time in years. It was a good day to stay inside, keep warm, and get more packing done.


This afternoon we got a couple more boxes ready to go and vacuumed seal some freezer foods to take with us. After supper John went up to Clearbrook to pick the generator. The carburetor needed to be cleaned out and now it's working once again. That was pretty much our day--just keeping getting ready to head south. We hope to pull out next Monday if the weather co-operates.

We needed to run a few errands today and since the weather was suppose to get snowy this afternoon, decided to take off early this morning and take care of them. First stop was the landfill to drop off the trash. From there we went at the local drug store to get several hunting photos printed.

With those two jobs completed, we hit the highway to Bemidji. We are having our family Thanksgiving this Sunday and I needed to pick up the makings for pumpkin pie along with a few other items. We stopped at Wal Mart first--being earlier in the day we avoided the crowds in the grocery section and were able to zip right through and get everything we needed. We gassed up the Honda next and then made one final stop at the bank to take care of some finances before heading south.

By late afternoon it started snowing and we now have about an inch on the ground. We were hoping to leave here before any measurable snow came, but I think we won't be that lucky--a storm is predicted for the weekend.

We had a pretty quiet day today. The temps remained cold with highs in the 30's and sunny skies. Joanne and the kids stopped in this morning after helping out in the shop. I had some extra scrap booking stickers she wanted to look through and she found some she could use.

I had gotten an update for my financial software program, so after Jo and the kids left, I installed the new program on both our PC and laptop and then worked on getting everything updated and onto both computers. The office stuff is now already to use this winter in Texas.

John cleaned out the Honda and did a little more sorting and gathering of items to take. As we fill crates and boxes, we stack them back in the office. We try to get everything stored in one place so we won't forget anything. We spent the evening watching the Vikings and Packers and caching up on emails and blogs.

Today we said good-bye to the warm weather we've been enjoying over the past week. Today was cold, high's only in the 30's, with wind and cloudy skies. The cold weather seems here to stay, night time temps will be in the 20's and teens this week. Hopefully the snow will hold off until we can get out of here sometime next week.

We followed our normal Sunday morning routine--breakfast, showers, and then off to church. This afternoon we watched some NFL and then packed some canned goods for the trip south. John went out to sit in the deer stand, but didn't see a single deer. Rifle season is now over for another year.

Hanna received an early Christmas present from her parents--a new laptop. She downloaded Skype on it and asked me to do the same with my laptop. This afternoon we tried our first video calling and after a few minor tweaks, we were able to visit over the computer. This is going to be a great way to keep up with the family over the winter.

We had another beautiful day--sunshine with temps that reached into the 50's. This weather is so unusual for this time of November and we are really enjoying it. Bitter cold and snow can show up at any time now. We just hope it holds off until we head south.

This morning John helped JD cut up firewood for the shop. While he was busy with that, I did some laundry and changed the bed linens. John was checking on something in our upright freezer in the garage and found that some of the venison he had put in there the other night was not completely frozen. That led him to examine other items and discover that the freezer wasn't as cold as it should be--our frozen foods were defrosting.

This being a Saturday afternoon, we weren't able to get a repair person out and, with the realization that we purchased the freezer when we built the house over 14 years ago, the decision was made to get a new one. John and I stopped up at JD's to borrow his big pickup truck and headed off to Bemidji. We looked at freezers in Sears, Menards, and Home Depot. The best deal was offered by Sears, plus they had the one we wanted in stock. The freezer was loaded onto the bed of the truck and we returned home. John was able to unload it and we got it set up and running. We're so thankful to have discovered this problem before we left and now can have peace of mind that the freezer will keep everything cold.

When we got home this afternoon, there was a deer standing in the driveway on the west side of the house. That spurred John on to go hunting this evening. He sat out in the stand right behind the house, but didn't see anything. Tomorrow is the last day of this year's rifle season.

Today the weather was just about perfect for a road trip--sunny skies and warm temps. John and I picked up Isaac a little before 9 a.m. and headed off to Grand Forks, ND. Isaac is spending the weekend visiting with his grandfather, cousins, etc. on his dad's side of the family. We were right on time dropping him off, and after spending a few minutes visiting, we left to do some shopping.

Our first stop was Best Buy to get the laptop checked out. It has been freezing up and showing a blue screen error message that shuts Windows down. After running a couple of diagnostic tests, it was decided the problem is a software one. The tech removed the software for the printer we use in Texas to see if that's the root of the problem. It's an older printer and I had to download a special driver to get it to work with Windows 7. We'll have to look into a printer that's compatible with this operating system once we get back down south.

It was after noon by the time we left Best Buy, so we decided to grab a quick lunch at Culver's which was right across the parking lot. Our next stop was Sam's Club to pick up a few things we want to take to Texas and then we headed back across the river to Cabela's. John found a couple of pairs of shorts on the sale rack and couldn't pass them up.

Our final stop of the road trip was DQ where we each got a Blizzard. It was the perfect way to end our outing. This evening Matt called and said he shot an eight point buck, so John went up to see it and got a picture.

We woke up this morning to find that yesterday's dusting of snow turned into an inch or so that stuck to the grass and road. Fortunately, the temps reached the upper 30's with some sun, so most of the white stuff has melted. The ten day forecast looks pretty good for our area--sunny, cold, but, so far, no more snow. We hope to get out of here before any substantial snow amounts hit.

This morning John left right after breakfast to take the Honda to Bemidji for an oil change and to get the right rear tire checked out--it has been losing air over the past several days. The service man found a nail in the tire. It was in such a spot that he felt repairing the tire would not make it safe for driving and John agreed, so he ended up getting a new tire. We had just put new ones on the car the beginning of June and thought we wouldn't be replacing any for quite some time.

While John was busy in Bemidji, I spent some time this morning with computer tech support working on our office PC. The computer was running slow, freezing up, and the mouse wasn't working right. They took over the computer and within 45 minutes had it working good as new. I then spent the rest of the morning cleaning out the kitchen cabinets sorting through what foods to pack and what to leave here until next spring. We have managed to get the food down to a good level--not too much to take or leave behind.

Following lunch, John got the one garage all locked up for the winter. JD will use the house garage to store the plowing pickup so he doesn't need to keep the other one cleared this winter. I started sorting through the freezer and getting some of the foods sealed and ready for the trip. We still have a little more work to do on that project.

Matt called this evening and asked John to come up and help with cutting up the deer. The guys started out in the garage cutting the meat off the carcass and then took it down the basement where Matt has an area set up for processing the it. Isaac wants to take some venison to his grandfather tomorrow and we'll also drop some off at Amy's on our way south.

Isaac bagging up the venison