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IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Yep, another month has come and gone with Christmas just around the corner. I hope everyone had a really nice Thanksgiving. I for one will not forget this Thanksgiving for awhile. As you recall last week, our 4-year old granddaughter Jordyn was bouncing on the couch and missed her landing and when she fell, she broke her humerus bone in her left arm. She spent Thanksgiving eve in the hospital followed by surgery to insert three pins in her broken arm the following morning. She got home from the hospital just in time to enjoy her Thanksgiving dinner with her other grandparents. She was pretty bummed out over the weekend but was back to her old self by Monday. Although she will have to wear a cast for a few weeks, I'm sure she will mend faster than I ever would.

Dave and I returned home on Saturday afternoon to yet another yard full of broken branches and other debris left over from yet another storm that blew in while we were gone. It took me two days to clean up the mess this time. I had thawed out a turkey while we were gone and so I fixed another turkey dinner on Sunday. I invited Dave's sister, Leanna over to have dinner with us. Since it was a good sized turkey, we had plenty of leftovers and we have been eating turkey all week. I finished by cooking the carcass and made soup which - in my opinion - is the best part.

I spent Monday morning chasing deer out of the yard. I had just put out the bird feeders when I looked out the window and three deer were helping themselves to the seed. They were pretty good size and looked like they were getting beefed up for a long winter. Of course, I ran outside to chase them away and they just looked at me like I was a wild woman. They finally left and I rescued what was left of the bird feeders.

Also on my agenda for Monday was to trap the other feral cat that has taken up residence at our place. There are two of them and they are only about 6 months old. Before I left to go into West Linn last week, I had trapped one of them and had it neutered. So I set out the trap to catch the other one with turkey scraps for bait. It took awhile, but finally hunger prevailed and I got it! Since I wasn't home at the time, Dave was kind enough to deliver it to the veterinarian for "alteration". I thought for sure that this one was a female, but it turned out that the two kittens are both Toms (brothers). They have taken to living under our back steps where they feel safe and secure and know that they will be fed. (I am such a soft touch when it comes to animals).

I had to spend Monday afternoon at the OSU extension office to fulfill my Master Gardeners recertification. In order to get recertified, I have to give back so many hours for the year and some of that time is spent answering questions at the office. I had been assigned to work on Monday. I really didn't want to go in to Tillamook but I was obligated. There isn't much going on as far as "gardening" goes this time of year so I only had a few things to do: test the ph level on some soil samples someone had brought into the office and answer a couple of calls on gardening questions. Since it was so slow, I got to come home early which was great.

Wednesday the park committee got together and put up holiday lights in the park. We decorated a couple of trees as well as the train station. We also put some lights up on the tree by City Hall. The weather was threatening but held off long enough for us to accomplish our mission. This weekend our little village is having a Christmas Party and we wanted it to look festive for that occasion. Santa is even going to be there!
For the past couple of years, we've been able to leave the lights on our house all year long. The big advantage of that is that all we had to do this year is just flip a switch and we have lights! Now, if I could just figure out how to do that at the city park!

Dave will be leaving Friday for most of the weekend to work on the telecast of some of the state high school football championship games in Hillsboro. Since he has to be there really early on Saturday morning and work until late that night, he opted to get a hotel room for Friday and Saturday night. He will be returning home on Sunday. I plan on going to a bunch of local Christmas bazaars this weekend that might give me some gift ideas for Christmas.