Thanksgiving Snow

We got rain last night as the storm moved through California (clearing the air and presumably helping dampen down the fires) and into Nevada. It actually warmed up here, with the lows hovering around 0°C instead of -10, and thus the snow didn't reach us, but we could see it this morning.

( First Snow of the Season )

The new and rebuilt wood boxes did pretty well, but we took some damage to a few of the pressed-sawdust fire logs where I didn't drape plastic over the front of the pile sufficiently. Lisa spotted the damaged logs this morning and put what was left of them into the fire before they dissolved completely. They cost about $1 each so we don't want to waste them.

Seven Years

This is our eighth Thanksgiving in Fernley House, as the sale closed on November 1, 2011. (Because of a prior restriction on the deed, we had to rent the house for 2 1/2 months after moving in after the 2011 Worldcon before we could actually buy it.) For the last several years (basically since my grandfather died and my sister went into the nursing home), we've spent Thanksgiving Day here at home. The last few have been about the same, and anyone who has been following me for a while will recognize these photos.

( Thanksgiving at Fernley House )

Lisa does the cooking for these dinners, and I'm responsible for cleaning up, which I think is a just dandy division of responsibilities, especially with the nice big commercial kitchen sprayer and a working dishwasher. This is one of the few times of the year (Christmas being the other) when we generate enough dishes to justify using the dishwasher, but it's very handy to have. I just wish it had a "power saver" feature that would allow it to not heat-dry the dishes. I consider that a waste of power, especially in our dry climate, and I have to listen for it to stop washing so I can go turn it off manually and allow the dishes to air-dry.

The remaining duck is now in a pot and I expect to try again to boil it down on the wood stove, de-bone it, and use what's left to make duck soup in a few days.

I am thankful that I have a good home and a job that makes it comfortable. I've been very fortunate, and I know it.