Saturday, Dec. 13th, 2003

We're living in a winter wonderland and the snow is still falling. We are due to recieve about 5" before nightfall I think. Then another storm is due to move in the first of the week with more snow.

Jack got off in a ditch with the old van last night trying to come to the cafe' for the steak dinner I offered him for his birthday. That curve right at the end of our drive is banked really hard to the inside of the curve and our drive is on the outside uphill side of the curve. Many people have this happen every winter. Anyway, he exhausted himself trying to get himself out with the tractor to no avail. Kyle was still at work(many overtime hours lately)so Jack finally called the man who farms our land and just lives a mile or so away. Allen came in his wife's Ford 4WD SUV and pulled him out. All he really needed to do was get the van on around the curve and then make sure Jack was able to back down around the curve and get a running start up the hill and into the drive. He finally got to the cafe' about 8 minutes before closeing. We already had his steak cooking & I was going to bring it home to him. That was the plan if he couldn't make it over to the cafe'. When we got home he put the tractor back in the machine shed and dumb-dumb here thought I would be nice and go get him with the van instead of him having to walk back to the house because he had already exhausted himself with all the walking, etc.. Guess where the van still is? Glare ice and mud under the snow down there. Sometime today we'lll go pull it out & up to the house with the tractor. Maybe once we get to the yard I may be able to get the rest of the way to the house without any help. If we had some salt or sand it would help a lot around here but we failed to lay in a supply of either. We do have cat litter but we need all of that just for the litter boxes with 7 cats in the house full time.

I hope our friends can get in today to pick up this extra venison in the freezers. They are on the way back from K.C. to their home in Kirksville. I'm not sure what they drive now, but I don't think it is a very big vehicle. I'm up a creek so to speak if they don't make it. The freezers are pretty full and deer season opened again.

There a hordes of wild birds around the feeders. They take turns eating a few seeds at a time then make room for someone else. They are also giving that deer carcass on the trellis a good working over. The meat takes the place of the insects they would otherwise eat in good weather.

GOD bless and keep each and all of you.