A Wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent the weekend doing some decorating.  I recycled some scarecrows I had in our garage and my son and I transplanted the marigolds from my vegetable garden into containers to add some colour.

The colder temperatures mean it's time to gather the firewood!

As I wandered about our property this morning, enjoying the beautiful Fall day, I snapped a few pictures of things that seemed to call out to me....

The old hay raker that belonged to my grandfather.  I remember them mowing, raking and forking the hay into the hay barn.  The hot summer days, hay seed sticking to the sweat as they forked the hay on the wagon and then into the hay barn.  Our job, the kids, was to "stomp" the hay down.  Or we were made to think it was our job, now that I'm a parent I wonder if it was just their way to keep us in one place so they knew where we were and what we were up to as they worked.

My Son's wagon, waiting patiently for him to return from gathering wood.  He loves to load this wagon with wood pieces and pull it around the yard.

We decided all work and no play doesn't a happy family make so we went for a short drive on our ATVs and took our Beagle for some exercise.

This is the first time we took her with us.  She was shaking like a leaf when I put the bell on her collar (the bell is so we can hear where she is in the woods).  I think she thought she was going to the vet because she stood by the car door.  We had to lead her by leash across her invisible fence boundary which she has great respect for.  It was a great run, she enjoyed it a lot.  Her tail was in the air the whole time, a happy Beagle.  It was good for her brain to get chance to sniff around the woods and get some exercise outside of her circular boundary in our yard.  My husband was concerned she would not stay with us, my intuition told me she wouldn't go far.  I was right.  If she got distracted by a scent it wasn't long she would come racing up behind us.  She really is a good dog.  HOWEVER, when we got home we did not make plans as to how to get her back to her boundary.  My husband was ahead and left her and I behind.  This was the first time she strayed and I couldn't find her.  Shortly after shutting my ATV off we saw her racing across our back field, to the chicken coop.  Yes, she had decided the ATV run was just a warm up for doing some chicken chasing.  We spent quite a bit of time chasing her through the bushes, trying to get the chickens to safety and catch her.  Finally, I hid behind some fencing by the meat bird run and jumped out and grabbed her as she ran past me.  She was hanging around the meat bird run as we had all the other birds closed up in the coop.  She could see the meat birds but couldn't get to them.  I am surprised she didn't see me behind the fencing but I caught her in the end.  A shame the day had to end with a Beagle Chase but lesson learned for next time.  Leash her before coming near the yard OR don't leave the birds out if we're taking her past her boundary.  Unfortunately I didn't take my camera with on our little run.  I saw so many beautiful photo opportunities, Penny in the woods, beautiful burgundy coloured leaves, an old car grill with a weathered brush pile next to it......all pictures are held in my memory, for only me to see.

We ended the day with a delicious meal.  Roast home grown chicken, carrots, dressing and mashed potato and gravy.  Oh, and cranberry sauce.  And only one little mishap when I put hot pan drippings in my gravy shaker and the cover blew off.  I was covered in gravy thickener, so was my kitchen floor and kitchen cabinets!  The dog had a good start on cleaning the floor, Ron wiped off the cabinets and kitchen window while I cleaned up myself.

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving Day.  Doing whatever it is you enjoy most!

'til next time!