Hanging of the Green

We were finally able to locate a suitable specimen of a Christmas tree and started our decorating throwdown (like many of you) over the weekend. The tree in question is 8 feet tall and set us back a cool $78 on sale, everyone was pretty happy all around. Except, of course, Hudson the smile-monster.

Like most set-ups it started well and like most it ended in the fact that some strands of lights didn't work and we didn't have enough overall either. "Running to Wal-Mart" is not exactly the same here but the next day we got it all taken care of and the job was finished.
Angie is none the worse for wear. Isn't she just the cutest thing???
Each kid has some special ornaments of their own they get to hang.
Finally they are getting big enough that we have ornaments above the bottom few branches but now also big enough to say, "Hey, why did you move mine?"
We have a few snowflakes that get thrown into the tree. Not sure exactly how it got started but its really important. The snowflake ornaments are carefully divided, then applied as you see Caleb doing. Hudson is playing defense.
The crowning glory. And our big new star. I never needed a ladder before to do the star.
All done and ready to blaze! Its the first Christmas tree EVER in our neighborhood ... here's hoping its the first of many!!

Happy 60th Birthday to My COOL Dad

Still looking spry and never missing a Cat game, Dad is 60 today. Still somehow I am young--like I'm in my mid 20s. Not sure how that happened.

We told the kids to call him Gramps because it was the oldest-sounding thing I could think of, plus there are just to many Papaws out there. Gramps has character, style! It hasn't caught on much though.

Dad, little sister Stacey, and my Grandma.
With us and Sharon last Christmas.
At work with H-man.
What an attractive group!! Next year maybe we can celebrate it in person!! We might even buy. Maybe...

You can take the boy out of KY...

This unsavory photo is attempting to show my redneck sunburn after spending a few morning hours at the sacrifice. This was after doing my best to stay in the shade. Late November sun ... you gotta be careful.

Sacrifice Day **WARNING** graphic pictures

Friday is a big holiday across the Muslim world when sacrifices are offered. Around here the sacrifices are normally cows, sheep, and goats but other places can include (as best as I understand) camels and horses, too. This lucky guy is slated for an afternoon departure.

I wasn't early enough to get any pictures of the cattle prior to their preparation. Here is kind of a step-by-step of how it goes. The cow's feet are tied and they are laid on their side with the neck over a small hole. Then a bunch of guys climb on (I saw this lady on Discovery who makes me think that might be helpful for the cow in the last moments).
In a way that I am not really confident I can explain, a cow is "good" for seven people and sheep/goats for one person. As the animal is all prepared, the name or names of the person who provided the animal are read aloud. Then a prayer is offered and with one stroke of a very large knife the animal is bled out.
Its very important to the people that the process be as painless as possible for the animal. I believe the banana leaf is to protect against and not for anything having to do with the neck being sliced open and gushing blood.
Then then animal's skin is removed along with its internal organs. The internal organ part takes a while and is pretty gross so I didn't take any pictures of the lungs, heart, liver, or intestines ... sorry.
Parts are reduced to a more manageable size.
Then they are reduced even more. If seven people combine funds to purchase a cow, each person receives one-seventh of the meat. The organs and meat (and eyes!) are divided into 7 portions. The person who provided the animal may keep some of the meat but most, if not all, is divided into 1 kilogram packets and distributed to the poor in the community.
Here the meat is getting smaller still. Notice the cow's head in the background.
Finally the meat packed into sacks and ready for distribution.
If you'd like to plan to see it next year you need to get your tickets early and celebrate the sacrifice and Craig's birthday on 17 Nov 2010! See you then!!

Here are looks back at our last two experiences: 2007 and 2008!

The Last of the Mountain Pictures

Thanks, Starbucks

We are indebted to Starbuks for the free wifi (although we spent a bunch of money there) so we could keep our blog up-to-date while we were cooling it on our early Thanksgiving.
Doesn't Bethany look natural? Just sipping a hot chocolate in her Starbucks tumbler and surfing the web.
Just remember there is only so much coffee can do for you. They have hope and love but faith? Nope, no faith ... just a wish.

Strawberries

One great feature of the mountains is that they have strawberries year round! So they have a ton of souvenirs and desserts dedicated to strawberries. Above you see the awesome (but not sweet enough) strudel and something else.
Caleb went for the chocolate-dipped variety.
Also some ice cream and the tasty "Oreo" Delight. Its called the "Oreo" Delight and not the Oreo Delight because it turns out the cookies weren't really Oreos but instead STEREOS!
All my life I've been suckered into eating regular ole Oreos while delicious STEREOS eluded me. No longer...
The mandatory group shot by the famous photog Hudson.

Puzzle Mania

I think you can count on one hand the number of times I have ventured to put a puzzle together in my adult life. Hudson and Bethany like them and so we do them sometimes but its not very often. During our mountain time with no satellite TV we tried our hand at one.
To our great surprise and amazement, we found this puzzle to have a very special feature: numbers on the back! So we worked on the colored side for a while and then decided to try to work the other side. We put all the R's together. R1, R2, R3, etc. Whew. It was hard work. Then we got all the pieces lined up and finished the deal. Believe me, it was harder than it seems.
As you can see sometimes we faced the difficulty of one of the numbers being cut off. Ouch! But we worked through it. We figured out "something21" fit nicely with "I2something". Tenacity paid off and eventually we were rewarded with a dazzling picture of Snow White and her little guys.
For some reason, Ann had the notion that this was somehow "cheating" and she seems to be of the opinion that whatever a person endeavors to do, you should do in the most difficult way possible. The goal is to put the puzzle together, not to fail. Which is what she did--put her half-finished puzzle back in the box. While we "cheaters" were immortalizing our names on the back of ours.

Waterfall

There is a great waterfall on the way up into the mountains. A kind of must-stop for pictures!
The handsome young couple. So much better looking than when we met 20 years ago!
The is the place where we start feeling cool with the mist of the fall spraying you the whole time. The beginning of the relaxation!

Its not really as cold as we think

The place we are staying in the mountains has a nice fireplace, which has occupied Caleb's every waking moment. Either making a fire or thinking of making a fire. Or thinking of when we made a fire or when we'll make another one. We've been trying to make good use of it and have some smores!
This was Hudson's first time to roast marshmallows, we think. He did really well and didn't get burned. And didn't sling flaming marshmallow on anyone.
The beauty, brains, and shopping power behind all the smores.
Shorts and a fire. A great combo.
I don't know if you can call them "smores" if you don't use chocolate like Ann.
It is really NOT THIS cold. Cool maybe but not wrap-up-in-a-blanket-cold.