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.

Our Pre-Thanksgiving

Thursday we had our Thanksgiving a week early. Here is Dad early with the bird.And later with the bird... Looking delicious!
Last year Uncle Todd made us some DVDs of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, so we had the chance to listen to the parade while we were cooking and getting ready.
Everyone pitched in to help with dishes ...
And cooking ....
And mixing ...
To present an incredible feast! We had turkey, dressing, potatoes, peas, green beans, angel biscuits, cranberries. Lots of leftovers in the fridge!!
My sweet note from Bethany!
Everyone ready to dig in!
One of our two drumstick boys!
Loving the big lunch.
We hope your Thanksgiving is just as good, when it finally rolls around.

10 Things Better About Being 39 Than 29

I know many people sit around wringing their hands about getting older. I've got 10 things (but could do more) that are much better now than 10 years ago:

10. Gray hair. Sure at 29 there was some gray at my temples, now its migrated to my chin. And my mustache, bangs, eyelashes, and everywhere else. In a place more relationally-oriented you're still a kid if you don't have any gray hair ... and no one cares what kids think.

9. Off Days. As you get older I think on your off days, you take off. That is pretty cool. I didn't appreciate relaxing nearly as much 10 years ago.

8. Cheaper insurance. At least for driving, if not your life.

7. Laughter. You get to laugh at stuff you used to think was so important and how smart you used to be. And know you'll be doing the same in 10 more years about how you are now.

6. Sleep. I didn't appreciate sleep then like I do now.

5. Coolness loses its luster. As I watch so many people still being dragged around by what clothes they see on TV, its nice to get enough perspective to know if you buy those wrinkly-looking jeans, you'll look like an idiot in six months.

4. I'm still alive. The alternative to not being 10 years older is not being around.

3. Only very old people call you "young man" and that is rare. Any sentence that starts with "young man" usually doesn't end with how valuable and smart you are. Also, not so many people look at you and say, "I used to think that too, when I was your age." It still happens but when it does, it comes from a person so old you know that they know what they're talking about and you should just shut up and listen.

2. Kids. At 29, I only had one. Plus at 39 everyone can put on their own clothes and take care of their own bathroom business!

1. My wife. She is so much sexier and more interesting now than she was at 29. I just love her so much more. Sometimes I see these old guys with young girls and I wonder what they talk about: her college classes? Lost? What Britney's new album is called? What an album was?

I can barley tolerate conversations I have to overhear sometimes, I cannot imagine having to sit every day with some kid talking about who their favorite character was on Saved By the Bell or Melrose Place. I love seeing some gray hair on her. Can growing older together get any better? Man, I hope so!!!

Big Wedding Day

Saturday we went to a wedding reception. Weddings here are interesting affairs with lots of different decorations. We're sure they have lots of meaning but not always sure what the meaning is. Take this basket of apples for example. Meaning? No idea but its pretty.
Now this is pretty AND tasty. Two delicious goats slowed spin-roasted over charcoal. I know when you first hear that you think its not good ... but it is.
Taste the rainbow. Lots of watermelon and sweet, colorful cakes.
Some kids reading the Quran during the festivities.
Cupcakes ... not sweet and tasty like roasted goat but good in its own right.
The happy couple! King and Queen for the day is what people are going for and these families made it happen. When you come visit, if we can possibly swing it, you can enjoy a wedding (and its feast) just like this!