What are You Thankful for?

Today we all woke up to a wonderful one inch of snow!  It is one pretty sight here on the ranch.   

You all know Thanksgiving is just next week and it's hard for me to believe it.  I am really looking forward to a week of surprises and family fellowship.  I must say, though, that we aren't ready.

I had planned earlier this month that I would do twelve days of Thanksgiving, as in post a thing or person I am thankful for, every day until Thanksgiving.  Well, you can see that I didn't!  I guess there's no time better than the present to do such things.  So...

I am really thankful for my grandparents.  There is so much a girl (or anybody, really) can learn from their life and teachings.  My grandpa, 98 years old, had some health issues recently and is in the hospital, but keeps working so that he can go home.  So, as we have been visiting him and my grandma, I realize just how blessed I am.  I am guilty of thinking that my grandparents and parents are going to live forever, it's not true, though.  I have been realizing that these last few weeks.  You must enjoy every moment you get to spend with family and friends.  I really hope and pray that my grandpa will get to go home soon and live all the number of days he has left in peace and without pain.  I love them so!  I also have another grandma that is such a loving woman.  She makes the best pickles a person could ever eat!  I love her! 

I am really thankful for my family as well.  Dad, Mom, Big J., and Little J.  They are such amazing people to spend my life with.  Thank you for helping me with math, Mom.  Thanks for teaching me all about transplanting plants and growing them, Dad.  Thanks for being good little siblings, even when you don't do what I kindly ask of you, Big J. and Little J.  Thank you for everything you all do.  I love you all dearly. 

I am thankful for all of my critters, but here recently I have found that family is more special.  I still enjoy my critters just as much, though. 

We are so blessed that it would take a longer post to list every little thing that I/we are thankful for, but I wanted to list a few.  I hope you all can be just as thankful this time of year, as well as throughout the years to come.  May you all be blessed this Thanksgiving and realize, as you spend time with friends and family, just how blessed you are.  

God Bless~

Happy Thanksgiving!  From the ranch.  : ) 

Pumpkin Pies

Hello once again!

One of my pumpkin pies.  (Thanks to the help from Dad and Mom.

I have been somewhat busy making pumpkin pies (with the help of my parents) the last two days.  I have never made them before, and I found it fun to do. 

Yesterday we cleaned the pumpkin: chopped it up, peeled it, and then started boiling it.  My one pumpkin made two pans worth for boiling and just today, I made three pies.  We have so much more pumpkin "mush", as I call it, left over!  We also cleaned the seeds, put them in salt water, and roasted them in the oven. 

Something even more interesting is that my pumpkin came from a field that is near my grandparents' house.  It was neat to know that my pumpkin was Oklahoma grown and that we drove by that field on our way to NM, then go to a near by Wal-Mart (a few weeks later) and buy a pumpkin from that field!  Who knew that would happen?  : )

Fall

October has passed by and November has arrived, our trees are changing and it's about time for Thanksgiving! 

For Halloween, since we don't celebrate it, we went out my dad's parents' house to celebrate his dad's birthday!  His birthday was on the 1st, but he said, "I don't want anyone over on my birthday" so we went the day before.  We had pizza and pudding, cake, and ice cream.
We came home at a late hour of night and got pumpkins on the way.  We have yet to cut them.  : )

This morning was still and just a little chilly, and as I fed my chickens, I paused to look around me.  It was so quiet and still.  Then a car horn blasted through the air, cattle started bawling, and I could tell that our neighbor was feeding his cattle.  Up over head, a few cranes honked to their friends.  The sounds were amazing!  The tamaracks on the river are turning from green to orange and every color in between.  The trees in front of our house are losing their leaves, too. 

It was so beautiful today that I had to get out my camera and snap a few pictures of my ranch life.  So, here are some of them for you to enjoy.

Since this is a ranch blog, I figured I should write about what I see or feel on the ranch, rather than waiting for something exciting to happen and I hope that this post gave you that feeling.  Till next time!  : )

 If you look closely, you can see one of my chickens doing some fancy foot work.

 

One view from the ranch.  Far out there you can see the tamaracks and few trees changing colors.