Thanksgiving at Oak Creek Ranch

Tuesday the first wave of a storm system from the Gulf of Alaska arrived.  It brought high wind and pounding rain, but no snow.  When the clouds cleared Tuesday afternoon, the ground was covered in leaves.

Wednesday morning, we woke to patchy clouds that cleared throughout the morning.  We decided to move the horses out of the barn and into their pastures.  The second wave appeared to be a non-starter.  As we led the horses out, the skies darkened and rain, then sleet, started to fall.  The horses have trees and a run-in shed for shelter so we opted to leave them in their pastures.

It snowed throughout the afternoon.  Not hard, but enough to cover the ground with a light coating of white.  Lucy wasn't sure what to make of the snow.  This is her second winter with us, here in the mountains, and we didn't get any snow last winter.  She sniffed it, pawed it, and then jumped sideways when it sprayed her.  Then she settled into her lunch, with a pile of snow building on her back.

Meanwhile, we waited inside for Kyle and Camille to arrive.

Brett wasn't feeling well so he spent the day on his recliner, with chills, worrying that his appetite wouldn't return in time for Thanksgiving dinner.  Fortunately, Thanksgiving morning he felt a bit better.  He's still far from 100% percent but he was able to join us for dinner.

My sister's kids, Kristin and Nick, arrived mid-morning on Thanksgiving.  My dad, sister and brother are travelling this Thanksgiving so I hosted those of us who didn't go, at our place.  I could have asked the kids (all 20-somethings) to bring parts of the dinner but everyone was traveling.  The easiest things for travelers to bring are rolls and pie, which can be picked up at the market on the way.  But, those are my two favorite things to make so I didn't ask them to bring anything.   I made the pies first thing Thanksgiving morning.

Then I stuffed the turkey and slid it into the oven.  We had a heritage breed turkey, which is very lean due to its life running around outside eating bugs and roosting in trees.  It was delicious.

We rounded out the meal with mashed potatoes, gravy, and rolls.  Brett ate a little bit and went back to his chair.

The kids took Kersey for a walk after dinner.

I was on the couch, wiped out.