Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all 14 of my loyal readers!

Last year, I noticed that we had fewer campus ice sculptures, not even the bears at each entrance. I had heard that they were victims of budget cuts. But yesterday I saw this fellow appear at the main UAF entrance:


He sure is cute, and will make me smile!


DL cuddling with his ladies... Not easy to photograph! Either one of them is blurry, or one of them is yawning:


Or they go boneless:


Or one gives another the side-eye:


Finally! A good snuggle shot!


Here is one of the girls snuggling together:

Awwwwwww!!!

I made, as usual, the classic green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. SO homemade, with tender loving care and that personalized touch that cannot be made by anyone other than YOU!


SCHLOOP goes the beans, SCHLOP goes the soup, stir, add onions, and voilà:

Yes, I know it is vile, but it is also delicious. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

I also made this very healthy, nutritious, of-the-moment salad:


I hope all of my 14 loyal readers have a lovely Thanksgiving and long weekend filled with whatever suits their personality, whether it's gathered with friends and family or going for a long solo hike!

Miscellaneous photos

Starbuck-A-Roo, the theroopy dog, in the volunteers' lounge:

She is Full of Love.

Look what happened the other night! (Apologies for the blurry photo; I was pulled over on the side of the road and wanted to get back on the road ASAP):


My favorite cookstove:

The challenge, of course, is that the woodstove's primary purpose is home heating. So on cold days, it's always super-hot and incapable of simmering, and on warmer days, it's not that hot, and incapable of boiling. But I try to compensate with trivets of various heights!

Rice always comes out perfect!


Part of prepwork for the office potluck! I can. Not. Deal. When serving utensils get separated from their owners. It's not even about the cost! My wooden spoons cost about $2 a piece. It's about my poor, orphaned spoons, out there somewhere not being loved!


I made a double batch of extra-tasty cornbread, where I used white flour according to the original Albers cornbread recipe:

When I make it for us at home, I use whole wheat or barley flour that was grown and milled in Delta Junction. The taste of the healthier version is not bad! But the texture definitely suffers. It doesn't rise as much, and the reduced gluten amount makes it more crumbly and less chewy.

Do you think Cricket is comfy? I sure hope she is comfy.


Do you think Roo Bear is comfy? I sure hope she is comfy.


Cricket got up and moved over to sit with her seester.

Awwwwww!

Dog photos

This is how I know DL is about 5 minutes from home. Cricket can hear her daddy's truck from a mile away and drops whatever she is happily doing to take up this position on the couch. "Poor li'l ol' me nobody has been loving me ALL DAY!" (Never mind that she happily ate her supper and I was JUST cuddling her.)


"Nobody loves me!"


"Ngggg!"


*heartbreak*


"Finally I have a place to rest my honker!"


Sssnnnnuuuuugle!


Roo and her soffffffy paws:


Snuggle selfie!


Soooooffffyyyy paws!


Another funny thing... I can't help but notice that when DL is not in the house to cuddle them and pet them and tell them that It Will Be Okay, they don't seem to be bothered by the vacuum cleaner at all.

Hmmmm...

Yay! First time on the trails this season!

After several back to back snowstorms, we figured that maybe the trail system would be frozen solid and covered with snow. Starbuck and Cricket were ecstatic when we directed them down the trail behind our house for the first time this year!


Yaaaaayyyy!!


Rosie Creek was frozen solid and covered with snow! (Yaaaaay!)


The light on the trees is beautiful!


We were the first on several sections of trail!


A Roo selfie!


Then Cricket came over, so I passed the camera to DL so he could take a photo of all three of us!


Uh-oh... Roo has capsized!


Roo in the sunshine!


You can see the tracks where the voles run across the snow and dive for their holes!


Starbuck-a-Roo cleans the ice balls that form in her furry feet. Sometimes I take off a mitten and help.


Our favorite landmark!


Only one swampy part had visible ice!


Sunlight on the trees!


Last summer, State Forestry sent a crew around to execute their "hazardous fuels reduction plan". They came around behind our property lines and thinned out the older trees, so that our properties would be easier to defend in case of wildfire. DL walked down there last summer to check it out, but I only saw it for the first time today. It looks pretty nice, huh? I thought it would be a clearcut, but they cut the trees manually (well, with chainsaws, but not with brush cutters) and left a few sparse ones in place.


It is soup weather now!

Real Winter is here at last!

I have a smorgasbord of photos for my 12 loyal readers today.

First, a cuddle photo!


I tried to get a photo with our three heads together, but SOMEbody wouldn't cooperate! Poor Starbuck is all, MMNNNGGGLLPFFFF...


I shall squeeze her anyway!!


SQUIIIIIIISH!!


Beautiful sunrise the other morning!


Another unsuccessful Halloween! (Well, I did get TWO trick-or-treaters, but they were planted by my neighbor who drove her kids over on purpose to spare me from my utter despair and feelings of rejection!)


Boneless Roo cuddling with her daddy:


And look! We finally have real snow that is sticking! Temperatures are down to a normal range (about 15F/-10C, so I hope winter has settled in for good!


Roo on the trail


Cricket on the trail:


Who would like a banana? WE would like a banana! (Pronounced like "BAN-a-naw", to rhyme with Tanana...)


Roo after visiting her FRIENZ at the Denali Center:


After her round of visiting, she is extra mooshy and gooshy and has plenty of love left for ME!


"Hold my paw!"