What a great weekend! As I mentioned, The Hunters came out to the Farm, spent the night, and were up early Saturday. They spotted 15 deer between them, many spotted.

Mr. Big Food had a wonderful hunters’ breakfast waiting for them when they returned. We had had a roasted potato dish the other evening, the leftovers of which he turned into hashbrowns. A bit of left over freshly ground beef was reconceived as sausage a day or two before. He fried it all up with some fresh herbs, onion, etc., made some indentations, cracked some eggs, sprinkled some cheese. I warmed up some homemade French bread and opened a new jar of dewberry jam… .

Over breakfast, we talked at length about managing deer populations. What becomes orphaned triplets in a coyote-rich land?

Rocky & I went with The Hunters as they did some post-breakfast camera work.

The stand is not suited to a bow. There’s no elbow room unless you’re standing, which Nick was not at a critical time.

And we made a thorough investigation of Walker’s stand. Walker’s a well-mannered kid, but he fails to understand that I made my living dealing with 16 year-olds. Yes, Walker, I do know where your corn feeder is. It’s in the garage. How old are you? 16! You know what that means? That means I no longer have to watch my language. Walker thanked me repeatedly for allowing him to continue to hunt on our property. “Ma’am” was repeated throughout. I like Walker. I hope he doesn’t blow it.

I took Missy to the Pond Pasture– that’s where she dug up nest of yellow jackets. What a horrific ordeal. Poor thing. She’s fine– thanks for asking, Aggie!— but, man, did it wig her out. By the time I’d figured out what was going on, they’d swarmed her. She came when I called and through several iterations of coming, my knocking them off, running around like a lunatic, coming… them getting in my hair…  we made it back to the truck, and high tailed it to the house. Miss M & A. Leland assisted with the final exterminations. Whew.

And then, of course, we fretted about Missy for an hour or so. 

The weekend’s excitement out of the way, and it being a gorgeous November Fall day, we all diddled around as the spirit moved– Mr. Big Food surveyed what still needs to be done, I set up the Miles Standish table– and awaited the arrival of Daughter C’s friend, La Girl with the Cool Name, who’d not been to the Farm before. 


Once welcomed to the Farm, Daughter C showed La Girl with the Cool Name around. Here, I must tip my hat to Daughter C. Her family is weird. (I don’t need to elaborate.) But rather than hide our lights under a barrel, Daughter C showed them off. Importantly, she explained the Word-of-the-Day-Can-You-Use-That-Word-in-a-Sentence game. And then they went for a walk and when they got back, picked a big salad heavy on broccoli raab.

The evening was pleasant but chilly. Daughter C had made preparations– Thanks, A. Leland!– for a nice fire which we enjoyed as we lamented another classic Dan Mullen State lose,  had a wonderful supper, watched LSU vs. Alabama– La Girl with the Cool Name is an LSU FAN– and read our sentences. 

This morning, as we were saying our goodbyes to La Girl with the Cool Name, she asked that I give her a cool name for her blog identity.

Done!