I continue to have problems posting. Sorry!

I have blogged, only for blogger to lose my post. Supposedly they have an auto save that "saves" your post in progress, but for whatever reason, it hasn't happened.

Thursday, when Rian was here to help with our Thanksgiving meal for all the crew, I had told him that one of the girls in the office had told me she and her husband had pigs they were selling to be slaughtered. Right now most of them are too small, unless you want to put a small pig on a spit. But by Christmas they will have multiple, prime size pigs.

I told Rian that I was toying with the idea of buying a pig to have processed to put in our freezer.

Friday Reid called his Dandy to talk. He began the conversation by relaying a message to me that his Dad wanted to go halves on a pig.

I asked him, "Which half of the pig do you want?"

He got quiet before I heard him ask his Dad.

In a moment he gave me his reply. "The back half", he said.

I told him, "That is the end that always follows."

He became quiet, and I could tell this five year old was mulling it over.

Finally he changed the subject and we concluded our visit when he handed the phone to his Dad.

Saturday I had run an errand and on my way back to the compound I called Rian to visit about the outcome of the TT/Baylor game. They were getting ready to sit down for supper and I could hear the boys in the back ground. I asked Rian if Reid had decided which half of the pig he wanted, so Rian relayed the question.

Reid shrugged his shoulders before finally saying, "I just want a pig that plays in the mud!"

That might be another pig for another story. But ............... it comes at a good time of the year with Christmas coming up! I love getting gift ideas!

The Thanksgiving meal was a big success. We had a ton of food. The first part of the week was full of shopping and meal parts being prepared. Monday we shopped, and Monday evening and Tuesday was spent boiling eggs and cooking cornbread. 7 dozen eggs, and 36 mixes of cornbread, followed quickly by boiling 23 pounds of yellow squash. Krl diced and browned two bags of onions in our trailer (it still reeks).

Wednesday saw us return to the store and pick up 5 chickens to boil for broth and meat for the dressing and giblet gravy. We also picked up 25 assorted pies and ten tubs of Cool Whip.

Rian was preparing the turkeys and hams in Lubbock and would bring a finished product Thanksgiving morning along with corn and potatoes we had him requisition from Sysco Foods.

The boiled eggs made a trip to Becky's house where her kids made quick work of peeling them.

We began browning dinner rolls (36 dozen) at two locations, let them cool and returned them to the plastic bag they had come in, less cardboard.

Thursday morning saw an early start as Krl and I assembled the dressing and got it on to cook. Somewhere between 65 and 75 pounds of dressing.

We then turned our attention to the giblet gravy.

Rian arrived and began unloading and setting up. We were using nine broaster roasters and one crock pot to warm and serve the meal.

The GM had asked me to fluff the meal supplies as we had anticipated an onslaught of milo truck drivers being added to our usual numbers. We prepared for 150 hungry mouths. Much to our chagrin. All of these men went home.

We cut down of some items we had yet to cook. We hd 48 pounds of creamed potatoes but only prepared 32. We cut back on the corn, and fruit cocktail as well. The meat was already cooked and the pieces for the dressing were prepared as well, so we were locked in.

We did feed either 83 or 86 people, and at six in the evening we began bagging all the leftovers. Some went to the night shift in the plant (they were very weak in attendance) along with five or six leftover pies. Others who worked on the meal bagged leftovers for future use. A multiple serving full course of the meal was left in the office "fridge" for the girls to eat Friday.

The GM's wife prepared a broccolli and rice casserole, a big tray of deviled eggs, and a roaster pan of oyster dressing.

Many of us had never had oyster dressing so it garnered a lot of attention. The first bite I took, I thought it was very tasty and shortly after I swallowed, the afterburners kicked in! It had a little kick. I thought it might be cajun seasoning, but when I asked Sandy, she said it was the jalapenos! That makes sense.

In a test, we once again had prepared a small tray (1 each) of green bean casserole and sweet potatoes. These were met with the same rejection they had received four years ago. These men like their meat, dressing,potatoes, and bread!

Rian did take a small bag of squash dressing back to Lubbock. That was all he wanted. He told us he could eat that dressing every day of the week. Saturday when I talked with him, he told me there is one other in his family who loves Meme's dressing. It seems that Drew consumed an entire bowl of Rian's treasured dressing!

That made Meme smile!

Delfino left last Thursday to go to Guanawhato. His baby girl was getting married Saturday night. He will return Tuesday.

That fits very well considering we are planning on running to the house to meet the Windows USA people who are installing our windows Wednesday.

They agreed to a Wednesday install and despite their attempts to move us we have held fast. They guaranteed us they will install all the new windows in a single day.

They had better because that is all we have allotted.

Last night was the night I have been dreading all season. Rene', my lead nightshift forklift operator knocked on my door just after midnight. His primary machine had a problem and when he began using his backup, he encountered a problem as well. I made a quick trip out and got his backup going. It seemed as though I was barely back in bed when I heard a knock again.

I returned to the dock and diagnosed the new problem as a blown internal o-ring in a cylinder of the bale clamp. Meaning it was only working on one side. We had little choice, so I asked Juan the night ginner to call Frank, the Plant Superintendent. When Frank arrived with keys to the farm store we made a new hydaulic hose for the primary machine, and once it was going I got another of my nightshift, Jose, to assist me as we removed the faulty bail clamp from the backup machine. Luckily we had another clamp waiting at the ready. Before it was all over, I had spent most of my night on the bale dock.

I returned to my travel trailer to try to regroup and salvage what was left of the night. In a wind down measure, I posted the afore mentioned blog which was lost in cyberspace forever.

Oh well, if my luck persists, this one will be gone as well.

In a couple of developments, Friday morning they changed destinations on us for our bales from Sweetwater to Big Spring. 73 mile round trip compared to 216 before. We have trucks waiting for loads by days end.

On the other end of the plant the GM decided to start warehousing cottonseed at night. That meant we had too many trucks there as well, so in a three way deal I flipped two seed trucks to the milo haul.

The main thing we are trying not to do is to not put anyone out of work.

Well, settlements are printed and checks are written with only one exception, and I am waiting on a load weight for a single load to complete that one.

Hope your Turkey Day and weekend were good!

FATHER, may we show our thankfulness every day! Bless-ed be YOUR name!