Busy time of year.

I had been monitoring the cotton bolls and finally decided to wait until after Thanksgiving to begin stripping cotton.


Thanksgiving came and it was a lot of fun, although it is a lot of work.  We had 36 or 37 I believe, down from our Christmas gathering of 62 last year.  I will say that we are expecting a huge Christmas because Kirby and Andi, Colby and Courtney and their family, Terri's three youngest kiddos, Jeri and TJ and Rian's boys will be here plus we usually have a number of personal and family friends.


We have delegated everyone some dish or duty.  It has worked really well.  Memama, Pat, Stephanie, and Chloe build the dressing and it cooks here at Memama's.  Rian smoked the turkeys and hams, he also did a pork tenderloin and Jason did bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos (so when they were warming the boned meat on the big barbecue pit there was a large crew standing around to taste or assist.  Joni and Linda were in charge of desserts (hey we aren't stupid), Jake and Lindsay green bean casserole, Steve and Jani Sweet Potato casserole, Jason and Christy green rice and the bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos, Makai and Scott brought Red diamond tea (plus she helped make finger foods once she was here, crescent rolls with breakfast sausage and cream cheese and crescent rolls with little smokies), Stephanie and Pat brought deviled eggs, creamed potatoes, rolls, squash and all sorts of other goodies, Jeannie brought red diamond tea also, Me, I made a triple serving of the broccoli and red onion salad with bacon bits, bell pepper and dried cranberries (Shirley, Scott's daughter assisted me).


I'm probably missing someone but it is not intentional.


It was a feast Memama could be proud of!  A fun day.  It was after dark when our last guest left.  The house was a war zone! 


When the last guest left, there were three of us left.  Memama, me . . . . . . . . . and Noble.  He came to Thanksgiving and stayed with me until Sunday.  This meant he came to work.


Noble was fascinated with the cotton stripping.  He loved all the movement, the dumping into the boll buggy and then watching it deliver to the module builder, and he was amazed when the module builder would pull off and there was a big block of cotton 8 feet tall, 8 feet wide and 32 feet long.


He rode in the buddy seat and I had him buckled in, sometimes he would become so mesmerized it was hypnotic and he would be sound asleep.  He would wake up and somehow his Dandy would have a ham slider sandwich and a sippy cup in his pocket.  It just doesn't get much better than this.


I will admit that by Sunday morning Dandy was worn out.  Keeping Noble and trying to strip cotton at the same time is not the most brilliant thing Dandy has ever done.  But we made memories.


On Saturday Merrit drove to see him and I asked her to do his laundry and separate what was hers and what was Sandy's.  I was on a late lunch run and talked to Merrit, so I ran the little man to Memama's.  I told her to be sure he took a nap but not too long.  About 4:40 she called and said it took every trick in the book to get him down.  I told her Do Not Let Him Sleep Long!


I got home, she left, Noble was energized.  I showered and ate, then laid on the couch decompressing.  Finally I told Noble,  "It is 11 o'clock, Dandy is tired.  Let's go to bed."


"That's o.k.Dandy, just leave the television on and the lights on!", he replied.


This isn't my first rodeo, so I turned the television off and only left the lights on that Memama leaves on at night.  I went to my room.  He still wouldn't come voluntarily so I went back to the living room and turned all the lights off.  This did the trick and he migrated like a moth to the light glowing from my bedroom.  He wanted to read but we didn't have his books, so Dandy told him a bedtime story.  He rubbed my ear lobe about two minutes and was out.


He is so angelic when he sleeps.


The other funny thing was I was kidding him about getting fat.  He told me, "Dandy, I not fat, I'm soft!"


Sunday morning he was in a mood.  We had intended on getting to church and then McDonald's to meet Sandy and Don, but I woke early with a mad tummy.  Noble was very uncooperative about meeting any time frame.  I was dressed and had all his stuff packed except his clothes for the day when I finally captured him and began to skin the rabbit.  I got his shirt and socks off and he escaped again.  I took his clothes and put them in the car, then came inside and gathered him up and out the door we went.  I buckled him in his car seat and we headed to Abilene.  We stopped by to get Georgiana and she got in the car and began greeting Noble as she looked back and suddenly she became quiet and looked at me.  "Don't ask", I replied.


We got to McDonald's, put Noble in the back and we tag teamed him, getting him out of his diaper and pj's and shining his backside, then dressing him.  We were just finishing dressing him when Sandy and Don drove up.


I don't know who was happier to see who, him or them!


We stripped all the cotton we could at Wastella.  Believe it or not, we have cotton that is still standing in water, and it is probably bale and a half or two bale cotton.


We took a day off from stripping and did some heavy maintenance on the stripper while doing other odds and ends.  Dakota shredded stalks, Slats plowed where we are going to sow wheat on the Home and Wastella.


Firday afternoon we moved the stripper to the section to begin stripping out where we want to put wheat on Jerry Don and Susan.


I struck a deal with Hag and we are stripping 80 acres of cotton for him and in turn, he is sowing about 160 acres of wheat for Memama.


We got the wheat tract stripped out on Jerry Don and got started on Susan's, but it got too wet to even try to force the cotton through the machine last night.


Today doesn't look too promising.  Zero visability.  99% humidity.


The guys are coming in mid morning to shred stalks at Wastella and plow wheat ground on Jerry Don.


Hag had an orbital valve blow up on his drill Friday so Great Plains flew one in overnight.  He got it at 5 yesterday evening.


I have the crop adjuster coming back to look at what we have left to strip Monday morning.


I am ready to get this crop done and begin the next one.


FATHER, help us to always be thankful for YOUR gifts and blessings.