Before Thanksgiving

 I spent much of last Sunday in the kitchen. Since I'd been away in Texas and then on the road again for a horse sale, I really needed to do some cooking. I made another batch of granola bars, Steak Tampequena (I'll work on posting a recipe for that) and Black Bean Sirloin Chili hit the spot:

We also had a buyer come out and look over our calves on Sunday. Our neighbor bought one load while I was gone and then a friend and neighbor to our neighbor (LOL) bought the rest. He bought them at a price that makes both parties happy and we are so grateful! He's getting an exceptional set of calves that will also be grateful to be going somewhere where the grub is good. Our pastures are out of grass due to the drought. And yes, our neighbors are also out of grass, but they have a growing yard and wheat pasture. DH came in after loading out the heifers with this comment, "Jared said it wouldn't hurt his feelings any if you wanted to make more of those oatmeal cookies." When he bought our calves last time, I had left him a bag of Cowboy Cookies in his rig. They have oats in them so those were the cookies he was referring to. Cowboy Cookies it is. Reposting an old photo here - making these this morning. I wonder if my headstone will read, "She made cookies for everyone"!😂

I knew Monday was going to be a L-O-N-G day at the sale barn. We started the sale an hour earlier than usual and sold 3293 hd of cattle. I usually figure 200 hd an hour over the course of a sale so that computes to 16 hours. Good gravy! Let's just say our eyes were crossed by the time we sold the last bovine 14 hours later, but we were thankful for bunches that allowed us to finish when we did. P.S. We spend a lot of time cleaning off our work space. LOL.

We took 2 breaks and I ran errands (bank, filled water bottles, feed store run) during my first break and made a quick trip through a grocery store during my 2nd break. Our governor closed our local Sam's club and Albertson's due to Covid. All non-essential businesses are already shut down and if an essential business has 4 positive rapid test results, they too are ordered to close. Walmart has 3 as of now and it's only a matter of time. When I drove by, there was a line of at least 50 waiting to get in. I didn't have time for that and had to get back to work so I stopped at the local Farmer's Country Market which I prefer anyway:

I made a mad dash through the store and was headed back to work 20 minutes later.  I bought a turkey as I passed an HEB on my way home from Texas last week. DH said our Governor had imposed these new restrictions so he said if I needed anything I had better get it in Texas. However, at the time, I wasn't sure if I was even going to be home for Thanksgiving. I was too tired to think that far ahead. Lots of folks are driving 3 hours or more to Texas for groceries.

While I was still at work, DH texted me and said that our heat was out. Good thing I'm a quilter, but it sure was hard crawling out from under those warm quilts at 4 a.m. on Tuesday morning after 4 hours of sleep. The tech showed up yesterday afternoon and we are back up and running. Yes, cookies were ready and waiting:

Tuesday and Wednesday were shipping days. So happy to see the calves moving on to greener pastures although we're also sad that the heifers had to go as well. Keeping heifers means future calf crops and not keeping them means no $.

DH had a 5 day deer hunt too, but between the horse sale, feed runs, fixing water troughs, and selling and shipping calves, he just wasn't able to squeeze it in even though he gets to hunt on the ranch. So no jerky this year. 

It's just been a crazy week. I'm also cooking dinner for the crew today. No breakfast - thank goodness. Tomorrow's Thanksgiving and I'm too pooped to gobble, but:

Our girl and her fella are coming home so the next 4 days will be filled with quail hunting, good grub, old stories, and new memories. They were here a few months ago and it always does a mama's heart good when the chiddlers come home:

I know most everyone's Thanksgiving is going to look a little different this year and everyone is weary from all the things 2020 has thrown as us this year, but may you still find reasons for giving thanks, for praising God, and may you celebrate the simple things that bring you joy. One of those things for me is a nap - this old gal is dog tired.