The “S” Word on the Elephants! Happy Thanksgiving!

Elephant Butte L.S.P., New Mexico

When we woke up on Thursday, Nov. 28^th I could hear rain hitting the roof, lightly. It was 6:45 when we decided to get up and looking out the blind, it was white snow, not white sand that I saw. Yeuch! 

No tracks out here, I was the first one, obviously

I didn’t think it was still snowing so with a mild, calm 34F outside, I bundled for my walk. As I stepped out, it was still coming down and very wet and slushy. The slush made it very slippery for walking so I just went as far as the garbage bins and disposed of some cardboard boxes and recycle.

It was very slushy and slippery

 On my way and after turning back, I snapped a few pictures but I can’t agree with you snow lovers that it is pretty. Nope, it isn’t to me. So, I didn’t quite make the mile this morning and we’ll see if it melts off the roads for a later walk. After my tea and blog reading, I got the duster out and cleaned the cupboards, and the leather furniture even though Bill’s chair is peeling badly. Bill got the vacuum out and did the floors and ceiling fan.

Snow in the desert, it's just weird

Looking down at the lake

Company should come more often; we make a good effort at cleaning! Ha ha. Then it was time for breakfast so I fried up bacon and eggs. Outside, the snow has changed to rain which means things will melt – we hope. While breakfast was cooking, Bill offered to walk the kitchen garbage bag down to the bins but as he stepped outside, he realized it was pouring rain. That would be a later job. We cleaned up dishes and puttered around.

Where no man has walked before.........

That's a big deposit from an overnight snowfall

Bill fixed a lantern ‘flashlight’ that I bought a few years ago. It had just stopped working this year but it has been in the closet, untouched, all summer. He took it apart, replaced batteries, cleaned the connectors (whatever you call them) put it back together, thinking after a couple of tries that it was garbage, and voila! It is working again. Great because I love this lantern for camping and for at home on The Ridge.

With 2 settings for brightness, this is a nice lantern
I'm so happy he got it working again

 While in Durham this summer, I picked up a cheap round table cloth. I was thinking of my outdoor patio table at home but it isn’t practical with our winds up there. So, today, since we’re having company for supper and it’s a special occasion, I got it out and managed to fit a round peg into a square hole. Our table is rectangular. You get my drift. It isn’t perfect but it makes it looks nicer in here. I lit a Gingerbread candle and Bill moved our Sirius radio over to the tv area.

Nice and clean, ready for company

We’ll need room on our hutch for food dishes, since the table just fits the 4 of us. The small 4.37 lb. turkey we bought turned out to be just a large turkey breast. So I discovered when I opened it this morning. Woops! No wonder it is so small. It looks very meaty though so fingers crossed that it will turn out wonderful in Madame IP. It sure won’t take long, 6 minutes per pound is the rule, we’re looking at a mere half hour of cooking.

Our mistake thinking it was a whole turkey
so no wings or legs today

I Googled how to cook a turkey breast this time instead of the whole turkey as with company wouldn’t it be nice if it all turned out? :)😉 Then I relaxed with my book for a while. After doing our dishes this morning,  Bill set 2 mouse traps with peanut butter. Special Kraft peanut butter from Ontario, I might add. How can the little beggars resist?

The roads were clear for my afternoon walk

The last mouse ‘stole’ our trap so these we’re hoping will outsmart him. Well, that is the joke anyway. We think he must have got a leg or a tail caught and dragged it off into the depths of the underbelly. Bill couldn't find it anywhere. No odor so perhaps by now he’s long gone. I heard quite a few, well 3, snaps as Bill worked at this but no fingers were harmed during this process. And no film at 11, sorry. If the traps disappear in the next day or two, it won’t be a joke anymore.

This part of the path was walked on

Little doggie prints

Bill and I sat with our books for a while, listening to Christmas tunes, and then I got online window shopping. Other than a few stocking stuffers, we don’t buy for each other. We buy one thing for our ‘home’ that we need or want. Last year or was it the year before, it was our Water Pik and Electric toothbrushes. This year, well, we’re working on it. When we'd flogged that horse to death, I dressed to go for my walk, since I missed getting out for a good one earlier.

And quail prints

My dear hubby asks “are you going to take that garbage?” I wasn’t planning on it but “oh, yah, may as well”. There was a candle jar that needed to go as well, not in the bag. You know how they sometimes end up, all black around the top edge? I had my walking stick, a very wet heavy garbage bag in one gloved hand and the fat jar in the other. The jar had to be kept away from my white vest so it was an awkward start to the walk. LOL

I know they're used to it, but why do we think
they are cold?

After depositing them in the bins, I could then use my stick and walk on the dry pavement up to Desert Cove where I cut through onto the trails. Darn! I forgot my 2 painted rocks! I was again watchful for Wile E. but saw no sign of him as I walked the full stretch up to the playground on Ridge Rd. and back down to home. What a lovely day – well, if you can forget about the white stuff still lingering. It wasn’t cold at 39F/4C mainly because there wasn’t any breeze.

Forget the Class A motor home in front, look at the van and trailer
This fellow has his life's savings loaded in here
He has a pottery wheel, product and a homemade kiln in the back of his van
I hope he 'makes it' one day, that is his dream

Back home, I cut a Gala apple and spread peanut butter (the good stuff again) on each piece. A nice snack until supper. It was time for our showers so at 3:00 I had mine and then Bill had his. I cut up potatoes for supper and pulled the turkey breast out of the fridge for oiling and spicing. It was around 4:30 when I heated up Madame IP and seared the breast on all sides. It still wasn’t going to be 'roasted' on the outside, that’s the nature of the beast but the meat would be good.

Seasoned breast in the pot for sauteeing

And a sealed vented lid that fits perfectly to avoid spattering
all over the counter

And after it is seared all over the silicone sling worked great on top of the trivet
28 minutes on pressure cook and 17 minutes NR

When Jo-Anne, Bob and Higgy arrived around 4:45, she brought her homemade pickles and beets, a turnip dish and a homemade pecan pie with pecans from Georgia. I had planned on 5:30 for eating but it was closer to 6:15, woops! No one seemed to mind as we sat and chatted while we waited. Well, the guys waited, Jo-Anne and I prepared the gravy, potatoes etc. Bill got suckered into carving the breast for me. 😊

And we were ready to dig in, only me missing here!
We had lots of food

Delicious!

It was delicious! The turkey, potatoes, turnip, corn, gravy and then the dessert! Yum, a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with good friends. I loaded the dishwasher and Jo-Anne washed up the pots while I dried. 

No pestering here

Higgins was so good, not pestering hardly at all, just doing a ‘Clemmy’ by being at our feet during the prep. Of course, the smell of the food must drive them crazy too. I set up my big tripod and got a picture of us before they left around 8:30.

This is a wonderful picture

I missed the joke here - something between Bill and Bob

 This was a good day. The Suite is clean, the meal was yummy and the conversation and companionship was fantastic. We are thankful for so many things and this type of get together with friends is top of the list. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving also.

Notice Higgins' eyes are open here
Papa Bill just kept rubbing and soon.....

Eyes closed
It's too bad Higgins doesn't relax at our place  ha ha
I'm grateful for Higgins too, he is a sweet warm little puppyGood night y'all!

Thank you for your visit today. Your comments are another thing I’m always thankful for. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OUR AMERICAN FRIENDS!