Monday several of us did a recovery run after the previous Saturday's race. Rebecca and others went off to visit the local thrift stores. I suspect that she could drive to them with her eyes closed. The seminary youth had a service project to rake leaves at the neighbor's house; they had most of the leaves in piles within an hour. Unfortunately the leaves were too wet to burn. Then we fed them Dominoes pizza.
Tuesday was shop at Branson Day. Miranda, Marion and Rebecca joined me. We stopped at Menard's for more deck screws and found a few unplanned Christmas gifts (those are often the best kind). Then to Chick filet for lunch. We visited a couple of thrift stores since you never know what hidden treasures they may have. The Salvation Army store is closing next month; they rely on tourists and the virus has reduced the number of visitors. Sad. We actually did visit a couple of real stores looking for specific items, with varying degrees of success. Since we drove right by an Aldi's, we stopped there for groceries. Spent more money for food than for gifts! And we had to visit Andy's for a hot fudge sundae. It was a fun, but long day.
Ian returned home Sunday evening so he could be at work. On Monday he discovered the heater was not functioning and scheduled an appointment for someone to check it out Tuesday afternoon. So Deborah packed up her family and headed home to be there when the repairman arrived.
Wednesday Andy's family arrived early afternoon and people started getting serious about baking. It appears that a minimum of 17 pies were baked: chocolate chess, chocolate truffle, pecan, pumpkin, lemon cheese, peach, apple and banana crème. Today only two pies remain. The cousins had great fun playing together and life was a bit chaotic at times. We did manage to find a way to feed and house 20 people.
Thursday we had the bird in the oven by 8am; the goal was to eat the main meal before 1pm to avoid having people in the kitchen eating lunch or snacking. And it worked. The yams with marshmallows, mashed potatoes, home baked rolls, dressing and turkey were all being consumed by 1230. And it was a glorious feast for all. Today, only a couple of small leftover containers are proof of our sumptuous feast. Pie and leftovers were enjoyed later that evening.
Friday I was notified that the tree service company would be cutting down a large elm at one of our rentals. Knowing I had a youthful and ambitious work force, we headed over around noon to pick up the fire wood.
The grand children are hard workers and with their help and that of Andy and Miranda, we had the trailer filled in less than an hour. Back to the house to offload and then return. This time I had fewer helpers but they were just as efficient. They had cut the tree into firewood length; the trunk was about 30 inches across. Some of those pieces were too heavy to get on the trailer and we left those for another day. The branches would wait until then as well. That evening Miranda's family headed home.
Saturday we returned and were able to get most of the branches and the rest of the tree trunk - after I used the chain saw to reduce their size, and weight. Once the wood dries, it will make a nice bon fire.
Andy's family also headed home Saturday, and only Rebecca's family is left. It is a bit quieter here.
Today I spoke in sacrament meeting - if you can call speaking to a total of four people a meeting. I was staring at a small camera so that the meeting could be viewed on YouTube. The bishop also spoke and we were done in 35 minutes. Then home for the administration of the sacrament and lunch. We drove out the cemetery to view Sandy's grave sight. We did a family zoom meeting later.
This young lady likes taking selfies on my phone when my back is turned, so I thought I would join her for one.
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