Straightfork Farm: Holiday Season and Deer Season are Upon Us.

Thanksgiving was last week and that is pretty much the beginning of the Holiday Season. As usual, Sam and the dogs and I trekked across Ohio on Thanksgiving morning to my mom's house to share the day with her and my brother and his family. It was a rather quiet day, compared to Thanksgivings past when there have been over 20 people at Mom's. Next year may be noisier....

Unfortunately, I did not get to do much "Black Friday" shopping because Rowdy got very sick about 11:30 Thursday night and at 3:15 am I decided he needed to go to the emergency vet clinic just down the road. It was after 5 am by the time I got home and I was really in no mood to go out again. I won't go into details, but Rowdy was pretty sick and was given medication and sub Q fluids and was on a bland diet for a couple of days. I am happy to say he is fully recovered and back to his old ways and habits.

We arrived home from Mom's in the early afternoon Saturday and then Grover and I headed out at 5:30 the next morning to Zanesville for the last day of an agility trial. I am glad we did so well in Morgantown because we did not do well at all on Sunday. Our next trial will be the end of next week. We will be running Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the IX Center in Cleveland, which I understand is a huge dog show.

Monday was the start of gun season for deer here in Ohio. Sam got another deer, so we are set for venison for the year.

Yesterday was a beautiful day for the end of November, bright and sunny with highs in the mid 60's. I took the cover off the lettuce and arugula in the garden. It is doing quite well. Actually, we still have uncovered arugula growing, despite a few nights of well below freezing weather.

I also spent some time putting up insulation in my studio yesterday. Sam bought several packages of the batts that don't need to be cut at the auction last month and I probably put up about a third of it. Sam has most of the siding up, but not all. I really like the way it looks so far.

During gun season, I generally stay out of the woods with the dogs, even on our property. Even though Sam is no longer hunting, we allow the neighbors to hunt on our place and it is just best to stay out of the woods. So yesterday, I walked down the road to the beaver pond with the dogs in the mid-afternoon. The beavers have been very busy preparing for winter and I was surprised at how much they have done.

They have really built up their lodge and have been working close to the road.

Rowdy is standing by the road and I am down along the water and there are cut trees everywhere and clearly defined pathways.

In the photo at the top of this post, Grover is standing on the far side of the lodge from where these 2 photos were taken, and you can see where the beavers have stockpiled cut branches in the water close to their home for easy winter access. I would love to get another glimpse of these busy creatures, but they seem to do all their work in the dark. I guess I don't blame them.

I have also been busy. I have been finishing up items to take to the Christmas Festival in Woodsfield which is this coming Saturday. I finished 4 woven runners and 3 baby blankets and also made a pillow.

I am still working on fringe on scarves, but those are almost done. And of course I have rugs and socks and yarn and maple syrup and a few alpaca bears to sell as well. It will be a fun day sitting in the courthouse chatting with people and visiting with my good friend Tari. I always look forward to it.