Lots of news from the farm.  Steve’s news is at the bottom of this post.

On November 22, we had to get bread from Franz Bakery Outlet for our animals.  It was short notice so we decided to go to a drive in for lunch.  So we went to Dari-Delite.  This is my first time going there (although Tom has been there a few times).  It was really good and quick, which is what we wanted.

We had a peahen get out of the barnyard and get chased by our beagle.  She came back the next morning but has an injured leg.  Not sure how she injured it, but I caught her (got some scratches) and moved her to the weasel-proof pen.  Hoping she improves with time.

Last Wednesday we were finally able to get the sheep and goat fall maintenance done.  There were no huge surprises except the goats and Bambam were a little thinner than I would like.  Unfortunately Harlen, who is wild, ran into a wall trying to get away from us and loosened his front teeth.  I removed one, but the other was still intact.  Hopefully it will heal well.

That evening we went out to dinner at a new restaurant in La Conner.  It is the Pie Dive Bar.  It is operated by 19 and 21 year old brothers.  I got the Steak Pie, and Tom got the BBQ Brisket and Mac.  It was all very good and highly recommended.

We looked at the Arlo camera at Dad’s cabin and saw this blizzard.  We were planning on a trip later in the week, but this made us question our plans.

I had to work on Thanksgiving which was depressing.  Tom was able to enjoy the holiday with his family.  They did have a power outage while dinner was cooking but managed to finish it with a generator’s help.

I got up early Saturday morning to get the chores done.  I was able to enjoy the sunrise.

Then we drove to Dad’s cabin.  This was to deliver an L-shaped couch before the snow flew.  Unfortunately the snow had started to fly first, but we made it up there.  I have always wanted an L-shaped couch and bought a used one for the cabin.  Here it is in place.

Ryeleigh seems to like it and has chosen the corner section as her own.

We also brought up a bed frame and mattress.  Here is Tom looking at the bed frame parts of which there were many.

Dad helped, and they got it together.  There were supposed to be 2 beds but only one arrived before we had to leave. Not sure how we are going to get the second bed up now that winter is here.  But at least we have one bed.

We drove home that evening.  We did stop in Cle Elum and had a nice dinner with my brother and partner at The Sunset Cafe.  Cle Elum had its lights out, and Santa came by too.

On the way home we saw the Tulalip Casino had its lights out too.  Pretty.

In the morning it was cold.  There were tiny ice formations on the tops of the wood posts in the barnyard.  It was pretty in the sunlight.

We finally were able to tackle the fallen Asian Pear tree in the orchard.  We put a come-along on it to a nearby tree.

We were able to pull it up, secure it with straps to a couple of fence posts and put a wooden brace on it to help support it.  So far it is working.  Hopefully the tree survives.

For Sunday dinner I made this recipe.  I saw a NYT cooking recipe with broccoli and tofu and thought of this recipe from my vegetarian teenage years.  My mother was able to find it in her Sunset Vegetarian cookbook, and I took this photo.  You can see this recipe has been well used.

And here it is cooked up.  Of course, Tom wanted nothing to do with this.

And finally to Steve.  Before we went to Dad’s cabin on November 14, Steve had started eating less than usual.  This is not normal for him.  Then at the cabin he didn’t eat well but that it always the case.  He never eats well on trips.  But then the eating problems continued.  We tried to make an appointment with the vet the Friday before last, but they were too busy to see him.  And he would eat some days better than other so we waited until previously scheduled annual exam yesterday.  Here he is at the vet.  He is losing weight, hanging out in the house more and more easily chilled.  His spleen felt large on exam.  The vet did labs and x-rays and was going to get back to us.

Here he is later in the afternoon.

I proceeded to decorate the house for Christmas.

And made chicken pot pies.

But Steve wasn’t doing well.  He wasn’t eating, and he started peeing a lot, all over the rugs and his beds in the house.  By this morning I called the vet thinking we were going to have to euthanize him.  But she said that his lab work looked good in that his kidney and liver appear to be functioning well.  The x-rays showed two masses on his spleen.  There is a chance that are malignant but also that they are benign.  So we talked about having his spleen removed.  That will improve his eating and eliminate the risk of his spleen rupturing with sudden death.  Plus we can do pathology to find out if they are malignant or not.  So we decided to proceed with this, and tomorrow morning he will go under the knife.  It will be an overnight stay tomorrow at the vet and then a 2 week recover.  So please send thoughts, prayers, and/or best wishes to Steve.