Thanksgiving and then some

Well, this 2008 Thanksgiving came and went. Jerill was in Michigan visiting his family (2 brothers, 1 sister and 1 mom) for the week so I had the place to myself with exception of the 5 animals of course.

Thanksgiving Eve I went to the Winstanley's home for cocktails (Jack and Coke is THE drink of the season). Then on Thursday I picked up my parents in Jerill's new car and headed to my sister's house in Redmond for a traditional turkey feast. I have to say, our food was really great this year. My sis makes an excellent turkey, mom does great pies and roasts and I bring the veggies. I have a great recipe for Butternut Squash with Maple Syrup which replaced our traditional sweet potatoes with toasted marshmallows. 4lbs of butternut squash, cubed. Assorted cinnamon, nutmeg and paprika. Pour on the syrup. Bake in a big pile on a baking sheet (with parchment paper) and viola, a tasty alternative to sweet potatoes.

Friday was the only day I really got to "sleep in." For those of you who really know me, this means I slept till about 8:00 a.m. I tinkered around the house and then headed off to the farm to pick up Scott the dog and do some practice runs with him. Practicing REALLY helped me as my trial on Saturday went great - I got 2nd place in my Ranch course (out of 10 competitors). And while I was running a non-compete round in Pro-Novice (me being the novice and Scott being the Pro) I ended up scoring in the middle of the pack of participants. I'm really starting to get it and I like to trial. The people have been great so far. You'd never guess, really, who out there are herding sheep with dogs anymore. People of all walks of life do it!

I picked Jerill up from the airport on Saturday night. I was driving my mom's giant pickup truck that she lets me borrow for trials (I had four dogs with me). It was a little freaky as I'm not used to driving anything that large in traffic, but I managed to pull through. I guess I'll need to get used to a truck anyway since I'm getting one in the Spring. And, it's not like Jerill's new car is a "compact" vehicle by any means - it weighs as much as a truck and drives like a tank.

So, now parked next to my beautiful 45mpg Civic Hybrid sits a 2005 Audi Allroad. It's black, it's comfortable and it's got heated seats in the front and the back. The car actually has a lot of cool features to it - far more than the Hybrid does. However, Jerill is only getting 16/22mpg. Of course, while Jerill was in Michigan, I drove it everyday and thoroughly enjoyed the heated seats, moonroof and, although I'm pretty good with a map, the navigation system. I haven't come up with a good name for it yet, but it JUST pulled into the driveway! Time to address those meatball subs I promised to make for dinner!