We had a nice and quiet Thanksgiving, just like we like it! 
The few traditions we've developed over the years were observed once again, and it was a cozy or 'gezellige' day ..



Of course there was a lot of eating involved, we started the day with Eggs Benedict, followed by a delicious pumpkin-mousse pie with coffee ..

We watched the Macy Parade and the National Dog Show (way to go Thor, the Bulldog!) and munched on deviled eggs, brie, smoked salmon spread (thank you Ronnie) and nuts, paired with a nice Chehalem Riesling (thank you Doug), for lunch!

                                                 The big man himself!

Merl' slept through most of that ..

But he came back alive when the turkey was brought out!

(See those cute pumpkin place-mats? They were a gift from Deanna, whom we visited in Coeur d'Alene last week).

 

He's so cute .. when he's asleep (tripping on the tryptophan .. )

 
I can't blame him for sleeping though since the weather has been 'frightful' .. frightfully cold, that is!  
We already had the snow, of course, and we got a little more the day before Thanksgiving ..

                                       All in all, we accumulated about 4 inches ..

But the days following that were, quite literary ice-cold, we had several days in a row that even the day-time temperature did not get above freezing!
Saving grace was the fact that there was no wind, the skies were clear and the sun would come out ..

How gorgeous is that?

I went for a walk at midday (when it was at it's warmest, probably about 27F), climbed up the hill at the end of the driveway, near the road, and was rewarded with a beautiful view of the snowy mountains all around me!

This next one is the view at the backside of those hills I just showed, looking over the canyon where the house is situated and all the way towards Lucile and the river in the distance below ..

I used the timer on the camera for these, always a little awkward ..

So, that was Thanksgiving. I'm always a little sad when the day is over, so much anticipation and than it goes by so quickly! 
But fortunately there's still a lot of fun days to come. 

Next up, as in tomorrow, Sinterklaas!

Winter at the Salmon River

'Tis the day before Thanksgiving and and all through the night .. oh wait, that's a different holiday, although not to far away !

It sure looks like Christmas though, and if we won't have it than, we are having it now .. a white Thanksgiving!

Temperatures started to drop over the weekend, followed by snow on Sunday night, all in all a good 4 inches or better!

I must say, although the snow at Joseph Plains was pretty, it really turned the area around here in a stunning winter-wonderland.
Maybe it's because you look up to the mountains from down here, whereas we were on the mountain itself over there and didn't see much below us.

We walked down the slippery driveway (fortunately I had saved our snow-boots) to the road, where the view of the river was especially spectacular!

We put a drop-off box at the gate for UPS and FedEx because there's no way they'll make it up the driveway ..

And here's us, all snug and warm, nestled against the 'big' house:

Earlier that week I had walked up the canyon towards a little  waterfall halfway the creek and made a picture of it. 

Yesterday I went again, this time for a 'snow-shot' ..

     

 By the way, this property is guarded by a squirrel!

Trying to look tough here!

In the meantime, the crew has worked on a whole bunch of different projects ..
Besides all the tree-cutting and repairs on the front gate that I showed last week, they repaired a break in the main water-pipe, next to the house:

The pipes are badly corroded and there were several leaks inside and out, but it looks like they're finally all taken care of.

James did the inside, closest to the pump, where hoses had sprung leaks also:

We also took care of a few repairs and modifications inside the RV, James gave me a shelve in the storage chubby-hole behind the TV:

Everything used to be piled up on top of each other and things were constantly sliding around ..

Look how neat. Much better!

And how about this one .. every time the front door was opened all the cold air from the outside would stream in ..

Well, we created a 'hossie', as we call it in (the northern part of) Holland, a sort of mud-room, by hanging some heavy velvet curtains from a (bendable) ceiling-rod:

      

Not the best picture, but they are a nice 'evergreen' green!

(Left is as seen from the inside, right is from outside looking in)

The last step of our door-steps to the ground is, depending on the site, often a little high so James created another 'landing' (and screwed the mat on it, since it has a tendency to get blown away)

They burned all the cut tree branches and other trash ..

They also dug a trench for the electricity that has to go up to the new-house site and Don has been leveling and smoothing several areas all around us ..

Eventually, they ran out of projects though, which is getting to be a real problem.
We still do not have any definite house plans, which means we can't move forward and we now actually have to lay off the crew for a while. Which is not nice, because we did promise them work and they, and their families, rely on it.
Let's hope that when Sam and Ronnie are coming up here for a week on December the 3d, that something will be decided ..

The Salmon River

I wish I could take credit for the picture above but I stole it from the Internet. 
It is right here on the river though, and I also wish we could have seen it like that, but we were at Joseph Plains when the colors were at their best.

It looks more like this right now, not a leaf left, but in the right light it's still beautiful:

While walking through those hills above and alongside the river one morning, I heard a bird singing. 
Something rather unusual in the fall, and it took me quite a while before I could locate it, as it blended in perfectly with it's surroundings:

It was this pretty little Song Sparrow.

I guess its not really bothered by those huge thorns!

We're still not completely set up, the sewer-hose still needs a little adjusting in covering it up, but the water-hose is snugly wrapped.

Both hoses have a heating cord taped along the side that will (hopefully) keep them from freezing: 

The water: 

              

And the sewer ...

 

James worked on winterizing part of the shop to use as a coffee and lunch room for 'the guys'. It's now insulated and heated and has a small fridge and coffee machine.

                   

He has also been spending quite a lot of time behind the computer. He had to organize a crew, order a porta-potty, set up appointments to get a septic tank installed, a well dug, concrete poured and temporary electric hooked up, and has started to order some materials.

 

But he's having some fun too ... see, that's him going by my window there!

 

A guy and his toys ..

They're working on a new gate

 

We've got several of these machines around and they're sure handy  to dig big holes or move dirt or lift heavy things .. or knock down trees!

  

 

The way the RV is angled I have a very good view of all the comings and goings of anybody driving up.
The side windows, where I sit when on the computer, look out on the driveway and the back windows on the barn/shop and the parking area.

Nothing can sneak by me!

In the meantime, I'm totally enjoying my time off!

Things got pretty hectic in the end at Joseph Plains, and than we immediately went on our trip, which is always a busy adventure as well so it's wonderful to have some peace and quite again.

And since we're now going to stay put for a while, and also have paid of all our debts to everybody who'd helped us during our 'truck-disaster', I can finally order some 'stuff' that I've had my eye on for quite a while. So I went on a little shopping spree.

Call it an early Christmas!

One of them being this ingenious new invention, a Crisplid for my Instant Pot, which turns it into an air fryer as well!
It's now a crock-pot, a pressure-cooker and an air-fryer, all-in-one, saving a ton of space as well as money .. 
This afternoon I tried my (first) hand at a rather unusual use of an air-fryer, I made a crispy banana bread.

It came out fairly well, although the bottom was a little under-baked. Trial and error, I guess.
It tasted OK though, especially those crispy walnuts on top!

I'm a happy camper!

I also managed to snatch up a decently priced replacement pump for our sleep number bed (that we fried in Newberg) on ebay, so that will be coming in next week, also a coffeepot (for the crew) and (plastic) mugs, as well as a curtain (plus rod) for the entrance (to keep out the cold), a new calendar for 2020, cleaner and conditioner for the RV, a donut pan (ha!), an extendable and magnifying make-up mirror (can't see things anymore), a mug (we're down to 2) and an eggwich maker (don't ask).

Yoohoo! I'm on a roll!