Good morning! Are you up yet? What's your plans for today?

[Blowpipe Sam]

Mornin ya'll.  I'm in the field today so I'm happy.  Cold and clear.  I've got a couple of maintenance projects to work on and I might take a long lunch.
Merry Christmas eve to all!

[avator]

So far so good...
The Titan went out of the barn about an hour ago and should be at the mechanic by now.
Mark, the roll back driver, offered to put brakes on the GMC so I will meet up with him in about an hour.
Meantime, I restuffed my pellet trap with old blue jeans... that made Betty Lou happy to get them out of my closet.
She just grabbed 4 beers from the bar fridge and headed for the house.
Might turn out to be a good day after all.

[Bicycleman]

Bill, check your PMs

Mike

[Hoosier Daddy]

Dang Bill, If I were closer I would do a Brake job on the GMC for a bottle of "Sprite"!

[anti-squirrel]

Bill- Hopefully the GMC needs brakes and nothing else.  And that Titan... Well, I love mine, so hopefully your mechanic can get that resolved quick-like and cheaply.


We got up late today- 8-ish, versus our normal 4:45.  The boys already let the dogs out and went to work, but one of our 5 (the boys' 2 dogs sleep with them) had an accident.  That's okay- they all qualify for AARP; the youngest (a pit/boxer mix) just turned 10.  The off for a delicious breakfast at Sonja's best friend's house.  The woman's husband is an avid hunter and has a couple bow-season doe on ice.  His maple-venison sausage was good, for sure, and the sausage-n-biscuits-n-gravy was home-made and the best I've ever had.  Since cannabis is legal in VA now, they showed off their grow tent.  They gave us a couple bottles of homemade strawberry brandy, we gave them some baked goods, and then I talked to her husband about our big-bore PCPs.  He's interested in using for his next hunt, but he also said his freezer is full- and it's the size freezer you could keep an old 70's GM full of mafioso "stored on ice" with.  They have twin daughters and two dogs so we played a group until the twins were tired, then we headed back.

Sonja made strawberry-spinach salad and packed the shortbread, cookies she made earlier in the week, and various other snacks.  I made my mother's ancient shortbread recipe, then I grabbed the ulu and minced a couple pounds of smoked pork shoulder.  Sonja's family tends to feed each other more often than not, so when anything is made, there's enough for 4 families of hearty appetites.  This aligns well with my own "feed an army" tendencies, because we all love leftovers.

Anyway, we're wrapping up here and will be headed over to my sister-in-law's for a big family dinner and "gift-of-food" exchange.

[avator]

Met up with Mark and he pulled the right front tire off and we could instantly see the problem. Wheel bearing assembly worn out. Back to the parts store for $150 bearing. The truck didn't need brakes but we put them on anyways. By the time I paid Mark, the job cost $300.
No word on the Titan yet... probably after the first of the week.
As for today...
Betty Lou got a FaceBook message from my younger Brother in Wisconsin. Apparently he decided to come south. He packed up his RV and is now at my sister's place just 2 hours south of us. He got a job and everything.
I haven't seen him in more than 25 years. Betty Lou talks to him on FaceBook and keeps me posted. Well, I called him last night and he is coming to visit for a couple days. He'll be here sometime this morning.

[Jshooter71]

Merry Christmas GTA!!! Up at 0530 CT. My wife left me a note on the coffee maker that she finished at 0200, not to wake her until 0730-0800.     We did our usual on Christmas Eve- after dinner we went into town and walked the Square for the Christmas lights. We kept Ayrabella up until about 2130… no telling when the girls will be up… it’s 62* right now, supposed to get into the 70*s -that’s good, really- the girls are going to want to play outside! 
Merry Christmas Everyone!!! 

[Rabbit\Squirrel Killer]

Merry Christmas GTA! I woke at 4:00 and was wide awake so I decided to get up and add a 512GB M.2 SATA in my Lenovo Flex6 11 A871. Lenovo's support page says there are no upgrades for storage in the Flex 6 11IGM but they were wrong! The M.2 SATA slot is under the battery cable and works great. I am not sure why they don't list it as an option? With Windows 11 installed and all my other software I have been using a USB hard drive which was cumbersome and inconvenient. I made it my D drive and I am copying the 54gb of Bible software from the USB drive now. 95%.....     The original C: drive is just 64GB

[avator]

Plans change as fast as they are made... My Brother sent Betty Lou a message this morning. He is not feeling well and decided not to come today.

[Bicycleman]

My son just invited my Judy and me over for breakfast. 
Actually, our grandsons want to want to open some Christmas presents that are NOT clothes.      

[wolverine]

this our 1st Christmas with just the 2 of us.  we arrived home thursday after a 3800 mile road trip to attend a funeral and visit our 3 girls and 5 grandkids, then spent the eve with new friends here.  today we'll have brunch and go for a bike ride or a sail.  her choice.

[Blowpipe Sam]

Hope y’all had a merry Christmas!

[Jshooter71]

Good morning GTA! I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Up at 0400… errr, fell back asleep and got up at 0500 CT. Today is Ayrabella’s 9th Birthday! Basically, we just do Christmas all over again, but just for her. 
It’s remarkably warm this weekend, I started to put together the 12’ trampoline my mom got the girls… I’ll finish that up after the morning birthday festivities, I quit because I need an extra set of hands at this point. Ayrabella got a new bike for her birthday, it’s in front of the tree and she’ll want to ride it I’m sure. My wife has a cake to finish and Ayrabella picked pork chops for her birthday dinner, even though there’s lots of Christmas ham left over… we’ll be eating good for several days. 

[Blowpipe Sam]

Sounds like you have a great day ahead of you John.  Happy birthday Ayrabella!
Im headed out to the woods.  Just have to decide which air rifle to carry!

[Jshooter71]

Sounds like you have a great day ahead of you John.  Happy birthday Ayrabella!
Im headed out to the woods.  Just have to decide which air rifle to carry!

Thank you, Carter… and Happy Hunting to you!

[avator]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY  AYRABELLA !!!!

John, good on you for separating her birthday and Christmas... it makes it more personal and special.
I've seen kids who have had birthdays around holidays and family lumps it all into one. Then siblings get their own special days.. I never thought it was fair.

[Jshooter71]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY  AYRABELLA !!!!

John, good on you for separating her birthday and Christmas... it makes it more personal and special.
I've seen kids who have had birthdays around holidays and family lumps it all into one. Then siblings get their own special days.. I never thought it was fair.

Thanks Bill! Yes, I have made that a point to celebrate “her” day for just that reason.

[Blowpipe Sam]

I was born just before Christmas.  When I was a little kid it was awesome. Two days of party, presents and food!  That’s the way to do it! I felt sorry for other kids that only got one day of Christmas!

[avator]

I have a sister that was born on leap year.. we used to tease her about only getting cake and gifts every 4 years.
In return she would tease us about being so old.... 

[avator]

I loaded up the 420 Rancher and hit the ATV park.... it was closed.

But wait, there's more....
ATV park owners Monica and Bobby are friends of ours... they have a house on site.

They said... Merry Christmas Bill... go ride all you want.

I had the whole place all to myself. I went down to the sandy beach on the river and hung out then up on the ridge to hang out.
It was so quite and peaceful.  Loved it.