A Very Traeger Thanksgiving

Welcome!

Happy Thanksgiving from the "READY's"

We hope you and your family are spending time together this Thanksgiving Day.  Although it will be just John, Wiggles and myself this year, you will all be with us in our thoughts.  We are so very grateful for all that we have.  It is a great time to take a breath, relax (as much as one can while trying to prepare the traditional dinner) sit back from the bustle of life to focus on being thankful.  

  

John working on his Turkey!

All rubbed and ready for the smoker!

Here he comes with his pride and joy!

Mmmm, doesn't our bird look fabulous!   Too bad there is no smell-o-vision!

Baked an Apple Pie from scratch this year!

It wouldn't be a Holiday without Stuffed Jalapenos!

Mmmm, all the Fixings!  Bon Appetit!

Happy Birthday John !!!

John had a very low key, but wonderful Birthday!  He got to pick his favorite meal and cake, and got some amazing gifts from family and friends.  Here are a few photos of the festivities.

John reading a B-Day card

Wiggles and Shirley

Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus, Corn, & Carrots

Coconut Cake !!!

Choo Choo... Here comes the steam train!

Drove into Beaumont to see the Union Pacific Steam Train on it's way into Colton this morning.  Shirley and I met up with Denise and her friend...not to mention Bob, who was there making sure all went well.

It was nice having Bob there to get updates on when it was to come by.

Here she comes....

Massive Wheels!!

The train went on by at about 50 MPH... it was really moving!

There she goes...

Our Little Hummer....

Couldn't resist sharing a few photos of the little hummingbird that frequents our feeds.

Now that I am thinking about it I am going to have to add a couple photos from 2009, when a Momma Hummingbird made a nest right outside our front door.

You can see the small white ball in this photo of the nest.

For awhile I couldn't figure out what was going on.  Every time I came out the front door a hummingbird would just about dive bomb my head.  After a couple of times looking to see If there was anything in there I finely saw the nest.

The eggs looked like little Jordan Almonds.

I told my Brother In-Law, Mark, that was living with us at the time, about the nest and showed him where it was.  Well a few days later our gardeners came and I rushed out to tell him to not prune the palms, as there was a hummingbird nest in one of them and I pointed to where it was, in the back.  Awhile later Mark came in the door and said the lawn guys had pruned all the fronds back.  I FREAKED out! to say the least!  I guess he thought I was talking about the palms in the backyard!  We ran out to our HUGE "green waste" recycling can to find it was completely full of fronds.  But by some miracle that frond was right on the top!  One chick had fallen out of the nest a little, so I picked up a small frond leaf and rolled him back in.  I took the frond back to the tree where it was (nest still attached) and shoved it into the tree.  I made sure to prop it up enough that it wouldn't fall out or off.  You can see how the fronds over time were brown and dead.  But the Hummingbirds lived and got big and flew the nest.  I was a NERVOUS WRECK!  keeping an eye on the Momma and babies!!!

You can see how small they are here.

They are a little bigger in this photo.

 

Here you can see the fronds sticking out the left side of the tree, and how it was all pruned back.

Changing out the Landscaping in the front yard.

Our "Home Sweet Home" is what I like to think of as three distinct parts.  The first is "The House". Secondly there is the entrance to the house, that I called "THE JUNGLE".   Lastly, there would be what I not so fondly refer to as "THE CONCRETE JUNGLE", that would be all the concrete we have in the back yard.  Well we finely got the smaller of the two taken care of... The front entrance.

Sometimes at night I couldn't tell if there was someone hiding in the bushes to the left of the door.  You could cut back the small palms... getting your hands all cut up in the process, but they would grow back so fast!  Not to mention the Winters here get so cold that it kills back the fronds, so it takes the plants a good while to turn green again.  I hope your enjoy the before and after photos!  We sure are pleased with the new look...  and the added soothing sound of water.

Before - View from front door

After - View from front door

Work in progress

Before - Looking at front door

After - Looking at front door

Fun Plex

So off to the Fun Plex....

The kids must have gone on this ride about a million times!!  Just looking at it makes me queasy.

Lisa, Katie, and Kobe

Katie

Lisa

Jen, Katie, and Kobe

Lisa and Kobe

Jen and Katie

Lisa, Jen, and Photo Bombing guy who had to ride with them!

Katie and Jen

Give A Dog A Bone!

Give a dog a bone, and what do they do with it?  Well let me preface that with.... give a dog a bone that has a BUNCH of meat on it...  And what do they do?

Big Bone...Lots of meat

Mmmm, yummy, yummy

No, really I ate the whole thing!  What! Bury it...NEVER!