A Pleasant Pheasant Thanksgiving

First, we wanted to say THANK YOU to friends who invited us to dine with their family. I know how crazy the day can be, and so to invite us to join the people who are "especially" special to you and an already large crowd...it made us feel loved—we have gratitude for you!

Michael and Hayden had just visited (so it sorta felt like we'd already had Thanksgiving.) So, I was considering letting the holiday slip quietly by. It wasn't until the DAY BEFORE Thanksgiving—when a dessert arrived unexpectedly on my doorstep and slapped some sense into me—that we decided to celebrate.

We'd had POUNDS of BBQ with M&H, so our semi-traditional pork ribs DID NOT sound appetizing. My thoughts turned to the pheasant Adam had brought home from a hunting trip in South Dakota. So we went with that plan!

Luckily for me, the Rooster Roost Ranch had already plucked and cleaned the pheasants so prep was minimal—just had to rinse and cut the foot off each bird. (Shooting hens is illegal. In case a hunter is stopped by the game warden, a foot is left on to prove it's a rooster. The male birds have a spur on the back of their leg.)

I found and tried this Slow Cooker Pheasant recipe. Everything about the ingredients and cooking looked appealing. The bird gets seasoned and floured then browned in butter. Then the meat gets moved to the crockpot.

More ingredients like bacon, juniper berries, dry cider etc get grilled up and added to the slow cooker with broth.

When the bird is done, the sauce gets strained and a gravy is made with cream. The very last step is to brown apple slices in butter and serve with the pheasant. The gravy was DIVINE! It's the kind you want to lick off your plate. It's the kind I DID lick off my plate (a perk to celebrating alone). I should have doubled that part of the recipe.The pheasant was good as well, better than turkey.

The day was incredibly pleasant and calm. The television stayed off, Christmas music was on, conversation, reading, jogging, and cooking filled our time. Plus, we had no schedule to keep which I LOVED.

I kept things very simple. So the menu this year included:
Pheasant and apple with gravy
Mashed sweet potatoes
Grilled asparagus
Cesar Salad
Cornbread with honey butter pecan spread

And the dessert from my doorstep? (A Holiday "Thank You" delivered via mail from my employers)...we ate caramel apples! I think that's a great substitution for pie don't you?

This year I am particularly thankful to my Heavenly Father. I look around and see the bounty in our life and KNOW it's because of Him.

We hope your Thanksgiving was a good one too!

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Possum Kingdom Lake

Do you ever let a whole season slip by—and then realize some of the things you used to do a lot, you haven't done in a while, like maybe two or more years? (I feel like a lot of those things are going by the wayside lately. I don't like it.)
Adam and I wanted to be sure to go camping this year. He's been REALLY talking-up Possum Kingdom Lake since we moved to Texas..."Oh Anna, it's so green and pretty. You would really love it."

We haven't seen this little family in TOO LONG. I'm happy they were game to join us!

Possum Kingdom was nice. On a map, the lake looks like Lake Powell. However...it was NOT the green and gorgeousness Adam has been idealizing all these years. Looked like a drought had taken many trees, leaving them dead-bare and rough looking along the landscape. But, oh well. It did just fine.

That evening we spent at the dock fishing.

It was a pretty big hit with the girls. This girlie was jumping up and down, "I caught my first fish! I caught my first fish!" (They caught so many, I lost count. I'm glad...nobody wants to be disappointed when fishing.)

This photo cracks me up.

This girlie was more into the worms than the fishing—each squiggler received a name.

Below: Counting how many worms are left for fishing in the morning.

Below: This girlie (the little one) wasn't sure what to think about the fishing. But she did like the cookies I had stowed away in my backpack. (Isn't that what "aunts" are for?)
Oh yeah, the girls call us Aunt and Uncle. Isn't that freaking awesome?! I love these guys.

Later that night while sitting around the campfire I saw something white move barely outside of the light from the fire. Pointing my flashlight directly at it (not telling anyone what I had seen) I flicked it on and standing in the spotlight was a skunk! Stupidly I snapped the light off leaving us in the dark. Adam was out of his seat and across the camp circle leaving us all behind. (Thanks hon.) I flicked the light on again and the skunk was gone. I then received a lot of flack from the group who were all standing up far away from me by then...why would you turn the light OFF?!?
I suppose I was thinking, "If I can't see him, he can't see me." So, don't go anywhere scary with me...I'll just turn the lights off. Heh.

The next morning after fishing again, we hiked to see more of the lake. Hiking while holding a sleeping baby proves Jamison is a true Portlander. You go girl!

I'm glad we spent the energy and time to escape with friends. Now I'll remember the weekend instead of it becoming a gray blur with all the other uneventful, or busy weekends in our life. :)

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Above the Air

Here is an account from Adam about a hike he took with some guys from the office in Colorado.
Adam said: The  hikes were about 14,000 plus ft peaks. Here I am with my bossman.

This is a view from around 12,000 feet.

Below: Base Camp. Even rolling over in our sleeping bag put us out of breath because we were at 10,000 feet. That means less oxygen than in Texas.

Four from the office decided they could handle the hike. Two didn't make it....though they did try. One, whom we won't name (A-choooo-ndy) hiked about 200 feet and declared "I'm out!" and headed back to camp.

Second day: on the way to a 14,000 ft peak.

The ridge was super windy—as soon as we arrived it felt like we would be blown off.

Below: This is the top of the first peak.
(Some grandpas passed us on the trail like we were standing still—which we were doing on occasion. I can't imagine the training they must have done for this.) It wasn't necessarily about how hard the hike was...it was mostly about the lack of oxygen that makes this so difficult.
People have recommended arriving three days early and taking aspirin to thin the blood and give yourself time to acclimate.

The bossman did pretty good...he was waiting on me most of the time. (Dude is an Iron Man competitor.)

This is the second peak.

While at the top, air force planes flew below us. I took video and later counted at least 6 passing in front of the camera...one right after the other. It was kind of amazing to see them from above instead of below. And the sound echoing off the mountains was cool.

And later, our reward for all that work...fly fishing!

(This event took place August 2015. Anna apologizes for the late post but wants to have it recorded.)
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Several weeks ago, the weather had cooled down just enough for this man to take me out for a refreshing change of pace, which lifted my mood considerably. I love him.

We went to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens and he let me loiter anywhere I wanted as long as I wanted...and I think I did more than my fair share of talking that night.

Later we tried Ramen at Oni in Fort Worth. It's was filling and yummy...but VERY spicy. I ordered mine mild and it was still too spicy. I'm going with NO HEAT next time.

Thank you Lover Boy for doing two of my favorite things with me!