Thanksgiving

A Frosty Thanksgiving

Winter seems to have arrived with Thanksgiving this year. The trees have lost all their leaves, we’ve had a light dusting of snow on the ground, and this morning when I got out of bed, the temperature outside was 23. The view in the pic is from the east side of our house, looking out toward the old barns. I’m cooking a turkey today that we bought at a local farm, not too far from where we live. It was raised free-range, without antibiotics, etc. One thing I really like about southern Ohio is that you can do that — go out to a local farm and buy produce and poultry directly from the people who raised it. It’s a good way to support sustainable agriculture and get some great-tasting food.

Violet

Violet in an unusually peaceful moment

Violet has so much energy that she can be hard to deal with at times, especially when I’m putting on my shoes and socks. For some reason, this excites her to no end. She’ll bite and tug on the socks as I put them on, which makes it kind of difficult to, you know, actually put them on. As I tie my shoes, her nose has to be touching my fingers, which makes it almost impossible to see what I’m doing. Sometimes I push her away, but to her, that’s the best part — she bounds back even more excited. I can practically hear her saying, “Oh Daddy, push me away again!” Sometimes I cinch down my shoelaces at the end, only to have her snout caught in the loop. Sigh. Violet…

Updates

I’ve been a little remiss in updating this blog since taking a job in mid-October as assistant manager in a local wine shop. There are two reasons for that: 1) I’ve been busier because of my work schedule; 2) Overall there has been less to write about, because so much of my time is taken up by work.

The wines are certainly interesting, and so is the job — to me. But I don’t figure many people would be interested in hearing blow-by-blow descriptions of my work hours and tasks, and there isn’t much point in writing about wines that may or may not be available at your own local shop.

I will continue to update Stateroute013 with news of the farm and our lives in the Cincinnati rhuburbs as it occurs. Stick with me through this adjustment period!