A good Saturday morning to you.

Slowly normalcy is beginning to emerge after all the goings-on of Thanksgiving. The tempo of life increased sevenfold a mere week ago. Hence, last weekend there were no Ramblings. My mind, in a whir, was not in any position to focus on a written page.

“I often think of the space of a page as a stage, with words, letters, syllable characters moving across.” ~ Susan Howe (author)

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, the one piece of the ‘coming-down’ which has been great is sleep; tons of sleep. Sleep, which by 7 was anticipated, and by the next 7 was given up grudgingly. Nevertheless, dropping back into the routine of everything daily, upon reflection, makes me pine for the former.

The Turkey – This year Thanksgiving revolved around turkey as the main participant; so far so good.  Then Tevita, he who barbeques 100 lb. pigs in his backyard, got involved. Tevita knew somebody who had a distant relative, who had started a turkey farm, and so forth. The order was placed. As if it was a secret handoff, the two parties met near an exit ramp off the highway. Money exchanged hands and Tevita drove home with a 40-lbs Turkey. Yes, you read correct; 40 pounds, 40 organic free-range pounds!

A beast that size means that the oven of a standard size range would have to be hammered out to make such a bird fit. No home-use fryer would accommodate and no KFC would volunteer their equipment.

Not to worry though. Tevita had a solution. He borrowed something called a La Caja China cooking box. Load 18 lbs. of charcoal to start it and the Caja will then accommodate a 100 lb. pig, 4 to 6 standard sized turkeys, or 16 or so chickens. Add another 8 lbs. of charcoal at the three hour mark, ‘flip the bird’ as we say, and one more hour produced a golden and very moist masterpiece. It was culinary artwork – tasty too!

T-day weekend – had our little condo in a whir. The front door was a revolving door.  Since Thanksgiving occurred at the same time as a class reunion, Kirstin flew in from Texas. Her friend, Maria Alejandra Caso Caballero, flew in from Bolivia. Both ladies stayed with us. Maria was somewhat in shock having left on a tropical summer day to arrive during our first cold snap – she slept in her coat. The Ongoleas and the Pastoor-Rafales gangs came and went, then came and went some more. And so it was all weekend.

And you know me, as this was Maria Alejandra Caso Caballero’s first visit back to The States and the ‘Nati in 25 years I just had to play tour-guide. Marcia swears that I was a tour-guide in a former life.

No Breakin – A panicky phone call from my Canadian neighbor Bob-the-Forester told me that our cabin, Northern Comfort, had been broken into. The more I listened the more I doubted that it was a break-in.

That is when I thought it time to call Todd-the-Builder. The call confirmed that one of his workers had fallen into the door while rebuilding the steps and that busted the clasp holding the padlock (maybe that doors needs to be upgraded). The call was unique since it was one of the very few where I actually got through to him – also a perfect time to get an update on the cabin’s lifting-foundation-building-and-resetting status.

Since this conversation was last Tuesday, by now the work should totally complete. Possibly the electrician still needs to reconnect, but that was supposed to happen yesterday.

At the lake side the place is now a solid 5-feet (152.5 cm for Canadian & European readers) above ground.

More importantly, Todd-the-Builder discovered when they had the place lifted high enough to get under it that the reason for the floor in the kitchen/eating area feeling so “spongy”. The joists, placed there many years ago, never reached the center beam. They were two feet short!

Now, with a new and straight center I-beam, and about 20 new properly sized joists, the place feels rock sold. I am thrilled!

Let me just say that I can’t wait to check the place out. Northern Comfort, best get ready for a new season.

Fini – the past few mornings looking out over the corner of ‘Chaos and Mayhem’ it appears as something from an old ‘B’ thriller movie as all is enveloped with a thick cover of fog.

Today it’s supposed to begin a warming trend.

Noreen, you’re in our thoughts as you recuperate.

Congratulations to Cathy as she completes the halfway mark towards her MHA degree — with a solid ‘A’ no less.

Make it a great week everyone, stay safe.

Cheers.

Dirk