It's been a very long time since we've blogged! The new couches have been battling it out with the cats (The couches are up, as their covers have been removed and stowed away for special occasions...of course that leaves the wicker open for destruction), Buster attempted to overdose on ibuprofen, Thanksgiving has come and gone. Here are a few updates from our lives:

Cleveland!

I went to Cleveland for a great visit with The Shug, Virginia and Grandpa, Kate, and Mom. The weather was awesome, the leaves were boutiful (see below for action pictures of "The Red Rakers" in Virginia and Grandpa's yard), the food was plenty, and we had a fun time visiting and being all together.

During our big leaf rake, Grandpa taught us all how to drive Big Red (which has no brakes??) We almost ran over him, which was scary. Fortunately, despite falling under the wheels of a moving cart, he was spry as ever survived the ordeal without even a scratch! And, although the leaves were hardly phased by our efforts, we felt like we had accomplished something at the end of the day. Like they say, "Cleveland Rocks."

Buster's Overdose

When I went to Cleveland, I left Jim at home to hold down the fort and take care of the kids--Buster, Emma and Chowder (one dog and two cats). On Monday morning, back in Fort Worth, I told Buster I would be back after my run to take him for a walk, and I headed out. 45 minutes later, I came home to find that my purse had been ransacked, papers everywhere, gum consumed, and bits and pieces of everything were scattered all over the house. That was Buster's revenge on me for not taking him for a walk BEFORE my run. Unfortunately, one of the things that Buster decided to eat, was a bottle of 25 200 mg ibuprofen. He chewed through the childproof bottle and ate them like skittles. So it was off to the emergency vet for him, where he had vomiting induced, was forced to eat active charcoal to soak up the rest of the medicine, and then was hooked up to an IV for two days. In addition to that humiliation, he had to wear a bonnet to keep him from chewing on his IV (see Buster's blog for pictures) AND had a huge sign on his cage which read,"Cage Jumper." Apparently, anytime anyone opened Buster's cage, he would jump out. Anyway, Buster will be writing his own blog about his ordeal, but, for now, he is ok....so far no signs of liver or kidney failure.

Thanksgiving

(Pictures to be attached separately)

I want to start this Thanksgiving blog by remembering Wish, our old family cat who had to finally be put down the Monday after Thanksgiving. Even though she was dying Wishy did her best to look perky during Thanksgiving...she ate like a pig just like the rest of us and wandered around aimlessly, occasionally running into things and peoples' legs.

Jim and I got Wish illegally, when we were in high school. We rescued her from Mr. S. our chain smoking, crazy, dramatic English teacher. Wish was named after the Cure (of course) and Jim wasn't really allowed to have a cat, so we spent several months sneaking Wish in and out of Jim's bedroom in a bookbag. Eventually, when Jim went off to college, Mom adopted Wish and she lived almost 13 years on the farm.

Thanksgiving in Tallulah was REALLY fun. We left Fort Worth early and got to Tallulah on Thanksgiving afternoon, where the usual Carpenter feast awaited us. This year, it was just the family (Mom, Dad, Kate, Will, Jim and me) and we managed, by the end of the weekend, to eat almost the entire 21 pound turkey (among other things...). Dad also built a huge bonfire in the giant grill, which kept us warm at night. We took a walk around the farm in the dark, listened to the coyotes and saw a shooting star and Dad cooked up some delicious steaks, which Jim boldly branded with Dad's initials, sacrificing the palms of his hands in the process. And, most important, Kate and Will turned 27 and 24 Thanksgiving weekend! Hooray!!

For Christmas, we'll be headed to Houston, where the holiday adventures will continue and then....Big Bend.