The Stock Tank

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We got a 110 gallon stock tank from Tractor Supply yesterday. By heating water in stock pots on the stove, plus the hot water in the stove's reservoir, we had a nice long hot bath. And inside . . . we haven't had the luxury of a hot bath inside since February in Atlanta. The tank is made of an insulated material so the water stays warm for a long time - it was still relatively warm in the morning, and it had been a cold night.

It didn't take long to bucket the water out - since it has some soap I distributed it across the front yard.

Thanksgiving was a very busy day for us. I mowed some, mulched bed 9 that has a low tunnel over it which is almost finished - washed 3 loads of laundry - the commerical mop bucket and wringer wasn't any better at wringing out the clothes than the bucket press method we've already been doing - so the mop bucket will have to be returned. I also did the usual chores for the animals and cleaned the bedroom top to bottom.

Rachel worked all day in the kitchen cooking food on the stove. Everything came out great - Rachel thinks food cooked on a stove comes out better than a conventional appliance - the oven retains more moisture, and everything seems more flavorful. We had cranberry sauce, roasted butternut squash, pumpkin, apple, and sweet potato pie, turkey, mashed potatoes and turnips, bread with acorns, rolls, turnip greens, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, and Vic and Jo came by for our Thanksgiving dinner and brought corn salad, wine, stuffing, and a pineapple cheese dish. It was a great meal, and the stove performed wonderfully.

I let the birds out today as the wild guineas were up at the run hanging out with our guineas. It took a while for all the birds to make it outside after I'd opened the coop door [especially the ducks - they didn't figure out how to get out till an hour before dark, though they've used the same run door over a 100 times]. The guineas all seemed to get along well and spent more time together.

Had an egg from Claudia today - cream-colored with dark speckles. Both Rosy and Claudia laid yesterday.

One of the female rouens was walking across the back of another female rouen in the pool today, once I put fresh water in. Either they're confused . . . or it's their way of bullying one another out of the small pool.

We have a tremendous amount of leftovers and don't need to cook for a week.

Heavy fog this morning, but warm and sunny all afternoon.
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