Remember Remember Ye Randoms November

Mt. Vernon St, around the corner from our house.

'Sup, players.

This month encompassed the usual post-Halloween/pre-Christmas two-week time span, different from previous years with Abby contracting Covid and being forced to quarantine more or less the first two weeks of the month.  Fortunately, she was able to stay on top of her school work and, aside from missing a couple Pom performances, she didn't lose out on a whole hell of a lot.

Besides that, it was a pretty typical November.  A lot of leaves, a lot of moving totes of Holiday decorations around, etc.  I'll cut this short and just let you folks check out some of the random day-to-day nonsense that went down these last four weeks.

Enjoy. . . 

After a couple hours blowing and raking leaves into giant piles around the backyard - our oak and maple trees were particularly brutal this month - the dogs came out to run around and the girls decided they should bury Samson in one of the leaf piles.  See if you can spot the fat sum'bitch. . .

The girls 'helping' me with the leaves.

Ye another mountain of dead tree parts, ready for the city collection.

Since it was abnormally warm out still (low-60s), Kris decided she'd string the lights along the roof.  We relented and let the girls climb atop the house, too.

Doing it this way is much, much faster than the old way I used to do it (standing on a ladder and slowly moving down the edge of the roof.)

Selfie on the roof.

Can honestly say I haven't seen this perspective of our backyard before.

Abby's artistic abilities have exploded this year - she draws all the time and has gotten really, really good.

Trying to clear out space in my beer fridge in order to make room for the usual Holiday/Winter stouts, I've been attacking my fall beers and ciders with a vengeance lately.

Just a week later, it looked like I hadn't done a damn thing the previous weekend.

I sincerely hate raking leaves more than shoveling snow.  There, I said it.

One Saturday a few of us dads all decided to hang out and, as usual, grill up a bunch of meat.  Mitch smoked a bunch of beef jerky, which was really awesome.

Candy-bacon wrapped salmon rolls with jalapeno cream cheese.  I didn't try this - I was pretty full at the time - but it sure looked awesome.

This was not as good as I had hoped.

These dads will put down some food, folks.

Elk burgers are not my favorite.  If I live the rest of my life without ever again eating elk, I think I'd be okay.

Abby and Ella, practicing some of their pom routines in the backyard.

Kris bought a new phone this month, and so of course selfies were in order so she could test out her new camera.

One Saturday morning, the Northeast Pom Team marched in Midland's annual Santa Parade.  We drove down by Kroger and staked out a solid viewing spot along with the Johnsons.  You can spot Abby in the center directly behind the Northeast banner.

Following the parade, us and the Johnsons went down to Kris' church - Midland's First United Methodist Church - to help out with their annual Roll Bake fundraiser.  Yours Truly manned the ovens, which was way more complicated than you would think when baking hundreds of pans of cinnamon rolls. . .

The girls, taking a break from their kitchen duties at one point, playing a not-at-all-church-appropriate game of Hangman in the church basement.

The dining room, where hundreds of cinnamon roll pans were laid out to cool before being wrapped up and labeled.

Later that evening, we went over to the Griffin residence for our annual Friendsgiving feast with our usual Midland group of families.

Not surprisingly, the dads get to eat last.

A bunch of hens, clucking.

The Real Housewives of Midland

A bunch of dads, cluttered about the kiddie table.

Later on, we drifted into the basement to play cards and get away from the wives and children.

Erik, Lonnie, Ryan and I at the end of the night, throwing some darts.

Watson was apparently trying to dislodge a bit of rawhide that was stuck in his mouth.  Dogs are dumb.

Juuuuuuuust about there.  By the end of the year, I guarantee she is gonna be taller than her mom.

Abby has been really into guitar lately:  she's been obsessed about picking up the bass and wants to practice on a full-size fret board.

Kris was out shopping with friends and Abby was away at Great Wolf Lodge one weekend, so Alayna and I were left to fend for ourselves.  When I asked her what she wanted for dinner, she said she wanted a microwavable meal with chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes.  I'll take it.

The first snow of the year, a day after Thanksgiving.  Even though it was a brief dusting that soon melted away, it was a fitting for the arrival of the Holiday Season.

Samson will dig into garbage cans - especially bathrooms ones - in order to dig out stuff to chew on, and he always insists on bringing his newly-found treasures out into the living room to chew on.  So when someone comes home, we first check the living room floor to see if he's gotten into anything.  This is his default defensive move whenever he gets busted for this - to lie down on his back/side and look ashamed.  He's an asshole.

Alayna and I playing Mortal Kombat 11 on the PS4.  She's been playing it with her friends lately, and so when she challenged me I of course had to take her to school.  She's looking down at her phone here so she can find out how to do fighting combos.  Needless to say, I slaughtered her.

Kicking off the Holiday Season with this Christmas classic.  Can't go wrong with the Griswolds.

- Brian