thanksgiving
i don't know what you did for thanksgiving this year, but i know you didn't do what i did (unless you were out at the farm too). we spent thanksgiving at erica's grandmother's house out in the country in crowley. it was nice seeing lots of family and eating lots of food. of course i ate way too much. but what we did after lunch may shock you.
out in the country it is common to have lots of rodents (rats/mice)... and with winter setting in it's always great to get rid of as many as possible so they stay out of the house. well, that's exactly what we did. we set the field on fire to burn the grass and weeds on one end and as the fire got closer to the other end, the rats and mice would start running out in a panic looking for a safe place to hide. only thing is... we were there waiting for them with lead pipes and sticks ready to beat them over the head. after the field was burned, we were certain there were still more in there so a nice mowing with the bush-hog took care of the brave ones which were able to escape the heat of the fire. when the tractor would get to the end of a row, the rats would start coming out 5-6 at a time. i mean before i could get any rest from swinging that lead pipe at a rat there were more running out for their lives. we must have killed 150-200 rats that day (not exaggerating). it was crazy! i'm proud to say that zack can hang with the best of them and swing a good stick at them rats!
i'm sure this is a rather disgusting thing for some of you to think about. the more i think about it myself, i agree. but it sure was fun. and i definitely won't forget it.
avery's marble
what is the round spot on this xray you ask?
well, that would be avery's marble. actually, it is a metal ball bearing to a magnetix game she swallowed last sunday. she gave us a little excitement on an already busy sunday afternoon. she was playing in the basement and just couldn't resist the temptation and put it in her mouth. next thing you know she is running up the stairs in a panic saying she swallowed a mardel. fortunately zack was around to translate for us and realized she was saying marble. a quick call to 911 and the paramedics were there in no time. they checked her breathing and confirmed that it was likely the marble was in the stomach but we had to get the xray to be sure. kids swallow stuff all the time without problems but it's still a little scary.
well, after a few days i was curious if nature had run it's course so i started looking for a metal detector. couldn't find one but mark at work let me borrow his stud finder. it has a metal setting to detect metal studs behind sheetrock. since this device obviously isn't made to detect metal inside the human body, i didn't expect much. but would you believe i laid avery down on the couch and i found that marble! yup, it's still in there.
zack
it's so hard to get zack to be still long enough for a photograph. finally got one the other day at red rocks.
coffee cone
found this for sale at the Garden of the Gods trading post the other day.
little poser
here is a couple pics of avery posing at red rocks
i already miss october
october has to be the greatest month of the year. the world series (congrats to the cards by the way) and the big hunting trip all in the same month. every year my dad and uncle bobby come up to colorado to go elk hunting. usually we never see anything but it is fun anyway. but this year... oh did we see something. bro ricky came up this year too and spotted a 5x5 bull one day while we were out. them elk are sure heavy suckers hualin out of the woods! here are some pics from the trip. (click on caleb below to launch the album)
help keep me awake at night by stocking my pantry with a pack of my favorite coffee... 
