Headless Ducks and Football Games

Just in time for Halloween: headless ducks!

Our 8th grade football team beat our longtime rivals 28-21 tonight! My voice is a bit hoarse from all the yelling I did. Derek was thrilled by the victory, even if he only got to play one play. My butt was a bit chapped by that, but I'll keep my mouth shut. Two more games and the season is over.

It was very chilly and windy at the game. Mom and I bundled up and shared a fleece blanket and I gave her a spare pair of chenille gloves. The only thing I was missing was my sheerling slippers. At one point I got a little over-excited and shoved her a *bit*. She got me back later on in the game with a slap on the arm. Yeah, we're brutal like that.

Only six eggs today and seven yesterday. I think I got spoiled to getting 10 a day last week. Perhaps the girls have noticed the shorter days and the cool, cloudy weather. The number of bugs has declined as well although there is still plenty of green grass for them to eat. I gave mom a dozen eggs today when she came over to go to the football game with me. I can't complain really. I've had more than enough eggs to do all of my cooking and baking. And, get this, I even had Derek wake me up at 5 a.m. (*gasp, wheeze*) this morning to make breakfast for everyone before they all headed off in their different directions. They enjoyed a hot breakfast of fried eggs, bacon and toast and thanked me. They know that, normally, the only reason I'm up at 5 a.m. is because I've worked the whole night anyway. So for me to get up at 5 a.m. (and even ask them to wake me *gasp, wheeze*) is truly a monumental effort on my part. It wasn't that bad really. I went back to bed when they all left the house. Honestly it felt really good to send them all off with a hot breakfast in their bellies. I think I'll try to do this once a week during my weeks off. Why do we women feel the need to feed everyone?

This evening I baked some chocolate chip pumpkin muffins. I like to bake on cool evenings like this. I refuse to turn the furnace on just yet so baking helps take the chill out of the air and the lingering scent of fresh baked goodies makes the house smell so nice. The boys will find freshly baked muffins waiting for them in the morning. I have some big apples that I picked up from the ground in the orchard this afternoon that I will use for an apple crisp. Of course I picked up some bruised apples for the chooks to eat while I was out there. I've also got several gigantic tomatoes still on the vine that are ready for slicing. I'll use one on the burgers I'm grilling for supper tomorrow. I used one in a salad yesterday and it was wonderful! I'm thinking next year will be the year I start a garden. I like having fresh veggies on hand and they're even better when they've come from the family land.