'Twas the Week Before Christmas

And not a creature was stirring, not even an over-stimulated French Bulldog who has the zoomies several times a day. 

Well, it is not quite the week before Christmas, but this is our last post before Christmas, so it is close enough. This is a typical morning at the J-B with Barb on her computer reading blogs while the girls on their respective beds just hanging out. 

Cold and windy are the words for the week as we had our first major snowstorm. The bulk of the snow missed us, but the wind, cold and snow did not. 

The winds are 25-40mph the past few days and the 7-day forecast does not look too promising either. 

The snow did not miss everywhere however. Just an hour north of us, some areas received over 30"s of snow.  Here is a video that someone up there posted on Facebook that shows just how deep it got in some areas. 

Then we received this video from our niece up in Spearfish. That is her FBD Sophie bouncing through the snow. 

Speaking of Alana, Ryan and Sophie. We went up there last Sunday to watch the Vikings beat the Lions. Sophie is a huge Vikings fan while, as you know, Zoey is a fan of whoever is playing the Vikings. Both of the girls were dressed up and ready for the battle. 

Dakota made the trip as well. We brought a rug for her to lay on. She just hung out there all day and watched the festivities around her. 

Alana and Ryan have a cat (Ollie) as well which Zoey harassed the entire time we were there. Seriously, Zoey did not leave this Ollie alone. The entire day went something like this; Zoey was chasing Ollie, Sophie was chasing Zoey and Illie just kept swatting Zoey on her face.

Ollie sought refuge behind my head, but that did not stop the harassment. 

Then Ollie discovered Dakota's tail. Then it was Ollie harasses Dakota, Zoey harasses Ollie, Sophie harasses Zoey.

By the end of the day everyone had settled down and Ollie was actually grooming and licking Zoey while they both sat quietly on the couch. 

Sadly, the Lion's beat the Vikings and when Alana was not looking Barb dressed Sophie up in the Lions uniform. Alana was aghast and quickly ripped it off her poor humiliated dog. 

Barb and I spent two days making venison sausage and stick. First, we had to grind up the venison, adding 25% pork fat. 

Then we had to add the spices and run everything through the grinder one more time stuffing it into the casings. 

After curing in the fridge overnight it was time to smoke them. 2 hours for the sticks 5 hours for the salami. They both turned out delicious!

That night was bowling night for Kevin, Cheryl, Dan, Bonnie, Barb and me! The teams were boys against the girls

The person with the lowest score on the 5th frame had to buy shots for everyone. Then at the end of the game the losing team had to but the next round of beers. Needless to say a good time was had by all but the highlight of the night was Kevin's dance moves.....

As much fun as that was what I did the next day was even funner! I went to the Chiropractor for the very first time in my life. I had hurt my back back in October while up at the farm. No, I was not working when it happened, I was actually duck hunting and I know exactly when it happened. In the 6 or so weeks since then it has not gotten better, it has actually gotten progressively worse. So Barb talked me into going to the Chiropractor. When I described the pain to the doctor, he said that it was a pinched nerve at the L5. 20 minutes later I was walking out feeling like a new man! it is not 100% better but I would say it is 80% better.  

Look at that, an entire post and I did not talk about one house project! All our current projects are outside, and it is way too cold out there!