Yeah lots of people around us cut on their own property. Our land is a recovering tree plantation, however, so we don’t want to cut any of the newer undergrowth yet. Hopefully our kid looks back on the memories of going to the forest fondly

Lately we’ve ended up as the Christmas hosts for my side of the family. The day before everyone shows up, my kid and I make koláče - poppy seed filling for my brother, apricot for everyone else. Then we make my grandma’s cranberry fluff recipe to have with Christmas dinner. Once everyone’s over on Christmas Eve, we watch the Garfield Christmas special. We watch other Christmas shows and movies throughout December, but Christmas Eve is always Garfield.

With just my immediate family, after Thanksgiving we start Christmas baking and decorating. Sugar cookies, my grandma’s ginger cookies, and chex mix every year, plus the last few years my kid has asked for date pinewheel cookies too.

We always cut down a tree in the forest - the forest manager makes a map of which parts of the public forest they want the firs and spruce thinned out, so it’s like free forest management. After Christmas we put the tree out by our chickens, who enjoy sitting on and under it.

My mom’s side of the family gets together the weekend after Christmas, but most of us cousins don’t make it back. I miss us all starting up late talking and playing Uno, and everyone crammed into one house. Even when we do get together now we stay more spread out at hotels and such. It’s just not the same, but there are more people since there are spouses and kids in the mix now too. We don’t all fit in my grandparents’ house any more.

Yay! Wonder where else he likes to hang out

Let us know when he does, so I can stop worrying too

That sounds like an amazing Thanksgiving. Thanks for sharing it with us

Thanks, I’ll look for it

My spouse and I started Terraria on a whim. After going in blind and thoroughly getting out butts kicked the first night, we found the wiki, started a new game, and have survived a few nights now.

We’re trying to avoid spoilers, so only read the tutorial and getting started pages of the wiki. The mechanics on xbox aren’t always intuitive, and building is especially painful so far.

Reminds me of Eddie Izzard’s stand-up bit about grans

It’s most likely a boomer ball

Congrats! That’s not something to be embarrassed about, thanks for sharing it with us

He certainly thinks he does, but half the time he forgets he controls his tail

17 year old Rascal wants to wish Terra many more good years

southsamurai has a great overall explanation. I would add it also depends on the age and any medical conditions of each.

We have a 45 pound dog (age 12) and a 15 pound cat (age 17). The dog is on senior/old man food but is otherwise in good health. The cat has kidney disease so we have to get only specific kinds. Per month the cat’s food is about $5 more than the dog’s, but that’s for a smaller amount.

Good luck!

Congratulations!

You betcha

Good luck with your appointments. I hope your foot heals quickly

Having a yard sale tomorrow, then going hiking on Sunday

Fresh cut hay reminds me of helping my grandparents. So you’re not alone with the farm/ rural smells. Alfalfa is a sweet, neutral scent - I’d argue it’s better than some of the perfumes and cologne out there that just smother me with their smell

Also, lawyer up asap.

If you’re in the US, absolutely this. My back was injured on the job, took the work comp doctors almost 6 months to figure that out, and when they did my employer fired me. Then worker’s comp tried to say they didn’t need to pay anything and tried to close my case.

Up until that point I had resisted getting a lawyer, naively trusting the system (I was young, and I had no back issues before so I honestly thought common sense would prevail). My lawyer’s fees were a percent of whatever the final settlement was (30% iirc but this was over a decade ago). It took more than 2 years from when I got injured to come to a settlement.

I do have chronic pain and have had to change or give up certain parts of my life. But once the worker’s comp case was closed I could finally choose my own doctors, and my pain is much more manageable because of it.

Probably not the triumphant story you were looking for, but you can get through this. It doesn’t seem like it now, I remember being in the thick of it. My pain was so bad I couldn’t sleep, and the worker’s comp doctor told me I “just needed to take some Tylenol.”

It won’t always be this way. Just remember that, and get a lawyer.