The "Mountain Way"

We are home again after a trip down the mountain last week to help
celebrate grandson Connor's sixth birthday.
It was the usual happy and chaotic time. Daughter Ruth and her husband
Brian don't just host a Birthday party, she puts on an event. This
year it was a pirate theme,
They had 20 kids from 3 to 9 (and a few parents) digging for buried
treasure, walking the plank, and trying the "blow the man down." Oh
yes, and tattoos and bags of booty. (Grog for adults)
Several of the kids and parents came in costume, and of course even
the weather cooperated.
The next day we went to our boat at Alameda, took granddaughter Delaney with us,
and checked on everything and battened it down for a series of Pacific
storms due in over the next week or so.
The weather was not good enough to sail, so we headed home a
bit early, with a stop in Sacramento to see friends and at IKEA to
return some drapes, and of course we ended up buying furniture
(significant assembly required).
Damned, those Swedes are smart. They mass produce decent furniture and
everything is so precise even a multi-thumbed individual can assemble
almost anything. And it is wood, not paper byproduct. Only problem is
that I suffered a shopping injury: sliced the tip of my finger on the
crate, so (too bad) I couldn't do any heavy lifting for a few days.
Bandaid got in the way. (It does hamper my guitar/mandolin playing)

We've been indoors most of this week due to off-and-on rain, but still
have had time to to stack and move another cord of wood. I think we
are running out of storage space at this point. Then today the gas
company guys showed up to deliver a larger propane tank to make sure we get through the winter. We didn't actually order the tank, but they figured we wanted it and just showed up. That's the mountain way.
I think we are ready for the snow, whenever it comes. (The attached photo is uphill in June)
The deer are moving down from the high country now that cold rain/snow has started in the higher elevations. Two passed through our dirt lane the other day, and I am sure there were more we did not see. Most of the song birds have gone and one last pre-winter chore is to take down the hummingbird feeder. Sort of like the Republicans leaving Washington.
Nature's cycles.
We are looking forward to a very big Thanksgiving week. Son Zack will be here from Washington state, though his daughter's other grandparents were in a serious wreck today and we aren't sure when he will show up. Maybe Monday. Ruth and Brian and children are coming Tuesday from the Bay Area. Our friends the house-sitters/sailors are coming Wednesday with their son from Berkeley and with their 70-something Canadian sailor friend Don (he built their boat and sailed it all over the world for 25 years) who is trying to single-hand his current boat into Australia in time to catch a plane to join us all. We read his emails from the middle of a gale in the ocean. I am glad I am not there.
We may have an even dozen people here, so we will celebrate and eat and drink and make music.
That sounds like a real Thanksgiving.
We have much to be thankful for, and friends and family top the list.