Our last night on the road was spent in the Liberty Hill COE Park a few miles outside of Corsicana, Texas. It is a lovely park, and a good place to spend a night leaving or returning home. There is even a small cafe at the marina which we'll be sure to try on our next visit.
We then parked the RV in Hamilton for a couple of days while we checked on our cows at the farm and I celebrated a quiet birthday with John and Cousins Kathy and Eric. We surveyed the damage in the hay pen done by Dude and the neighbor’s bull. They broke down the electric fence while fighting, gaining access to the hay for themselves, as well as for the cows and calves. The neighbor retrieved his bull, which had lost an eye in the process, before we got home. Fortunately, Dude was none the worse for wear. The damage on our part was limited to the bales on the ends, so not much hay was lost.
The dogs were glad to be off-leash and to stretch their legs and take a swim.
Then we made the short trip home and parked the RV until we leave again in January.
Since John and I had marked our birthdays early and in style with dinner at The Peabody in Memphis, we didn’t do much celebrating on the actual birth dates. Likewise, Thanksgiving was pretty low key. We cooked for the community Thanksgiving feast put on by Hill Country Community Ministries, then went to Hoover’s a down-home dinner.
In a few days, we were off again to the farm. Kota wasted no time in finding a deer leg which she carried with her and gnawed on as long as we were there.
The stock ponds are surprisingly low, considering the fact that we had very good rains early in the year.
There was enough water for ducks, though, and each time we walked the pasture we flushed flocks from the tanks.
We were fortunate to have clear skies on December 4 for the rising of the super moon.
Then, back in Volente on the morning of December 8 we received a wonderful gift. An unusual cold snap, combined with some badly-needed precipitation and calm winds brought a freak late-autumn snowfall. The heavy, wet stuff piled up on the roses in our back yard,
and melted almost as quickly as it fell on the grass.
There were several inches on the branches and along the roads on the way to Michele McGuire’s Paws 4 Ewe Farm where Rue and I went for our herding lesson.
My friend, Connie and her briard, Marty, were just finishing their lesson when we arrived.
A couple of days later, a busload of us from First Lakeview Church drove west to Burnet for A Walk Through Bethlehem. For twenty-five years, the congregation at First Baptist Church has been presenting this pageant during the Christmas season. Volunteers in period costume populate the village so visitors can experience how Bethlehem might have looked on the night Jesus was born.
The photos don't do the setting justice. There is an entire village laid out over an area smaller than the size of a city block, with Roman soldiers, shepherds, innkeepers, shopkeepers, tax collectors, artisans, and of course, the manger with the Holy Family .
It was a wonderful way to begin the Christmas season and a very special evening.
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