I have been veRy busy and distantly away.
I spent a week in South Dakota visiting several relatives. I mainly stayed with one cousin who is my primary male friend. We normally chat or text several times a week.
So this trip I brought along several ingredients and baking equipment. I taught him how to make bierox, lasagna and a German Chocolate cake. He called my wife to tell her he was kidnapping me and was refusing to let me go home to Texas! She strongly disagreed and said I had better be coming home that particular day (the scheduled last day of my trip).
As I was leaving the Black Hills they were crying (raining) because I was going back to Texas. I said, "Its going to be okay Black Hills, Ernie will be back next year to see you." And they stopped crying (it stopped raining.)
It was my animal-est time to ever visit South Dakota. It was quite green and there were plenty of deer, turkey, and antelope. I didn't see a single deer until the last 5 miles to my cousin's ranch, then I saw at least 20 in that stretch of road. A couple mornings later I went out shortly after the sun came up in order to examine the massive John Deere combine that we were working on. When I came out of the building there were at least 25 wild turkeys around me. They started to move away from me as soon as I appeared but mainly walking, practically no flight or running. I took several photographs, but then slowly that group of 25 turned out to be only half of the group as another 25 came around from the north side of the building, a few almost walking right into me.
I did prove that the deer of South Dakota are smarter than the deer of Nebraska. I ran into one out of two deer that I saw in Nebraska on my way home. It smashed my front grille and damaged the support mechanism, so I think it may take at least a 1000 dollars worth of parts, but I may be able to fix everything myself.
I did manage to buy stamps for postcards before my trip, so I wrote to my friend in prison and my friend in London who has sent me many postcards from probably every journey she has taken while living in Europe.
I returned home to TOO much work in my printing business, but we managed to get the critical large order done just in time. I think sprained the bottom of my right foot.
After not dying from the week's worth of work done in four days instead of seven, I recuperated a little and made bierox again for my wife and myself. I made her's with beef, and mine with a mixture of buffalo and pork sausage.
Cooper was veRy glad to see me. He usually has a brief period right after I get home from a long journey where he will complain loudly about me being gone. But I seemed to have circumvented that ritual by making sure to bring him a fresh chew bone just as I walked in the door. My wife didn't let him know I was coming home until she heard my car arrive, otherwise he complains moaningly and stares out the window or lays on the floor staring at the front door.
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