Is anyone still out there???

I have this fear that if I leave my blog for too long that I will lose any people who are regular readers...not that I could really tell that they are since no one will commit to being one of my followers.  Steve taunts me regularly for not having more followers so I quickly go to the stats page so he can see how many people have read this thing.  His next question is, "can you make any money from this thing?" and when I say no, he immediately loses interest.  We have had this same back and forth at least 4 times. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed time with family and friends.  My holiday was spent sequestered at the ranch for 5 nights without cable or Internet access, so needless to say, the cabin fever set in quickly.  Christmas Eve it rained cats and dogs which led to a major cold front (lows at night in the low 20's) and with only a window unit in the cabin, I remained bundled up all week.  Christmas Day we spent at Steve's parent's house on the property getting ready for lunch with his family.  Due to some latecomers, we ate about an hour late, but it was delicious, so I got over it.  (Besides, I was drinking hot coco and butterscotch liquor so all was good with me.) 

The rest of the time was spent eating, hunting, and making sausage.  Yes, you read that right....making sausage.  I killed a hog, Dale killed a doe and a huge hog, and a 15 year old girl killed the most beautiful chocolate fallow.  Steve bought a meat grinder at Bass Pro and he and Dale handled more meat than a hooker in Vegas.  I get nauseous around mass quantities of raw meat, so I'm sure you can picture how well I was doing.  Especially when Steve asked me to help package the hamburger meat and sausage links.  It all turned out tasty, so I guess it was worth it. 

By the last day, I was cranky, cold, tired (Steve and I shared a twin bed), and wanted to go home to civilization.  I'm sure everyone was ready for me to get home too since I was being so much fun.  Needless to say, I won't be making that trip again. 

The real kicker of this trip though was that right before we left Houston, Steve gave me an iPad for Christmas and then was ready to walk out the door.  I explained to him that you can not give me the greatest gift imaginable and then take me to a place without Internet for 6 days.  I made him sit here and watch me fumble through trying to download some books.  I ended up being able to get one book on it and during our time at the ranch, I finished the book I brought as well as the one on my iPad. 

I never thought of myself as a real "city girl" but I need my Internet damnit!  Well, all is right in the world, and we are headed to Florida at the end of the week so that will be fun. 

For a good laugh, here are some pictures of the sausage making.  It truly was a sausage-party.