CHRISTMAS.....2000

I was living with Judy at the time in Hainsway apartments. I was working at Spiegel, and life was ... mediocre. Well, we couldn't really top the previous thanksgiving, since a lot of our peeps decided to make differant choices than ones *I* would have made, and more than half of our group had other things going on.

SO, we decided to go to my dad's farm in Nebraska (about 2 hours away) and stop at the Wakpamni Bed and Breakfast ( http://www.wakpamni.com/ ) , where our other friend, Laurie's family lived. Well, Judi and I took her Dynasty car down to the off-the-beaten-path get away, and there was noone home.. this was about 5 or 8 pm Christmas Eve.
So we just toodled on down the rest of the way to the farm. We had a good dinner and exciting breakfast with present openings and carols.. we each got a blanket, hats and gloves and scarves from my dad, and a few other things that only Dad would have thought of for both me and Judy. We gave him a few spiffy things as well, and my son was there too, enjoying the festive christmas with his mother.
I had to work the next day, so we took off around 4pm to go back up to Rapid City, by way of once again, Wakpamni B&B. Well, the Swicks were home, and ALL of them were home. Raleigh, Andrew, Adam, Laurie... And they had a new dog, one that looked a bit like Spuds Mackinzie. He had a collar made with jingle bells, and was all butt-wigglie because he had one of those thin tails that really wasn't a swishy waggy tail, just whippy waggie..

ANYWAY, Mr and Mrs Swick talked me and Judy into staying for dinner.. so we did. and we helped fix it too. WELL, Raleigh and Andrew went hunting for a goose for dinner, and a couple pheasants as well. We were listening to christmas music, peeling potatoes, getting brussel sprouts washed off, and having a good time. The boys came back in, and were all excited, as was the dog, wuffing and wagging and jingling the whole time.

Raleigh says "Look what we got!" and pulls a huge goose out of his bag, and hands it to Andrew.
the bird is still bleeding! all over the floor. of a very very nice bed and breakfast. light color carpet.
"RALEIGH! GET THAT THING OUTTA HERE!" Mrs Swick yells at them in her southern belle accent, "IT'S BLEEDIN' ON THE FLOOR!"
Andrew hoofs it over to the sink, where in one side are dirty dishes in water, and the other side, our fresh Brussel sprouts. He opted to dump the bleeding bird onto the vegetables. they could be washed off.
While he's doing this, Raleigh pulls out another 'bagged bird', a lovely pheasant rooster! I looked over from where I was helping Mr Swick peel garlic cloves, and something just didn't seem right....

"Oh you got a Pheasant! How Lovely!" Mrs Swick says, and smiles.... then it happened

The pheasant TOOK OFF! It hadn't been killed! It flapped around the room, spraying blood all over the walls and stair railings! Mrs Swick started yelling at the boys, the dog was barking and attacking the bird, Judy was at a loss for words as was I... Laurie was chasing down the bird, trying to corner it in the bathroom, which by this time looked like it was used on the set of Psycho.
Mr Swick just sat in his chair, next to me, and peeled garlic, chuckling the whole time.

Well, now that freddy kreuger visited the bed and breakfast, and the bird was caught and neck wrung, Mrs Swick made the boys take the birds to the garage to clean them.

Laurie, Judy and I set to work washing the walls and trying to soap out the carpet.... to the sound of the dog jingling around outside, terrorizing the cats. hehehehe.

The dinner went well, and we headed home....

NOW you remember where I said dad had given us blankets etc? well, we needed every stitch of those gifts.

The car had no heater.
no defrost.
it was nearly 10 pm when we left the B&B
and this was christmas in SD/NE.

the temperature was way below 0
we had to scrape the windshield from the inside to see outside
and
only one headlight.
for 2 hours
back home.