Baby it's cold outside

 Ya'll know that winter is cold?

We got snow already! Sure, it was gone in two days, but it still lasted two days. That's longer than snow usually lasts in Tennessee, and it came a lot earlier than it normally would.

While this makes the humans happy, the dogs have mixed feelings on the subject:

It also turns out (and this shouldn't surprise anybody when I say it, but my dumb ass had to learn this the hard way) it's a hell of a lot harder to keep water warm when it's cold as balls outside.

So after completely failing to get a bath hot enough to wash comfortably, we realized we needed to insulate the tub, which is now adorable:

You know the saying--if it looks stupid, but it works, it ain't stupid. Head's up to anybody else who thinks bathing in the woods is a good idea (it is), you're gonna want to insulate your tub prior to November. You'll save a lot of wood for heating, and you'll save yourself the realization that you're a fuckin' moron.

On the upshot, we did get a new critter on camera--a bobcat this time:

Look at that big beautiful bastard. Gorgeous, isn't it? That's my favorite wildlife picture we've gotten since the bear came through.  It almost looks like a ghost because of the lighting, which I think is appropriate for a wild cat.

While I don't have a single photo of the events, Thanksgiving also went beautifully--cooked the whole meal over the fire, had the family come out and spend some time hanging out, and since we were outdoors the whole time and miles away from anybody we haven't already had contact with, we managed to be pretty responsible about it. 

On the whole, I think this photo sums up November 2020 on the Shackleford homestead: