What a day. It is almost 9:15PM and I am going to bed as soon as I finish this entry.

I got up at my usual 6AM. Along with the usual morning chores, I put together the
Venison and Guinness roast for the Wild Game Dinner. I knew that the longer it cooked, the more tender it would be and I was right. I put it into the car in the pot and kept it warm until we were ready to eat, then took it out of the Guinness and Leek liquid and it just fell onto the platter. Good stuff. I was able to bring a little home, but not much.

I was again in charge of serving the beers for the beer tasting contest. Stenn and Bing came again this year and Bing helped me. With Michelle gone, we would have been short helpers, but Bobbie and Bill came too and Bobbie helped so we did fine. Especially since Kurt's boys, Brandon and Evan acted as bus boys and runner. What a contest. We had 21 beers and 21 contestants. We had a tie for first and you will not believe it but we had a tie at 12 right. 9 right was the previous high. So you can imagine how surprised everyone was. The two who got 12, were Holly and Jessica. So they had to have a taste off and Jessica came out the winner.

Eileen brought several really fun items that she had accumulated over the years for prizes. That was a nice added game. Bing and I numbered 26 pieces of paper for the 26 adults at the party. Then we numbered the gifts from 1 to 10, put all the pieces of paper into a bucket and had each adult pick a number. It was fun. I got four nice individual cocktail shakers. They are such pretty colors. What a nice thing to do.

Our food was again just wonderful. We had a pheasant casserole, barbecued goose, Brunswick Stew, Turkey cordon bleu, amongst other things. Such good food and so much of it. We always have such a good time at this meal and gathering. It is the one time of the year we all are together. Everyone who is in town anyway. Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving get divided up amongst other sides of families. But the Wild Game Dinner is just ours. This is the 33rd year. Quite a record for any gathering.

Hope your day was as nice. Now I am so tired that I will say goodnight.

God love you

Mary