Dear Kids,
          Our big excitement this week was the arrival of Oreo’s cat food feeder. (Originally it was going to be Xena’s feeder, but it arrived here at the cabin, and she’s in West Valley.) Anyway, I had lots of fun assembling it. It must have been designed by Germans, because they thought of everything. There’s a big hopper on the top for the kibble, and a chute it comes down, and a roller that dispenses the food. You use it with a timer. The motor makes a grinding sound when it turns on, and the first time I activated it, Oreo was terrified and ran away. Now he comes running when he hears it. I have it set to go off every four hours, with pretty small portions each time. Oreo says it isn’t enough to keep a large hunting cat going. Exactly. Maybe he’ll start eating some of his kill. And maybe he’ll quit inviting the big orange cat to come in and eat with him. I figure what we’ll save on cat food will easily pay for the feeder.
          Tom and Kim finally own a house! The problem is, they can’t move in yet, because the former owner is still there. She can’t move until she closes on her new place. Still, Tom and Dad and Bevan were able to move boxes into the basement. That’s a start. I don’t know if Tom and Kim will really believe it when they’re finally in the house.
          Charlie was baptized yesterday, and I wish we could have been there. Most of the Thackers came. I’m jealous! It will be nice if Sharon and Seth and their kids are able to move west and be closer to us all, but on the other hand, we’ve had such great vacations visiting them! It’s a toss-up!
          Does anybody take a newspaper these days? Last year Donna and Bevan supplied me with paper to start my fires, but they aren’t taking the paper any more. If you’re getting a paper, could you save them for me? I’ll come and pick them up! It’s a sad day for print journalism when the best thing about a newspaper is having something to start a fire with.
          Our stake Christmas program is next Sunday night, the 9th, at 7:00 pm in our stake center. You can hear Dad and me sing the Hallelujah chorus. We’ll have treats here at the cabin afterwards. Let me know if you can come!
          Lots of love, Mom