Today one of the neighbors in the canyon invited me for turkey dinner with her family. She and her husband are here from California visiting their vacation home, and her son came from Missouri with firewood. His online girlfriend flew from Washington State and it was the first time they'd met in person. It looked like things were going well for them.

Coming up on Wednesday our canyon association potluck will be Thanksgiving themed. I went to it a year ago, and that was the first square meal I had since the flood in September. I had been living in a motel, with a mini-fridge and a microwave, and had not been back in my home long enough to restock with groceries after throwing all the refrigerator food in the river during the flood so it wouldn't spoil while there was no power to the house.

Yes, throwing food in the river is not usually a good idea, but whole houses and camping trailers had washed downstream along with millions of gallons of water, huge trees, and cars so a few jars of pickles weren't that big a deal.



The cabin being demolished in the canyon is finally gone, and I was not prepared for how sad it would make me to see the place where it used to be (they saved the old fireplace).



This is how it looked after the flood:



Back in the good days before the flood washed away all the land on the edge of the river:



What about the real Thanksgiving dinner after all these practice sessions? I'll be driving to Las Vegas and cooking for Mr. Troutbend and my cousin Betsy.