♫We are the Champions, my friend....♫

But first, we must go back to the first of this week when we were expecting to work cattle bright and early Monday morning. Late Sunday afternoon I brought out the Kitchen Aid and mixed up a batch of caramel rolls, raised and rolled, spread with butter, sugar, cinnamon and a touch of brown sugar. (I did that once because I didn't have much cinnamon and Bruce pronounced them the best he had ever eaten so I've kept it up.) Then I rolled them into a log and cut into halfway equal pieces and place them in a pan with more butter and brown sugar, yum, yum! Then they went into the refrigerator and when I woke up in the night, I went downstairs and pulled them out to raise, went back to bed and got up early to bake. 

For some reason I never get a good nights sleep when I'm baking rolls for morning but the guys appreciate them. I have a feeling if I didn't provide rolls, we would have a revolt on our hands and I'm not taking any chances.

Then we awoke to rain, heavy rain, downpour rain, soaking everything and everyone and resulting in a cancellation of the cattle working. With rain in the forecast through Wednesday, our appointment was rescheduled bright and early Friday morning. Snow was forecast but not starting till 1 PM so I wrapped the rolls in aluminum foil and put them in the freezer.

Thursday was supposed to be the best day but we had a date at the UniDome in Cedar Falls to watch our hometown team play for the 8 man football championship!! Three years ago in their first 8 man team, they played and won, great celebrations spread throughout the land!! The next two years they made it to the semi-finals but couldn't quite do it. Next year we will enter a whole grade sharing with Remsen Union and will be back to 11 man football, this was their last chance and they went into the semi-finals undefeated and won that game the Thursday before.

MMC and Don Bosco played the first game at 10:10 so that meant I had to drag my sorry butt out of bed at 5 AM to get the horses fed and turned out before we left. When the alarm went off, I groaned, "And who thought THIS was a good idea??" Bruce, bouncing out of bed, wide awake, (it's just disgusting, I tell you!) said, "Oh, it will be alright." But the joke was on me, the horses were nowhere to be found and who could blame them? Their usual breakfast time was no earlier than 8 and sometimes as late as 9:30.

We set off from home, stopping in Meriden to pick up Grassy, after one stop for food and a bathroom break, we arrived at the dome just before kickoff. The wind was blowing up a gale and it was COLD!! (I have to admit I was glad we weren't home working cattle.) Mother Nature was promising a big snow, now beginning in the morning, for us so along the way Bruce called the vet clinic to reschedule to yet another day and the only one we could get was next Wed afternoon. 

Our boys started cold, 'The Dons', as the announcer called them had 14 points on the board before The Eagles regrouped and went on a 30 unanswered point run. We were ecstatic, yelling, jumping up and down, high fiving and letting our boys know how proud we were.

This little girl was cheerleading with her friends, the only camera I had was the cell phone so most of my photos didn't turn out.

Then 'The Don's' regrouped and started scoring again, almost catching up, but our boys would score again to stay ahead. It was a hard fought battle, our team had 21 players to the 38 of the opposing team, our boys never gave up, even though they had to be exhausted. In the end, only 5 points separated the two teams and our boys were the champions!

Bruce and Grassy wanted to stay for another game, I had my Kindle with a book loaded so I was okay but that game was becoming a blowout so we left. On the way home we stopped at Sac City to eat at The Cattleman's restaurant who won the best burger in IA in 2011. I had to try it, the mushroom swiss burger and was not disappointed and was very, very full when we left.

We were coming up L-51, nearly to Meriden when suddenly we saw first fireworks and then lots of red and blue flashing lights. The fire departments from Marcus, Meriden and Cleghorn with support from the Sheriff Dept. met our boys coming home and paraded them through the towns so we joined in the parade!! Bruce was honking his horn and laughing like a kid again, making as much noise as he could! People came out of their houses and lined the streets for the impromptu parade and our boys, riding in style in a luxury bus that the Marcus Action Club sprung for, got to see the community pride in them.

We all ended up at the high school gym where different leaders in the school and community spoke of their admiration of the hard work that the boys and their coaches put into becoming a championship team.

Their head coach, Kyle, who looks like such a kid himself, gave an impassioned speech about how hard everyone worked and the disappointments they faced in other years. He told the boys that they didn't do it by themselves, that God was certainly present to help them along and if they thought they could do it alone, they were mistaken.

The gym erupted in cheers, clapping and whistles, ACLU - STUFF IT!!! It was getting late but people weren't in any hurry to leave the gym, we talked to several people before finally leaving for home.

Mother Nature was good to her word, we woke up to a winter wonderland, a sudden awakening to all the things I had not done yet. Like cover the gazebo, with 8 inches and a now, winter storm warning looming, it was time. I had to drag out the ladder, find the tarps and the bunge cords, Zoe, no more gazebo time this year. 

(But, as I turn around to see her keeping me company, something tells me she's not going to let it keep her awake at night.)

Not to be outdone, our temps are going to plunge, so tank heaters and heated water bowls had to be found and installed, other waterers dumped and put away till next spring.

We had a bit of lull in the snow right before noon, giving us a false promise of it ending but it was just Mother Nature jerking our chain. The snow and wind picked up, now the visibility is down to about a quarter mile, we are snug in the house with plenty of corn and wood to keep the home fires burning. Our animals are all well fed and watered and some even have heated beds.

All is right with the world.....

....except for an annoying drip at the top of the stairs.....

....that my big strong hubby investigated and discovered it was snowing in our attic!!!!

Upon further investigation, he found a small hole at the peak of the roof and plugged it, what the hey? I thought our metal roof was supposed to stop any problems?

So once more, we are snug and warm and drip free, and all is right with the world.