Had a great time this weekend.  I'm sure glad that Travis got another good 
buck under his belt.  I think he is now ready to move it up a notch on the 
next deer and if everything stays good at the ranch then it should be pretty 
possible next year.

I was also wondering if you and Mama talked about paying Melissa for her 
painting.  Mama mentioned to Melissa that she "owed" her but nothing more 
than that.  She worked for no less than 20 hours and was disappointed that 
she would not be able to do the rest of the house as we really need the 
money.  Our negative checking balance needs some injection of cash and 
Melissa had hoped to use the money to buy a few things for Christmas this 
week as well.   If you haven't already, I'm sure that you can broach the 
subject with Mama without letting her know that I asked.

Anyway,  Melissa really wanted to be able to paint more and is upset that she 
wasn't able to "prove" to Mama that she is willing and able to work hard.  
She still gets those not so subtle jabs all the time from Mama about not 
working outside the home.  For the record, she busts her ass keeping our 
house clean, clothes washed and ironed, meals cooked, and doing lots of 
things to make sure we have a happy, healthy, and well adjusted son.   If 
there is a way (later) that you can subtly encourage Mama to hold back on 
these jabs when we next visit, it will go a long way toward ensuring a good 
Christmas for everyone.

Anyway, definitely keep all of this confidential between me and you.  There 
is no major problem here but I wanted to check off with you on this so we can 
help keep everything going smooth and folks getting along.   I'm sure you see 
my point of view here.


Thanks!

Charlie