Saturday Fish Fry and Company!!!

  It was like a party here on Saturday!

Company was coming!

Roy and Ruth Ann came to visit along with their sweet dog, Molly!

We had been waiting and watching for them! We even got up early so we would be ready!

I was so happy to see Ruth Ann!!!

They stopped at West, Texas on their way down and that brown bag Ruth Ann is holding held a peach pie and some apricot pastries!!

Our new room is under construction and I had my art things still out but I did pick a fresh bouquet of flowers for the art table.

Dean and Sherry came up and brought all the fixings for a big fish fry!!

Sherry is amazing!

She planned and purchased everything and set it all up like a pro!

Pretty fancy way to do a fish fry!!

She fried catfish, country fries, okra and hush puppies.

Our Sherry can do anything!

Catfish.....

Hush Puppies - first time she'd ever made them!

She said, "How hard can they be?"

Everything was delicious!

She even made these stuffed jalapenos! 

We spent the afternoon visiting, eating and visiting some more.

I've been making some crafts from the cotton we've been picking and gave both Sherry and Ruth Ann a little burlap bag  I fixed up.

I stuffed the bag with loose cotton and glues some of the pretty bolls on top.

After lunch we decided to go out and pick some more cotton!

This is a section just down the road where the machines couldn't get to.

One whole row just for us!

Ruth Ann and I had scissors but Sherry could just pull the whole plant up.

We loaded our haul into the back of the truck and then went off for a drive.

I love country roads!

We passed Don's place (he put our AC in!) and saw his horses.

A pretty country church.

We've been looking for a Cowboy Church and heard there was one in Riesel.

I looked it up on the Internet and found Trail to the Cross Cowboy Church.

We may drive over there this week and check out the location and then go to church there next Sunday.

When we got back to the ranch we went around to visit with all the critters.

I wore my apron and gathered a dozen eggs which fit perfectly in the little pockets.

We walked up to the big tank and looked around. Molly loves water and went for a little swim.

The ducks and the goose were pretty.

The goats can get a little too up close and personal!

This is Sherry's baby peacock!

He's in a small pen with some baby chicks to keep him company.

Dean's building a really BIG pen for the peafowl.

Saturday was HOT so we gathered back up at the camper and we all ate peach pie in the cool AC!

That pie was SOOOO good!!!

Roy and Ruth Ann said their goodbyes about 6:00 so they could get back home before dark.

I love this picture of Louis Dean and Ruth Ann.

He's known her since she was 15 years old and loves her dearly.

Ellen, Louis Dean's beloved first wife, was Ruth Ann's older sister.

I feel so blessed to have a friend like Ruth Ann.

Today seemed quiet after having so much fun yesterday.

I saw Sherry on her tractor doing a lot of dirt moving, scraping and road building.

Louis Dean and I had our morning of reading and coffee and then ate a snack and went back to bed for a good long nap. He worked some on getting ready to plumb the new bathroom.

Looks like we have to take the water heater back tomorrow and exchange it. He discovered it was bent in and he didn't want to take any chances on it causing a problem. I finished making my cotton bouquets and packed all the cotton things in a tub to take home. I'm leaving some of the bouquets here and a couple of crafty things I made with them and take the rest home for friends and family.

I seem to cook more here than I do at home.

We have some 'mystery' packages in the freezer and took a couple of for today.

I always THINK I'll remember what's in a bag - but I don't.

What I thought was Taco Soup was actually one good sized serving of Louis Dean's 'Goulash' - which is a lot like beef stew. Another bag had stew meat in it so I cooked it in the crock pot with some peppers and onions, seasonings and a cup of wine. It smelled heavenly and I served it over mashed potatoes and had a side dish of candied carrots. In the process of fishing out the butter and stuff to cook with today, I found enough leftovers for all three meals for tomorrow. We have two small refrigerators and one small freezer here. It's a trick trying to remember where you put something and I have to practically lay on the floor to find any thing! 

We ate while we listened to the Dallas Cowboy game on the radio.

It was painful.

I rallied around afterwards and did some art before I lost the rest of the daylight and then fed the horses some apples and carrots before I walked down to feed the goats all the scarps from our meals today. When I go home it takes me a few days to get used to putting the scraps in the trash instead of bags for the critters. 

Amber called us and we did FaceTime this evening before the kids went to bed. 

Now Louis Dean is sitting out on the deck waiting for me.

He has a campfire burning. No wine tonight but we have ice tea.

Only one more week here and then we go home......at least for a little while!