Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Home Again!

We made it home last night shortly before dark.
It's a little bit sad to leave the ranch but then when I get here, I remember how pretty home is to me!


Louis Dean unloaded and I put everything up.  Then while he took a long hot soak in the tub, I went out in the front to see how things looked.


We have the nicest yard guy! Even when we are away and aren't here to pay him, he mows anyway.


I finally caught up with him before we left and paid him up to date and then paid for the next two times he does the yard. He doesn't come every single Friday but he seems to know when the yard needs doing and he has never failed to come right before I have a party or a gathering. 
We used to do our own mowing and edging and everything.
But back when we lived in the camper at Katy for 7 months, Summer saw that was too hard on us and she paid this Felix for a whole month of mows. We decided to keep using him as it is all I can do to handle the flower beds and such.


"Welcome Home," the house seemed to say.....


It was as if our house had bouquets for us.
All the rose bushes were covered in blooms.


The honeysuckle was so fragrant mixed in with the smell of the roses.


I am happy I got these front flower beds fixed before we left.


These are right by the front porch so it makes for a fragrant entry way.


I stayed out long enough last night to give everything a little drink of water.

Right as we were loading up to leave yesterday, Louis Dean was attacked by some really mean bees!
He was out by the water faucet taking the hose off to roll up.
They got him good around his right eye and on his head....so much so that Dean and Sherry helped me finish loading the truck. I wasn't sure Louis Dean would be able to drive us home but he did.

He had just finished his bath when I went in the house and that's when I saw what the bees had done to him.


It wasn't swollen like this when we got home.
 I say they were bees but they were really wasps.
There's a lot of honey bees, bumble bees and yellow jackets down around the shop - which is right behind the camper - and they leave us alone if we leave  them alone.
No, these were wasps and really mean ones to attack him when he was a good 10 feet away from where they nest in a wall at the back of the shop.
I gave him Benadryl right after he got stung and again last night when we went to bed.


This is what he looked like this morning.
Plus he ached all over similar to having the flu, he said.
He took it easy all day and said his eye didn't really hurt now and his vision was fine.
He even went in his room and played some music so I took that as a good sign.


I like coming home and having a day to settle down before 'real life' starts.
I went out in the back to check things out and pull up some weeds and baby trees.
The roses and honeysuckle out here are blooming as well as in the front.


We have great mounds of honeysuckle along the high fence now.


It's growing over the bushes. I really should pull it away but I just can't.


In the back pond area I noticed the seven sister rose bush that I tried to dig up last year has come back - and it has lots of flower buds on it!


This rose bush has long thorny vines so Louis Dean can't even get close to them since he is on blood thinners and bleeds easily. I went back there and strung them up through the metal lattice work.


It was a good day to do some light yard work. It sprinkled and then came a steady light rain and then sprinkled again - off and on - all day.


This made pulling up weeds easy.


It's been a long slow day.
I stopped for a cup of tea my friend, Sharon, sent me.
It's the little things that make a day so special. Tea. Cutting bouquets. Tending the garden. Doing the laundry....and we had lots of laundry to do.

Late this afternoon we finished the movie we started this morning......


Louis Dean has been wanting to see a western!
Filmed in 1997, this was one we had not seen before.


We kind of miss our Chicken Little!
I took this picture yesterday as we were finishing up painting all the wall boards.
She stayed right up there with us watching what we were doing and getting so close to the paint that she kept getting it on her!

I saw something so cute this morning on Facebook.
I hope this link works for you because it will make you smile!

Well, our day is done.
 I have my annual check up in the morning and a list of errands to do.
Thank you all so much for the great suggestions on snacks for Mother and Lillian.
So many good ideas and I have jotted them down and taking the list with me to the store tomorrow.
I thought I would make a basket for each of them so they have their own.
I do have an extra fridge - one of those small ones. When I visit them on Friday I will check if that would be a possibility.


I close with a better photo of Louis Dean.
He's such a tough guy.
He's been listening to Waylon Jennings and playing along with him on the Riff Station he has on his computer.
I'm going back to the real world tomorrow but Louis Dean is going to take a few more days to rest and recover and I think that's a fine idea!



14 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

Wasps!!! How awful! I am so glad he is on his way to recovery now! Is Dean going to get rid of them...they must have a nest somewhere? Yes, I saw the chickens in nursing homes on Facebook, too. What a good idea. I find their soft little clucks very comforting. I love your circular wall in the garden, and the heaps of honeysuckle!! Takes me back to my childhood.

Anonymous said...

Amazing photos! Nice to hear about his recovery...

Carole said...

Oh my, poor LD - just as well he's not totally allergic. All the best for your check up - I get really nervous around doctors - my blo9od pressure shoots up but after years my doctor has finally accepted that it isn't normally high. Cheers

Bluebird49 said...

Happy. You are safely home! Don't wear yourself out this week, now! 💗 Give Louis a gentle,sisterly hug from me! 😀😀

BeachGypsy said...

I'm glad y'all made it home safely and isn't home just the nicest place to come home to? LOl Love the honeysuckle....always loved the scent of it. Dang those wasps got poor Louis Dean something awful. Hope he's getting recovered by now and that your doctor check up goes very well. Love the pretty roses. My post today is roses!

MadSnapper said...

good luck with the check up today. glad you posted the last photo, the first two he was almost unrecognizable. i am terrified of wasps even more than bees, anything that can sting. glad he is better. we had a friend that was alergic to ants and he had to carry a epipen... your home is so beautiful. i love to see homes at night with lights

Susie said...

Linda, I loved seeing around your yard. I can imagine the smell of honeysuckle and roses together. No wasp is going to keep L.D. (John Wayne) Chapman down. He is tough...but oh so sweet. Hope you get all good reports from your check ups. Blessings to all, love you, xoxo, Susie

Vee said...

Oh those rotten wasps! Hope that Dean can dispatch them permanently for you so that won’t happen again. Course Louis Dean looks so handsome with that perpetual wink.

A very successful day to you...lots to get done!

I was out in the rain this morning pulling out the forest that had decided to grow in my garden. Tons of maple seedlings...

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

I hate that those mean old wasps got after Louis Dean. Tell him it's because he is SO SWEET! (they get after me too! lol) Enjoy your day sweet lady. Hugs, Diane

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

You have such a lovely home and I can see why it's nice to be back. You have the best of both worlds. I love the Texas Star and all the beautiful flowers you have. Here we are just now seeing forsythia and tulips and daffodils. It took longer than usual for them to appear for us this year. Louis Dean deserves to take some time to rest. He did a lot but then so did you. Hope you have a great day, I'm off to do some errands here too.

Changes in the wind said...

It does seem like your place was welcoming you home, all the pretty plants and the little lights. So sorry to see what those wasps did and it must of hurt. The two baskets full would be really sweet.

Arlene G said...

Your yard looks so pretty Linda. Glad LD is ok after his run in with the wasps. No fun!!

Rain said...

Oh poor Louis Dean! I hope he heals up really quickly, what a horrible thing to be stung by wasps! I remember being stung on my finger once and boy did that hurt...Brave man! Your yard and garden are GORGEOUS! I love your rose bushes! That's something I would love to have in the future, some really pretty rose bushes! :)

What a wonderful idea about the retirement home and the chickens!!! The video link worked fine :)

Judy said...

Welcome home! It is looking lovely...especially the roses! Sorry about LD's eye. Yikes.