Saturday, July 20, 2019

Home on the Ranch!

It was after 2:00 when we finally left Irving Friday.
So many things to do in order to leave your home for a few weeks.


The last chore was filling up all our water bottles.
What with my art and his music, laundry we brought home to wash, food, perishables, supplies, that computer stand Louis Dean bought in Galveston last month, tools, equipment, books, needlework, denim to whack up, new laundry hamper........we filled that old one ton truck completely up with a TON of stuff!


We stopped for a late lunch or early supper in Hillsboro at the Lone Star Cafe.
Yeah, he ordered onion rings. Although we only ate a couple and brought the rest home.


They have super delicious margaritas and it's a tradition to have one on our way down.

We got to the ranch about 6:30 and came right in and took a little nap,
Sherry had come down Thursday night and turned the AC on for us so it was pure luxury to slip into bed in the nice cool camper and sleep for an hour or so.

Then we were ready to haul in the stuff!


Look what I found when I was putting up the refrigerated things.
This teeny tiny frog is less than 2 inches! He must have been squished by the fridge door!


I love the golden light just before the sun sets.


It's my favorite time of day!
I fed an entire bag of celery to the horses in celebration of just being here!


Sherry came up and we checked out the garden while Louis Dean took another little nap.
I whooped and hollered a little bit when I saw the watermelons!


They hadn't posted about them so I would be surprised!
I nearly teared up seeing all the garden growing so well!


Louis Dean is mainly interested in cucumbers and tomatoes!
Not much in the way of one.....


but plenty of these!


Dean's corn, green beans, black eyed peas are all doing well.
He's plowed up yet another big area to grow pumpkins and watermelons.
And sunflowers!!!


The sun was just setting over the garden.
What a perfect evening.


The night was every bit as lovely as we sat out on the front deck sipping our wine and watching the moon rise. Louis Dean first saw it back low in the trees and said, "There's a new light we haven't seen before.'....thinking it was a neighbor's place or something. In another few seconds we knew it was the moon! And thus ended our first day back on the ranch for the month of July!

We both slept like babies last night!
Louis Dean slept longer than I did. I think I was so excited to be here, I woke up early!


I mad our coffee out in the front room and looked over and saw this big old hairy spider!
Turns out, it's just a friendly jumper spider that eats a lot of mosquitoes.
We let the good ones live and just encourage them to stay outside - not on the dining table!


I had gathered some fresh tomatoes last night so we had BLT sandwiches for a late breakfast.
Then Louis Dean went back to bed for the first of several naps today.


I got on my bike and went down to see what was happening at Dean and Sherry's.
There's always work to do on a ranch and equipment to tend to and that's what Dean was doing.
Sherry was rustling him up something cold to drink.
She had been out tractoring at 6:30 this morning!

I wandered around looking at their garden and met their two new kittens.


So tiny and cute!
The big dogs were up there sniffing around but as big as they were - and as tiny as these kittens are - they did not intimidate them one little bit!


That's the way Ann the goat lady's cats are.
They run the roost no matter how many big Great Pyrenees are around!


I went on down to the meadow where there was a cool breeze and called Lillian.
I told her all about the country and what I was doing.
Sadly, one of the four baby goats disappeared last week.
Flat disappeared, Dean said!
No tracks, no blood, no sign of anything. Just gone. He thinks she might have gone down in the creek and got lost. Or maybe a big cat took her off.
I guess we'll never know.
He watched the sky for days looking for buzzards but nothing.

This evening - during the time of the golden light - I took Louis Dean over to check out the garden.
He was properly impressed.

Then we all loaded up in the big white truck and went to see a neighbor about a vehicle.


A ranch vehicle.
One that will drive in the mud and get us down to the critters when we need to do Critter Chores....even in the rain.


I even test drove it!!
It would be so handy and we are all thinking about going in together and buying it.
Just a few things to consider and one of them is a shelter to park and protect it from the elements.
There's not one already here and available so that's a big consideration.
Not sure Louis Dean is up for another big project so we may have to wait a bit on this.
Still.....I sure did love driving it!


We are in the country and I guess we are going to go to bed with the chickens!
Or at least within the next couple of hours!


15 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

The golden light on the horse's mane is so beautiful. And your sunset is divine!! I love your rooster bowl. What kind of vehicle is that, something like a Jeep? Another country thing to look forward to!

Joy@aVintageGreen said...

Thank you Linda for sharing the first day back on the ranch.
Hugs.
Joy

MadSnapper said...

I always enjoy this peek into your country home LIFE.. I love every minute and good you got that thing you are riding to get you there in the mud when needed. I love the golden light of sun going down or coming up. nothing better to bath that horse in gold. sorry about the baby goat. EEK on a spider on the table that you let live. I do so hate those jumping spiders. I could live on the corn, tomatoes, cukes and melons. love all of that

Susie said...

Linda, So glad you are enjoying the ranch and your garden. The horse with the sun shining on it and the sunset, are beautiful pictures. Seeing the picture of the men around the ranch vehicle makes me think of a time, One of the fellows at work brought a chain saw into the shop (G.M. Kokomo)...so many men gathered around it, that I told my best friend, we need to get ourselves a chain saw if we want men around. LOL Forget Chanel #5 , gotta smell like motor oil. :):) Get some photo of the dogs, I would like to see how they are growing. Scary about the goat. Be safe. Blessings to all, love you, xoxo, Susie

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

Good to hear you made it back to the ranch. That golden light is beautiful and your moon picture too! It would be nice to have one of these four wheel vehicles to get you around the ranch. We used to have one when we camped and just parked them by the camper with a tarp for covering so the seats wouldn't get wet when it rained. Glad your garden is doing well. Looks like plenty of good eating ahead. Enjoy!

Arlene G said...

You always have extra pep in your blog posts when you are at the ranch, Linda. I can just hear the joy you get from being in the country. I am up having coffee before getting ready for Church. We are going to Grimmwood on Thursday. Some friends are joining us this weekend so that will be fun. Porch sitting is the best. I always miss sitting with the family on the porch after dinner each evening. We are both blessed to have some lovely places of rest to enjoy. Marvin would like a little motorized "mule" as well. Great for toting things and picking up limbs in the driveways. Seems there are always some to pick up when we get there.

The Liberty Belle said...

Those onion rings and your margarita do look tempting. So glad the garden is thriving. That spider would have sent me running!

Rain said...

Look at those watermelons! Lovely that the garden is doing so well. I don't have tomatoes yet, but I can't wait!! Oh and the onion rings...my favourite! I'm glad you're back at the ranch, enjoy your time there!! Sad about the goat though. The kittens are really cute!

Debbie said...

those onion rings look so amazing...i could eat the entire batch as my meal!!!

a day at the ranch, is so exciting and fun!! the drive down, all of the discoveries when you get there, those beautiful horses, the garden...the blt, everything is better when you talk about it!!

the sunset is gorgeous!!

Aloha Acres said...

We, too are loving country life over here. We have two horses that will be joining us soon and plans for goats, chickens, etc. Also, I can not wait to have a garden next year. How in the world does Sherry get those watermelons to grow so big

Changes in the wind said...

Awwww back on the ranch, your peaceful place:) Those tomatoes looked delish and am sure the horses loved the celery. Couldn't you just buy a heavy plastic cover for the little jeep? It would be nice to have.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Spent some time catching up on blog reading, Linda. It was so nice to read that you and Louis Dean are back on the ranch and thanks for all the photos with the narrative. Sorry to read about the missing goat and the new kittens are so cute. Those onion rings would not have made it home it Pat and I had been dining.

photowannabe said...

The Ranch sure is your Magical spot.
Seeing the bounty, the critters, the family, and just the pure joy of being there is so fun to read about.
Glad you are there and glad you both takes the naps to charge your batteries.

Sue said...

I always enjoy your post when you go to the ranch, the smile on your face says it all, have a great time.
Sue

Carole said...

Golden light - fabulous! Maybe while you're waiting on your all terrain vehicle you could put some chains on the truck tyres.... cheers