Tuesday Treasures and Wednesday.....

Sherry took half a vacation day on Tuesday!

The three of us - Sherry, Dean and I - left for Waco about 1:30.

Louis Dean decided to stay at the ranch and he had every intention of cooking!

The last thing he said to me was, "Don't worry about fixing anything for me to eat! I'm going to make sausage and eggs!" He didn't know we were out of sausage and didn't have many eggs in the fridge either. Turns out - he decided to go into Mart and bought himself a double hamburger and onion rings! His saving grace was he could only eat half of it so he ate the other half for supper. That man! That MAN!!

We stopped first at Buzbee Feed store in Waco.

Dean and Sherry had a list of feed and supplies to get and Louis Dean asked me to buy some spider spray concentrate. He likes Suspend when you can find it but they had something else that was just like it.

He's serious about wanting to keep most of the spiders away.

They had watermelons and cantaloupe for sale at the feed store - guess a local farmer brought them in to sell for cash. Just $1 for a cantaloupe and $3 for a watermelon.

We each bought a couple and I got a watermelon.

Love farm fresh produce!

We hit up three Goodwills!!!

It was like a vacation day!

I'm going to wear the fancy mask on Halloween when we hand out candy.

The wine cork container is already hanging on the wall - right underneath the beer opener!

I'm taking the white chalkboard sign back to Irving.

The pumpkin place mats will stay here and the little Vino plaque is on the wall in the camper.

Lillian wears fancy bobby pins to hold her hair back so I was happy to find these to take home to her.

Sherry and Dean found treasures of their own!

She got an office chair and a mud boot rack. Dean scored big on some really good quality shirts and ties. One was a Ralph Lauren.

We shopped Aldi next followed by Home Depot and Sam's.

By this time the truck was just about full.

We were in Sherry's red pickup and Dean sat in the back seat allowing me to sit up front with Sherry driving. Once we were all together and I was sitting in the back seat and I got stuck!

It's two doors and you have to push the front seat up and crawl out. My crawl didn't work and I was so embarrassed! Dean is a master Karate arts teacher and is much more nimble than I!

He was such a good sport about sitting in the 'dogs' seat!' They usually ride with them when they go places. Stuff was piled up on one side of him all the way to the top plus he was sitting on some things and the floorboard was full, too! We had the chair and stuff in the back of the truck bed and groceries tucked into nooks and crannies here and there.

We meant to go to HEB but decided against it - and I think Dean was relieved.

There wasn't a place to put any more stuff!

We ate dinner at Casa Ole before going to the bee meeting.

$2 Margaritas!

It was such a fun day!

Sherry and I are always early to the bee meetings (Gasp! I know this shocks you! But I ride with Sherry and Sherry is always early!) but this time it was a few minutes after 7:00 when we arrived.

It was a good meeting and the first one where I even knew what they were talking about!

It's a whole new vocabulary - words like supers, brood boxes, queen separators, combs.

There were 70-75 people there and everyone is so friendly and helpful.

We are new and there's lot of other new beekeepers.

Sherry and I offered to help anyone who could use us to harvest their honey - hoping to learn from them before we do our own. After the meeting two different people came down to talk to us but they were first time beekeepers just like we are. Sherry finally found three or four leads and gave her number and contact info to them so we will be going this weekend to help and learn. One's in Groesbeck and another is in Waco, I think. There are beekeepers who drive quite a ways to attend the meetings.

It was about 10:00 when we got back to the ranch and Louis Dean was glad to see us!

He needed a little alone time but a little goes a long way.

We sat out under the stars, sipped some wine and watched the sky.

It's a special time to relax as we close out our day.

I didn't know if this picture would turn out or not - but I really like it!

Wine, moonlight and stargazing.

Dean joined us for awhile - I had left my potatoes and onions in the truck and he carried them back down here for us. We've been looking for a shooting star and Dean saw one last night!

I guess Louis Dean was looking at the kitty and I was busy taking his picture!

Yesterday was so pleasant - high in the 80's and low in the 60's!

Most unusual for Texas in July!

We slept with the windows open to the cool air and no AC.

It stayed comfortable in the camper until early afternoon when I turned the air back on.

Look who came in to see us!

They are not house kittens but I couldn't resist taking her picture and playing with her a bit.

Both the kittens and both big pups have hung around up here with us all day.

It's cool under the camper and they go there to nap.

This afternoon Dean and Sherry came down to tell me a baby guinea was hatching.

This mother hen had four little babies a few days ago.

Dean and Sherry put a couple of guinea eggs under her and she's been sitting on them, too.

That partially hatched guinea is underneath there somewhere.

The shells of the guineas are super hard!

Dean was checking this one out and then put it back in the box.

I came back up here but went down this evening to see if it's hatched......

There it is!

He's bigger than the chicks.

There's always something to see here at the ranch.

I've been tracing squares on denim and doing a little of this and that today.

Louis Dean has been working on the shower - and it is fully functional now.

The water is warmed by the sun in the hoses.

We bought a water heater well over a year ago but we still need a master electrician to put in 220 wiring from the meter to the breaker. It's something about a circuit breaker......and six inches of wire.

I'm hoping we get it done before fall.

But right now I am happy with what I have!

I think we are just about finished with this day and are about to turn off lights.

Louis Dean is sitting out on the deck looking for a falling star.

I'm closing tonight's journal entry with this inspiring speech by Matthew McConaughey......

I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did.