Sunday, September 20, 2020

A Country Party!!

 Saturday morning I woke up all excited!

Company was coming!
I moved a little bit faster than I normally do and was putting the last of my makeup on when Louis Dean called out to me, "Linda, your company is coming through the gate!"


Sure enough!
There they were!


My sister, Nita, and her daughter, Leah, along with their husbands, Mike and Patrick.


Nita brought a birthday card for me and some awesome honey themed facial masks and eye treatments!
They were so impressed with the changes here since their last visit which was several years ago!
This was Leah and Partick's first trip to the ranch.

Our first 'tour stop' was the horses.
I had a two pound bag of carrots and broke them all in half so everyone could feed them.


As soon as they see me, they know I have treats.


I think this is the very first time I have ever seen Louis Dean feed them!


Nita loves critters!
These two are mother and daughter.


This one is the odd girl out sometimes so I make sure she is included.
That must be why she allows me to pet her.


She's really pretty and has unusual eyes.


All three of the horses enjoyed all the extra attention.


I made all of us ladies a version of Mimosas.
Orange sherbert and prosecco......very nice.


We took our drinks with us and continued the tour.
When the ducks see me they think they are going to get some cracked corn and that's what they got -
even though it wasn't feeding time.


Patrick did his part in giving them some corn!


Then we moved on down to the goat pen.
Dean and Sherry had left in a hurry Saturday morning to do some errands in town so they were still in their pen. All in one place so we were able to take some good pics!


The baby goats are bigger now!


Nita remembers Buddy - what an amazing Billy Goat Gruff HE was!


I gathered up a can of eggs for them to take home and we continued our walk about.
Down through the meadow and up to the tank.


The water is up thanks to the over 11 inches of rain they got recently.


Cute CUTE couple!


I have a headache tonight as I am writing but it seems to me that on this post some of the pictures make us look thinner and some bigger. Then 'thinner' ones are correct except for Louis Dean's pic with the horses. He looked plumb skinny in that one and he is not.


Back up to the camper/cabin for a good lunch spread.
I had sandwich fixings and more and Nita and Leah brought a really good broccoli bacon salad, pumpkin bread slices and fruit and cheese trays.

While I was setting all this out.....everyone was visiting and talking and laughing.
I could hear them all and as my heart filled with joy and thanksgiving,
I stood standing by the table for a few extra minutes taking it all in.
I knew then that THIS would be my very favorite moment of the day.

After lunch we all enjoyed our afternoon.
Patrick went out on the front porch to snooze.
Mike went exploring.
Louis Dean came in and took a proper nap in bed.
Leah, Nita and I visited.



Later we opened the bottle of Hive and Honey wine and all sat together outside.
By the way - that wine was very good!


The cats came up to visit....


This one insisted on getting in Mike's lap.


What a wonderful afternoon - and we weren't finished yet!

I knew there were several ripe watermelons ready to pick so we went out to find them.


The stems that are attached will remain green but if you look closely you can see a little tendril that curls around. When THIS tendril turns brown - the melon is ready to pick.


Nita did the honors.


It was a good sized melon and we all enjoyed it - and most of us use salt on our watermelons!
(I say this for my friend, Debbi!)

When we finished eating what we wanted - 


we took the rinds down and fed them to the goats!


Remmie and Rugar came up to see what we were doing at the goat pen.
That's their job - to watch and guard the goats.


Cute things!
But they are strong!


The mops - as we call them - absolutely LOVED all the attention they got that afternoon!


It was all so much fun!


And the goats certainly ate up every single bit of melon!


 Leah took this photo of the two horses on our side of the dence and Mr. Jackson's donkey on the other side. We all combined our photos on a Facebook album Leah created so we could share.


Leah and Patick make mead - which is honey wine - and they brought us two bottles.
So we had a mead tasting.
By this time, Dean and Sherry had come back from their errands and Rosey joined us.
We ALL agreed their mead was SO much better than ours!!
Remember, we used the bitterweed honey from last year's harvest.

We needed to remove the chemical strips from the beehives.....
it was 42 days ago that we put them in to treat for Varroa mites.
Nita and Leah were both game to suit up and join us at the hives!
I couldn't get the tapper to open my phone so I could take pictures!
I know someone took a pic of us all in our bee suits but I can't seem to find it!
They did great and within 15 - 20 minutes we wre done!


We put out a second spread and ate some more!
Then we sat and talked until dusk when they had to head back to Fort Worth.

The rest of us visited until dark and then we did some fireworks.
I didn't even try to take pictures because they seldom turn out but we had a LOT of fun!
Sherry tossed the spent packages into the campfire and that's when we found out that the duds will still flare up and look pretty!

By 10:00 Rosey left to go back to her ranch and Dean and Sherry went home
Louis Dean and I sat outside still basking in the glow of such a lovely day.

This morning I took my prayer journal and coffee out to the glider.


This is the one I bought when Dee and I went thrift store shopping in Lewisville last month.


Then I came inside to watch Fellowship church live online.
I'm so grateful for modern technology!


Blue came up to see me this afternoon.
He knows I will have something good for him to eat....and I did.
Sometimes I give him slices of ham or lunch meat and I have been known to buy big 2 pound packages of roast beef slices just for the dogs.
They are my grand dogs and I get to spoil them!

I took a good long nap this afternoon and then set up my art table and went to work.
I hope to get a lot done over the next few days.

The weeked is over but the sweet memories of it will forever be with me.





















19 comments:

Susan said...

Sounds like a really nice visit with your family. Love all your cute critters. I enjoyed church online too as well as outdoors on campus.

Arlene G said...

What a good day you had with your family. Loved seeing you leading those ducks,Linda. It reminded me of the children's book Make Way for Ducklings. And yes, I always put salt on my watermelon. Marvin gets on to me for that as he does not. lol We are off to Grimmwood this morning. Hoping my Mother will cooperate with us while we are there. Fingers crossed. And a very happy Birthday to you this week. I know you are like me and you celebrate all month. I was looking for some music on You Tube to play on my television and found September Jazz. Made me think of you and how you celebrate the first. I may have to start playing this you tube channel on the first of September. Now that we have a smart tv I have enjoyed the You Tube channels that play music to keep on during the day. It is good music to stitch to.....Have a blessed week sweet friend.

Vee said...

A full, happy, and blessed day. Hope that you get the picture issue straightened around or no one is going to want to see you with the camera. Do you suppose it is the gliding feature blooger has now for resizing photos?

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

How wonderful to spend time with family. Lots of fun memories and good food! Enjoy your week!

Kathy said...

This sounds like such a wonderful day. I'm sure that it is not just you that will have good memories of it. My great-grandfather always put salt on his watermelon, but he is the only one I ever knew who did that.

Changes in the wind said...

What a great day with all your company and all the critters. Love the casualness of lunch and dinner and of course wine is good any time.

Robyn said...

What a wonderful visit!! Oh gosh I just LOVE all the critters! The horses are just SO beautiful.. I think horses are one of the most graceful animals God ever created. Their beauty is just amazing. I'm so glad you had such a nice time

Bluebird49 said...

What a wonderful family affair. Leah has exquisite skin, doesn't she! I'm glad they could all come visit you at your "Dream Come True Ranch"! It would mean so much to anyone to see a long awaited dream realized!
All the pictures were great. I hope you slept well last night and can paint some and relax today!

MadSnapper said...

You had your family and the eat drink and be merry party and added to all that and make it even more special with all the fun with animals and ducks and goats. What a wonderful day. Make me jealous I want to see all those Critters

MadSnapper said...

the photos that make you look fat are because you took them portrait, the new format in blogger, those photos it makes them look odd, to fix it, use Med or Large on portrait and only do x large with landscape. OR when viewing click on the photo and it will show you how it really looks, go on your post and view it and the fat photos click on it, it will show it how it really looks. i hate this, i have stopped taking photo portrait and started all landscape, except a few and i add them in Medium

Susie said...

Linda, So good to see your sister and the family. I know you all had a fabulous time. The animals enjoyed everyone too. I am smiling just typing this comment, your joy is catching. Blessings to all, xoxo,love you, Susie

Stacy said...

What a lovely, lovely day with your family. Thank you for sharing it with us!

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

You certainly made some wonderful memories for all this weekend. Looks like everyone is happy, especially all the critters who look glad you had company too. All the treats and hugs certainly made their day. What a happy family so glad to be in each others company !

photowannabe said...

What a delightful weekend you had.
Family, laughter, delicious food, chatting and showing your love for each other...
There is nothing better!!!
I'm so glad for online church too.
This is the first Sunday for inside church allowed in our county of CA.
I'm not quite ready to get back into the thick of it all though.
Can't wait for more pictures and further adventures at the Ranch.
Sue

VintageCrafter said...

Looks like you had a wonderful time visiting family. I'll bet that watermelon and the mead were tasty!

Carole said...

I should have thought of salt on melon - I'll use celery salt when it is next melon time Cheers

Deanna Rabe said...

What a lovely weekend! So many memories made!

Judy said...

I love that quote...'memories are timeless treasures of the heart'. So true! I thought for a minute you were gifted honey-themed face masks (of the anti-Covid kind). In 2020 we have almost forgotten what facial masks are. Your Texas grown watermelons make my mouth water. Enjoy your time in the country!

Pardon Me While I Live Here said...

It looks like a wonderful time with everyone! Oh your horses are just beautiful.