Our November Country Weekend.....

 Saturday morning came early! Sherry and Dean picked us up at 8:00 and we headed to Hamilton, Texas for Thanksgiving with Sherry's parents and family.

It was just a two hour drive so we were there not long after 10:00.

They have a wonderful place and I love their elevated deck which looks out to a huge back yard with country stretching out beyond the back fence as far as the eye can see.

This is Les on the left....Sherry's dad. Louis Dean had an absolutely perfect day doing what he loves to do.....talk, visit, eat, and talk some more. He stayed outside the entire time we were there and we were there all day. 

Father and Son......

As people arrived, new ones would spend some time out there on the deck and then drift back in the house, so the 'cast of characters' were constantly changing. Except for Louis Dean. He held court and enjoyed visiting with the young men of the family as well as with Les.

Ruth Ann and Roy arrived and I snapped this pic of Dean hugging his 'Auntie.'

Now Roy went out to visit with the guys....

You can see what a beautiful day it was.

Sherry's mom, Jean, prayed for good weather and that's exactly what the Lord gave her!

Ruth Ann and I decided to do a little walk about as the kitchen had filled up with people getting the meal ready. 

This place is across the street and up a few houses and I was intrigued by how interesting it was. 

The fence was decorated!! Now THAT'S a thought!!

I longed to get a better look at everything so I knowcked on the door and told the lady who answered how much I admired their yard. The Tischlers live here and they were so sweet and friendly to us.

The first thing Mrs. Tischler said to me was, "Would you like some Hen and Chicks?"

These are hardy little succulents and survive frost and even snow.

This couple had HUNDREDS of these and snapped off a sack full for Ruth Ann and I to share.

(They are easy to grow so I planted a pot with four of them for the ranch when we got back and will take some home to plant tomorrow.)

We walked back to find everyone busy and the food just about ready to serve!

We all held hands and stood in a circle for prayer. 

We numbered nearly 20 or so......It was Sherry's parents, her youngest sister and her daughter and son in law and granddaughter and her youngest son. Then Sherry's daughter and her Jimmy, Roy and Ruth Ann, Louis Dean and I, and Linda and Ken - beloved neighbors....plus Dean and Sherry. So that's 17!

The food was amazing and there was plenty of it!

Can you see Roy and Ruth Ann? And Louis Dean, of course.

That's Les in the background and neighbor Ken in the red plaid shirt.

My plate!

And I ate every bite!

Louis Dean did go inside just long enough to make himself a plate and then he was right back out there on the deck.....fly swatter in hand!

We had a smoked turkey breast, ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cream cheese corn, squash casserole, and rolls, plus cheese and olives and tomatoes and more and more!

This is one of the many desserts!

Crockpot Spiced Apple Dump Cake.....and it did smell heavenly!

I fell into a serious food coma and stayed that way the rest of the day!

Crystal (Sherry's daughter) just finished her first year of gardening and discovered that she's really good at it! She now has a green house and raised beds and all the building of a garden is now done. 

She has been so successful that I can't wait to see what she does next year!

She gave me a bag of the last of her garden produce!

The purple and yellow peppers are so crisp and good and those tiny tomatoes are sweet as sugar!

I haven't eaten that striped small pepper yet but I'm looking forward to it!

We saw some Christmas lights on our way home last night and we made plans for our Decemeber visit that includes dinnner and a light tour. Since we can't drive at night, the only way we can see them is if someone else takes us! Speaking of Christmas lights, I was up extra early Saturday morning because I wanted to string up the rest of the LED colored lights I'd brought. You could SEE our lights when we were driving down County Line Road!!!

It seemed later than it was last night when we came in. 

7:00 feels more like 9:00 or 10:00 these days.

Still, I settled down to do some art before going to bed.

I need to get my Christmas truck painted in time for the Chinese Christmas Tree!

Sunday morning in the country!

We had our coffee and devotionals before walking down to see the critters at Dean and Sherry's.

We saw Dean out 'walking his goats' he says.....that means he's staking them out.

They each have a chain and he stakes them in a different area every day to graze.

The 'mops' aka Remmie and Rugar are excellent dogs to have out here.

No longer do they have coyotes sneaking in at night and it's been a long time since a goat or chicken has been killed by one.

I never made it down to check out Sherry's new chickies last time we were here......

so I wanted to see them while they were still babies!

So cute!!!

Sherry does love her critters!

Some of their layers are getting older so it's always a good thing to have younger ones coming up.

We all bring our pumpkins to the ranch where it seems like all the critters like them!

I'll be bringing mine down when we come back next month.

I cleaned out the top boy bunk today to get to my bee suit and some of the Christmas decorations I have down here.

I pulled out this handmade quilt sewn from polyester fabrics to use as a tablecloth on our picnic table.

I used to sew all my mother's work clothes - back when polyester knits were so popular.

I recognize all these fabrics! The only thing I do NOT know is - who made this quilt??

Sherry and I checked our bees this afternoon.

We lost a hive last week.

Sherry and Dean checked on all of them and hive #1 was one of our strongest.

However, when they opened it up - the bees were gone.

No dead bee bodies. Just no bees at all.

They don't normally swarm this time of year - but they are not there!

That brought us down to 5 hives.

We were a little nervous when we saw all these ladybugs everywhere.

They were on every single hive and then they were on both of us, too!

Thankfully, all our bees are fine. 

Each hive looked healthy with plenty of bees.

We were suited up and had our smokers - but we could have done this inspection without any of that.

We didn't even need gloves!

But you never know, so we suit up every single time.

We combined all our leftovers and had a late lunch - early dinner this afternoon.

While we meant to go home today before dark....we saw that wasn't going to happen so we opted to spend another night and go home in the morning.

Louis Dean has a dental appointment in early Monday afternoon so we MUST be there on time!

I cleaned up the art table, added some Christmas things to cozy it up, cleaned and vacuumed the front room and prepared for our departure!

While I didn't finish this canvas, I am close enough to know I can do it in one more session!

It was a wonderful country weekend!!