Our Second Week at the Ranch

 I woke up shortly after 7:00 Monday morning to a huge thunderstorm!

The loudest cracks of thunder I've heard in many a year!

And the winds were HOWLING!

It rained so hard on top of already wet ground!

Louis Dean slept right through it.

The rain came in bands but the winds were continuous and awful!

They redistributed all the things on the outside decks AND they blew in some pretty bad allergy stuff!

Louis Dean started coughing that afternoon and it was even worse on Tuesday.

It was cold - but not nearly as cold as it's going to  be this weekend!

We sat in the  bathroom in front of the Dearborn heater and had our coffee after he finally woke up.

Samantha's nest was disturbed so she huddled in the corner of the shower!

Monday we had three meals! That's unusual for us!

Normally we only have two - or ONE with extra snacks.

Bacon, eggs and biscuits for breakfast, tuna salad sandwiches for lunch and grilled smoked sausage with baked sweet potatoes for supper.

Dosed Louis Dean before he went to bed with some NyQuil we had on hand.

Tuesday Louis Dean was working on a light switch - it blew a breaker and he had started working on it Monday. His memory isn't good and he was taking it slow - step by step so he wouldn't mess up.

I was rehanging some of my fairy lights and needed a taller ladder!

He insisted I take a pic and video!

I was just funning him!

But he held on to me and I did what I wanted to do!

Win! WIN!!!

Tuesday's breakfast was hot oatmeal, bacon and toast!

Lunch was nachos for me and leftovers for him!

I have been staying busy and so far I have stayed well!

I've outgrown most of my allergies so I have been reading, painting, writing, cleaning and nesting.

Finishing up this one even as I browse Santa paintings for this year.

In watching the weather - because that's what we DO at this time of year - I saw we would be having some seriously low temps coming.

When we left home on December 30th, we expected to be back in a couple of weeks.

So we did NOT leave the house in shape for bitter cold temps.

I reached out to son Jesse and he went over and drained and unhooked the water hoses.....

of which there are many!

He turned the heat on and, as an added precaution, turned off the water to the entire house.

Praise God and thank you, Jesse!

What a blessing to have family to help in times like this.

Louis Dean says we need to have a 'Jesse Appreciation Day' when we get back home and take him out to a good restaurant!

Wednesday was our errand day and Louis Dean drove us to town shortly after lunch.

He was feeling a little worse than the day before but I didn't really want to leave him.

I think getting out may have been good for him.

We first stopped to get our propane tanks filled, then on to Walgreens for Rx.

That took a LONG time as Louis Dean has a new insurance card and apparently we needed another card which we did NOT have! Bless the kind lady who kept at it and didn't give up. LD left his phone at the ranch so I made two trips out to the truck to get more info. She finally found him with the last 4 digits of his SS#. She assured me we would NOT have to go through this again!

I thanked her profusely for her kindness and perseverance. I have been entertaining the thought of transferring our prescriptions to CVS but am now thinking I will stay with Walgreens.

The medicine we got is for his memory and I didn't want him to lose any ground.

Next stop?.

Aldi!

I had a list and wanted to make sure we have all we need for the next week since serious winter weather is coming!

HEB was my next stop for the few items Aldi did not carry.

Atwood's to return some western shirts I'd bought for Rayne.

She's growing up so fast and I didn't do a good job in keeping up with her sizes.

Finally Sam's to pick up some OTC medicines and then Read's Grocery store in Mart for some meat for meals next week! They have a great selection and an experienced butcher AND good prices.

We were exhausted by the time we got home at 'dark thirty.'

Sherry and Dean had made chicken tortilla soup and left some for us in the fridge.

We came in and put up groceries, ate that delicious soup and went right to bed!

Today was 70 degrees!

Open doors and no wind!

Tabitha has been looking out the door all day!

Four of the ducks come up here and, of course, I feed them!

Chicken Little is also a daily visitor.

I've been feeding them tortillas and they have been scarfing them up!

One of the mops came up and they are eyeing each other.

Pretty soon both cats were keeping watch at the door.

Now Samantha was eye to eye with Chicken Little.

Today has been a productive day.

Son Dean came down and he cut the carpet for the area in front of the sofa in the camper.

That sentence involved a lot more than it sounds.

He was such a good sport in making the carpet thing happen!

I was so wanting it to be in before the intense cold arrives and Dean did it!

One half of the camper is done and we will do the other half soon.

In the meantime - we are not only gearing up for the coming winter weather - but we're also excited about a dinner party tomorrow night with our friend, Rosey!

Life is good and we are thankful to be here in the country!

Thank you, Dean and Sherry, for all you do for us and your generous hospitality!