Tuesday With Ruth Ann!

I admit to being a tiny bit on the 'blah' side of life this morning.

Still, a Tuesday is a Tuesday and there is always SOMETHING to celebrate every single day!

I got ready and picked Ruth Ann up before noon and we headed to Dallas! Our first stop - the Goodwill on Midway Road!

I found several treasures!

A devotional book, paperback novel, brand new with tags grey light linen slacks from the Gap, brand new with tags pajama Nautica pants, debris fall decoration, and a beautiful bedspread! Plus 4 pillow cases! I needed some extras for the camper.

Next stop: Central Market!!!

Owned by HEB which is my all time favorite store! (unless I lived in Florida and it would be Publix!)

I never saw such a gorgeous display of fruits and vegetables anywhere!!

Can you see Ruth Ann weighing her potatoes?

We ate lunch in their deli - and we always get the very same thing every single time - soup and salad!! I got a special treat when I spied a sister synchro mom from all those years with the Pirouettes of Texas!! Kay! She had two of her sweet grandchildren with her. I love it when you get to meet up with friends expectantly.

My day just kept getting better and better!

From there we went to Quadville where we watched Harrison, Trystan and Logan while Amber took Kailey in for some routine blood work.

It was such a beautiful day that we played outside!!

We started in their little playground in the back yard.

Harrison was adorable telling us how he had brought some rocks home from school.

He didn't have anything to put them in so he just used his pocket. Then he proceeded to pull them out! I love to listen to what the children say!

And I love to watch the children play.

Then we moved to the front yard.

Ruth Ann was totally fascinated by some work the neighbors were having done!

It doesn't take much to entertain us!!

It was 5:00 by the time we were on our way back to Irving.

We hit up one last Goodwill!

I found a Nine West purse and a black feather boa as well as a 'house dress.'

Do you ever hear that term anymore?

I had laid out art last night and made plans with Ruth Ann and Sherry for tonight.

Then I found out at the last minute that my granddaughter, Faith, was in her sixth grade talent show this evening. So I changed plans. Then late this afternoon I learned the talent show was even earlier than we originally thought so there was no way I could arrive in time seeing as how it was in Arlington. However, Ruth Ann and Sherry had already made alternate plans for the evening so I did art class solo.

It was the very first time I have put out my oils in 2017!

This seascape was based in months ago!

I decided to paint with abandon just as if I had good sense!

I still had a great time all by myself!

While I finished the painting in 2017 - the bulk of it was done last year so I signed it 2016!

Louis Dean decided to bring his music in to the dining room and I continued to paint.

This time on Dean's burned pick up. 

I only worked on the sky and background but I do feel I accomplished a good bit.

It felt good to have a brush in my hand smell the turpentine again!

Then just like magic - the dining room was all back in place!

The very last of my mully grubs had disappeared.

Now Louis Dean is just getting out of the bathtub and we are going to watch Alaskan Bush People.

I don't know many men who prefer bathing in a bathtub anymore. Most guys take showers.

I would like to close tonight's journal entry by telling you all that our Dear Danna went home to be with the Lord about 7:00 this evening. I know heaven is rejoicing as Danna made her entrance. However, her mother, father, grandmother, four year old Ricky and family are all grieving her departure even as they are happy and relieved she is out of pain.

From Country Camper to Town Home.....We are Back!

We continued our Critter Chores through the weekend while Dean was away.

Each day we got a little better at it.

Louis Dean took care of the goats while I tended to everything that had fur or feathers.

We would go down both morning (late!) and evening (early!)......

I fed the cats first. Dean has a nice little cat population going now.

The geese got a cup of cracked corn....

and the ducks enjoyed their dinner.

It's a feeding frenzy!!

After they ate, they glided back to the other side of the tank.

Then I went to the peacocks. A few chickens live in there with them, too.

Then there's a full pen right next door of hens and roosters.

Louis Dean takes the goats out of their pen and chains them down in the meadow.

Then at night he reverses the procedure.

I noticed wild flowers growing on the bank side of the tank - also called Lake Tomaguchi.

Not much winter in Texas.

The best thing I cooked all weekend was this pan of fried potatoes.

We ate it with bacon, fried eggs and toasted cinnamon raisin bread.

Every evening we had a campfire......

and sat outside with a glass of wine.

I was slow to get back to writing on my book....

but I did manage to finish up chapter six and wrote close to 2,500 words on chapter seven.

The time frame at that point is the fall of 1959 through the fall of 1960.

We moved every single year around Labor Day. Just before school started.

I used to roll my sisters' hair in these spoolies on Saturday night before we went to church on Sunday.

I pinned doilies over their head to hold the curlers and keep them from coming loose. We walked to whatever church was nearest us - mostly Baptist ones.

We left the ranch around 11:00.

Louis Dean drove us home by way of the back roads until we got to Waxahachie when we got up on I35. Lots of little towns and I always wonder what the people do for a living there.

Neither of us feel very well but we have kept plodding along.

I've done the laundry and put everything up. Louis Dean has caught up on his news and stock market.

 I made a good dinner even. Meat loaf (from the freezer), mashed potatoes, baked beans and corn bread.

Louis Dean has been telling me he needs a keeper and I should be watching him a little closer.

He may be right. When I went outside to put some things in the chest freezer (which we keep out by the storage building) I noticed the lid was open. Louis Dean forgot to close it when he got the ice out to put in our food chests when we left - on THURSDAY afternoon!!

Thankfully the weather had been cool and the chest was not filled with food all the way to the top so the things at the bottom were still frozen. He's going to need to defrost that tomorrow though!

We have been going to bed early lately. As in 8:30 Friday night and 9:30 Saturday night. 

LD is already in bed and I am going to close, go take a really hot shower and go to bed too.

Hopefully we will all feel better in the morning.

Nearly everyone I talk to lately has been having a scratchy throat along with a cough and some congestion. Sleep will help. It always does.

On Critter Duty!

We made it down to the camper yesterday. It takes us about 4 hours from home to here. That's a 2 hour drive plus we stop for lunch or, in this case, dinner, as well as a run at HEB. We forgot our small electric heater so we added a trip to Home Depot to buy a couple of small ones that worked great!
We stayed toasty warm even though the temps dipped down to freezing.

I have to say that God really loves Louis Dean!
Yesterday, as I was putting things out on the porch to load up in the truck, a lady walked up the driveway holding a wallet. She said she worked at a nursing home just up on Northgate an Story Road - a mere few blocks from our house. One of her patients had been out walking and found this billfold and brought it to her. It was, indeed, Louis Dean's!! How in the world did it get THERE??
After piecing the day together, I think we figured it out. Amber had picked Louis Dean up for an early morning appointment. After wards they had stopped by Sonic for milkshakes and he had pulled out his wallet to pay but  she insisted on treating him. Apparently he didn't want to struggle with getting it  back in his overall pocket so he held it in his lap. Then he forgot about it when he got out of her Suburban and it fell on the running board. as she turned the corner at Northgate and Story, it must have slung out onto the sidewalk. Enter TWO Good Samaritans - one who found the wallet and the other who found Louis Dean! This reminded me that there are more good people in the world than bad. His money and credit cards were all there and when I tried to give the young lady the $20 bill in the wallet, she refused. She said, "No! No!! But I WILL take a hug!" And I gave her one!!

It was getting dark by the time we got to the ranch.

I love the rituals of unloading the truck and putting things up as we feather our nest for the next few days. I had started having some sniffles and then my throat began to itch and I decided it was a good thing to be down here where it is so much easier to unplug and rest than it is at home.

Wonder why that is? Life is just so much simpler here.

Dean came down and we had a nice visit. He is teaching a training class in martial arts this weekend and we are here to help with the critters. As if I needed an excuse to come.

As Louis Dean and I were unloading last night, I said, "You gotta really want to be here!" and he responded, "No, you don't. You just have to love someone who really wants to be here!"

And I do. I really do.

I made up the bed in the girl bunk and slept there so - just in case this is a cold instead of allergies - I would not be sharing it with Louis Dean. We both slept like babies!

It was after 10:00 when HE woke up. I woke much earlier and sat out on the deck in the sunshine reading for awhile. I admit to not feeling well through much of the day and after our Bible reading, I went back to the girl bunk where I stayed until after 3:00. I think the rest definitely helped.

When I got up I saw that Louis Dean had been chopping up firewood.

I saw this bird through the window.

I love being so close to nature here.

My hero! He and I both love a good campfire.
Sherry gifted us with a load of firewood the night before we left.

LD just needed to chop some of it a bit!

He does John Wayne really well!

Around 4:00 we headed down to do the critter chores.

The goats needed to be fed and brought up to their pen and chained for the night.

A coyote got one of the younger goats a few weeks back.

We saw Maddie and she is alive and well.

I took this photo so I can show it to the quads who constantly ask about her.

There were baby chicks out in a pen and we had to get them and take them back to their brooder.

NOT easy. Louis Dean fashioned a crate to carry them and he caught two. I took them to the brooder and then it looked like it would take FOREVER to get the rest! There were 7 in all. I got tired of it and took the top off the pen, stepped over and as they huddled in a corner, I scooped them up one at a time and it was a DONE DEAL!

The food chain is always evident here.

Lots of bird feathers....

maybe some chicken feathers?

Just a man and his goat.....

This one was showing off!

Chained in and secure.

Aw....such a sweet face!

I gathered these eggs when I was feeding the chickens. 

Tomorrow's breakfast!

And now here we ar eat the end of the day.

Louis Dean has the fire well in hand now.

Happy Friday Night from the COUNTRY!!

*****update on Summer*****

Thank you everyone for thinking of and praying for Summer.

Her doctor appointment went well and they gave her a new medication for pain which is working much better. On February 9th she will have a test for blocking the nerve that is causing her such a problem. If successful, she will have a more permanent nerve block done.

I talked to her this afternoon and her voice sounded ever so much better!

Remembrances and Redemptions....and a Prayer Request

 The light bulb had blown out in the little alcove off my sewing room and as I was replacing it I happened to notice a framed photo of Amber and me that I seldom see.

I remember this - now that I see it captured in that moment in time.

It was Christmas morning in 1991. That dressing gown was one of my favorites.

Amber is six years old which would place me at the age of 42.

I notice the Christmas ornaments on the tree and still have them so recently packed away.

This photo was behind the first one and is dated Memorial Day 1991.

Precious memories. How I love them! How I wish I could be transported back in time to revisit these moments.

Yesterday Amber was gazing at Kailey as she lay sleeping after coming in from school.

She said she loved her so much her heart hurt.

I told Amber I know that feeling well.

I still have that very same feeling for her.

Now for redemption!

This is a chair that holds such fond memories for Louis Dean.

His beloved father in law - Jerrel Doggett - was a master upholster for Montgomery Ward back in the day. This chair is VERY important to LD! It is also more than a bit shabby by now and I do not have the time nor the talent to redeem it by reupholstering it. 

So I spray painted the whole thing with a can of our all time favorite spray paint!

Worked like a charm!

We buy this paint a dozen cans at a time.

Since I had TWO cans - I turned my attention to the park bench which was looking pretty neglected.

What a difference a can of paint can make.

Put the two together and the porch looks a little bit better!!

I since added a wreath above the bench and feel good about the way it looks.

Summer sent me this sweet pic of Rayne as she is getting ready for the father/daughter dance this weekend. She is adorable!!

Now for the prayer request....

Summer is still in such serious pain that she cannot function well in every day life. 

While not ALL the way back to the pain level of September 19th....she is very close.

I have been in prayer all day long for her.

I sent out messages and emails and am so very grateful for the prayers prayed today for my daughter.

She has a doctor appointment in the morning and we are hoping and praying for some direction in how they might treat her.

Louis Dean has already gone to bed, He has an early appointment in the morning and we all know he is NOT a morning person! We will be going down to the ranch later tomorrow and I am so excited.

I plan to do some more writing on my book. 

In just 22 days and a wake up, my siblings and I will be leaving for our first time EVER trip together!

Lanita, Lloydine, Lonnie and Linda - the four of us grew up together - and we will be driving down to San Antonio for a few days to celebrate our lives and share our memories of childhood.

I could not write the book I am writing without their memories.

It is a shared experience.

This whole book thing has been such a blessing to all of us.

We have connected with our cousins and forged a bond we never had as children.

We have found closure on so many levels.

I know I asked for prayer for my daughter tonight - but may I offer another prayer request for our sweet Danna who is asking us to pray that God takes her home soon?

This is the granddaughter of our cousin, Joyce. Pam is Danna's mother and words cannot express the sorrow and grief she is going through as she watches her only child suffer.

The last thing I do before I go to sleep at night is to say my prayers.

Please don't forget to say yours.......