I've Gone COUNTRY!!!

There are so many things I love about being in the country!

The people, for one. There's always someone to lend you a hand when you need some help.

Of course, my very own step son, Dean, is always the first to step in when someone is in need.

Doesn't matter what the need is.....you need a ride to the doctor? To the grocery store? Feed your horses while you're gone? Look in on an invalid? Sit with someone in the waiting room?

Dean will do and has done all of that and more.

No wonder when we needed help with the AC on our last trip down here, a master electrician showed up! He knows Dean. That's enough for him to help us.

Another thing about the country is the machinery.

It's awesome. Sherry played with this piece on Saturday and had a ball!

Machinery makes light work of a job that would take men days to do by hand.

My step son and my grand dog!

I rode that four wheeler yesterday with Sherry and we went all the way - nearly! - to the back of their property. And we went FAST!!!! I was whooping and hollering all the way!

It was like being on a ride at Six Flags! Only BETTER!!!

Then she let ME drive!! Oh, my goodness! That was SO much fun!

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better - it did!

Thank you, Sherry! What a great memory I have of that ride!

Then there's the gift of nature.

Every day out here I see something new and fascinating!

Sherry told me about this nest she found last week so we went up to see if the eggs had hatched.

It's a ground nest and we think the bird is a 'kill deer' or called 'kill-dee.'

Sadly, the big fat red ants had taken over the nest and one egg was empty.

Sherry took the other two and put them in with her chicken eggs in the incubator. 

Not sure what we will do if they hatch. 

This fellow was on my window screen this evening as I was washing the glass.

I didn't disturb him in the least! Even when I touched him to make sure he wasn't a weed that had blown up on the screen.

Food is another thing that taste better here. Well, maybe it doesn't really TASTE better but we seem to pay more attention to it! On Saturday night, I fixed a watermelon salad with Feta cheese and minced mint. Delicious! As we eat one meal, we talk about the next one! We have a tiny party fridge and a very small freezer plus a three shelf pantry. I guess that's one reason food is on our minds. I love the fact that we are down here for weeks at a time now and can look forward to the sale ads at Read's, the one local grocery store in Mart. Mart has only one main street and I am becoming familiar with every thing on that street! Saturday I drove the big white truck to 'town' and bought lunch for all of us at Pizza Pro. I smiled all the way into town - driving down County Line Road and waving at every truck as we passed each other. I shopped the Dollar General and nodded to people as I got out of the truck. Down here I am just another country lady and I am loving it!

Progress is being made on our 'Add a room.'

You can see the wall of windows! FOUR! and then there's another one at this end.

My job has been washing them.

Louis Dean bought all these windows for a family home he was trying to restore in Comanche just after his beloved Ellen died. He later retrieved them and they have been stored since 2005.

Who knew they would finally find such a happy home here at his son's ranch?

I find it fitting.

I shopped Atwoods Home and Ranch Store this afternoon (Sunday) and found this cool pink camouflage thermos. PERFECT!!! I was on an errand to buy feed for little chicks.....

SEE??? I am going COUNTRY!!!

It's true, though. Who knew I was a country girl at heart?

I did. 

So.....can you see the guys off to the right?

They are around the picnic table 'swapping this and that' as the song about Robin Hood and Little John goes. I thought - I have four windows. And a piece of a wall.

What can I do with that??

Okay! I had red, white and blue spray paint and an idea.

This is the black metal table and chairs I bought at The Curiosity Shop in Irving.

Now they have a lot of personality!

I might as well hang up some curtains, doncha think???

Sherry and Dean bought these for me at the city wide garage sale in Mart back in May,

I bought the pillows then, too.

I told Louis Dean - You BUILD it - I will DECORATE it!!

Another part of the country life is the animals. 

This is the neighbor in front of us.

I am going to bake a batch of cookies soon and take them over and tell him how much we enjoy his place.

Every evening he pulls a bale of hay out with his truck.

The cows follow him.

It's a ritual I love to watch and it never gets old.

I think these are baby donkeys.

I'm new and still learning.They live across the road.

Every new day is so exciting!

So much to see and experience.

We are grateful to Dean and Sherry for allowing us to 'homestead' here.

Louis Dean is waiting for me to come out and join in for our evening glass of wine.

Then this is where I will end up afterward.....

Stretched out with my book and reading before going to sleep.

This is my life and I am so grateful!!!