A Little Bit Country!

We left Irving Monday afternoon and headed back down to the ranch.

While snow blankets much of our country, it's already beginning to look like spring down here in Texas. This was the sun about to set as we were coming in by way of the back roads.

Wen we turn off on County Line Road, we are almost home.

The gate is one of my most favorite spots.

I love to drive through and am slightly sad every single time we leave.

We unloaded and I began to nest. Nesting is what I do best.

Dean and Sherry said they were grilling steak and would bring dinner down.

I tossed together a simple salad and made some garlic toast.

Dessert was Pear Dump Cake Sherry had made earlier.

It was all every bit delicious!

By 9:00 Louis Dean and I were sipping a glass of wine before bed.....and sound asleep around 10:00.

We are back on Country Time!

I love our country mornings.

We have coffee and listen to the country sounds as we sip away.

There's not as many roosters here as there used to be.....and I'm missing them.

Louis Dean went out to the front room to do 'stuff' while I did my own 'stuff.'

These are special treasures from my friend, Tamara.

Vintage advertising decorations.

Farmer's Grain Company, Inc. is still in business in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Not sure just how old these pieces are but the phone numbers were all only three digits.

They now hang on the wall above our bed in the camper.

We had a three pound roll of hamburger that I needed to cook so I made a meat loaf from one pound and I browned the rest with seasonings and diced onions, packaged them up to use in casseroles and popped them in the freezer.

Louis Dean took down a wall in the front room to adjust the electrical outlets.

They were sticking out too far and were bothering him.

He's always doing one project or another.

Sherry picked me up right after she got off work and we were off to Waco and the monthly bee keepers meeting.

We arrived early and there were already about 50 people there. I think that many more came in before we started. I knew next to nothing about bees and still do not know much. Sherry has had some experience with bees and has long planned on keeping some hives here at the ranch. I am going to be her helper and am so excited about this new venture. The bees have been ordered and will arrive around April 15th. I will be here to go with Sherry to pick them up. They said everyone needs to be in a truck. You do not want to transport a bunch of bees inside a car! Although there were some stories told at the meeting about some who did. They are no longer bee keepers.

Next month we have a work day to assemble things in preparation for the hives arriving. 

Then the meeting in February will be when they assign all the new members a mentor.

I do not want to miss a thing.

It was cold, windy and raining when we left the ranch. 

After the meeting we made a run into Home Depot for a part Louis Dean needed.

By then the rain had let up so we stopped at Casa Ole in Waco to get a bite of dinner.

I love their $2 margaritas!

By the time we got to the ranch, it was bitter cold, the wind was blowing wildly and the rain was pouring down. We slip slided our way in from the gate and I hopped out at our place and Sherry drove on down to their house.

It was a wild night with high winds that shook even this sturdy camper with the added room which gives extra support. The wind blew all night!

**From my cousin Carrie's Facebook page**

All during the night I could hear things banging and noises from things blowing over.

The wind blew some of the insulation from the crevices along where the camper connects to the front room. We kept the heater on in here all night but when we woke up it was still COLD!

Our go to breakfast for winter mornings is oatmeal along with crisp bacon and buttered toast.

The food sticks to our ribs and warms us up.

It's one of Louis Dean's favorite meals.

Even as cold as it was outside, the front room seldom drops below 40 degrees.

Louis Dean put his wall back together!

Then he moved on to other projects.

I made cheese potatoes to go with the meat loaf I made yesterday for supper tonight.

No veggies or salad to go with it. 

Just plain meat and potatoes.

I need to buy some fresh produce in Mart this weekend.

Our evening's entertainment was the first in the Cary Grant boxed movie set I bought a week or two ago down here in Waco.

Operation Petticoat! 

In other news.....

Mother is continuing to decline.....

Her blood pressure is low and her breathing is labored.

Hospice is giving her liquid morphine.....

They think the end is near.

Mother has been more asleep than awake for the last three days.

Deanie was there yesterday.

Lonnie and Nita visited today.

I last saw Mother on Friday and it was a sweet time.

She smiled and I had prayer with her.

This is a hard time for all of us.....

So....our movie is about to be over and Louis Dean and I will most likely have a glass of wine in the front room before we go to bed. It's 8:43 and now that we are in the country - bedtime is around 10:00! You would think our mornings would start earlier - but they don't!