Redeeming the Time in the Country......

We have had a real rain event in the country!

It has been raining steady for two days and two nights.

Dean got out and took these photos yesterday after he did the Critter Chores.

There's so much water the tanks are full to overflowing!

The creek that runs along the side of their property is still rising.

There are ponds everywhere!

This is down in the meadow.......

It's one of my favorite places on the ranch.

I love to sit in that bench and think, read or talk to my friend, Linda in Oregon on the phone.

So what have we been doing on these rainy days when we can't get out?

I've started writing on my book again.

I feel somewhat like a time traveler......

On New Year's Day, I opened up my laptop and tried to figure out how to get back to writing.

I spent a couple of hours reading what I had last written and then figuring out where I was going from there. Wednesday I finished chapter 15. Today I started chapter 16.

I'm back in time to the summer of 1964.

Here I am at 15 years old with 9 month old Baby Summer and my mother with one of her boyfriends in July.

August 9th, 1964.

Mother, Summer, I, and Deanie on the bed.

Lonnie and Lanita on the floor.

We had just come back to the apartment on College Avenue where Mother and the kids were living in Fort Worth. It was a Sunday and we had been in Stephenville, Texas at the Community Center for our annual Carlton/Hancock Family Reunion.

Now that I have my bearings, I'm hoping to write a little faster and finish up this first part of my book. I would like to hand it off to Amber to edit early this spring while I write the second part - which will be so much easier. I am so glad I have all my hand written diaries from 1983 on.

If it were not for the old photographs to jog my memory from the 1960's, I'd be hard put to write about it.

I was just about to settle down on the little couch to read a bit when I noticed the sun was trying its best to peek out!

I went out to the front deck and saw - and heard even from this distance - the ducks and geese.

They are loving all this water!

Water! Water! Everywhere!!

I love being here no matter the weather.

We had a real honest to goodness sunset tonight!

My favorite time of day!

I never fail to enjoy Mr. Jackson's cattle.

I love that this is what I like to call our 'front yard.'

I wandered around and into Louis Dean's small workshop.

He loves it in here and this is where he's spent most of his days since we arrived.

I'm happy he has some place to go and putter.

We both love to putter.

He teases me about having a 'low blog fodder day.'

I was sick with allergies when we got here and had not been feeling well for days before.

I felt worse on New Year's Eve and somewhat better on New Year's Day.

Then yesterday was really rough. I would have given a lot of money for some cough syrup!

However, I slept well last night and have felt better today than I have for quite some time.

Once we are able to go to Waco, I am going to buy a small bottle of good whiskey, local honey and lemon juice so I can make my own cough syrup if I ever need it again.

I remember once - years ago now - that I had been sick for a good while. My throat hurt and I could barely bark out a single word. It was after the New Year and I had to go back to work so I needed to be able to talk since I answered the phone for an insurance agent. I had tried everything so I went to the liquor store just across the Trinity River into Dallas. I could barely talk but they got the idea and sold me something that already had liquor, honey and lemon in it. All mixed up in a liquor and ready to go. I remember the guy told me if I drank enough of that, I would be out mowing the lawn!

I thought that was funny since it was January! But the stuff worked and I could talk the next morning when I went to work.

Food takes on an importance when we are in the country that it doesn't get at home.

We tend to think about, talk about and plan our meals these days.

We brought plenty of food with us plus we keep a fairly well stocked pantry of non perishables as well as meat, bread and such in the freezer. We usually even leave a box of wine so we have absolutely everything we need to last a week or so even if we don't bring anything from home.

We have had simple meals the last few days using up the leftovers we brought down with us and eating a lot of toast and oatmeal on these cold mornings.

This afternoon I made some 'baked' apples by cooking them on the stove with butter, brown sugar and a bit of cinnamon. Sherry and Dean brought us a container of good brisket and I put that in a crock pot with some BBQ sauce for some really tasty sandwiches.

A humble onion can make all the difference to a brisket sandwich.

Since we plan ahead these days, tomorrow's lunch will be big baked potatoes topped with the remaining brisket.....and onions, of course!

So what are y'all eating these first days of 2019?