Home, Movies, Masks and Laundry!

Monday dawned and Louis Dean was up and out working on tapping down the fence posts.

He came in and told me, "Linda, I think I am beginning to feel some of my 83 years."

Then he wanted me to text Dean and ask him if he would come up and do the job.

And he was there just minutes later!

He spent the entire afternoon and into the evening.

Thank the Lord for family!

Dean and Sherry are always there for us!

While Dean worked and Louis Dean napped in the camper, I cooked potato soup.

I use Ma's recipe from On the Bright Side!

Except I added carrots, leftover cream cheese corn, onions, and mashed potatoes plus a package of fund raiser potato soup mix. And bacon. I'll never be able to duplicate this soup.

It.was.good. Seriously good.

We ate our fill along with homemade cornbread and then I froze the rest for us to have next week.

Fast forward to the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

I went on to bed in the girl bunk around 10:00.

Louis Dean stayed up. Remember, he had slept much of the day while his son worked on the fence posts. Around 1:00 in the morning - I heard a loud thump - that woke me up even though I was wearing ear plugs!

Come to find out later - Louis Dean had been unable to sleep so he got up and decided to defrost the little freezer!

However, the soup I had put in that freezer had not frozen solid yet .....and it was dumped out - every last bit of it - on the deck!

There is always something to be grateful for and I am thankful he took the freezer outside on the front deck to defrost it! Alas, I am still in mourning over losing all that soup!

Stormy weather was coming in on Tuesday night so we decided to leave early.

We came down to the ranch last Tuesday - a day early - to beat the storms - and now we left a day early for the same reason.

Once again, Dean was back up at 'our' place working on those fence posts!

I had no intention of leaving any earlier than I had to so I spent the day cleaning the camper and watching Justified.

I love this show!

The music. The characters. Everything.

We left the ranch around 5:30 yesterday and drove straight through to exit #405 which is a QT where Louis Dean filled up with diesel at a ridiculously low price - and I got to go to the bathroom!

We were home in our driveway by 7:30 and he unloaded as I put up.

Started the first of 5 loads of laundry and heated up some leftovers for our supper.

He took a long soaking hot bath and we went to bed early!

The stormy weather missed us and we only had rain and some high winds.

Dean said they got much the same at the ranch.

I had an appointment for my yearly check up on Thursday by way of Telehealth and that was the only reason we came home. My bloodwork was scheduled at a safe clinic for healthy people the very same day. I checked in online and filled out all the forms only to have them accepted - and then a new message popped up saying I would need to reschedule as the office would be open next week for regular visits. So I did. On the 12th of May.

Louis Dean got way too tired while we were at the ranch so he has napped a lot today and that's a good thing. He said he is afraid he is getting old and I told him, "Not yet!"

It just takes him longer to recover these days.

There's something to be said for pacing yourself and not over doing.

While he slept, I worked on making some more masks.

These are all children size.

A couple are for Rayne and one for Piercyn and the other four are for the quads.

The ones I made for them previously didn't fit.

I can fix them but made them some extras.

I love to see my friends wearing the masks I made for them!

Susie of She Junks and her Teddy Bear - which is what she calls her husband Ted- sent me this pic of them in their masks.

Ted has been on a health journey and thankfully is doing well.

It's taken a toll on both of them, however.

Plus they are without Wifi and she hasn't been able to communicate with the Blog Neighborhood in over a month. We have resorted to snail mail and text messages.

I have kept her letters and stapled them into my Country Diary.

Diane at NANA DIANA TAKES A BREAK   gave an update on Susie -Louis Dean and I call her Susie Q! I'm praying one of the young people in their family will be able to get them connected again with the Internet! Isolation can really be a problem and they need to know we are all here praying for and thinking of them!

I've been in the sewing room all evening cutting out and sewing face masks.

We go back to the ranch on Friday so I was in a hurry to get some more made.

To keep me company, I have watched or listened to a couple of good movies while stitching.....

Sheila Hancock was 84 years old when she made this film.

Amazing story and I loved every minute of it!

Another good movie!!!

I close tonight's journal entry with a pic of Mr. Jackson's cows as we left the ranch yesterday.

We will be back soon!!!

Our Country Weekend......

Louis Dean spent a few hours late Friday afternoon working on the camper roof. Trailers aren't built to last much more than 10 years and Louis Dean bought this Wilderness Camper in 2000. Its skin is getting thin.

The sun and rain has taken its toll and there's been some damage in the bedroom but nothing Louis Dean can't take care of.

He did what he does best - fixing things!

He had to do that before we left as he is not allowed to be up in the air when nobody's around to watch him.

We were to pick up the bees at dusk and we arrived right on time.

There was already a long line of trucks waiting for the treasurer of the beekeepers association to get there and finish the paperwork as we pick up our bees.

Did I mention that Louis Dean got his truck stuck in the mud?

It was Friday afternoon and he was wanting to get another gate from across the field at the corral.

So....he decided to go in his truck. He was gone a long time and when I called him - his phone rang, all right! In the camper! So I put on my boots and started off to see what was going on. I met him just across that road over by the bees. There he was coming through the trees dragging that double wide gate with him. I could see his big white truck still up there at the edge of the property.

He was embarrassed about getting it stuck! He said, "I'll never live this down!"

I sent Sherry a text letting her know to allow time to get the tractor and pull Louis Dean out so we could use the truck to bring the bees home!

That's what all the mud spatters on the mirror's about!

Sherry and I suited up once the line started moving.

Everything went smoothly and the two hives were loaded into the back of the truck.

It has a shell on it but we had brought a roll of paper towels to use to stop up the entry to the hives.

The guy said that wasn't necessary - the bees would be fine.

So we didn't.

Another lesson learned.

We drove straight back here to the ranch and when we opened up the back of the truck - bees were all over the place! And they were none too happy, either!

Sherry and I carried the first hive and set it on the cinder blocks.

Then we moved the second hive in place.

Hundreds of bees were still buzzing all around.

Bees are funny things and we don't know is they could even find their hive in the dark after we left.

Plus we still had bees all over us and it took awhile to brush enough of them off to get in the cab.

There were still some by the time we got over to the camper and even after we had pulled our suits off and Sherry had left, we found another bee or two. By this time it was cool so there's no telling how many died just because we hadn't covered up the entrances to the hives.

Saturday morning was the beginning of another adventure!

Louis Dean had said he was going to dig post holes for his fence but once he started he quickly decided that was a bad idea. The ground is HARD and it was not a job for any man much less an 83 year old one!

Here's Sherry to the rescue!!!

She made light work of it thanks to her tractor and the auger tool.

It didn't even take an hour!

And Louis Dean was at work setting up his fence posts!

See that red handled tool? That's his post hole digger and it was no match for Sherry's auger!

I spent Saturday cleaning the big bathroom.

Louis Dean is storing a rollaway bed mattress and some boards against one wall.

Later I covered that whole thing up with a pretty cloth!

He loves having a sink big enough to wash up at.

Never mind that the water heater is still not hooked up.

It has something to do with needing the electrical company or a master electrician come to install 220 wiring. Plus the water pressure in the sink is really low. But there IS water going to it and the toilet works just as it should. For that I am VERY thankful!

And we have a shower!

Louis Dean has perfected our shower routine.

He brings two white dishpans full of really hot water.

(We have a water heater in the camper so the water is piping hot!)

We can cool the water down to the perfect temperature with cold water from the shower by holding a big yellow Dickies cup under the spray head and pouring it into the dishpan.

Easy peasy!

The nights have turned off chilly so he turns the Dearborn heater on low to take the chill off.

I think Louis Dean has grown used to me decorating everything even when it's a work in progress.

Dean and Sherry came down for Saturday night supper!

We ate outside at the picnic table because it was such a perfect evening.

Blue got the bones and good treats from the table.

I had steaks - which Dean grilled for me - and pepper poppers, toast, cream cheese corn with rosemary, fully loaded baked potatoes, a fresh fruit salad and Sherry's good deviled eggs!

We were all four so tired I thought sure everyone would sleep like babies.

Except I think we were all TOO tired.

Louis Dean didn't go to sleep until nearly daylight!

I got up at one point and looked out to the front room and he was listening to Willie Nelson on Alexa.

Sunday morning!

I listened to Fellowship Live and whacked up some of the clothes I had purged from my denim closet! I'll make masks from some and quilts from the rest.

Our grandson Piercyn will be 7 on April 30th and I am making him a denim quilt for his birthday.

Chandy has arranged for the fire department and the police department to do a drive by parade in front of their house at 6:00 to help him celebrate!

How cool is that??

His quilt will not be ready in time for his birthday but we hope to deliver it to him in person in the near future!

Sherry made her famous homemade pizzas for dinner tonight!

She is so cool!

She arrived wearing a hat she fashioned herself of newspaper and written Pizza Delivery on it!

It was the BEST!!!

After we all ate - they went back to gardening and worked until dark.

Louis Dean was finishing up a project he was working on and I was inside the camper doing some cleaning. We are all tired but not as much as we were last night!

I love to see my loved ones wearing the masks I made them!

Sherry (my SIL) sent me this pic one of her customers took of her at work.

Sherry is one of the essential workers who has been on the front lines of this whole Covid 19 crisis.

Sherry is my ex husband's sister. (Not to be confused with Sherry here in the country or Sherry the friend Summer is living with.

Today is April 26 and if I had stayed married this would have been my 57th wedding anniversary.

I am so grateful for the life I am living now.

The new will never wear off of it!

Here is Summer wearing her patriotic mask at Big Lots.

Remember the 3 dimensional puzzle she was working?

Well, she finished it! Amazing.

And I have AMAZING news!

Summer is scheduled for the spinal cord stimulator on Monday, May 11th at 10:30!!!

Hallelujah and praise God!!!

Thank you all for your concerns and prayers for Summer.

Our hearts are so much lighter now knowing she will be feeling better and has a really good chance of 'getting her life back' as I call  it!

I close this journal entry on our weekend with a grateful heart.......

Critters and Country Scenes.....

The rains are gone and the mud has dried up for the most part, although as I write this journal entry for Thursday and Friday, Louis Dean's big white truck is stuck over across and behind this scene of the mud tank. He was over at the barn and corral getting some gates for his garden fence and got stuck. He is mortified and said, "I will never live this down!" Dean and Sherry are in town doing errands today so I sent her a text that she will need to pull him out with the tractor when they get home.

It was a gorgeous day here in the country yesterday.

I wnt to bed around midnight on Wednesday and it was 11:58 when I woke up Thursday!

And last night was about the same except I managed to wake up an hour earlier than yesterday.

Best sleep I've had in weeks and weeks!

Love all the sounds and scents of the country!

Here's Louis Dean hauling one of the gates back to the camper area.

He fetched it on foot yesterday and, since he got the truck stuck this morning, he brought the second gate home in the same manner!

Love the frogs - I guess that's what they are!

We have one up by the front deck and Louis Dean found him today when he was weeding.

He sounded like he would be huge but, in fact, he was only about 2 inches! Glad Louis Dean didn't weed whack him!

The Great Pyrenees aka MOPS have grown up since we were here last!

Sherry's down to 13 ducks now and that geese in front nearly didn't make it!

See the dark slash across the lower neck? Sherry said last week it was purple.

One of the mops got ahold of it and Dean rescued him and doctored his neck.

For whatever reason, the geese aren't as agressive toward me as they had been. 

Notice there are only three of them now instead of four.

Putting the ducks up at night is my favorite Critter Chore!

I walked on down to check out the other animals and found both peacocks strutting around with their feathers out.

There's the male inside the peacock pen and there's also a female in there as well as a few other chickens.

This is the peacock on the outside of the pen. 

The female is probably the cause of this male strutting. 

And she may also be the reason the outsider stays around. I think it's been a year now.

Sherry has some new chickens!

These are Silkies and they have hair instead of feathers.

The skin is black and you can see the hair is really hair!

Dean and Sherry also have a rather unique black and white spotted one but I couldn't get a clear pic of him.

There are two mama cats down here and they both had litters just 3 weeks apart.

Now they have 9 babies between them.

We hope they range up here to the camper when they get older.

I would love to keep this one......

or that sweet speckled face one back there.

But I think we may just have to be content in having Grand Cats!

Sherry protects her trees and tender flowers with a circle of fencing.

It also doubles as a clothesline!

I'm going to ask Louis Dean to make one for us!

This downed tree was from the tornado that came through there Easter Sunday morning while Dean and Sherry slept right through it!

Not one critter was injured!

Three Billy Goats!!

Dean and Sherry actuall bought two more yesterday and they will get them in the next few days.

Dean's an outstanding gardener!!

This is my very favorite photo from today's journal entry!

We are so very grateful for Dean and Sherry's hospitality!!

Now the reason I am posting so early is that at dusk Sherry and I will be picking up our two new hives. Pick up time is after the bees return to the hives from the days foraging. We will drive to Eddy to get them and once they are loaded, we are to drive straight home and unload them where they will live. Do not stop for gas or to eat or anything.

It will be dark by the time we get them located so that whole experience will be news for tomorrow.

This will be my first time to go get them. 

Last April I couldn't be here and Dean went with her.

It's going to be excited to suit up and do beekeeping things again!!