Quick Trip Home and Back to the Ranch!

We only spent two full days at home but they were busy days!

Tuesday I made spiced pumpkin muffins to take to friends.

First to Kimmy whose birthday is the 4th of July.

I also dropped some mini muffins off to Ilene - our sweet neighbor who keeps an eye on our front flower beds while we are gone. Then to Virginia, another dear friend, who loaned me a book that I recently discovered having left it at the ranch.

Pam came by to play with the kitties for a few minutes.

They were so tiny when she first met them.

They are still pretty little.

The collars I bought were the smallest they had but they were still too big.

Pam came back by and left new smaller ones for them!

She had gone to Pets Mart when she left and bought the very last two they had!

Pam got some pumpkin muffins, too!

Wednesday I stayed home all day and we ate easy meals.

Lunch was a taco salad with tomatoes and peppers from our garden.

My goal was to finish Piercyn's denim quilt before we went back to the ranch.

I am a crafter not a real quilter. I can make the tops but putting them together is a trick for me.

I managed to mess this one up good by cutting the backing too small. 

I woke up at 3:30 Wednesday morning fretting about that quilt so I went ahead and got up and started sewing. Three hours later I knew I had redeemed it enough to go back to bed.

I managed it get it done before I went to bed that night.

All I have left is to stitch the top to the backing here and there.

I also made Piercyn a little pillow to go with it and I will need to stitch the seam closed! 

Then I am DONE!

I figured the time I spent on it - cutting the denim out, making the top and sewing it all together will total 13 hours! I need to sew faster!

Before we left to come back to the ranch, we gathered all the ripe or soon to be ripe tomatoes from our garden. I think the next round of ripe ones will finish off the vines. 

We did not get many cucumbers after all - even with all that Louis Dean planted.

He printed off information about a fall garden and intends to get that started on this trip.

We drove to Waxahachie to fill up with diesel at the QT which is at Exit 405....except that exit is closed due to construction on I35. I do believe there has always been and always will be construction on I35!

Anyway, this time we remembered to get off sooner and then from there we came in on the back roads avoiding the Interstate altogether.

The lay of the land is different.

There had been rain and everything was so green!

It was 5:00 when I unloacked the gate.

Back to my Happy Place!

Arriving is always a lot more fun than leaving.

That way!!

It didn't take long to settle in. Our sweet kittens take this going back and forth between city and country like champs. They headquarter in the guest room at home and I give them free run of the house most of the day. Then in the evenings, I shut the door and leave them in there until I go in right before we go to bed to out them in the kennel that holds their two beds. Last night they had already put themselves to bed! Sweetest little kittens I have ever seen! At the ranch, they headquarter in the front room but at night we put them in their carrier and they sleep inside the camper.

The Golden Hour is also time to do Critter Chores.

Dean and Sherry are away this weekend and it is our pleasure to take care of the ducks, geese, cats, kittens, Great Pyrenees, peacocks, horses, chickens, roosters and baby chicks.

The ducks are my personal favorites.

The geese remind me of the Three Stooges!

We checked eveyone for water - it's so hot that we need to water them morning and evening.

I thought Louis Dean looked mighty handsome as he stood talking to Amon.

Dean and Sherry asked him to take care of the goats.

At nearly 84, they didn't want Louis Dean to do this anymore.

So we are done for the day and it's time to sit out on the deck with a glass of wine and just BE!

And it's really good to BE here!!