Our New Year traditon is to arrive at the ranch before the old year ends and the new one begins.
More years than not - this is where we are and I'm so happy to BEE here!
So are the cats!
They have been so excited to be back and have been running from the camper into the front room and back again! They sun themselves in the window and nap for hours and then Hide 'N Seek which is so much fun for us to watch!
I love hearing country sounds instead of traffic and sirens.
Give me quacking ducks any day!
It still gets muddy down here but it's amazing how fast it can dry up!
Stepson Dean is such a blessing to me.
He knows I get a kick out of seeing and feeding the critters so he brought Bruce down and tethered him outside the back fence.
He's a handsome Billy goat!
Apple cores and cucumber peelings made a nice snack for him!
"You're WECOME!"
Two of the three rescue horses came down and I gave them apples.
Normally they will eat them right out of my hand but not this time!
I'll try again before we go home.
Then there's these gorgeous Great Pyrenees aka 'the MOPS!"
Remmie is the dark faced one and Rugar the white face and they are both gentle as kittens but protective as a mama bear with her cubs.
No more problems with the coyotes since they arrived and they are good at herding the goats and keeping them safe.
Dean and Sherry's 1925 house is coming along nicely!
They have made amazing progress and the roof is now completely done and Dean has replaced some of the 17 windows - it's a work in progress!
This house is going to be beautiful and I am happy to be a spectator to its journey back to glory!
I am still in love with our cozy cottage of a place that Dean and Sherry offered to us.
The baker's rack Amber and Mike gave us is serving us well as extra storage space in what was a wasted area. We love 'flat surfaces' and fill them right up!
Louis Dean is enjoying his time here!
On New Year's Day afternoon, the four of us drove to Marlin, Texas.
I had no idea it used to be famous for its warm mineral water!
It really was warm!
This is the foot bath that I wish was filled so I could have used it!
The real purpose of our visit to Marlin was to shop at this 'place.'
It's a junk/antique/collectables/vintage/whatever kind of 'shop.'
This photo is of the side of the house and I regret not getting a pic of the front.
The owners who live in this huge plantation home are in the salvage/building business and I have never seen so much STUFF!
The wife does the salvage while the husband does the building.
The reason Dean and Sherry know about this place is because they hired the husband to finish their roof and now he is going to repair the back wall of the porch on their 1925 house.
See what I mean???
SO much STUFF!
I would have loved to buy several of her white iron chairs AND this gazebo!
Dean and Sherry were looking for white columns for their house and found some for $50!
There was so much that I felt overwhelmed and nothing was priced so you had to ask her about every single item you were interested in.
She has collected so many of the statuaries and metal garden chairs and tables.
I loved them all!
Frames and the other side of this carriage house was crammed full of chests and buffets and desks!
It was an adventure and we came away with several planter pots for roses!
$20! One looks like old masonary but it isn't and that's the one I like best.
Plus two sphagnum moss baskets that I plan on planting with pansies for the winter.
Our other New Year's Day activity was returning the red Craftsman cabinet to Dean.
Louis Dean does amazing things moving heavy stuff all by himself!
He knows his physics!
We returned this and brought back a huge wardrobe to replace what Dean had loaned us.
Let me just say....this was an ordeal.
LD and I had a very stressful evening getting this HUGE wardrobe into the bathroom!
It was taller than LD was thinking and a lot heavier!
The wardrobe has wheels on it and we should have unloaded it from the truck and rolled it into the bathroom. Alas, LD insisted on carrying it in on a 'two wheel truck' as he calls it and that made it HIGHER than the ceiling.
It was not a pleasant experience!
The wardrobe - which I am going to love to store my clothes in - is now in the bathroom1
However, there were problems in putting it in place.
The electtrical outlets and the board that held LD's horseshoes had to be removed which means we now have no electricity in the front room.
I try to be 'real' here and I am struggling tonight.
We ate dinner by candlelight and LD is back out there working on whatever....
I'm going to try and lure him with a glass of wine and an early bedtime.
I'm praying tomorrow he can be fresh and figure it all out.
If not - we are still okay and can come back later this month and regroup!
It's been a not so good evening....
Dementia and Alzheimer's is a difficult situation...
for both Louis Dean and me.
Still, we are making the best of what we have and the least of what we've not!
