WELL I may not be so little anymore but the nursery rhyme fits...it's been raining now since sometime last evening and while that is great for sleeping, it's not so good for concentrating on work. lol I messed up my report not just once but twice and a co-worker had to fix it for me. MONDAY right?
The weekend was fun with Paul and Missy visiting. Missy loved the puppies and had them walking on their leashes together without incident. They still won't behave for me to do that but then she has 7 dogs so she's pretty well used to handling them. At one point she had all 4 of them laying their heads in her lap :) It was so cute. She spent some time with the horses too but as always, Smokey stayed off to himself. Rebel loved her to death with her hands full of apples and carrots...lol!
They drove up Friday afternoon and got to the cabin just after dark. To their delight, I was frying pork chops and had green beans and squash cooking in separate pots when they got there. They unloaded their bags, grabbed a couple beers and the visiting began. We haven't seen them since last April so it was nice to catch up. They have a lot going on same as we do so it's hard to get together. We're planning an April visit we're just not sure where it will be :)
I wouldn't let them help with the dishes but there was very little clean up. The dogs got the bones and the vegetables were all gone so it was basically plates, forks, knives and the pots and pans. They all sat right at the bar so it's not like I was out of the conversation... :) We moved into the living room and watched a little tv, mostly AFV that we had recorded. It was pretty funny stuff. We stayed up much later than we're used to but still woke up early the next morning. What else is new? lol Fortunately, Paul and Missy are early risers too so we were all up and about at the same time. Paul did mention that he wasn't a "rooster" person... hahahahahaha
Speaking of which, I don't like to have to tell you this but Roo decided to vacate the premises as of Friday afternoon. I fed them all when I got home from work and everything was fine. When I went out to feed them Saturday morning, there were only 4 roosters. Roo had been distancing himself from the others for about 2 weeks now and I have a feeling he found himself a little chickey-doo down the road. There are some free-range chickens up on the corner and he likely caught wind of one of them being interested in a rooster who is a loner... off he went I guess. I don't think another animal got him because we would have seen the evidence just like with the other two. Who knows, maybe someday he'll show up with his little chickey-doo in tow - that would be cool! I guess roosters gotta have some lovin too...
We spent our Saturday morning going over to the meat place and stocking up on everything. This was the last weekend for business but we were the only ones there. I got ground beef, sausage, stew meat and a roast. I got the last of the tenderized pork tenderloin too. The guy who was working said they didn't have any bones for the dogs so we planned to go back Sunday and get those. Wally took us on some back roads while Missy counted the traffic lights and then we decided to go to Dickson and have breakfast at "Farmers Family Restaurant."
You know me, I'm not big on going out to breakfast. I can make it at home for less money and, in my humble opinion, it tastes better. BUT everyone wanted to go and we were already out so we went. It's a buffet style breakfast (another thing I'm not a huge fan of) and we all ate way too much before it was over, hence my preference for eating breakfast at home.
I had bacon (not crispy enough for me) and fried bologna (I thought it was ham or I wouldn't have picked it), corned beef hash with those little tiny potatoes in it, a small portion of cheesy hash browns and a piece of sausage that was way to spicy for me. I had some grapes and grits (not mixed together) on the side. Missy had blueberry pancakes that looked really good and Wally and Paul both had biscuits with tomato gravy among other things... For dessert, like we needed anything else to eat, we had coconut cream pie that was sugar-free and wonderful!! My stomach hurt.... and kept on hurting.
I don't think any of us even considered eating lunch...lol
Back at the cabin we took all the meat inside and while the guys watched powerblock on tv, Missy and I separated and bagged it all up and put it in the freezer. The guys started working on the broken down four wheeler while Missy and I went to feed the horses and other animals. That's when I noticed Roo was missing.
The 4 wheeler refused to get well so we headed off to the barn to get a trailer so the 4 wheeler could go back to the barn and be worked on some more. Paul took the 4 wheeler on the trailer while Wally drove me and Missy to the barn in the Camaro. She absolutely loved that ride. We hung out at the barn while the guys tried to fix the 4 wheeler but it wasn't working out for us so we all loaded up in the Camaro and headed for Centerville....you know what that means.
We showed them the sights and then took them to Pee Wee's Place. It was hopping in there for a Saturday afternoon. There were no seats at the bar and only two at a table that Joe kindly shared with us. Being the new folks, everyone had to stop and talk to Missy and Paul and before long they were feeling right at home. The weather was nice and everyone was happy to be out and about without their heavy jackets, scarves and gloves. It's always fun to go for a ride in the Camaro so it wasn't long before we were headed down the driveway and squealing out of the parking lot feeling as carefree as a bunch of kids who don't know any better yet . Hello, Wally was driving okay? lol that's why we were squealing out of the parking lot.
The cabin awaited us. I got the sweet potatoes in the oven while everyone else was hanging out at the outdoor kitchen. Wally let the puppies run free for a while and boy were they some happy little campers. They were jumping all over everyone, including the big dogs, tails wagging, crotch sniffing and everything. Before long, Missy had Ruger giving her kisses. Colt, not so much.
While Missy walked the dogs, the guys cooked steaks on the grill and I got the plates and everything ready for dinner. We had the macaroni salad, the sweet potatoes, green peas and the juicy, perfectly cooked steaks. Mine came off first, of course :)
It started getting a little cooler outside so we came inside to eat. Dinner was good and clean up was easy again and before we knew it, we were back in living room watching tv. Somewhere during the conversation it was decided that we would give Wally a haircut. I got out the clippers and Paul showed me how to use them. We cut his hair really short to where all the curls are gone :( I didn't want it that short but he did. Like he said, he can grow it back out.
So now his hair is really, really short and he had already cut off his beard down to a gotee only. He looks a lot different that's for sure. I'll post pictures on the flickr site for you shortly.
Sunday dawned with a slightly muggy feeling in the air. Missy and Paul were almost packed by the time we got downstairs so we made plans to go back to Farmers (Paul apparently loves the place....lol) for breakfast and then Wally and I wanted to go back to the meat place and get bones for the dogs. I made a much smaller plate for breakfast and skipped dessert entirely. I didn't want to feel so full all day long again...
After breakfast we drove the long way around to Pee Wee's to drop off a birthday present for Claudia. I read the paper while the guys messed with the Camaro - since it was way too early for them to be open, we hand around long. They don't open until 1:00 on Sundays and they have to close at 5:00 so if you plan to hang out on Sunday, those are the hours for your window of opportunity. hahahahaha There was nothing much of interest in the paper so I was glad I didn't buy one. Even the sale papers weren't having very good sales. Maybe it's the calm before the storm? Everyone knows that spring is on the way and people are getting anxious for it to be here.
I placed my seed order through Burpee this morning. The final choices were peas (of course), bush beans, carrots and golden beets. We'll get the tomato plants from the Mennonites when they open for business. They start them in a green house so they're already strong when you get them. They are kind of like what you get at Lowe's or Home Depot but they are organically grown. No pesticides :)
I also ordered a Phlox plant. It kind of resembles a butterfly bush but it's nowhere near as big. It's white and promises to re-seed on its own. I hope so :) those are the best kind. The seeds should be here in about 3-5 days while the Phlox will be shipped more toward the end of March. They only ship live plants when there is less chance of another frost or freeze. My seeds will be planted by the moon phases as Arlene tells me that's how she does it, that's how her grandmother did it and the gardens are and were always a success. My Farmer's Almanac will come in handy for that knowledge :) I feel so much better prepared this year than I did last year. woo hoo!!
As you'll see on the flickr site, it appears we did get the tulip from that abandoned homesite last year. I thought we did but Wally thought we missed it. While I was walking around with Missy on Saturday, I noticed the leaves had come up and were just starting to unfurl. They are definitely not leaves like the day lily. If it is the tulip that I suspect it to be, it will be a bright, rich red color when it blooms. woo hoo!!!! You know you'll see pictures of it as soon as that starts to happen :) :) :)
The ones I planted not long ago, that the puppies dug up, haven't showed the first sign of blooming although the irises from Claudia are starting to green up - yeah!!! I remember vividly my anticipation last year when things were blooming all around and I didn't have any of the flowers in my yard. I may not have a lot but I will definitely have more flowers blooming this year! I didn't get down to the trailer to get the rose bush but it's on my list and Arlene tells me now is the time to transplant it - maybe tonight????
I guess all this rain is good for the ground and we are starting to see some greenery. The spring onions are everywhere and there are little blades of grass starting to show. The list of things to do is growing but still the danger of frost exists so I'm in a holding pattern. Can you tell I'm ready to get started??? lol
If you're in FL, I hope you have already planted your tomatoes. You might be too late if you haven't...
I hear there was lots of yard work being done in GA over the weekend, maybe I'll get an update from Teri once the ache has gone from her muscles :) I can't wait for that feeling again!
As the weekend wound down and our guests headed for home, we heated up some pinto beans with ham and I made us some cornbread while we settled in to watch the race. We had enough of the heavy food and only ate just a little bit at dinner time - we were still too full from breakfast. lol The race was much more interesting than Daytona and we really enjoyed the quiet and the downtime. When Paul called later to tell us he was 80 miles from home, we were both so happy to already be in ours. :)
I hope you spent your weekend with friends and family and I hope you found time to rest when it was all said and done.
"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort." ~Jane Austen
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