Denver Visit to Our Kiddos...

Mornin', y'all!  How y'all doin'?  I'm fine as frog's hair split four ways!   If I's any better, I'd be twins!

OK, I'll try to control myself and use good English and grammar.  Don't hate me if I fall back into my hick self...  :)   I write like I talk...  what can I say.

We've been out of town the last few days - went to Denver to see our Kiwi Kids (guess I'll always think of them that way...actually, I should call them gypsies or vagabonds cuz no telling where they're going to land after their stint in Denver...)   Josh and Lindsey picked us up from the airport and we had such fun with them on Saturday!

 We drove around Denver (first time we'd actually been IN Denver proper) and we drove through the mountains and went to Georgetown, which is a cute little Victorian-type mountain village.  It was so cute, and we did some window-shopping and TONS of visiting.  Later that evening, we went to Landry's Seafood.  Mass quantities of crab-artichoke-spinach dip, crawfish etouffee, shrimp fettuccine, steak, fried shrimp/fish were consumed.  We fairly WADDLED out the door.

 

Here, Josh is working one of those horseshoe puzzles and Lindsey is waiting to see if he really can do it!  And HE DOES!  (He used to have one... I wonder if he told her?)

It was SO good to hug and kiss those kids. They probably got tired of all the affection - especially from their mom, but I really don't care.  Actually, they were glad to see somebody from home, too.  They moved up there in November and nobody's been up there yet to see them.  What with the holidays and snow...

 

 

This guy is trying to shovel his car out of the snow...

 

Speaking of snow.  Colorado got it's first and biggest snowstorm of the year while we were there. Yep, that's right!  Came a blizzard on Sunday, and we were trapped in the hotel all day long!!!   12-24 inches all over the Denver area.  I'm telling you, THIS MOMMA was UPSET thinking I wasn't going to see my kids again before we left on Monday!!!  There were many tears shed and much nashing of teeth and stomping of feet and whining going on in room 219.

Never fear - My brave son put on his snow armor and came to his momma's rescue!!!  He waited til after the snow plows had made their rounds many times over late in the afternoon and he came to see us at the hotel!  We did not want them to get out and drive but he did anyway.  He just called and said, "I'll be there in two minutes!"

Boy howdy - was this Momma HAPPY!!!!!   Jumpin up and down happy!!!  I was all smiles after we got that call!!!   More hugs and kisses and some visiting and then we urged him to go home before the roads were covered up again.  Those snow plows ran all night long.  The kids had to go to work just like everybody else Monday morning.  They are getting used to being Colorado residents and dealing with snow and driving...

 

It IS quite beautiful Monday morning here and you can see the mountains in the distance. See how much Denver got?

Excuse me, I love Colorado and it's SO beautiful - been there several times - but I COULD NOT LIVE WHERE IT SNOWS ALL THE TIME.  You cain't take the "Texas" outta this girl.  Give me the heat and humidity any day!  (Ask me again if I still think that in August...)

We went on to the airport on Monday - slow taxi ride which cost us $90 (had to pick myself up off the floor of the car) but we knew that'd probably happen.  I was watching that meter. tick-tick-tick...  The driver was a nice lady but she talked the entire time.  "Hey Lady - could you just step on it a little bit???"  She was being careful and I appreciated that, but there WERE cars going faster than us.  Then we spent the entire day in Denver International Airport with all the Sunday customers that didn't get to fly because of the bad weather. Lots of cancelled flights and delays.  Our flight to DFW was delayed over an hour.  Guess I should count myself lucky.  We were SO GLAD to see that beautiful Dallas skyline after we got our car and headed home to East Texas!

Now I've saved the best photo for last...  It's either a Colossal  "FAIL"  or...

I HAVE A HALO!  (and Tony doesn't)

 

YOU  BE  THE  JUDGE !!!!

He Thinks His Tractor's Sexy!

Handsome Hubby got himself a new toy!

Finally did it this weekend on Saturday.  He's been wantin' one for two years now and finally decided to take the leap and bite the bullet.  We needed it here on the farm.  Ya just gotta have a tractor if you got land.  There's always so much mowing/ shredding, movin' dirt, leveling, and stuff that a farmer/rancher's gotta get done.  We all got to drive it.  It's not a huge tractor.  When/if  Tony takes over the hay production one of these old days, he'll have to get bigger equipment but this'n 'll do just fine for now.

Princess and her dad were doing some cleaning up around the barn area and some burning.  She's mastered that "flipping the bucket" up full of dirt.  Takes some coordination to the the "flip" just right and not lose all your dirt...

Daddy had his turn - I think he was more excited about the getting the tractor than Tony!  He did some mowing and grating... stayed over at our place ALL DAY... 

Mom of course had to have her picture made looking all farmer's wife-y... very cute, mom!

And last but not least,  me , myself, and I  --- I did drive it around and piddle a bit with it....

A good July 4th holiday was had by all.  We stayed out at the farm all weekend, and ate way too much. I don't have internet out there, so no July 4th post.  But you can bet that we were thinking about all that it meant.   And we're out in the country, so there were fireworks going off all around us - we didn't have to buy - just sat outside and enjoyed....

I was in the house watching the (Macy's) fireworks display at some point and the great music numbers on TV.  It would be so neat to be there on the Hudson River for a display like that and hear all the old patriotic songs and sing along.  My heart swelled with pride just listening on TV.  At the end, when they played the Star-Spangled Banner I did have to stand up and put my hand over my heart and sing this moving song with the band & the rest of the nation.  It still brings a tear to my eye...  We flew our flag...

We cooked out a couple of times, spent special times with family members and beloved friends, ate WAY too much.  I finished canning a dozen jars of peach preserves - YUM.  Also, put up another dozen pints of hot sauce... did some yard work, went to church, and we just had a wonderful 3 day weekend all the way around.

An aside... you see how low my flag is to the ground?  Well, Sam and Alice have noticed.  They love to run and jump up and hang on the flag with their little toenails!  They think it's great fun when they're out wrestling in the front yard and attacking each other to include my nice flag in their antics.  They look like little mini-Tarzans as they go leaping through the air and swinging around on my flag.  Note to self:  PUT FLAG AWAY TIL NEXT HOLIDAY...

We move Princess back to school this weekend... if...
                                                                                       if...
                                                                                                  if...

IF we can git her off the tractor!!!  There she goes again!  Mowing the fence rows!  Princess, wait! Come back!  You have to go back to college!!!!

Harvest Time!

The harvest season has begun!!! YEA! I have harvested ONE big juicy tomato - it's almost ready for me to slice and eat over the sink with juice running down my chin and hand, 2 dozen jalapenos, dill, onions (still got a bunch in the ground - just pulling 'em as we need 'em), 6 big yellow squash, 4 zucchinis, and about 2 dozen picklin' cucumbers!!! I know what I'm doin' on Memorial Day weekend!

I love this time of year. I put up 2 1/2 dozen quart jars of my spicy pickle recipe last summer and they were all gone before the end of the year 2009. We love 'em and so does everybody else. I did a post on making 'em last summer in June. If you're interested go to this link Pucker Up For Pickles! So hopefully I planted more this year and will make more than ever.

Jelly's still a ways off, but that's coming up, too. I also planted plenty of tomatoes and peppers so we can do some hot sauce. I can make a meal on hot sauce and chips (and do sometimes!) Monday evenin' I made some fried squarsh (haha). I never fry stuff except in the summer and except for fried squarsh or okra. That's about it. Wanna see it even tho all of you already know how to do it? Well, you're goin' too, anyway, as I'm hurtin' for blog fodder.

Ok, here we go.  I've got a bowl with about 2 parts flour to 1 part corn meal and I'll stir it with a fork til it's all mixed up.  I've got milk and eggs, too, and maybe a cup of vegetable oil in the skillet heatin' up.

I mix two eggs with about 1/2 cup milk and whip it up real good.

I've already got my yellow squarsh & zucchinis washed straight outta the garden and sliced up.  They get an egg bath now. Swish the slices around in the bowl and cover 'em real good and slimy.

Then, I take them out one or two at a time and salt & pepper them and put 'em in the flour/cornmeal bowl.  They get coated all over with this mixture and then...

...throw them babies into that hot grease & let 'em fry!  Not too hot, or that corn meal 'll burn before your squarsh is done.  I let 'em fry for a few minutes on each side til they start turnin; golden brown.

Here we go - see, they're lookin' purty good on one side there, flip 'em over and do the other side!

Ok, have ya a plate with some paper towels standin' by and when your squarsh is done take it out carefully (so you won't lose your crust) and lay them on your plate.  VOILA!!!

Now, don't they look great?  My mouth was waterin' way before these were done.  I love to get a little Ranch dressin' in a salsa bowl and go to town on fried squarsh.  I don't need anything else to go with this supper!  In a week or so, I'll have some fresh homegrown summer tomatoes to go with these! Or how 'bout an onion and tomato sandwich???  Love 'em!