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 !!!!

Vee's Wednesday Note Card Party!

I'm back in blogland a bit - just to check in and see what you all are doing before the Christmas Rush gets rolling.  If you've not joined up with Vee's Note Card Party, well here's your chance!




 My selections this month are SNOW SCENES from SAND FLAT FARM  -  here goes~~~~~~

My little yellow farmhouse - the back...

My garden shed...

In the orchard...

AND, finally, the sun breaking through on Sand Flat Farm!

If I don't get back before all the Christmas festivities begin....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

More snow...

WOW - two years in a row - this is unbelievable!  Who'da  thunk it???  This is the wildest weather I remember in a long time here in Texas!  Last week, I missed a couple days of work because of icy road conditions, and today at the farm it was in the upper sixties.  We worked outside for a couple hours after church and lunch. I snapped a few pics the other day of the snow at the farm.  Indulge me, won't you?  This is such a rarity down here, I have to document it for those years when we don't see any!

Lots of tracks in the snow in my garden area.  Can you tell what these are???

CROWS!  I tell you what, we got lots of crows.  Last year, they picked my purple hull peas out of the ground before they sprouted, they poked little holes in my cucumbers and pumpkins.  I need to station one of my kids out back with a pellet gun or some bird shot.  When I get some electric run out to the garden shed, I can leave a radio on.  That'll keep em away some.

Just a little snow left around the garden shed. 

Lookin' towards the back of the house ...

Mr. Jasper is following me around...

I sorta liked the way the shadows were laying across the ground...

Went down the pond on the Mule and we still had some ice on the pond and snow around. 

A little trek through the woods.  It's amazing how much you can SEE in the woods when there's snow on the ground.

Now, I don't know if you can tell what this horse is doing.  Our neighbors behind us whose house burned down... The ice is melting off the stable roof, and this horse is catching the drips.  This was so cute!  I watched him for several minutes.  He turned and looked at me, and then went back to catching the drips off the icicles!

Jasper was so glad to have his people come outside and play with him. I just love his eyes - they are kind of turquoise-y.  He's so sweet.  He rears up on our legs like a dog and grabs our hands so we will pet him.  He tells me he's lonesome, but I reminded him that he HAD a playmate, Alice, but he kept chasing her onto the house and up into the big oak tree and so we let her go live with my future daughter in law.  I'm sure Alice is loving Miss Lindsey.  Alice gets to snuggle with Lindsey on the couch, and I think she gets to sleep with her, too!  I don't think she'd wanna trade back, do you???   ; )

I've gotta call a plumber tomorrow.  One of our pipes froze at the farm.  There was water standing in the bathroom around the sink.  I sure  hope it's not under the house, cuz we'll have to take all the skirting off the house and it's going to be a big headache to get to the pipes.  There's minimal crawl-space under there.  I dread getting into all that mess...

Hubby watched the Super Bowl while I dozed a bit.  Sometimes we have friends over or go to others' houses, but today we just chilled at home.  Hotdogs and Klondikes - how does that sound for Super Bowl fare?  It was purty good.  We didn't really have a favorite team.  It's not as much fun when the Cowboys aren't there, and they ain't been there in a few years.  I'm kinda disappointed in them. Oh well.

Have a great week, my dear friends!  I'll try to get around to visit everyone soon. I've been working alot - my other office person has been out sick.  I hope she'll be back this week AND leave her sick germs at home!

Just stuff...

Aunt Amelia has got me all stirred up to change my blog banner.  You never know what that gal is gonna to have on her banner from day to day.  So.... I decided to change mine. I'm tired of lookin' at dead grass and bare trees.  Let's have some flowers and leaves and birds and grass to mow and stuff!

I'm feelin' so much better - thank ya'll for your well wishes. Almost back to normal.  I don't have my bucket with me at work anymore - a simple "slurp" is takin' care of the drainage problem at the present time and I expect the waterworks to dry up just anytime now!

Well, let's see. Daughter is comin' home this weekend, so that'll be nice. Of course, she's bringin' the RAT with her.   Adam is in Hershey, PA, for a gig, then down to Florida, and back through Georgia before they head back to Nashville.  Hope that all goes well and I pray always for safe travel for all.

Remember my little cabbages and broccoli plants I told you I set out?  I'm thinkin', yeah, they're cool/cold weather plants and it gets so stinkin' hot around here so early. So I go ahead and plant 'em.  THEN, comes the hugest snowstorm East Texas has had in 30+ years.  Well, I got all worried about my little plants so here's what I came up with - "make do or do without" type idea.

Can ya see what I did?  I had two rows, so I turned some of my yard chairs upside down to make a top, and covered all my little babies with painters dropcloths and anchored them on the edges with rocks.  I was still worried about 'em with the weight of the snow, but after I kinda shoveled the snow back, they could see daylight again. Those cheap plastic chairs (which I'd like to throw in the dumpster) tore thru the plastic with the heavy snow, but still protected the plants.  I checked on 'em yesterday, and pulled all the plastic and chairs off of 'em, and they were all standin' up just fine and ready to see some sunshine!

You probably can't see 'em but they're there. Ya know, they don't cost much, but I figger, if there's somethin' little I can do to keep 'em from dying, why not? So I did.  I hope they are grateful that I saved their lives.

Well, it's been a struggle to find something to post today, and that's about all I can come up with, so I guess I'll close.  Ya'll keep your dress down and I'll see ya next time!

SNOW!

Just had to show ya'll some snow photos. I know we're all sick of snow, but we haven't had snow like this since back in the 70's, I think ... Debbie at Of His Pasture can rub it in a little bit now that we're getting some. haha! First a few of the farm - we went into work at noon, so I hightailed it out the farm to get some pics! This may not happen again for another 30 years!

Now, then, I'll do a few from our neighborhood at home... K?

Played with this last 'un a little bit. Enhanced the colors. The values were there but not quite that much color.  So, there's my snow pictures. I took 124 but I thought I'd spare ya'll.  You folks up north probably are tired of looking at this stuff. I'm tired of the cold, but it was nice to see this amount of snow.  It'll be gone tomorrow as it's spose to get up in the midi-50's'...  Ya'll take care now, ya hear?

SNOW!!! and other stuff

Can you believe this?

This is what we woke up to this morning. A rarity around here in east Texas. It swooped through the Metroplex and it's still coming down even at 10:00 a.m. here at my office. Man, it's practically a blizzard! The roads are not frozen so we're okay. They might tonight if it gets below freezing, but we'll see.

On the way to work this morning, I swung through some country roads. It's always prettier in the country...

I'm really glad I went to the farm yesterday evening and covered my little broccoli and cabbage plants!  It's a redneck version of flower blankets. I turned my old metal lawn chairs upside down and put 'em between the rows, and then covered that whole stretch (about 35') with painters drop cloths and anchored 'em down on the edges with iron ore rocks.  In the country, you make do or do without ya know...  I hope those little plants make it. It's just about 32 degrees right now.  They might get cold, but at least they won't be gettin'wet or icy.

New topic -  Here's my garden all tilled up for this year.  We had about a 35' x 55' plot for the last two years, and we added another 12' x 20' specifically for corn this year. It's where it will get more direct sun all day. We added it kinda whonky-jawed to one side, cuz my hubby had transplanted an oak tree to the side of the main garden and we had to work around that.  Plus, this year, we're going to lay PVC pipe all around the garden to keep it watered. In the past we've had to set up sprinklers or do it all by hand which usually took at least an hour or two to do.

Here's my onions. They're about 6"-8" tall right now.

Here's either broccoli or cabbage. When they're this little, it's hard to tell them apart - at least for me.

My garden shed. I love my garden shed. It's a hunnerd years old probably, but Tony and our carpenter friend jacked it up and made some repairs and put in a new floor and it's super. I'd rather have this 'un than a new one anyday.  I've often thought of white-washing it or yellow-washing it, but I can't decide. What do ya'll think? Should I leave it just as it is?  All rustic-y and weathered?  I like it this way, too... We're gonna run water to it so I can use my old washtub and rinse my vegetables an' stuff.

The above picture may be disturbing and graphic for some. Caution is advised. Look away if you are horrified. There's 4-5 of my gopher traps on the left in this pic with which I maim and kill innocent little rodents with big hairy teeth that tear up my yard.  It's almost gopher season again!  Will have to re-set my counter on the sidebar...  

I wonder if there's a good recipe for gophers?  Man, I never thought of that!  We really could become self-sufficient on our farm with 75 acres and gophers running amok all under the surface!  All the gophers we could ever want and our garden, MAN!   Gopher stew or... hey I know --- Gopher Kabobs!  Skewer a gopher, some onion and bell peppers and wrap it all in some smoked bacon and I bet you'd have a doozy of a Kabob!  Maybe throw a little jalapeno pepper on there too, a wedge of Monterrey Jack or mozzerella????  My mouth is watering already!  Maybe chicken friend gopher!  With some gopher grease gravy & onions over mashed 'taters & greens! 

Ok, have I run you off yet?   If not, please continue...  sorry I get carried away sometimes... more junk in the shed...

Cool wooden boxes from the lumber yard that I haven't decided what to do with yet.

Shutters for future projects - they make great shelves and window boxes!

This is my thrifty nifty aluminum weather stripping container that I got at a garage sale. It's all wood and has slots on the top that I can drop my garden tools down into. It's so cool. It was once in a lumber yard, I don't know where, but it's worked out very nicely! My husband thought I'd really lost it when I came home with this - now he likes it!

Last, but certainly not least -  here's hard evidence that spring is right around the corner. The daffodils are coming up as well as my tulips.  They may freeze this weekend with the snow, but hopefully they are hardy and will make it!  I'm so excited to see them.  The paperwhites have already bloomed and faded. The quince is blooming right now, too, but I didn't get a picture.

Well, hope you enjoyed my random post this morning. Take care all you northerners in the snow. Ya'll had quite a storm up there in the northeast. Hunker down & stay warm, and as always, keep yer dress down!