I am so late posting this, but things have been a bit crazy around here. Hannah decided that we were going to have a Halloween party because in our town there is little for late teen to 21 year olds to do on this holiday. She and Jackson were just going to invite a few of their friends to keep it small. We decorated the backyard so they could hang out around the fire pit, play corn hole and roast hotdogs and make s’mores.
I found this vintage door cover at an estate sale.
Hannah and I carved pumpkins the night before.
Since the party started at 5:30 there was plenty of light to play Cornhole.
They loved the fire pit so much that we had to go get more wood.
They decided to load up in the back of Gavin’s pickup and go trick or treating around the neighborhood. I know some people think they may be too old, but I had seen a post on All Things Longview that was asking if any adults could go trick or treating. The yes response was overwhelming. This is mainly because most kids go to the really big neighborhoods where they block off the streets and are known for their trick or treating. Our little neighborhood has homes that decorate but no one comes.
Hannah was Gumball and her Olivia was Darwin (a fish. she had a fin but you can’t see it from the front) from the Adventures of Gumball.
Gavin and Hannah
The kids ended up with a lot of candy. One house had hotdogs and hot chocolate. After the trick or treating they decided to play some board games.
The festivities ended around midnight and everyone had a great time. I think we’ll have to do this again. I hope everyone else had a happy Halloween.
On Thursday Donny took our little rescue kitten out into the backyard with him. Not unusual because she she loves to be carried around. He named her Ruth, and like her Ozark namesake, she is a little spitfire. Well, it’s almost like she recognized where she was because she started fighting to get down, jumped out of his arms, and ran into the neighbors that are catty corner behind us. We immediately went to the fence to see if we could see her with no luck. We drove around to their house and began calling for her and looking in everyone’s backyards on that street. Since it was so hot outside we figured that she was asleep somewhere under something in their yard. They weren’t home so I couldn’t go ask if I could look around. When it was later in the day, Jackson and I drove around to see if we could see the litter that she came from. No luck. That’s when I started walking around our block, with my binoculars, looking like an absolute creeper.
By this time we were all getting very worried because she is just so little. When it became dark I walked up and down our street looking for any sign of her. We had all given up. Then at 11:17 I decided to give it one more shot and went outside. I heard this chirp and when I looked down she was hopping around the patio. What a relief and we all cheered when I brought her in. Donny had said that she would eventually find her way back, but with all of the nighttime predators I wasn’t so sure. She got another bath and then happily snuggled up with Donny.
They like to watch videos together.
She slept curled up under Donny’s chin last night. The other cats are starting to warm up to her finally. She definitely brings happiness to our family.
Just because we have 2 newer cats doesn’t mean that we will ever forget our sweet babies that have passed on. I didn’t want the other cats to forget them either so we did a homage to them. I put them above the cats food station and I have caught Milo looking at them.
I love watermelon. It’s definitely my favorite fruit. I had picked one up from Aldi and it was not good. I find that most seedless varieties aren’t. I googled produce near me and it turned up a produce shop right down the road. Donny and I had actually tried to find it last year, but Google maps took us to a completely wrong place. I found it this time.
They had all of their plants outside.
It’s a very rustic place with uneven floors and no air conditioning, but they sell a lot of jarred goods and they produce looked amazing. I honed in on the watermelons that were in the back of the store. That’s where I found my seeded one. I chose one and put it by the register and decided to go look around for anything else that might tempt me. Now here’s the clincher; there are no prices anywhere. There were a few people shopping and I chose my items and got in line behind another woman. She had a small box, not filled all the way, and the cashier told her that her total was $115. Excuse me? I thought I must have just misheard. I didn’t. This is what I purchased at it was $41.
My beautiful toddler sized watermelon.
5 peaches, 2 tomatoes and a bag of fresh butter beans. That’s it. I will say that everything was delicious.
I had one of the tomatoes for dinner.
I love them with fresh basil, feta, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I’m still debating if $41 was a little too high for what I purchased. I guess you pay for higher quality. I will go back for more watermelon though, unless I can find a truck selling them.
We also had a surprise last night. Donny was going to lock the chickens up when he heard a noise coming from the laundry room. He looked in and a little face peeked around from the back of the dryer.
She’s a sweet little girl kitty. I think she is from a litter that we have seen on our street. Donny went out a got some kitten milk and wet food which she devoured. I gave her a bath this morning because she had fleas on her. So far she is doing really well. We just need to come up with a name. I’ve noticed that when we lose one cat, another one just shows up. We lost Bailey and O’Malley showed up. We lost Queso and this one shows up. What are the odds?
I HATE writing this post. Saturday night Queso and Monkey did not want to come in the house. It’s not unusual for them to be outside. Queso was my daughter’s cat that we took in when she moved to the Hill Country. Donny and I both fell asleep in the living room watching a movie. I got up about 1 am and since he looked so comfortable I let him sleep. He later told me that at about 3 am he heard a cat ruckus outside. This isn’t unusual because we have a very cat friendly street and there are a lot of strays that we feed. He went outside to look around to find Queso and Monkey to bring them in. He couldn’t find them.
Sunday morning Milo woke me up to go outside at 6:10. I always start the coffee and then go outside to make sure the cats have food and fresh water. When I walked out onto the patio I saw Queso laying under the big table. I called him but he didn’t respond. I got closer to him and realized that he wasn’t breathing. My heart broke. I went inside and woke Donny up. We picked up Queso’s body to see if we could see anything that would explain what happened to him. Nothing. Not a scratch that we could see. He had looked like he was just sleeping. We wrapped him in his blanket and buried him in the backyard.
This was the last picture I took of him. He was the coolest cat. He weighed 15 pounds and would not take no for an answer. He loved HARD. His favorite place to sleep was on my pillow with his arms wrapped around my neck. He loved to give kisses. He wanted all the other cats to be his friend. He would stand guard on our cars or the trash cans. His favorite place to nap outside was the plant shelf.
Taken during a thunderstorm.
His favorite napping spot.
Always wanting to help.
Late night snuggles.
Loving any basket, bag or box.
He and Milo were best friends. They always wanted to be near each other. Milo is having a hard time with Queso not being here. He wants to be in the same room as I’m in and if he’s not he will loudly meow. We are all going to miss Queso so much. He was definitely one of a kind and it felt like he was always more human than cat.
P.S.
We found some coyote tracks in the ditch mud so now we believe that he tried to fight off a coyote and when he howled he scared it off. There must have been damage that we couldn’t see.
This morning I needed to make more sweet potatoes. I keep roasted ones in the fridge because I eat them everyday. They are so easy and so good. Anyway, I thought I’d throw in the recipe I use.
About 2 pounds of sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 T olive or avocado oil
1 T pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
!/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
Put everything in a bowl and stir it until everything is coated evenly.
Spread it out on a baking sheet lines with parchment paper.
Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 425 degree oven.
After 15 minutes give them a flip and continue baking for about 10 minutes.
They are so good and so good for you.
Remember the eggs I froze? I thawed out two of them for cookies and you couldn’t even tell the eggs had been frozen.
I quit buying cookies a while ago. I will bake something sweet and that’s the choice my family has until the jar is empty and then I’ll bake something else. It seems to be working out pretty well. Truthfully though, we are not really snackers so they last over a week at least.
My mustard pickled eggs were finally ready to eat. I had one with an apple for lunch and it was so good. I’m trying not to eat a whole lot of meat so this is a good way for me to get protein.
The seeds I planted are sprouting. Donny is off for the next two days so we’ll be working on the garden.
Hopefully something will come of these. Fingers crossed.
The garlic, green onions and celery are growing also. Green onions are so easy to grow. I just stuck the white part in the pot and the green part grows like crazy. I just walk outside and cut off what I need.
Last year our hostas didn’t really take off. I guess they just needed to get used to the pot.
And last, but not least, we have a semi new member of the family.
His name is O’Malley and he is a feral cat that I have been trying to get close to for months. One day he just decided that we weren’t out to kill him and has hung around our patio ever since. He has come into the house 3 times but it still very leery of the indoors. As soon as he gets more comfortable with us I’m going to get his vaccines and neuter. Baby steps.
I have not wanted to go to the grocery. Aldi has completely rearranged their store and it’s so confusing because items are not grouped together like they should be. I decided that we really need to use up what we have before I actually forced to go shopping. Because the weather has been absolutely beautiful these past few days we have been eating outside and I’ve been sprucing up the patio. The hens have been laying again so that means more meals using our eggs.
Dinner was a hit with everyone. I whipped up a ham and cheese quiche. I pulled some spiral sliced ham out of the freezer and I had cheese in the fridge.
We also had some strawberries and blueberries that needed to be used for something so I added sugar and some water and cooked those down to make a compote for waffles.
It does take a while for the berries to cook down, but it’s so worth it.
I just make the waffles while the quiche is cooking.
I found the best recipe for waffles.
While I was cleaning out the pantry I found a can of sweetened condensed milk and made some cookies. I had never made these before, but they were so good.
I feel like I’m really late getting my seeds started, but I was able to get a plant table done. We got the mini saw horses at an estate sale last year. I had the boards so I just stained them all dark walnut. I plan on painting the saw horses, but I didn’t have enough paint.
I love sprucing up getting ready for summer. I try to use what we already have. I am planning some fun, funky additions to our little patio. It basically serves as another room since we tend to eat and spend a lot of time out there. I can’t wait to get started.
Night before last I stayed up until 2 am watching a limited series. It was so good I didn’t wanted to finish it. It’s 6 parts and I got to the 4th episode before I had to call it quits because I just couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. The next morning I finished the last two. It’s called The Undoing. It stars Hugh Grant, Nicole Kidman and Lily Rabe. It’s a murder mystery with twists and turns. Hugh Grant is amazing and so is Nicole Kidman. This was filmed when Nicole Kidman’s face actually moved and showed emotion. I had watched the series The Perfect Couple that she was in recently and could hardly stand it because her face is so frozen and weird looking now. Anyway, The Undoing is on Max/HBO and I highly recommend it, especially if you like murder mysteries.
Last night I watched The Heretic also starring Hugh Grant. I have been waiting for this to come out on a streaming service and when I saw that it was releasing Friday on Max I planned my evening around watching it. I love horror movies and this particular one was highly rated on Rotten Tomatoes. It was good, but I wish I would have watched this movie before I watched The Undoing because I think I would have liked it so much more. The Undoing was just that good. Hugh Grant was very good in this role. I think the older he gets he can get away from the romcoms that made him famous when he was younger and I like these grittier roles for him.
Before I settle in to watch The Heretic I made Instant pot ribs, baked potatoes and brussel sprouts. It was such a beautiful night that Gavin, Hannah and I decided to dine al fresco.
I picked up this tablecloth months ago at a thrift store and it turned out to be the perfect size. Hopefully we’ll be using a whole lot more since the weather is warming up. We ended up staying outside for quite a while because no one wanted to go inside. I just love nights like this.
This weekend the weather was just awful. It was cold, windy and rainy. We ended up staying inside almost the whole time. The most exercise I got was changing into my chicken boots about 10 times a day to go out into our water logged yard. One morning last week, it was about 5:30 in the morning, I heard the chickens getting very restless. That’s unusual for them when it’s still dark outside. I was walking into the backyard when I saw this giant owl perched on the roof of the coop. When it heard me it flew away. We make sure that the coop is completely secured when it gets dark because there is always something trying to get to them.
We have 8 hens and they have finally started laying again, which is great with the price of eggs now.
The city is replacing the water and sewage lines in our neighborhood so our street is getting ready to get torn up. It’s going to be a pain for a while, but will be so worth it once it’s finished.
They are just about ready to be digging in front of our house. What started off as a very foggy wet day turned out to be just gorgeous.
I finally got all of the donations bagged up. There were piles sitting in our living room for weeks. Jackson and I took them to the thrift store. We decided to go inside and see if we could find any treasures. I found this planter that still had the original makers sticker on it. Even though it was completely and horribly tarnished, it was marked solid brass so I picked it up.
I started working on it when we got home.
After a lot of elbow grease mixed in with some vinegar, salt, ketchup, toothpaste and finally some brasso that I picked up at the grocery, it turned out pretty good.
Speaking of thrifting, about a week ago I picked up this little table to use as a plant stand. Who would have thought that it’s the perfect table for Donny to use while he is healing. He still has a hard time putting weight on his knee, but he finally has an appointment with a rheumatologist on Thursday. I feel so bad for him because he still goes to work and uses all of his energy there so he is wiped when he gets home. Because he becomes a stomach sleeper during the night, he’s been sleeping on the couch so that he can keep his knee from moving. I am just praying the this doctor can give him something that will help him out.
If you read here you know how much I love our backyard, especially the tree line that acts as a natural privacy fence. It is lush and the trees curl over making a great hiding place/chill out place for our chickens. It’s like you are in a little forest.
We had to disconnect part of the lights because of the chickens heat lamp that is in their coop.
Yesterday I was at the kitchen window and looked out. I thought our yard looked different, then my brain registered what I was seeing. The tree line was disappearing.
I immediately called our landlord. She doesn’t own the house directly behind us, but owns the white house next to it. We are friendly with the neighbor who lives there. Our landlord had no idea what was going on. I told her that I had seen a dumpster in their driveway so maybe they had moved. She didn’t think so, but something was going on. I walked over to the house and knocked, but no one was there. I opened the door to the dumpster and there was a lot of household things in it. As I was walked over to the white house to find out if that neighbor knew anything Trent, the neighbor saw me and came out. I asked him if he knew what was going on and he told me that the neighbor had died and that the daughter now owned the house. He gave me her cell number.
I took pictures for Donny because when they were cutting everything down they were just leaving it in our yard.
Today it got worse. The lawn crew was out there bright and early this morning and Donny went to tell them to get all of the branches out of our yard. They did but not before cutting every single bush, plant and tree down. It’s awful. Our whole backyard is now exposed. Before it was so nice to not have to look at the neighbors behind us. Now the whole fence is naked. When I went out to feed the chickens her two young girls were leaning over the back fence just staring into our yard. Not only is their no privacy now, but we are going to have to put up more chicken wire along the back fence so the chickens won’t jump over.
While I was out there I noticed my string lights that I had attached to our tree were down.
They had cut right through the wires. I did call the owner and tell her what had happened. I also asked her why she had everything cut down. She just said, Oh, it had gotten overgrown. No shit, It’s a natural privacy fence. Donny assures me it will grow back some and we are planning on planting a new fence in the spring, but until then we’ll just have to grin and bear it.
Jackson asked if we could go to the thrift store today so I figured some second hand retail therapy might help. We went to Goodwill first. Ours is not that great, but I did find these plant stands for $1.99 each that I’m going to use out on the patio when it warms up and we can plant again.
We also went to the big thrift store where I found one of the two cookbooks that have been forever on my wish list. Yes, I know I could buy it new, but finding it secondhand is so much better. Plus it was only 50 cents.
I also found this 1979 bread cookbook that I am going to love cooking out of. The Julia Child book is the one I was the most excited about though. Now if I could only find the Jacques Pepin’s Le Technique. One day.
I also picked up this vintage whisk. I use a whisk everyday and I just loved this little guy.
Yesterday the wind was howling. Things were flying all around the patio, all around the yards, it was a mess. This morning we woke up to temperatures in the 20’s. I realize it’s nothing like the more northern states, but for us, it was COLD. Once I get cold it takes forever for my body to warm up. In fact, this is how I walked around the house until Donny left for work and I actually got dressed for the day.
I had no plans to leave the house today. I still had laundry and some baking to do. I had cooked and mashed some sweet potatoes so I decided to make some spiced muffins.
I’m still not sure how I feel about having to take care of a sourdough starter. I have moved it to a larger container and fed it again.. Maybe, if some bread turns out okay, I will feel more confident about it. I don’t know why I feel intimidated by some dough in a jar.
I am almost through all of my meal plans for the week. Tonight was meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy. I did not serve a vegetable because no one seemed particularly hungry and I knew it would just get shoved back into the fridge.
I don’t know if anyone else does this, but when I’m cooking I always wear an apron. I end up just leaving it on, sometimes just taking it off when I’m ready to get dressed for bed. I was telling Donny that things were made so much better decades ago. This apron was from when I was 18 years old and working at Catfish Charlies in Corpus Christi. I worked there for 3 years and this is the only apron I have left from that time, but even the name is still legible. How crazy is that?
Yep, I’m wearing a turtle neck and a heavy sweater. I’m telling ya, I get cold easily.
Now I’m going to go ready the Daily Bible book. I’m still in Genesis, but I’m learning a lot. Especially learning that the very early biblical names are very hard to pronounce.
