No words necessary

Date Day Plan B

Every Friday is date day for me and Mike. We take turns planning the day and this date was mine to plan. Here is my plan: Pick up Palm Branches for Church, stop by McDonald's for two coffees to go, decorate for Palm Sunday at Church, head to the Antique Rose Emporium to shop and have a picnic. But here is what happened: Picked up Palm Branches, got coffee, made an unplanned stop at the grocery store and Walmart, decorated at Church, headed to the Rose Garden, got a flat/ruined tire, headed to Discount Tires in College Station, ate our picnic lunch outside the Tire Shop while they put on a new tire. 

 This tire is one month old! Two very nice Aggie guys stopped to ask if we needed help. The first time, Mike said that we were okay and the second time he said we did need help.

                         Sitting on a large rock, eating a rib-eye steak sandwich from our ice chest.

The weather was beautiful, the picnic lunch was excellent, our tire was under warranty so it didn't cost us anything, and we learned how to get the small spare tire out from under our car. We didn't make it to the Rose Garden but the day was an adventure after all.

7 a.m. on a country road

This was a very cool, sunny, and peaceful morning for a jog. When I finished my run, I walked a bit to cool down and got to see this Mama Hen and her babies. She was one of several sets of mamas and babies but she brought her brood back out into the sun as I quietly stood waiting with my camera. 

Good news, bad news

This is my first blog in 4 years!  During that very busy time, lots of good things happened. 

The Good news: Family

Mike and I celebrated our thirtieth wedding anniversary and my daughter Ky got married. Here are the members of my family now.

Aaron my son-in-law, Ky,   me (Kerrie), Mike,   Lee and Peggi my daughter-in-law

I love seeing these wonderful people as much as possible.

The Bad News: Termites

We have been in this house for 30 years and the termites are only in one small area, so it isn't all that bad. But, Mike has to take apart a new drainage system that he designed and figure out another one. Here is the work so far.

Despite the termites, Spring has been wonderful for me. We are enjoying the season by working in our vegetable garden, fishing, taking golf cart rides and exercising outdoors. The wild dew berries are getting ripe and I plan to make one really good pie. The wild grapes are blooming and there are flowers everywhere. I look forward to each afternoon-with a good book and a cup of coffee, followed by our golf cart ride and a healthy supper. I love very, very simple things and appreciate every blessing. There's always good news to be had-if I just remember to look.

When you live in the country......

You usually get to adopt some new pets, even if you weren't searching for them, when you live in the country. This golden cat is a full fledged male, apparently a lover and a fighter. He mostly stays with us although I am fairly sure he belongs to a neighbor. He is the loudest cat I've ever been around. He is sweet. He is always hungry and he is always loud. He is very friendly and tame around us but I've heard him with other wild cats. A few times he has appeared at our house with major wounds. Once I thought his throat was opened up so much that he needed stitches but he just took things easy for a few days and healed right up. This week, he is missing at least one toe and has a huge chunk of his face ripped away-right by his right eye. Well, we will continue to feed him and love him when he is around. Mike has named him Alphonse. My cat, Anderson, seems to like him too.
Soon, I will tell you about the other neighbors little dog who sleeps in a chair on our front porch.

Tired muscles

An 10 foot ladder, a paint roller on an extension pole and a 20 foot ceiling equals? A long, hard day and sore muscles. This part was actually easier than what I did earlier in the day. I had to reach the top of the wall with a 16 foot extension pole while standing on the floor. My upper body is a lot stronger than I thought! The darker area is the last of the unpainted wall and I was just about to finish up when Mike took this picture.I don't like to be very high off the floor. As you can see, I am above the door frame and even above the air vents-which are at 9 feet. I am working on my bedroom today and I would say that we are about 65% done with our remodeling.

The sunroom: before and after

The piled up mess, the old sub-floor, patched sheet rock with old paint, no trim, dirt, dust. Of course the major mess is from pushing everything to the center of the room so I could paint.

New floor! New paint! New trim!, Stuff still piled up but much more manageable and I can walk through this room. Still some dirt and dust but we are getting there. Today, Mike will work on the trim in the hallway and I have taken up the old carpet in our bedroom. I am weeding out the unwanted books and boxing up my keepsakes. I might even paint the bedroom ceiling today.


Sherrie, I want to remodel our bathroom and you volunteered your services, right?