Tuesday, May 31, 2016

A Get Away for David

So before David and I took off for the Hill Country I needed a touch up on my hair. I had my stylist add red low lights to my hair this time. I already have the highlights.... lots of white. My hair looks kinda like it did when I was in high school except I didn't wear bangs back then. In the direct sun light you can really see the red pop. I like it and I think David likes it. When I got home he goes "mmm I can tell you did something this time. Yep I see some red". He didn't tell me I looked like a punk rocker wanna be so that's a good thing. LOL
It's the end of the school year and technology has it's final meeting with all our technology service techs. Part of the meeting is a luncheon and They asked if we'd help serve pizza.... Hard job when the pizza doesn't arrive on time. We finally had a stampede of hungry techs when it did arrive. We had to save a piece or two for ourselves. Crazy. Ashley and Samara thought about hiding.

I took that Friday off so David and I could head to the hill country early for a little R n R. Poor David needed a break. Trying to keep up with the farm and the house is keeping him busy. We dropped Lilley off at Pamela's for the Weekend in Bryan and we're off for good times with our friends the Jackson's. They'll be coming in from Austin. David and I decide to make some stops along the way since we'll get there early since we didn't go to work. One place we stopped was in Dripping Springs at the Pizza Cave for some calzones and a salad. Not bad. The lunch special was 1/2 a calzone, salad and a drink for like $7. We walked away stuffed. We've always said we should stop there one day. You know how you pass something and think I wanna go there one day but never seem to have time but this time the timing was right.
Our next stop of interest was in Blanco. There's this antique mall there that we like to go to when we can. I came home with a couple of Crockery bowls and David found a pilsner beer glass and a beer serving tray we didn't think we could live without. LOL Crockery bowls was something my stepMother Carolyn loved to collect and now I'm kinda hooked.
Instead of jumping back on 290 and heading straight into Fredericksburg we took a left on 1623 to Albert, TX. In Albert you'll find an old time dance hall and ice house. It was built back in the early 1900's. It's no longer opened for dancing every weekend but is now only used for special events like weddings or special scheduled music events. It's really pretty on the inside. 
While the dance hall is primarily just for viewing you can still grab an ice cold adult beverage from the Albert Ice House that's open Wednesday thru Sunday usually after 3pm just across the parking lot. They tend to have music on the weekends.


David and I did walk into the dance hall here so I could take these pictures. The sun was blazing through the front entry. I was standing on the stage when I took this. Afterwards we did partake in an adult beverage or 2 from the ice house. They had a great setting right under a huge oak tree. While the sun was warn it was cool under that tree. If we hadn't already eaten we could have grabbed a bite to eat at the Pig Pen Food Truck. We were told the food was really awesome. Maybe next trip.

From here we drove on into Fredericksburg. 
Once we got into town we checked into our hotel and decided to head back out to check out some of the vendors out at the Trade Days. Of course as we pulled in we saw that they would be closing in about 20 minutes and before we could even think about parking our friends Pam and Kevin called they were checking in to their hotel and were ready to get together. The fun begins. You put Kevin and David together and you never know what's going happen or be said. They met us in the lobby of their hotel with cold beers and we went out to sit by the pool for a while to catch up on the latest. Very relaxing. We were busy catching up when we decided we might want to go get something to eat before it got to late. We decided to eat at Crossroads Saloon and Steak House. Which was very Yummy. 


During dinner Pamela sent me a picture of Lilley being a good girl and chillin.
I got updates periodically. She's such a pretty girl.
Lilley and Pamela. LOL






Instead of hanging out in the saloon for music after dinner we walked across the street to Hondo's for some music and jalapeno margarita's. Don't turn up your nose until you try them. I thought yikes jalapeno sounds spicy and nasty but boy was I wrong. You know how margarita's can get a little sweet tasting well the jalapeno takes away the sweet and gives the drink a nice shot to the drink. They are really good. Try it you'll like it. My friend did when she went a couple of weeks ago and she had 3 of them. You know sometimes jalapenos can be really hot when this was one of those times but it actually made the drinks taste even better.
He's smiling!

Kevin is also a Bell Gang guys. You know one of the guys that David worked with at Taco Bell back in High School for anyone who might have just started reading my blog.. These like 7 guys have remained friends all this time and became know as the The Bell Gang.  We try to meet up with Kevin and Pam at least once or twice a year to hang out somewhere in the hill country. Sometimes it's in Fredericksburg and sometimes it's in their hometown Austin. We may be thinking of a new location. Who knows.
On that Saturday we all headed back out to the Trade days and spent like 3-3 1/2 hours out there shopping and wandering thru all the various vendors. Pam and Kevin spent the most money. LOL I think this is one time we didn't spend anything. Now if the mini mansion was complete we might have picked up a few things but since it's not we got to keep our money in our pockets. After a while we decided to go back into town and shop for a few things. Had to stop at the store front tasting room for Fat Ass winery for Pam and Kevin because their daughter told them it was the best.  
After exhausting our shopping options for the day we drove out to Comfort, TX to have some wine at Bending Branch winery. This has become one of David's and now Kevin's favorite place. There was a guy out on the patio providing entertainment. Singing and guitar playing. Doesn't David look relaxed?  He was disappointed that our favorite "somebody" sommelier had left to go to a new winery that will be opening up off Hwy 16 this fall. After finishing off our bottle of wine we drove back into Comfort to the Hill Country Distillers. No Corn or Grain for these guys. They make their white lightning aka moonshine with jalapenos or prickly pear cactus. High octane ... the jalapeno is 80 proof and the prickly pear is 102 proof. Now my fav is the jalapeno moonshine in a Bloody Shiner aka Bloody Mary. You can also some liqueors called dulces. Once drink almost everyone can relate to is the Dreamcicle.  Remember the ice cream bars on a stick called what else... Dreamcicle.  It's getting late and we were getting hungry so it's time to take this crew out in the boon docks to Alamo Springs Cafe for dinner.
When Pamela and I went to Fredericksburg back in April David told us we needed to go to the Alamo Springs Cafe. It was in this book he had of places you should go visit and/or eat at. So we did and we loved it so now on our trip we going again. At least this time I know what to expect for the drive but they didn't. I also knew my mouth was watering for the food.
Check out this hamburger on a jalapeno bun.         mmm I think I have a theme going on...  Everything is Jalapeno.... the margaritas, the moonshine and now the buns.  This time they had onion rings so David and I shared a basket. Another yummy dinner.
We got there early enough on this trip that there was still daylight plus it was daylight savings time to see where we we'regoing in the parking lot.
Kevin found that we didn't have to go back the way we came in but we could go to the right and would eventually,,, I said eventually catch the highway that our hotels were on. In the mean time we got to see new scenery and wait for the cows then the sheep that were all laying in the middle of the road.  
On so many of the roads in the hill country the water from the streams flow across the roads which freaked Pamela out a little when we were up in April. And on this back road we came across an area where the water was flowing freely across the road. It wasn't deep so it was okay.



Here we go.......weeeeee
Got a new picture update of Lilley on the couch and Sophie on the floor being lazy little bums. But that was after hard time of playing and running. Surprised the pillow behind Lilley was still on the couch. Usually Sophie goes along and flips them off with her nose to the floor.

Then when it was bed time they were all tucked in Pammy's bed ready for a good night's sleep. 



These pretty girls posed to Say Good Nite.

Sophie is in the front and that's my fur ball Lilley to the back.
Sunday morning we got up and we all went to breakfast at the Sunset Grill in Fredericksburg.  The parking is at a premium at this small venue so we car pooled. Got really lucky and got to park at the front door. That's a first. Great food and descent prices.
After breakfast we went our separate ways. Kevin and Pam back to Austin and we took off for The Wildseed Farms just outside Fredericksburg. We always find something we can't live without be it seeds, birdhouse, post, jelly, sauce you name it. It's fun to look around. All the beautiful wildflowers that were there in April are now gone and plowed under ready for something new.

Darn that means our trip is coming to an end. Bah hum bug.....

Awesome weekend with awesome friends. 

but I had to laugh because David got on one of his missions to find a oblong water tub the right sized to put tomato plants in on the patio at home and to do that he decided to stop at Tractor Supply and while there he picked up some bird seed for Pammy and her new bird feeder..  He got the bird seed at the first one but no water tub.    


Our final and 3rd Tractor Suppy was in Lindsay Texas. Yep #3. LOL
Still didn't find what he wanted.


Caught cha David.
We're gonna stop at the farm before going to Pamela's to pick up Miss Lilley.
Here we go again. It's been about 2 weeks since we've been up to the Rockin K due to rain and you can hardly tell Where David mowed. With all the rain the grass/weeds are growing fast but it still not as bad as it prior.
The Driveway was still visible. 
We just wanted to stop and hang out for a little bit. While there we fixed the gates that were sagging. It was rather warm in the sun.  Not so bad in the shade.
I took out the rocking chairs so we could sit and rock a while.

After a while I walked around and took a few pictures of our flowers and insects. 











Caught a bee in flight and hard at work.




Time to go

Until next blog adventure....  It's always 5'o clock somewhere

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Just a Bloomin and Chillin

Well we kept the barn swallows at bay for a year but this year they found a new spot to build their nest.  Grrr. They make such a mess. This nest is at the corner of the garage and patio.
After the fiasco of the last nest on the speakers that the birds destroyed. David did buy new speakers and when the birds showed up trying to build on them he stuck towels up there and it stopped them.  Our poor daughter is fighting them at her house now. The little devils are building just above her front door. She keeps washing the nests down and has hung an owl up there trying to scare them away. They're not so fast to come back yet but keep trying to sneak in a little. 
Okay so I need a bigger lens to capture the fleeting blue bird that we do have. I have seen a blue blue bird. I almost caught him. Can you see him to the mid-right of the picture. They move so fast and I didn't see him until the last minute. I know the picture quality sucks.
From bird watching I went to take some pictures of the what's blooming. Most of that didn't move except during big wind gusts. All our magnolia tree's are blooming big pretty blooms. We have 3 Magnolia's across the front of the house.  I love Magnolia tree's.  
On the patio our two decor boots are full of color. The purslane came back on it's own and is nice and full of color. It doesn't have fragrance but it's pretty. First time it's ever done that I can remember. Right behind them we have our 2 tomato plants in pots and they are loaded with tomatoes already. David pulled one off last night and mmm I might have eaten it within 20-30 minutes of plunking it off the vine. David picked another tonight but I'll save it for tomorrow night as a snack.
And our plumbago plants are full of purple flowers even after all the rain we've been having. I think we need to plant some of these at the farm since they are drought tolerate and I think there was something about being deer resistant and that's probably a good thing.
Our roses are blooming all around the like crazy too. I think these are part of the knockout rose group.

What really surprised David and I was that the one peach tree he hadn't pulled up yet had leafed out and had blooms on it.  We thought it was dead.  It was just a stick last year.  Maybe just maybe we'll have a couple peaches this year. That would be cool.
Since we celebrated Mother's Day last Saturday we went to the Rockin K on Mothery's Day Sunday. Because of all the rain and other activities we hadn't been up in a while. Whoa! Everything is so over grown. 
It's pretty and green but it's tall. I think we need to mow really really bad but the wild flowers are really pretty. It's kinda sad we have to mow them down too but kinda hard to avoid.



You can barely see the driveway here. The cactus up by the gate are blooming again.Plus with all this rain the pecan tree has really filled out. It's full and green. Maybe it will have a good crop of pecans. You can't see the path or the stones on the path to the mini mansion. They are under there somewhere. 

We were gonna continue putting up the support boards for the patio cover but a young man that was recommended to David from his office came up to give us an estimate to do a cover off the side of the barn and said he would work up an estimate on the mini mansion too. 
So David didn't make me work on Mother's day after all since this guy may complete our cover for us. YAY. Cross your fingers.






So instead of working on the patio cover David pulled out the pink I mean red tractor and the bush hog and started mowing. We could see the driveway again and he made a few passes down each side before we decided to leave.






This past Friday was girls night. David went to the farm to do some more mowing so me and a couple of the girls from work did some damage to my wine inventory. We started out sitting on the patio and by 10pm we came inside for another  refill and stayed inside. Ashley and Samara felt I was a glass behind so I got to drink the last glass all by myself before they left.  It was a fun evening of laughter and just relaxing. What happens on the patio stays on the patio.

This past Sunday was both My Niece's Graduation Party.
Kendall is graduating from high school in a couple of weeks.  She has a few more days of classes yet but the party was on.
She'll be going to UTSA this fall. That's her cousin, my nephew Phillip with her.



Along with her graduation we were celebrating her sister Shelby's graduation from Stephen F Austin University.
I never got a picture of the girls together at the party. 
Shelby is the blonde on the left with her little dog Charlie.
She's sending out her resume's looking for a job.  
Way to Class of 2016. Was glad to be there to help them celebrate their accomplishments.

This photo by Laura Goodwin










Pamela came in from Bryan to help them celebrate and said it was time for a selfie. No problem. 







Will the real Dave please stand up? Oh Lordy! Brothers... They both wore fishing shirts, almost the same color and almost the same shorts. 

They're so goofy.

Did get a picture of Pamela with 2 of her cousins. 
She's kinda short up side them. Kevin, Pam, Phillip (brothers)

That's it until the next blog post...“This above all: To your own self, be true”
- William Shakespeare