WOW

 This is one of Lilley's favorite spots if she's not following one of us or supervising 

David from under his work desk or 

in front of the bookcase in my sewing room while I'm sewing or working on the computer. She's our sweet Lovable fur baby girl.

Now she can be a pain when she wakes up at 3am to go potty or gets sick. That wakes you up real fast. I know you animal lovers with fur babies know that sound well.  LOL

I'm not overly political but I just have to share this picture I saw on FB. With things being so ugly every over politics I thought this was appropriate.  

It seems people have forgotten their manners. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.. LOL

Wednesday 9/2 was our 42nd wedding anniversary. I guess our gift from the man upstairs was a much needed rain. YAY!  We got almost 3" by the time we got home from our adventures.

Our plan was David to finish up on some work and we head into Bryan for some lunch and then adventure time. We went to lunch at The Chicken Oil. They have some of the best burgers around. We both got the Snuffy Special. Cheese Burger, Fries and a drink. They were so darn good and so very filling. That good for me until I went to bed.

From here we headed down the road to Navasota to a cute little nursery there called June Bug. This nursery is really cute, their plants are so healthy and the prices are pretty good.

And guess what they're closed on Wednesday's. Really?! LOL. Well isn't that just great. 

So we turn around and head to the 3 antiques stores in town. Fun. We stopped at the first one and were we in for a surprise.  The outside was deceiving. It looked small but it went straight back and room to the right and the left all the way down. Wow. So much to look at.

David didn't find anything but I did.  I didn't break the bank. 

The 2nd place was okay but not alot of the stuff we like to look at. It was more about old coins, stamp and paper money. And the 3rd place was kinda neat and I found a couple more items. I know where's the picture.. OKay Okay.

I found a Vera Bradley purse barely used for $10. then I found the cute purple cow vase/bowl. At first I said no that's silly but then before we left I picked it up and put it on the counter.At the 3rd Place I found the Jim Shores Angel of Contentment. If your not familiar with Jim Shores, he is an artist and designer. He has various figurines but the ones I like has quilting designs on them. This one stands about 10" high. New she sells for $35 but I got her for less than $20. Then I found the little white bowl with purple flowers and then the open shoe. Got both for less that $10. Obviously the figurine will find a home on a shelf in my sewing room and little containers we become pincushions for a gift. Well I'm keeping the cow,,, mmm maybe the shoe.  They're all sew cute. My friend and quilter has created a monster. She taught me how to make them into pincushions. 

From here we headed to a quaint little town called Chappell Hill. I've been there for wineries but nothing else. I thought they might have a small antique store to check out and I knew they had a new quilt store in town.  We were taking the backs roads and admiring the landscape and homes when David saw and commented on the blue barn house and as we passed he goes "They have a quilt on the end of it".  LOL I tell him that's what I what to add to our barn and maybe our house. I explained it was either drawn and painted on wood. Some are cut into individual blocks, painted and glued/nailed back together. This one was painted.

              

I didn't see it when he did so he turned around so I could see it and take a picture.  Cool Beans!  We continue to roll down the road. We pull in to Chappell Hill and guess what nothing was open on Wednesday except the Town Museum till 4 and it was 4:15.  So much for that. LOL. We did drive around the town a bit and was impressed by all the pretty homes and properties. I couldn't even suggest we hit the wineries because they're only open Thurs - Sun.  LOL

So from here we decided to drive into Brenham Just down the road. We had just enough time to one antique store. Didn't fine anything we couldn't live without.

David was thirsty and I was getting there. But I misunderstood he wasn't talking soda or water he wanted a beer so we walked a block and half to BT Longhorn Saloon. We weren't hungry yet so we passed on food and sat by the bar and had a beer. 

Happy Anniversary to us.

We had planned on having dinner somewhere but we were too full from lunch but I wasn't worried I knew we were gonna have a nice dinner Friday (9/4) and Pamela was gonna come up and join us.  

photo by C.A.B

We went back to the Central Avenue Bistro located in Cameron. For tonight's menu David and I had Surf & Turf and Pamela got the Red Pepper Salmon that we got the first time we came. Can not complain at all. The steaks and the shrimp were awesome and Pamela loved the Salmon. Oh and this time we got a dessert to share .... The apple pecan cobbler. OMG!  With a scoop of ice cream of course. It was delicious. 

The outside looks brand new but it's really an old house that they took the time and love to renovate. 

Saturday (9/5) David and I rallied around and went out for another day of adventure. We headed back to Cameron to check out the grand opening of a new antique store called "Chelle's" on N. Houston.  They have newer vintage lookin items of all kinds and they have older items. Great little shop and awesome people who run it. Of course I made an impression big time and embarrassed myself. I was looking at a picture frame and couldn't see the price. I picked it and sure enough the price was on the back. I sat it back down and the back stand folded up and it sled down and knocked of the porcelain birds that sat in front of it and knocked it off the table. Of course leave it to me to yell 'Shit' in this quaint place  and then sorry at the same time.  I almost cried. I felt so bad but they told me not to worry about it, that things happen. David kept insisting they charge us for it but they said no.  I'll be a good child and touch nothing on my next visit. I mean these folks were so nice. We did walk out with a large framed picture, a T-towel and a jar for me to use.

 

The jar will probably be filled with sewing trinkets to display. I added my new T-towel to some of my others. The new one is in the middle. I liked the saying and the color. So far I haven't used my T-towels with sayings on them yet.  Most of them were gifts from friends. I'm sure I will in time but for now I like to display them.

And this picture will go in our bedroom I think. David saw it and really liked it.  The frame matches our furniture in the bedroom and it adds color.

From here we went to get a bit to eat at El Charro on the corner of 36 & 77 North. It was very tasty. We had section all to ourselves. That works. We'll go back one night for dinner. With our Tummies full we headed to my former coworker's family home in Cameron that they're renovating. It was Fred's mom's house. Ellen is also a fellow quilter and friend. Can't get over how big the house really is. As of right now they're gonna use it as a get away place when they need a break from the rat race in Houston. Her girls and their families love to come visit up there. The son-in-laws had Fred busy patching things up in one of the bedrooms. I was busy listening to Ellen and the tour that I smooth forgot to snap pictures. Surprise. Dang it.  Sew enjoyed our visit with Ellen and seeing her get away place. This puts her about 15 miles tops from the Rock'n K. YAY.

Now we are headed home but took the scenic route back and David wanted to check out a town not far down the road. He thought it might be something special since when he checks the weather Jones Prairie keeps popping. Well.... We went, and there was nothing there. LOL  He knows now. 

Sunday (9/6) is a day of quiet and relaxation. Sorta. David is working so he can provide me some paperwork he needs scanned into a PDF file before I go to Pamela's to watch the furry grandpups and the dentist the next day. 

I'm finishing up this post to schedule to publish and then I'm going to go work on a quilt top for someone special as a surprise so I can't share right now. I had to take a break from it because it's a lot of small pieces to sew back together after I cut it up. 

Until next post....

Date Night and Critter Life at the Rock'n K

 Our first date night really in months due to the virus. On 8/15 we decided to drive into Cameron which is about 12 miles down the road and check out the food and music at Central Avenue Bistro. We went to their pre-opening back before Covid and were impressed so now it was time to check out the food. We weren't disappointed. This place was an old abandoned house that they fixed up and opened it up as a restaurant. There was supposed to be a market place on the 2nd floor but Covid got in the way and now they plan on opening it up for more dining area. 

This service was great and so was the food. We both got the roasted red pepper salmon with bread and potato. The plate was prettier when I got it. I had already started eating when I thought about taking a picture. 

We had one annoying couple behind us giving their waitress a bad time for no good reason. She handled well but she should of had to. He was complaining that everyone else was getting their food and they hadn't.  Well duh people "You came in almost 20 minutes later than the rest of us"  I mean the guy was rude and further told the little waitress she needed to work on that and get their food. I let the restaurant know that the waitress was not at fault in case the couple complained to management. They were appreciative that I made them aware.  After dinner we went outside and found a place to sit and listen to some music. At this moment I forgot the guy's name who was playing but he sounded good.  There was a light breeze so it wasn't bad outside but David had been outside in the heat and we were both tired so we didn't last long. Getting old I guess.

When we got home we took Lilley outside to go potty before hitting the couch to watch the news and go to bed. She came running back up on the porch and ran to her water bowl for a drink and found this big ole toad going for a swim.  

She turned up her nose and waited for a drink until she got inside.  He has been going for a swim each evening we leave her bowl down.  

I'm a little frustrated with blogger since they changed the format because it won't let me align the pictures to the right or left of a paragraph. Instead the sentence is at the bottom corner of picture. Grr. Maybe one day they'll fix it because I haven't figured it out yet. Oh well moving on.  

This is our baby bull that was born in June. His coloring is changing from a dark black to a dark brown but he still has two dark circles around his eyes so we've named him Bandit. He's growing fast and pretty stout like his daddy Ferdinand.  And he already has little numbins for his horns.  And this is the youngest calf that we figured out is a girl.  The middle calf that I didn't get a picture of is a girl too.

 Jerry thought it was time for me and David to give him some attention. He is quite the charmer. He nudges us in the back or he tends to nibble on David's arm. The other day when we were giving the cows some medicated cubes he got all butt hurt and wouldn't go in his corral for some regular cubes. Finally he just ran to the far eastside of the property over a slight hill to pout. He wouldn't even eat out of my hand. About an hour after we went in he went in and cleaned up any sweet feed and cubes the cows didn't finish. What a brat.

Pamela called me Thursday (8/20) saying Sophie was sick. She had to take her to the vet. She had to leave her so they could observe her and so Pamela could get to work. So I went in early for my appointment that day to have time to grab Sophie once the vet assistant Wendy called and said we could come get Sophie. 

They gave her some meds and lots of lovin and no more accidents. Wendy sent Pamela this altered picture of Sophie saying she could come home.  LOL 

The following week it was time to get all beautiful and smelly good. Top Paw Pet Spa does a great job and takes a themed picture almost every time.  

     They are so darn cute when the finally behave but Lilley wasn't to impressed having that prisoner cap on. LOL   Picture one is Sophie owning it and # 3 is Bri looking all cool.

David and I love pizza but don't usually eat it unless I use the cauliflower crust.  HEB has a good cauliflower crust that I use. It comes 2 crusts per box but they're not real big so I fix both. I add a lite coat of olive oil to my stone and on top of the crust, then top with various fixings. This time it was  a lite coat of pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, sauteed mushrooms, onion, bell pepper and jalapenos, then pepperoni and another lite dusting of mozzarella cheese.  Yum Yum.  Everyone on FB asked how I made the crust so I took a picture of the brand/box. 

 

There's another brand we tried that was square. It had a strong cauliflower taste and looked more like bread and didn't hold up to eat like a pizza.

For Valentines David had brought over 2 dozen roses and this was a miniature rose in a cute decorative wood crate but David transplanted it to a bigger pot outside. Now what normally happens is it doesn't do so well and dies but not this little cutie.  It keeps on blooming. I love it. Makes me thing of peppermint candy with the little white stripes.

Oh Looky it worked this time. The picture is in line with the paragraph.

Pamela asked last week if we'd babysit her girls so she could go hang out and most likely stay the night with a friend of hers out past us in the country. I sure and that I'd bring them home the next day when I went to my doctor appointment.  Next morning as usual David got up to walk to work. 

LOL About 10 steps out of our bedroom. The youngest pup Bri gets a little noisy and David had to shut his door.  Lilley always sits outside with a sad face and tail hanging down but this day he had the three girls waiting for that door to open.

This past Friday 8/28 I went out to help David feed the cows and operate the gate. But I didn't change out of my capris and just slipped on my farm boots. So I posted on Facebook my retired country girl fashion statement.  Don't laugh too hard. 

 David took the picture and just shook his head. A girls gotta do what she's gotta do. LOL

That evening there was a gentle breeze so we decided to take happy hour to the front porch. It was National Red Wine Night so I grabbed my new wine I received from a new friend Kelli Kennedy down the road.

Tasty... Good way to end the night and this posting.  Stay safe and healthy everyone.

Until next blog post....  Common sense is the most evenly distributed quantity in the world. Everyone thinks he has enough.

All in a Day...

 I tell ya I can't leave David alone too long. He has been doing great. After physical therapy Thursday (8/6) his knee ached a little but other than the extra strength tylenol prescription he's not taking the painkiller tramadol. But I think he forgot he had just had the surgery a week ago. Pamela and I went to delivery a quilt and go see my Mom for her 85th birthday Saturday the 8th. David promised he'd be an Angel baby... Yeah with horns. For the most part he behaved but forgot and jumped down off the truck bed and then tripped over the crepe myrtle stump in the pasture. His knee was a little swollen that night and hurt but he iced it down and took the tramadol and is doing fine the next morning. Thank God. He goes for his follow up on Thursday (8/13). We'll see what the doctors thinks.

So Saturday(8/8) Pamela and I met up with our sweet friend Brittany who had a baby girl that chose her own due date that was a fews weeks early. She wasn't supposed to be here until September. Adelina was like 4.2# at birth on July 31st. She's still in the NICU in the Woodlands but doing well.  I had rushed trying to get a quilt done for the baby shower but baby girl arrived early. I had never done a panel quilt which really isn't that big of deal I had just never done one. Brittany wanted sunflowers and while looking for fabric I came across this panel that said "You are my Sunshine".  Perfect!

Then I found a kit only they sent the panel but backordered the fabric. Ughh. So while Pamela and I were in Fredericksburg we went fabric shopping for our own choices of fabric at Creations in Kerville and One Quilt Place in Fredericksburg and I cancelled the backorder. I think the quilt came out really cute. I tried to be artsy with this picture but the quilt kinda got lost in the flowers. I still liked the picture though. 

So I placed it on a bench so you could see more of the quilt itself.

The fun quilting theme is flowers and butterfly's. Quilting was done by my friend Donna @ Donna's Lavender Nest.

I think it came out really cute. I think Brittany really liked it.  While there taking pictures I caught this bumble bee and butterfly checking out the lantana bushes.I'm getting brave in my old age. I would have never gotten this close to a bumblebee before. The butterfly was harmless so no problem there. LOL. 

I just missed getting a picture of one that was 3 times this size. Darn it.

So we went to my Mom's to take her a cake for her birthday. Mom had a new haircut. Joe had taken her a couple of weeks earlier. It looks really cute. Apparently she complained about it being so short for several days. LOL. That's what she asked for until it was done. 

     

 

Now this is what  happens when you put Pamela behind us and I'm not paying attention. 

This child is a mess. 
And again. This time I warned Mom that Pamela gave her bunny ears which made Mom laugh.

While there we met their new 4-5 month old rescue pup named Que. He is all puppy. Cute, rowdy, full of energy, and all over the place. When we get to the car to leave Que decided he wanted to go too. I told Joe he was crazy. A puppy!

He takes care of Mom 24 - 7 and now he has to attend to a cute but wild little pup.

That's it for now.

Until next blog....I love my mother as the trees love water and sunshine - she helps me grow, prosper, and reach great heights. ~Adabella Radici

Rock'n K Happenings and Whatever else

Jerry is a mess. He follows right behind or right next to us when we go into the pasture. At the time of this photo David had him and the cows in the front pasture so David had to open and shut the gates as I went in and out.  Right after snapping this picture Jerry slapped David in the face with his ears as he shook his head.  LOL

Jerry is true to form and nature of a donkey.

Can you say STUBORN? LOL

Then there is the cuteness of #3 aka Daisy's new calf. 

Leaving Baylor Scott & White Clinic after cardiac rehab I looked over and saw this.  mmm. You wouldn't have been able to put a sheet of paper between these cars. That's just crazy. You know that truck had to of pushed that car. 

Gotta love these girls. Pam's co-workers on the 4th of July. They work holidays to take care of new momma's and their babies.

Speaking of babies #5 aka Sweet Tea had her baby. I was leaving to run to the store when I realize that was a new calf. It's so cute and tiny.  I decided I'd spare you the more graphic picture right after the birth. I had just missed the birth dang it. 

Poor Lilley really can't stand it when David shuts his office door.

 

David had to get him a bigger brim hat to shield his neck from the sun when mowing and other outside work. Gotta get used to this. It's as big as he is.   Like putting a new bale of hay out for the cows to play in eat. Ferdinand went through the bale. To his left... the hay that's at his shoulder is another cow. Can't even see it. Oh Lordy. I had a video but it decided not to work.

Our three little amigos stick together. The older 2 play hard and the little one does a good job of keeping up. Sometimes they'll lay in the back pasture in the crepe myrtles and all you'll see is little ears twitching. They are quite entertaining. They're so 

dark in color I'm having a hard time getting a good picture of them 

but I'll keep trying.

The one on the far right is a bull and he looks just like his daddy Ferdinand. Stocky. The middle one is female and the littlest one on the left is still unknown at this time.

On July 18th I went RR Retreats for the Round Robin Quilt Reveal.

I handed on my center medallion back in October and hadn't seen it since. And on this day I received a quilt top. 4 different ladies each added a border. LOVE LOVE IT. I need to add a few more borders to make it big enough for a queen size bed but what I got is awesome. It'll take me some time to figure out exactly what I want but I'll get it finished one day and I will share it again.

If you click on the picture it will take you to my smugmug gallery with the process and all 14 quilts revealed to their owners. If that don't work click on the word click in blue.  This was my 2nd round robin and I have to say it was a lot less stressful than the first. Of course not working helped but this time I kinda knew the rules and how to apply them. I see a 3rd round robin in my future but for now I'll work on my own projects.

It was like Christmas after the reveal. Each lady gave a gift to each of the ladies that worked on their quilt. A few of the ladies from the other teams gave us a gift like the tape measure in the beaded case. There's a couple things missing from the picture - like the lemon blueberry mini loaf and a few dove chocolates. Don't know what happened to them...... they just went poof.

 I don't know how the gal made this beautiful beaded case for the tape measure it but it's really cool. 

The bags on the left and in the teal tin were homemade. 

Margie made each of a set of all occasion handmade cards. The soap is homemade too. Like I said it was Christmas in July.

While I was in LaGrange Pamela brought her friends Josh and Laina up with their oldest son Thomas and their baby boy Connor. Thomas was enjoying Lilley and having a blast with Jerry.

He liked David's new big hat. He's such a cutie.

On Saturday July 24th David needed to go get more mulch and rock. He asked if I wanted to ride along and we'd stop at Edge General Store in Edge for lunch.. I wasn't going to turn down a ride to get out of the house or lunch.

The was our view. In the middle of the pond was a duck house. The building behind the willow tree will be an event venue eventually.

It was cool enough to sit outside to eat. We both had cheeseburgers on a jalapeno bun. Soooo yummy good.

On Friday, July 31st David had arthroscopic Knee surgery in the Woodlands. We were up at 4:30am and headed down the road by 5:30am. It's a 2 hour drive. eeekkkkkkkkkk. The call the day before and asked if we could get there by 5:30am. Holy shit! David said we could if we had to but explained the drive so they left our arrival time at 7:30am. I just got to drop him off. I wasn't even allowed in the building.  My first stop after dropping him off was to get a bite of breakfast and pick up his prescriptions at the pharmacy in Tomball. I got there at 8:20am and had to wait for them to open at 8:20 only the pharmacist was running late. No problem I had time to kill.  David had told me they would be texting me his status as the morning progressed.  Well I got NO texts. At 10:30am I did get a phone call saying the doctor got held up in the surgery before David's and hopefully in the 30-45 minutes they'll take David back.  So I proceed to run errands. I was gonna wave at my former co-workers  but as I pulled into the parking lot it was empty. Well crap of course it's empty it's Friday and they've been working 10 hours days to get Fridays in June and July. That was a bust.

I was gonna head to Tomball next but made a stop at our former neighbor in Lakewood. I stood outside her patio gate while she stayed on her patio. We had a great chat and she looked really good. Our house looked different with some of the yard art they had in it and several plants had died. It's there yard now.  I said my goodbyes and headed on down the road and thought mmm I wonder if my sister-in-law Glenda is at home. And she was so I stopped to talk with her for a bit and use the restroom. Important stuff. Had seen her and the family since Christmas.

She offered for me to stay at her house until I got word that David was out of surgery but I had another errand to run and wanted to head back towards the Woodlands. Surely David was in surgery and about done but then who knows since I hadn't gotten any texts. 

I dropped of a bag of fabric scraps on a friends front porch and decided I was gonna call to see what David's status was. I mean it's like 1:10pm. They tell me he's in recovery but in a lot of pain. Oh man that's not what I wanted to hear. They were gonna give him more pain meds and she'd call me back around 1:30p m.  I got back to the surgical centers parking lot around 1:40 but no call so sat and waited. Around 2pm the nurse said she'd bring him down and meet me in the front. As soon as she released him and I was ready to head out... The first words he said was find me some food.  Poor guy hadn't ate since 7pm the night before.

Found him some food and headed home. I was amazed how well he was doing. They gave him the option of getting a nerve block catheter and he took it. He said currently he didn't have any pain but after an hour and a half passing through Bryan he commented it was getting uncomfortable.

On Sunday the nerve block was complete and we had to remove the catheter. Basically David did since he was pulling the tape and it was stuck to him and the tape.  Now Five days after his surgery his pain has been minimal. He went to PT yesterday for the first time and they were impressed with his mobility and range of motion. He used the crutches of course Friday and most of Saturday but ditched them Sunday.  I have a feeling after his 2nd PT on Thursday he may find he's a little sorer.  We'll see.

Oh and the texts I was supposed to be getting..... they had been texting David's phone with his status. He had 4-5 texts. LOL

I graduated from cardio rehab and have been doing some PT at the same day for my hip paid that I have every morning and them disappears after an hour or two. Tomorrow will be my last PT and the pain is still there so I'm not sure what the next step will be. I guess the doctor will think of something.

Well that's it for now.

Until next blog...  People say that age is just a state of mind. I say it’s more about the state of your body. – Geoffrey Parfitt