The Morning Wander

Come on along with me!

It's time to wander around this morning,

before it gets too hot outside.

Here's Miss Dolly. 

She always greets me so sweetly.

She's always been my best girl.

Just an FYI - if you are looking into chicken breeds, I can't recommend 

Buff Orpingtons enough.  They're just sweet. :-)

After saying hello to Dolly,

let's wander around in the gardens.

One of the sunflowers is taller than me now.

I've been watching it everyday waiting for it to bloom!

The mini zinnias are so cute. 

Look at all the buds fixing to bloom!

Let's see what's new over in the vegetable garden.

A cucumber,

green beans growing,

and lots of jalapeños. 

We're going to do a little planting this morning as well.

In the bed that the potatoes and onions had been in,

I'm going to plant some ornamental gourds and corn.

I've never tried to grow anything like this so wish me luck!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

I am going to hold off planting the pumpkin seeds because I've decided to plant them

in the bed that the squash is in right now.  When the crook neck and the zucchini

look like they are about done, I'll plant the pumpkins.  Hopefully I can time that right.

The kittens are keeping an eye on us this morning. ;-)

They're just getting so big.

Let's go over and check out the blackeyed susans, too.

Nothing says summertime like they do. :-)

The crepe myrtles are in bloom now, too.

And, now it's time to go inside and get some house work done.
All good wanders must come to an end.
But, you can be sure, 
I'll be back outside tomorrow morning
just wandering around how I like to do...

Thanks for wandering with me. :-)

War Horse

Williams-Sonoma home scent

Do you have some vanilla in the pantry?

A lemon in the fridge?

Some rosemary in the garden?

Simmer it all together with some water on the stove.

Your house will smell like you just stepped into a Williams-Sonoma store. :-)

Linked to Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop #113. 

Home grown tomatoes...

If the only thing we planted each year was tomatoes,

it would still be completely worth it to plant a garden.

Home grown tomatoes...

nothing beats it!

Linked to Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop #113.

New Doggie Digs

Mr. H. and our son have been working very hard on

a new dog run for Bubba and Remi.

They've been in separate smaller pens,

but we wanted them to have a lot more room and 

to be able to be together.

They poured concrete and set posts.

And they used the panels of one of the pens for the front of the new run.

They have about four times the amout of room they had previously.

And they have so much fun being together!

Bubba, particularly, is enjoying the splash pool!

It will help keep them cool during our hot Texas summer temps.

Ranch Date :-)

The kids have been at camp this week,

and the day before we drove out to pick them up,

Mr. H. and I decided to head out to the ranch to spend the night.

Right past the gate on the way to the cabin and barn

we came across a fallen tree blocking the road.

Mr. H. hopped out of the truck and headed to the pump house to get the chain.

He tied it around the tree and pulled it as far as he could with the truck.

Then he drug it the rest of the way with brute strength. ;-)

And then,

we were

on our way!

Meanwhile the cows had heard the commotion,

and came over to say hello.

No, really they were just coming to see if we were going to feed them. ;-)

My in-laws had told us that there was a new (unexpected!) baby at the ranch.

Poor 'ol Rosie, who is entirely too old to be having a baby :-(

had a meet up with one of our neighboring rancher's cows and

 this sweet little calf was the result.

They both seem to be doing okay.

After checking on all the cows,

we headed down to the shooting range

to get a little target practice in.

I finally got to use my new "eyes" and "ears" that Mr. H. gave me for Christmas.

The custom gun and magazine holsters were hand made by Mr. H. :-)

I try to be a good student and listen to Mr. H.'s shooting tips.

I need to get better shooting the Glock.

But, I love to shoot the .22.  I feel like Annie Oakly, haha! ;-)

As the sun was setting, 

we headed back to the ranch cabin

to chow down on the bbq we brought with us 

and the yummy banana pudding I had made.

I also had big mason jars full of ice cold lemonade for each of us!

We enjoyed supper, watched a movie we brought with us 

and fell asleep listening to a tree frog serenade. 

Ranch dates are the best. :-)