GREETINGS!

I assume everyone survivd the big Super Bowl Sunday!  It was not a big deal at our house, in fact I didn't even know who won until this morning.  Time was, when I was back home in Washington state, when I was a football fan (Seattle Seahawks), but not so much anymore.  I am rather up to my eyebrows with outrageous salaries for big boys  running around playing with a ball and far out commercials - usually with some sexual inuendos - trying to get you to buy something you don't want or need!  Oh, get off my soap box...........

On our trip to Branson we crossed over in to Arkansas and went North to Missouri.  That entailed going through part of the Ozark Mountains, which are beautiful.  And in these pictures we were actually in the clouds.  It looks like fog, but it was clouds!

 

 

I guess I didn't snap the pictures when we were in the midst of the clouds, but you can see how pretty the mountains are.


We had Thanksgiving 2012 at our friends Kathy and John's again.  I love sitting out in their little sun room looking out over the valley.  There is always way to much food, and we eat way to much!  But what a blessing to have such good friends to share the holiday with.

 

This was my apple/cranberry pie contribution to Thanksgiving dinner.  My favorite!!

 

 

And these are my new Gypsy boots I got for working in the yard come Spring time.  Love em.  But I had to buy some heavy socks to wear with them so they weren't so loose.  Got them on sale at Atwoods and I thought they were a good deal at $80.00!

 

 

I guess that's enough reminiscing of the recent past for today!  It's almost time to fix supper - grilled pork steaks, salad and baked sweet potatoes.  Our game day fare yesterday was a delicious turkey vegetable soup I made.  It's always nice to have a pot of soup or chili or some such on the burner to help yourself to whenever hunger strikes!  That's one of my favorite ways to eat on a Sunday, game or no.

I'm going back to my volunteer job at the elementary school tomorrow.  I took a couple weeks off hoping the flu epidemic would subside some.  We've had 13 people die here in Oklahoma.  And the school in Porum had 1/5 of its students out with the flu.  They closed school one day and disinfected the whole school...........problem is, they couldn't disinfect the kids too!  Even though I had my flu shot I'm still leary of contacting the germs..........  Wish me luck!  Oh, I forgot to mention that Rooster George is no more.  He was such a sorry looking sight we had to put him out of his misery the other day.  I'm sure the 3 little hens are adjusting quite well...........

Until next time, take care.  See you soon.

Random Stuff Over the Months

GREETINGS!

Since it was such a long time between September and January postings, I have a few pictures of things that were going on.   They may not be interesting to you, but at the time I saw some reason to snap a picture!  :)  I'll share a few of them and try to make a meaningful caption!  lol

But first:  I've been having a hard time this past week with my Salli dog.  She had been throwing up almost as soon as she eats.  It had been going on for over a week so I finally took her to the Vet last Monday.  The put her out to check her throat and see if there were any foreign objects in it, took some xrays of something, did some blood work, etc.  All came back normal!  So they gave her some pill for vomiting and kep her for 3 days observing.  I brought her home on Thursday with a packet of pills for controling the vomiting and a bottle of liquid worm medicine to give her for 5 days.  She doesn't seem to have these stomach worms that you can't see, but the med is a precaution just in case.  Anyway, I give her a pill 30 minutes before she eats, twice a day, and cut her food down to 1/2 a cup each time.   And if she eats the smallest bit w/o the pill, up it comes!   It worked for awhile, but not always.  And sometimes, like this morning, she won't eat at all!  The Vet has no idea what the problem is, nor do I.  But I'm getting tired of cleaning up puke.  Although it's better than cleaning up poop!  She doesn't act sick in any other way.  Sure is a mystery.  I don't know how long this can go on...........  So if any one has had a similar experience please let me know.

And then there is my rooster, George...........he has no feathers on his breast at all!!  I mean they are all plucked out!  And lots of his tail feathers are gone and his butt is exposed!  And the weather is freezing at night and not very warm during the day.  I think George is stressed out or something.  He is so funny looking, and fun to watch.  He struts around like he's King of the Road!  The 3 hens seem okay though.  Today might be George's last day................

So here are some pictures of the past few months...................

This is the first egg from my chickens on Dec. 29th.  I'd waited months!!

 



 

 

 

People were surprised that they would start laying the end of December, when the days are darker and shorter, since the hens like more daylight to do their thing!  And for awhile it was just one hen doing the laying @ one every other day.  Sometimes there would be 3 every other day (busy hen) and now there are more than one laying (I only have 3) and it averages 1 egg a day.  So we save em up and then have omelets or fried eggs/breakfast for supper!

 

 

Here is a picture of Rooster George with his chest hanging out!  the white area in front if his bare skinned breast!

 



 

This is Buffy, one of my 3 hens.  The other two are Lucy and Ethyl.

 

 

 

This morning I have done up the dishes from yesterday (we went out to supper last night) and frosted a cake I made yesterday.  Now I guess it's time to go vaccuum and mop the kitchen.  Plan on making a nice pot of soup today with some ground turkey and veggies.  Busy, busy!

 

So, have a great weekend and I'll blog some more next week.  Hope you don't get to bored with all the football stuff on TV tomorrow!  :)    Until next time, take care.

 



 



The Dinner Theater

GREETINGS!

This was the last "show" we went to before going home the next day.  It was a dinner show at Yakov Smirnoff's Theater.  And I mean to tell you, the food was excellent.  We were served right in our theater chairs, it was nice and hot, meats were tender, potatoes and veggies just right, we had strawberry shortcake for dessert, and we even had a candle on our tray!  There is an actual Chef on staff at the theater and he did an excellent job preparing the meal right there.  Can't say enough about how good it was.  It was a nice break midway through the show.

We did not see Yakov as he was off traveling somewhere, but the show was very good.  It was about some Russian circus performers coming to America, with of course a young couple in love and a mean sister!  I would certainly recommend the show to people, even families were there.  And we sat middle stage, first row so you know our guys were chosen to "help" the performers!  They loved it!!

These pictures are of the inside and outside of the theater, and of the performers after the show in the lobby where you can get their autograph and pick up the DVD if you purchased one.

This is cousins Kay and Joe from Alabama, standing in front of Yakov's likeness outside.

 

This is me and Ronnie by Yakov!

 

 

Joe, Kay and Me

 

 

Inside the lobby - just a portion of it!

 



Cousin Kay and one of the stars of the show!

 

Ronnie and one of the stars of the show!

 

 

We had a great time at the theater.  There is a nice gift shop of course, and a large concession area.  We saw the show on a Sunday evening, and it was very nice.  So ended our wanderings for the long weekend.  It was time to head home the next morning.  After bidding our cousins goodbye,   Ronnie and I stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast before taking off for home.  Would you believe we were the first customers of the day?!  I think it was between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m.

 

 

This last picture is the big Indian Chief who stands guard at Big Cabin, Oklahoma.  This is where you connect with Interstate 44 and gets us closer to home.........only a couple hours to go!  I think that's right, but I do know it's near home!

 





 

 

All in all, we had a really nice mini-vacation; and it was so nice to see my cousins!  This was neither of ours first visit to Branson, so we were able to do some things other than all the "shows" and the touristy stuff.  Kind of branch out a little and see the place as a real town!  I highly recommend going to Branson, but take lots of money!

 

Until next time, take care.

Breakfast and Shopping In Branson

GREETINGS!

This is my 3rd posting of our Branson trip last August;  only one more after this one, I promise!

This was on a Saturday.  My husband, Ronnie, had left early to go to a SASS gun shoot somewhere around Branson, so my cousin Kay, her husband Joe, and I decided to go out to breakfast and then do some shopping at the outlet mall.

Our breakfast stop was at McFarlain's on Shepherd of the Hills Expressway.  It is in a little enclosed Mall with the IMAX Theater and is really quite nice.  The decor is kind of cowboy - 1880's - antique, and it is really nice with great food.  The 3 of us sat at a round table, ordered our food and started talking and catching up on our lives.  You know, things you don't chat about on Facebook or in emails.  Anyway, our food arrived and we ate and continued talking.  At one point I said something to the effect that I was sure sitting low, I could almost just slide the food from plate to mouth.  A while later, cousin Kay said she knew what I meant about the seating/table.  Then the waitress came over and started laughing and told us why we felt that way.  The table is on an electronic "riser", which slowly raises the height of the table.  We were so busy talking we didn't notice it until it got to the point where the table was almost higher than our chins!  I'm telling you, we laughed so hard, and we each got a certificate saying we belonged to the Rising Table Society!  Very cute.  So if you go to McFarlain's in Branson beware of the round table on either side of the serving station.  They are the only 2 that "rise".........

This picture (above) is cousins Kay and Joe.  I think we were about to enter McFarlain's for breakfast.

The following pictures are just random shots of things along the way.  We did have a great time shopping at the outlet mall and made a couple purchases.  Also during our stay we went to a quaint little place for dessert one night - peach or berry cobbler and ice cream, etc., another breakfast outing that wasn't very good, dinner at Chili's the first day, snacks at McDonald's and a $10 donation to 2 homeless guys with a dog.  We surely did get the "feel" of living in Branson I think, besides the entertainment part.  There is an old fashioned dime store in "old" downtown Branson called Dick's 5 & 10  that is a must to visit if you go there.  They have practically anything and everything you'd ever want and can remember from your childhood.  It's huge and is run the old fashioned way - all inventoried, stocked, etc. by hand - no electronic stuff!  It's amazing.  Even the tour buses make a stop there!!

The first 2 pictures are inside of McFarlain's where we ate breakfast.

So, that's it for this time.  Tomorrow I'll wind this up with our outing at Yakov's dinner show!  Until next time, take care.

The Dinner Train

GREETINGS!

Here we go again..........a Branson happening!  This was a dinner train ride, and it was quite fun.  Not a big trip, just a few miles up the track to one of those old-fashioned trestle bridges (but it was brand new) and back.  Just enough time to eat your meal and visit with your tablemates on the way out and watch the scenery on the way back.

I have kind of a phobia against bridges, and wouldn't you know, when the train reached the trestle the car I was in was smack dab in the middle of the thing!  And it sat there for 5 or 10 minutes while they got ready to go back.  You can see from some of the pictures just how high it was!  But I made it.........

There was some mixup getting our tickets, and we did not get to sit with my cousins for dinner.  However, we found them after dinner and sat with them on the way back to the station.  We did meet a nice younger couple from Branson sharing our table who were celebrating their anniversary, and had an interesting conversation.

So here are the pictures.  Oh, the train is from the 30's or 40's if I remember right, and the dinner was catered by Golden Corral.

And that was pretty much the trip!  We did go through lots of trees and bushes/shrubs, saw some homes along side the track, a river and marina and just general landscape.  The food was okay and the service was great.  If you've never been on a train you would enjoy the short trip.  Oh, you don't have to have dinner, you can just go for the ride.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about our breakfast and shopping adventure!  Take care.

A Long Time........

GREETINGS!

It has been several months since I've posted to my blog, but I'm going to give it a try now and see if I can catch up!  I tried the other day and could not post a picture so gave up........ don't know if it was me or the blog.  Probably me!

These are some pictures from our trip last August to Branson, MO.  We had a great time and met up with my cousin and her husband from Alabama.

This was where we stayed, and I would not recommend it.  We had no say in choosing as we got a package deal, but won't do that again.  It was out of the main stream and the pool was far away!

 

 

The next pictures are just shots of things along the main drag, which has grown by leaps and bounds!

 

 

 

This last picture is the Titanic museum.  It is a wonderful walk through, with actual articles of things retrieved from the Titanic after it sank, and authentic replicas of rooms, etc.  Well worth the fee and will take a good 2 hours of your time. 

The rest of these type pictures would bore you I'm sure, so I'm done for today.  BUT, tomorrow I'll post our dinner train trip!  That was nice.  See you tomorrow, God willing.  Take care until then.
Oh, it seems it was operator error on the pictures the other day..........DUH!   Bye.

My Secret Project

GREETINGS!

I know it's been quite a while since I've posted, and I have no excuse other than that I just haven't been in the mood!    I have pictures of our Branson trip and of mine and Judy's August outing to do, and will try to get back in the groove!

In the meantime, Ronnie and his buddy Jack went off to a big U.S. shoot of some kind in Illinois.  Big deal to cowboy shooters, not so much to their wives!  They have been gone for 4 days now and will be home Sunday some time.  So I used this opportunity to do some painting!  See below........

I did both the front and back doors in this color.  I really wanted more of a Salmon color, but this is kind of growing on me!  I rather imagine Ronnie will not be too pleased, but, oh well.  We've talked of painting the house for 3 yrs now and haven't; so I figured this would go good with the "tan" if and when we ever get it painted.  If not, no big loss -- just a quart of paint!  Maybe I should have done purple!!  What fun.

On a more serious note, I had an interview with an elementary school prinicipal this week about doing some volunteer work.  I start as a kind of teacher's aide this coming Tuesday, and will work Tuesdays and Wednesdays for 4 hours or so helping the two 2nd grade teachers.  At this time they have no one to help them, so hopefully this will help them a little.  Have to go to have my fingerprints taken on Monday and have a background check.  I guess the boredom of staying home all the time has finally caught up with me; I look forward (I think) to getting out and doing something productive.  Pray that my patience and nerves are in good order!  :)

That's all I know for now.  Until next time, take care and God bless you and yours.