Happy New Year !

Here's to all my family and friends...I wish you a blessed 2010, health and the desires of your hearts. Love YA'LL

More Pics

It has been a great time. Enjoy going all over the place. We went to old town Ft. Worth and saw the longhorns, ate lunch, went over to Billy Bob and looked thru alot of shops. The girls, babies and I took a trip to Mansfield (75 miles away)to go to Kohls and Super Target and out to lunch..It snow there for few hours... Joe and his wife Vicki came up from Ft. Hood area to visited with us. The last night, the guys kept the kids entertained with the great wrestling match on the bed, while Becky tried to pack before bed time...They left early Wed morning for home. Will be having baby # 3 due July 20th or so... Danny headed to Vonnie in Kansas for a week. I took Lara and Jim to see the outlet mall and the other mall...Just like Topeka...They are going to his cousins up near Dallas tonight for New Year Eve celebrations and come back tomorrow afternoon...They fly out early on Sat...All this is way to soon. It will be back to just us and the cows til April / May...

More pictures

Merry Christmas - week 1

Brian, Becky and the boys got in on Sunday afternoon,,,Danny came in Monday afternoon and Lara and Jim came in on Tues afternoon...
Little Brian was excited when Pa-pa (Wes) turned on the train and showed him how to run it... and he loved going oput to see the cows...
On Christmas Eve day it snowed for about 10 minutes and I had all my big kids outside taking pictures...and it started to snow as we got out of Christmas Eve service and COLD!!!!
It was so fun Christmas morning and all the presents...I surprised the girls with their quilt tops...
On Saturday, Brian and Becky went to go visit Melissa and her mom. The rest of us went into Dallas to see the JFK museumn and grassy knoll..interesting.
Then we drove out to Arlington to see the new Dallas Statuim and headed for home.
Today Lori Lee and Soupie came over for the day and we had great time visiting with them...
Where did the first week go????

The Stocking are hung by the Chimney with care,,,,

Well I think I am ready! Looking forward to all the kids coming here for Christmas...hope they have been good or its coal in those stockings..

Frosty nipping at my nose

Well the lights on the house are on and the tree is set up.Not too sure about these new LED lights..not bright enough. Dad say we might need to go buy something else and change it out when it gets warmer...
It snowed yesterday morning for couple of hours but didn't stay...I just couldn't stand it and had to go walk around the yard feeling it hit my face.
When I got up this morning it was 25 o and the yards were white...I think I might need to wear couple pairs of pants and shirts,,, yes I kicked the furnace up to 70 until Wes gets up, then the real battle begins to turn it down to 65...

Wes's 1st cousins of Mitchells side of family

We went to Phyllis house in Cisco, for her family Thanksgiving last Sat. It was nice to put face to names from Phyllis update e-mails. We had a great time.
This is Grandpa Mitchell sister, Aunt Drusilla and Uncle Elmer children...
L to R: Phyllis, Nalda, Ralph, Mary Caroline,and Robbie.

Happy Thanksgiving

Ma & Pa Goes to Dallas

Well it was actually Mesquite, TX ...I was bored and said I wanted to go somewhere for a ride ... We looked up some stores online and off we went..the directions took us to Town East Mall area...there was Joannn Fabric, Hancock Fabric, Kirkland, Super Target, Hobby Lobby, Michaels Boarders...oh my heart be still....Look Pa!
and we didn't even go to the mall...We only went to Joannes, Boarders and a A-1 plane store...then we went to Soulmans for Bar B Q..yummy that was good...Drove thru downtown Corsicana on the way home to see the Christmas lights since we didnt go to last Thur. nights season celebrations. Enjoyed the outing and traffic was good for a Sat. afternoon and evening. Gotta go head for church little early, its foggy out there.....can hardly see the cows

Walmart has lost it!

Well who doesnt carry Mrs. Cubbins Stuffing Mix ????? Our Walmart carries is Stove Top..Yeck! First, they dont carry Finness Shampoo & conditioner and MJB coffee and now this... I think I need to open my own store....
And what is this nonsense that Walmart is going to be selling coffins...yes thats right, like the things dead people go in...what has this come to....I've heard a one stop shop but this is carrying it a bit far.

Amazing things

We are having the most amazing sunsets the past few evenings... Wes still on his lawn mower... and it was like a scene out of the Alfred Hitchcock movie THE BIRDS! The purple martins are mirgrating thru the area towards Mexico and have been around this area for a few days...this picture of the back yard is nothing to what the front yard looked like...I bet there were 500 or 600 if not more, in the front yard yesterday morning...NOISY eating the bugs in the grass and then they are move on.

Fall in the air

Yep the is a little crispness in the mornings but warms up to mid 70s. One of the trees in front yard has lost all of its leaves and you can see just a few trees out in the back pasture,changing to a light yellow color.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Velane! Hope you have a great day...

On Monday morning I went to take trash out to can at gate and I dont know who scared who more...me or the cow...Someones cows were out and on the road and into the Baumgardeners drive....Judy came out and shoo them out of her place.
I called Jennifer, next door for the man phone number who has cattle behind us. We checked his fences but not his cows...Judy called sheriff and they think the cows are from the 800 acres down and around at the end of the road.
I see that this morning there are 4 or 5 of them back in the side pasture of the Baumgaterners.... Just let them get into Judy garden and the neighborhood will be having steaks....

Well we finally got the RV out of the mud again, but just barely... even the big rig tow truck was having problems not sinking... I cant believe its still that wet out there but it is. Suppose to have rain coming but not heavy.

Got all my flower bulbs planted before the big frost...Planted 40 daffodils in area next to garage. Under my bedroom window, I planted 2 iris, 20 tulips, and 15 crocus.. couldn't find any gladiolus so will plant them when I find them.... Now I need to do something with the flower bed next to porch..all that rain killed the Vinnas... Bring on the frost.

Trick or Treat

Well I had the one and only trick or treater at 4:00 this afternoon. It was the little girl next door, Brooke. She was going with her family to some friends in another town to go on a hayride with friends.
Seems that the big churches in town do a harvest festival and the downtown passed out candy yesterday.


Wes and I were excited when the big grader came and graded our road this afternoon. It had potholes big enough to get stuck in from all the rain we have had.

Mary Jane visits (aka: Aunt Curley)

Mary came in on Wed afternoon and we drove around Dallas to find 2 of the places Wes and Mary lived at. Man did it rain that night. Got over 3 inches again.
On Thursdays Wes took Mary on a Corsicana downtown tour. Introduced her to Picolos pickles and Corsicana Bakery. She met Brooke from next door.
Mary showed me how to play games on facebook and I showed her how to play Poppitt and Chuzzle on games.com. We stayed up til 2 a.m.
On Friday we went to Dawson, looked around the cemetary and went by Granny Moore house. There was a elderly lady sitting on the porch so we stopped and went to talk to her. She let Wes and Mary look thru the house...It was very nice. good memories for them.
Then we went to the Brushie Prairie Cemetary and went thru that one taking family tombstone pictures... We went to the Pecan store and Russell Stover Chocalote store too. Had a good visit but had to take Mary back to DFW airport in Dallas on Saturday morning....

Cotton Festival

We went today to a town called Kerens. Its about 1700 people...They hold their annual cotton festival, tractor show, and chili cook-off. The downtown is 2 blocks long. There were lots to look at, craft, food, demostrations, animals and a quilt show.
We took the trolley ride to go thru a cotton gin in the next town of Powell. They are one of the only 2 gin mills that processes cotton in this area. It was very interesting of how the process is done from start to finish. Seems that the farmer is paid according to the final grading of the cotton and seeds.
We ate Bar B Q sandwiches from Tom and Judy church booth and then roasted corn. I had always heard of fried pies,,, so I brought us home a couple to try..peach and apricot.
Dad was in heaven going to all of the chili booths, trying the chili....cant understand why hes not so hungry for dinner tonight...he he he .
it was a fun day and it was about 77 degrees...

We're Home

Hi everyone...We got back from our trip from AL yesterday. My camera died and so I have no pictures...We decided to go out the 10 and stop in New Orleans as our half way point. We went to the Gumbo Shop for Gumbo and bread pudding and then over to Pat O'Briens and then walked around Bourbon Street. I was surprised how many tourist were out and about. Still smells to me tho. I'd hate to think what Mari Grai smells like..
The next morning we went back to French Quarters for beneigns and coffee...It was yummy then headed on to to Alabama.
We had a great time visiting Brian, Becky,the boys and Lara. Becky planned a nice birthday party for Lucas. I cant believe Lucas is a year old and almost walking by himself. He will be off and running by Christmas. Becky made 2 soups; Bell Pepper and Chicken Soups, broccoli salad, mac n cheese and rolls and Vanilla (non vanilla) ice cream to go with the pumpkin cake.... It was all really good.
After lunch we opened presents, then everyone went to the animal farm. We went on a hay ride out in the fields, where we got to stop and got picked pumpkins and sunflowers....little Brian had alot of fun but said NO! to every pumpkin we would show him... he was just too cute.
Enjoyed the relaxing weekend. On Monday Becky and I took Lara to Atlanta GA for her flight back home. Becky drove and we had few down pours. With it being a 4 hr drive we talked each others ears off and even left a little early so we could stop in Montgomery to go to Hobby Lobby Craft store...
Got Lara to airport in plenty of time. I drove back and we stopped at a Cracker Barrel to stretch and look around, then stopped at the mall and walked around again in Montgomery. No rain coming back..
Wes and I headed for home Tues morning going up to I - 20 and across...The drive was good until we got to the Miss /LA boarder and traffic...then came some bad rain and couldn't find a RV place that had openings or that wasn't flooding..ended up stopping at a Pilot Truck Stop for the night about 8 p.m and as we went to bed the rain stopped.
The drive from mid LA to TX was ok and no rain. Made a wrong turn and ended up at the loading dock at the back of the Boomtown Casino in Shrieveport,,, so had to unhook the Miata and then back the RV out with the help of alot of security....then hook the Miata back up after the RV got turned around. Oohs!
Finally got home about 2:30...Things look like we got rain (I now understand it was like over 5 inches the day before) we had a small pond of water in front yard. Wes not thinking decides to drive up near the porch and gets stuck...GGRRR
Couldn't pull it out with my car, tried digging it and putting card board boxes as a path, not even the neighbors tractor.helped .So this morning we call and got a big tow truck and the moved it like nothing...all is well. Wes is now filling the holes up.... Come on sun we need to dry out some here....

Life in the country

Well this was a very fast week...Have noticed that the hummingbirds are starting the migrating south for the winter...but we have Eastern bluebirds and Cardinals in the yard and 2 squirrels. Saw 3 flocks of geese fly over this week.
We had our first visitors last Sat.,,, Lori Lee and Soupie came over from Kigore. We went to a gun and guitar show in Hillsboro. Had a nice day and visit.
On Monday we had more visitors..Wayne and Ruth from Pittsburg TX came by. They were in Dawson and was heading back home and stopped by for a visit. Wayne was over at Granny Moores house alot when he was a young boy. I think we're related by marriage thru Mr Moore family somehow. Anyways he told stories of her. She was a character. Now I know how the Mitchells side of the family get their humor....
Hmm cant remember Tues...oh yeah,, we worked on weed whacking out by the shop area. Its getting cool enough to burn trash...we don't have much..bush and cardboard boxes.
Wed. Wes and I went into Dallas and went to the State Fair. It wasn't anything like I thought it would be. Its midway is all the way thru the middle like it use to be at our fair and they have a sky ride. and hugh Ferris wheel. We went thru the butterfly exhibit and 4 or 5 buildings..Right smack in the middle of it is the Cotton Bowl...they have Musical Hall,Museum and trains
We ate our way thru it..deep fried Peaches and Cream... fried bacon...fried butter, which was a donut hole type thing with melted butter in it....I'm not even going to try to count those calories. We walked around for almost 6 hrs and then decided to head back home...
Thurs... suppose to have storm front come thru tonight..Wes went and got 2 new tires on Miata and its TX check...The big storm front came thru about 8p.m with wind thunder and lighting and only a little bit of rain..30 minutes it was gone.
Now its Friday..I didn't get up til 8:30...WoW! It is just beautiful today..Slight breeze and in the 70s and the bluest sky I think I've ever seen.
We had to go to the court house to register the Miata and get his new TX license plates. Decided to go eat Mexican for lunch. Went by Sears and bought a new GAS Powered weed whacker and then went to Walmart and bought groceries.
Dad bought a used riding lawn mower from our neighbor Tom, and will do the lawn tomorrow. Its suppose to be at least 40 to 50% chance of rain all week and so tomorrow is the clear day.
Monday we'll be cleaning the RV and packing it up before heading for AL.
Well thats it from out in the country...

Happy Birthday Danny!

Wow Its your 34th birthday..You are making us feel OLD! I hope you have a great day.
We love you. Mom and Dad

My first Storm Warning

We had storm warnings come thru all across Texas and watched them get closer and closer on TV. It finally got here about 10:30. 60 mile hr winds and severe thunder and lighting with side ways crazy rain... I could read the newspapaer it was so bright for about an hour. Got a inch of rain in like 20 minutes then it moved on.

Happy 29th ANN.

Happy 29th Anniversary Wes. It was my turn to plan how we would celebrate this year so I thought since Wes loves trains, we would go to Rusk TX. and ride the steam train.
We were going to take the RV but there was a biker rally and they had reserved the whole campground so we just got a motel for Friday night.
We picked the open window car right behind the steam engine...get the full effect the sound and smell. I had to laugh because there was a Cub Scout pack there and the boys rode most of the way with their fingers stuffed in their ears. The train went about 25 mile to Palestine Depo. We had an hour or so to eat our box lunch under the trees and looked around that Depo before the ride back to Rusk.

Lawn mowin and Creek orner

Well this morning I 'm sitting on the porch having my coffee and here comes Mr. Baumgartner on his lawn mower... he said I'm here to mowing some of your yard and off he mow about 1/3 of yard......
He told Wes to come over to the house, he had a older mower he could use to finish the job - Wes spent about 3 hrs mowing front , back, and side yards while I weed whacked around the house and pulled grass out of my flower bed.
Last week we noticed that one of the big oak tree had tilted in the Creek Corner,,,(aka poison Ivy/Oak area pit)...Wes went out to cut back some bush to get a look at the tree and wouldn't you know it,,,, Yes Wes is got it again,,on top of his head, across this face, shoulder on both inner arms,on one side and behind both knees...
He is a mess...poor thing goes crazy at night and cant sleep. I think we're going to hire professional help to clear these 2 back corners...

Quiet weekend are good

Well we've been waiting for the rain for the past 3 days but it has gone around us. Thur afternoon we are sitting on the porch when Brooke came home from school and she hollers "Ya'll watching the rain?" I said we haven't gotten a drop. I guess it was raining so hard in town that the street were flooding out...but not here.

It looked like it might rain all day on Fri but nothing..I cleaned house and did the floors then went to Walmart for a few groceries for this next week. We went out with neighbors Tom and Judy for fish dinner.Its a hole in the wall gas station/grocery store/ very small cafe seats maybe 30 but it was Yummy and we shared a piece of choc pie,,OMG,,, it was still warm...I think I've died...

When we got to the end of our road there were puddles everywhere, that was less than a mile down the road. When we got home, it finally started to rain.. I checked the gauge this morning and we got 1/2in in during the night.

We were up and gone early this morning for a 8:30 genealogy class at the library in town and it poured there all day. Poor Wes,, he's not use to getting up so early..8:30 / 9:00 is his usual get up time.

We checked the rain gauge when we got home and we got another inch during the day. Its still raining and they say we could another 2 inches...so we'll see.
Guess this mean we will "HAVE TO" really mow the lawn this next week.
The rest of the weekend is going to be quiet...play on computer, work on a project, or read a book, and church in the morning

New washer and dryer....

YEAH!!! My new washer and dryer has arrived... A big flatbed 18-wheeler comes down the road and cant make the turn into yard so he stops out on road...he gets his loader off the back and brings themthem up to the porch and sits them down...

1st Monday in Canton

Yesterday we drove to Canton, TX for "1st Monday". Its a HUGH swap meet & craft type flea market. We walked around for 5 hours and had to quit for today. We know we didnt see not even half of whats there... We'll just need to go again and take the RV and take 2 days.


Dads been digging his trench to put in a water line for a water facet at the corner of the house. He did good but kept me worried with him digging in the hot sun. Now we wont have to connect 3 hoses to water the flowers or crape myrtal trees.

End of My List

Wow!!! I have finished and crossed off the last thing that was on my TO DO list...It only took me 2 months since we moved in but now I need to start me a new list...
the biggest thing was to get the stinky refrigerator, that the renters left, all cleaned out and put back together... We hooked it up today and it runs good...

Wes is feeling sorry for the bird and bought a real feeder...between the dogs and squirrel knocking over the other one, the birds never had any seed....
Then he is out in the back yard, moooing at the cows that are in the back pasture and waving the steaks at them before he Bar B Q...sick man...lol

The weather was great today, it was 89 with a nice breeze ,,,took a ride this afternoon up I-45 to I-20 just to see whats up that way (nothing) ..could see the outline of downtown Dallas...Stopped at Walmart in Ennis on way way down I-45, ohhh, they have a fabric /craft section at that store...35 miles is better than 55 to Waco...

Austin weekend

Wes and I went to Austin a day early. It Saturday eveing...oh no It was "Batfest" and couldnt get near it. I guess they have a weekend they clebrate the bats flying out from under the bridge, which they do every night... We wasnt going for that anyways, we went to a restraunt called "Threadgills". Not too bad of a wait 30 minutes or so... afterwards we drove around and up and down 6th street, just sightseeing.
On Sunday we met Larry and his family at the airport and all headed over to one of Aunt Kathryns favorite Bar B Q places, she took everyone for good old Texas Bar B Q...They were closed, so disappointing but found Green Mesquite Bar B Q across the road in a shopping center that was open... Had good lunch and visited. After lunch Larry and his family went back to airport to pick up Vicki. So we went back to change for the service and met at the church. Had a nice memorial service and her Tx church was very gracious to us.
After the reception we all headed over to Uncle Gene grave and took pictures and sprinkled a cup of Aunt Kathryn ashes over Gene grave.
Larry and his family and Vicki left about 7:30 to drive to Tivoli Tx, near the gulf coast, where Aunt Kathryn ashes would be buried next to Uncle Clayton this morning.
It was nice to able to put faces with names for Gene daughters and family. Wish I had taken a picture of Uncle Clayton sister and her daughter.