As Summer draws to a close we witnessed this incredible sunset the other day.
Tom has been busy gathering firewood. Most of the time he stops along our county road while driving home from work and picks up deadwood that is laying in the ditches beside the road....free for the taking. I am so thankful that he is comfortable using the chainsaw! He cuts what he has to right there just to get it into the truck bed, then I help him once he gets home to shove the logs off onto the ground. Tom then cuts and splits the wood small enough that it will fit into our wood stove while I try to do most of the wood stacking into piles. This will be our fourth Winter to heat our home with only the wood stove....no electric central heat. What a difference it makes on our electric utility bill each month, plus how nice and cozy it is to have a fire in the stove on cold days.
It is gratifying to "own" our own comfort level. We are doing the work, enjoying the benefits from good physical exercise outdoors, and at the same time controlling our electric energy usage.
We now have seven stacks of firewood, just starting on the eighth pile, which is probably more than enough to get thru even the coldest of winters.
We recently drove up to Broken Bow, Ok. to go kayaking down the Mountain Fork River. We got up early and as we were traveling along we watched the sun pop up over the horizon.
I was just up this way a month ago when I met my women friends for hiking/kayaking and when I crossed over the Red River at the state line the water level was still up and the river was full from bank to bank. What a difference a month makes, especially when we have not had much rain lately.....the Red River was pretty low as we passed over it on this day.
But the sky was spectacular! Gorgeous blue background with big puffy clouds floating lazily by.
We had an awesome time on the Mountain Fork River....just the two of us! Sunny skies, mild temperatures. We did not see another soul the entire trip down the river until we reached our take-out point......we spotted a couple of guys launching a canoe. The river was running good, the rapids were challenging but fun, the waterfall was just a gentle two-foot drop-off, and the still water was so peaceful, not a sound but the gentle slap of our oars and an occasional bird soaring overhead. We have made this river trip many times over the years and this is the first time we had the river totally to ourselves! Awesome day!
I love our lantana flower beds. They bloom profusely in the early Summer and then again late Summer/early Fall. Such a bright spot in our landscape!
As you can see in this photo, the bees also like the lantana blooms.
My sister, Donna, along with her daughter, Denae, and husband Michael and their daughter, Daisha recently made the trip to Texas for a visit. My Mom really enjoyed having them for a visit. Mom is giving Daisha a hug.
Denae and Michael
I think Daisha liked her Uncle Tom!
They rented this RV for their trek from Wyoming to Nebraska then to Texas. With three adults, one child, and two dogs this was the best way to travel. We all enjoyed spending time with Donna and her family. (I had not seen Donna since last Thanksgiving!) Thankfully there are phones and emails to stay in touch.
Last Fall/Winter we really enjoyed our fire pit on our back patio, so we decided to get another fire pit for our new front patio.
The first cool evening we had we built a fire and thoroughly enjoyed relaxing as nightfall came.
A funny thing happened while we sitting by the fire. A pickup truck stopped on the road in front of our house and two young girls jumped out and began walking toward us and when they were close one piped up and asked "Do you have any hemorrhoid cream?" Tom said "No, but are you girls on a scavenger hunt?" They both laughed and said "Yes!" "Is it alright if we take a picture by your flag?" We said "Sure." So they turned around and headed back to the road when suddenly more girls began pouring out of the pickup truck and ran over to one of the small flags that we have flying at the Texas Historical Marker. I think there were eight or nine girls grouped in front of the flag while one of them snapped a photo with their smartphone. They all piled back into that little pickup truck, made a U-turn at the edge of our yard, and headed back toward town. Small town fun on a Saturday night!
Oh boy, our Texas Rangers baseball team has really come to life here at the end of the season! They went into first place the night before we traveled to Arlington to attend a game. (Currently 3 1/2 games ahead!)
The Texas Rangers have a beautiful ball park....
When the stadium filled up it was literally a "sea of red". Fans wearing their red shirts in support of the Rangers.
Lots of preparation goes on before the game to make the playing field just right. Notice there are three guys carrying/holding the water hose while only one guy does all the spraying, wetting down the dirt around the baseline.
Me and my Sweetie are enjoying the night out! We got there almost an hour before game time.
The Rangers stadium is now named Globe Life Park in Arlington.
There is always something going on when there is any kind of lull in the action on the field....here is the Ozarka dots (red, blue, green) racing half way around the field.....the blue dot crashed in the dirt just before the finish line and the green dot was dragging up the rear....they keep a tally going on which dot has won the most, but don't ask me which one it is! Fun to watch and the fans are rooting for their favorites!
It is all about entertaining and keeping the fans engaged.
Another thing, a couple of times (maybe more) on the jumbo screen above the field they would show short clips from several past movies depicting the theme of trying hard, pushing your limits, going for broke, etc. all with the theme of "NeverEverQuit", that is the Rangers' slogan, "Never Ever Quit" .
Perhaps, "third time's the charm"?? They have made it to the World Series twice before and have come up short. Could this be their year? We'll see!
The game seemed long, even though the Rangers did win in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Houston Astros, but we did not get out of the ball park and back to our car until almost 11:30 p.m. We were glad we had planned ahead and reserved a hotel room near the ball park. We were both off work the following day so we could get up and drive home at our leisure (we live about 1 1/2 hour drive from the ballpark) All in all it was a nice outing!
In other news here at the edge of the woods, the big "exhumation" happened a couple of weeks ago. There are now three less graves in the Blair/Bundy Cemetery at Barren Ridge.
Descendants of Allen Blair contacted us months ago asking our permission to move three graves: Allen Blair, Cinderella Blair, J.W. Blair. After filing all the proper paperwork with the State, the Funeral Home, and whoever else, and getting together enough money to cover the expense involved, they exhumed/moved these three graves, their headstones, and the old chain link fence that surrounded the plot, reinterred all three remains in the Edgewood Cemetery. Wow! The Blair graves were from 1868, 1882, and 1883. Needless to say, after that many years, there were only ashes to move.
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