Painting, Painting Painting

Lately, when I am not at work at Wal*Mart, all my time is spent painting!  I am tackling the job of painting our house, one side at a time.  I started with the new carport addition, and the entire west side of our house first.  Scraping off the old flaking paint around the windows and under the eaves, recaulking any cracks, then applying a coat off Kilz Primer over all surfaces.  After our house being green for more than 20 years, it seems to look larger with its new color of paint, "coffee w/cream", that we have chosen.  The trim around the windows and doors is called "red sedona", but actually looks more like burgundy.  We will also have a third color, "apple orchard", which is a light green, on the vertical boards that form the upper triangle on the front and back of the house, under the peak.  What a changed look it will be when I am finished with all the painting! 

A couple of years ago,my friend, Mary Ann, gave me a cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks (Recipes From An Accidental Country Girl), by Ree Drummond.  Well, it has lots of pictures of step-by-step directions for each recipe, plus lots of stories behind each recipe, plus lots more photos of life on their ranch in Oklahoma.  Needless to say, it is a very unusual cookbook!  I began to read The Pioneer Woman blog also.  Well, she has come out with a new cookbook this year, and I read on her blog that she would be at a Sam's Club in Dallas for a "book signing" on April 14th!  So, Mary Ann and her two daughters, and another friend, Lanette, and her one year old granddaughter, and I decided it would be fun to go and get our original cookbooks signed and buy her new one to have her autograph also.  When we arrived at the Sam's Club (which we entered through a multi-layered parking garage, that also serves the Wal*Mart that is on the second floor above the Sam's Club), they had already sold out of the "new cookbook", (only 600 were available), before we even got in line to meet Ree!  There had to be a thousand people waiting in line!  Unbelieveable!  Who's idea was this, anyway?  We were in line before noon, and around 2:00pm, the couple in line ahead of us had just acquired one of the new cookbooks!  (the husband had left his wife to hold their place in line while he made the quick trip to a nearby bookstore and purchased one for his wife) Wow!  Maryann and her two girls immediately left me holding our place in line and drove over to that bookstore and purchased a new cookbook for each of us!  She was back in line by 2:30pm!  We finally arrived at the autograph table around 5:00pm!  Ree was still smiling and cheerfully autographed all of our books.  Thankfully, my friends were not upset with me for suggesting this little adventure, and all three kids with us were extremely patient and so well-behaved.

Lanette's granddaughter patiently waiting---------Ree Drummond signing my books, finally!


A couple of Thursdays ago, I rode my horse, Tex, with the Saddlebags at the Mineola Nature Preserve.  It was a splendid Spring day to be out on the  equine Trails there!  Here is a photo of Mary Ann on her new horse, checking out the herd of longhorns that have a few buffalo mixed in with them!

Spring Has Sprung!

Springtime is my favorite time of year!  I love it when the "brown world of winter" springs forth new life in the form of green grass, leaves on the trees, and wild flowers bursting with color.  I walked around our yard and snapped the following photos to remind me of how much I love this time of year!  

Sedum

Privet (has a stong sweet smell, similar to honeysuckle)

Iris

Spiderwort

I'm not sure what the name of these are.(I call them primrose) They grow along the field behind our house.

I'm not sure what these are either! They grow amidst the "primrose".

Honeysuckle

A Sea of Honeysuckle!

Indian Paint Brush

You can see why I love Springtime!  All this color ablaze just right around our house!

One thing I don't like about Springtime is the local "hoodlums" are cruising our country roads more than usual,  looking for "trouble", like "bashing mailboxes"!  The last few times they hit ours, Tom would leave the old beat-up box alongside the new one he installed.  We had a "monument" of three old bashed-in mailboxes, and they still hit us again about a week ago!!  Now, Tom went out and bought a new mailbox that is supposedly "baseball bat proof"!  Time will tell, I guess!

"Dead Soldiers" 

The New Tough Mailbox!

Can you see my horse, Tex, peacefully grazing in the background?

Sunshine and New Carport

Wow, there was stormy weather all around us yesterday, however we were very fortunate to have only a little wind and more rain here at our place!  The sun is shining today and it is a little cooler!  Yippee!

I know the construction crew that started on our new carport on Monday is very glad to see this sunshine today.  They were rained out on Monday afternoon and also Tuesday afternoon!

However, we are not going to complain about any of the rain we are getting, after last year's drought.  As I was working around the yard the other day, I walked upon a turtle that was crossing our yard.  By the time I ran in the house and got my camera, it had changed it's mind and was trying to get under my horse trailer to hide from me.

Tom and I managed to get a row of tomatoes and half of a row of assorted peppers planted last weekend in our garden.  The ground is very wet still, but I know it will be hot and dryer before long.
Another great thing about Springtime that I really enjoy (and missed out on last year while hiking) is watching Tom grill outdoors.  He tried a gas grill a few years back, but really didn't like it as much as he likes his charcoal grill, so he went back to it.  Oh my, he cooks so good!

On this day last year, Pigeon and I  were in the Smoky Mountains at Derrick Knob Shelter, waiting for the thunderstorms, which were  followed by sleet and snow during the night!  Boy, am I glad to be home in Texas this Spring!!

Today, I have cleaned out my horse trailer, put clean linens in it, packed some food for tonight and tomorrow, and am getting ready to load my horse and go on an overnight campout with my Saddlebag women friends, before our trailride tomorrow.  I have not been camping with my horse since the fall of 2010, before my hike.  I'm looking forward to it!