Flying J Ranch

This weekend Buzz and I went to the Flying J Ranch outside of Ruidoso, NM. We joined a group of his coworkers who had gotten together for a fun evening out. We arrived shortly after 6 p.m. and strolled through Western Main Street of Bonita City. There was a small gift store and an ice cream parlor. Though I was tempted to get ice cream, I decided to wait until I ate dinner first (and it was a good thing I did). Behind main street there were pony rides for kids and even a Pistol shoot with a real 44 gun (that was for kids of all ages). Around 7:15 p.m., the sheriff comes strolling through town to meet and great all of his visitors. Not long after he arrives, the 'bad' guys come into town ready to create trouble. Over the next few minutes we watched a funny gunfight. And of course, the sheriff wins and regains control over his town!


Next dinner was served. By that time, we were all starving! But dinner was absolutely wonderful and worth the wait. For our meal we were given a large metal plate and the kitchen staff piled on the food. We had pinto beans, beef or chicken, corn bread, baked potatoes, home-made applesauce (which was Buzz's favorite) and spice cake. And for those of us that were especially hungry (that would be Buzz) you can go back for a second helping of all the food! I barely finished my first plate and was glad that I hadn't gotten ice cream earlier.


After dinner we enjoyed a concert by the Wranglers, a Western Music Group. We laughed their humorious commentaries and had the chance to sing along with the group. During our concert, a huge thunderstorm decided to roll in. I walked out on the porch to see a beautiful lightening show...of course, the lightening was followed by rolling thunder and a huge amount of rain.

Once the show ended, we headed back home. From what I could tell, the entire group had a great time!

At the entrance of Flying J.

The gunfight!!!

Enjoying heavenly applesause!

Our entertainment, the Wrangles.

More pics...

of our newly organized garage and beer fridge which is now stocked with sodas and drinks.

And one picture of Dr. Rod for all to enjoy!

Home Projects

This past weekend Buzz and I spent the weekend at home doing projects. We were spurred to action with my sister moving into the house and by getting a new fridge for the kitchen. Since my folks were moving, they no longer needed their beautiful, large fridge. Buzz and I decided to move our smaller fridge to the garage and then our new fridge (my folk's fridge) could go into the kitchen. The majority of our work was done in the garage. Buzz has wanted to organize the garage since he bought the house.

The first thing we did was install some hanging storage units in the garage. We desperately needed more storage space and this gave us tons of space!

Then we put up a new shelving unit. We were able to clean out the two old shelving units and get everything onto the new one.


And of course, the Purdue parking plaque. I am going to have to get one for my side of the garage!


Then Buzz put 2 x 4's along both sides of the garage. Now we can hang any thing from along the garage walls and make use of all that space.

Needless to say, we were very impressed with all of our hard work! And there were no major injuries, just a few bumps and bruises...nothing that won't heal within a few weeks.

Kittens in the backyard

We now have four kittens living in our backyard. A while back, on one of my trips back home, I noticed that we had a cat living under the bushes along our fence. Well, now mama cat has had a litter. Last week Buzz and I woke up to see two of the kittens asleep on our fence posts.

As soon as the sun got a little higher, the kitten on the right jumped down and went for shade. The kitten on the left stayed on her post long after the sun was up and the shade was gone. She did manage to turn herself around so the sun wasn't in her face anymore. Buzz affectionately name the kitties after us...Buzz, up early before the sun is high, and me, willing to sleep late into the morning.

And of course, our kitty watching all the action from her post.

A few more pics from July 4th...

This weekend we got a CD of photos from mom-in-law...so here's a few more pictures from our adventures up North.

This year Buzz and I picked out special hats to go with our July 4th ensemble. I think we look pretty spiffy!


And, you can't forget all the bacon that was cooked! Now that won't clog your arteries at all!


This year I learned how to play corn hole. Corn hole consists of throwing bags of corn into a hole. I played at Grace's birthday party...I don't think that one bag landed into the hole, but I did get closer to the hole. On July 4th I finally started landing the bag right through the hole. Yeah me!



And lastly the gang at Graeter's eating ice cream. We ate ice cream at least three days while we were in town.

July 4th!

We spent the 4th in Ohio with Buzz's family. Every 4th of July, we get up bright and earlier (some earlier than others) and head to the park for breakfast. More than 60 years ago, Grandma and some of her friends started "Breakfast in the Park." Now the group has grown to include four generations!

Buzz and our brother-in-law were up at 5:35 to get ready and head to the park to build the fire. Everyone else slept in a little longer and met them at 8. By the time the rest of the group had arrived the guys had cooked pounds of bacon! And then the eggs were cooked. This was the first year that Buzz had cooked eggs and he did a great job! He cooked the eggs over medium, which is my favorite. However, we quickly learned that everyone else thought that runny yolks mean the eggs are not cooked.

The table!

Our cook in action!

Look at those marvelous eggs!

Let's eat!

The entire group!

After we all finished breakfast, we packed up and headed to the township's parade. Our brother-in-law left early and got us great seats at the edge of the parade. We were all thankful for the building clouds that brought shade and a cool breeze...though, truth be told, it was still hot and humid!



Later in the day we had a BBQ. We had rain off and on the entire afternoon...to make sure that the food would be ready, it was grilled earlier in the afternoon. Once we arrived, got all the food out, and starting preparing our plate, the rain showed up again. We moved all the food and seats under the porch. The weather did clear up in time to make s'mores, eat homemade ice cream, and play with sparklers.

Cliff with our wonderful spread of food!

Toasting marshmallows for s'mores!

Grace and I playing with Sparklers...my first time! I know, no one else could believe it either!