Wednesday, October 21 –
With almost certain rain threatening the area, we decided this afternoon that it might be a good time to visit our grand kids in Tennessee. We left around 7 pm tonight and drove all night. We arrived in Tennessee a little before 9 am. Marian was happy to welcome Carolina and even Stockton, but wasn’t too sure about Grammie and Granddad. It had been a long time since Cimarron’s wedding which was the last time she had seen us. Alan, however, warmed up a little faster.
Saturday, October 10 –
Aspen and Carolina cooked up their own special celebration meal.
Complete with a pumpkin pound cake.
We actually celebrated twice. The Thursday before we were in the Amarillo area for a funeral of a sweet lady. After the services, in the afternoon, we did a little shopping and bought Aspen her birthday present.
Then we ate at her choice of restaurants
The Olive Garden is always a good idea.
Friday, September 25 –
On the way to Matador, we saw these two bucks, still in the velvet, by the road. We pulled over and Stockton was able to get several photos and a video out the back window of the pickup. He got some nice shots.
Friday, September 25 –
Stockton had a fun “show & Tell” for the elementary classes at Patton Springs School in Afton. He took his lizards, turtles, gecko, snakes and even a dragon. I think he enjoyed it as much as any of the students.
Saturday, September 12 –
We traveled to northern Lubbock county to attend the wedding of Jake Shannon, Nathan’s little brother. It was a nice evening and it was a treat to see family and friends we hadn’t seen in a while. Everything was very beautiful.
Remember my recent post on “The Miracle Cake“? I was writing about my temporary stove and how I really wanted to get my old vintage stove repaired. Well, when we went to the Dallas area a few weeks ago, we took my old stove to get it repaired. We hauled it all the way there and ended up bringing it all the way back again. The restoration and repair place wanted 1800.00 just to get it working and 6500.00 for complete restoration. (Try running that one by your husband. It isn’t pretty.) My friend Eve posted my dilemma on her facebook page and found one of her friends who had a similar stove to give away. On our way out of town, we picked it up, hoping to combine the two into one working stove.
That was the plan when we got home. We stored them back into one of our sea containers planning to tackle the job as soon as possible.
Then a couple of nights later, Nathan was curious about how much a stove like mine, fully restored would sell for. He got on ebay to search. He didn’t find any priced as high as 6500.00, but he did find an incredible deal.
Most of the O’keefe & Merritt stoves for sale on ebay seem to be in California. There’s some great deals, but who happens to be going to L.A.?
Well, this deal was just too good to pass up. An O’keefe & Merritt stove fully restored and then never used again for only 399.00! It seemed too good to be true. But it was everything it was advertised to be. We found an online shipping auction that is affiliated with ebay called uship. A really sweet gal from San Diego picked up our stove and delivered it Sunday afternoon to Matador. Even with the shipping, it only cost us a little over half what the man in Dallas wanted just to get our old one running.
Meet Carly from California. She had several blow-outs on an RV she hauled most of the way and a flat on her pickup. She said only in Texas did anyone stop to help. She had three guys help her up by Amarillo.
Here it is. Isn’t it perfect?
Here’s Nathan and Laredo tweaking it and making the necessary adjustments from natural gas to propane burning.
Honestly, the chrome on the surface is like a mirror.
All the pilots lit, all the burners burn, both the oven and the broiler oven work and even the lights work!
It’s clean inside and out. I figured I’d better get a shot under here. It might never look this good again.
Here’s the girls fixing the first Shannon lunch on it.
And here’s momma. So happy.
Friday, September 4 –
Nathan and his brother Chris went looking for Elk in Colorado again this year. As you can see, they didn’t spend an enormous amount of time taking pictures.
Chris took these two pictures of Nathan. In the background are two black bears.
cattle enjoying the green grass before it was gone
old home in jayton, texas. so sad to see it being allowed to deteriorate
seen at the abilene chili’s
a little painting party
typical summer forecast
new calves are curious
so are horses
super tiny horny toads
small western hognose
carolina caught leaving secret notes for mambo
toads in a foamy puddle
they seem contented
because of early rains, we have sure-enough frogs
double-yoked boiled egg
our oldest longhorn
carolina and coconut on a walk. coconut has a sticker
latest in farm girl attire
load of hay
Belle
cooking with a little help from coconut
something chocolate
on the way to church
Friday, August 21 –
A beautiful evening for a ride.
Friday, August 14 –
Stockton was out feeding the cows and horses. I snapped a couple of shots as he threw out the hay.
Friday, August 7 –
We attended this beautiful wedding at Walnut Tree Weddings just west of Olton. It was a really neat spot. The weather was perfect and it was fun seeing some of my relatives, too.
