Greg put a brisket on the grill today and it was so tender, you could cut it with a fork! I made a side of butternut squash (from the garden) and seasoned with season salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and just a touch of brown sugar. This was yummo!
Author: Tracy
Pickled
What do you do when you have so much freshly picked okra and you don’t want it to go bad? You make pickled okra of course! This was hubby’s first time to make it so hopefully in a few days we will see how good it is (I am sure it will be very tasty!).
My New Ride!
I guess about a couple of months or so ago, Greg asked me “when you gonna get a new car?”. I said, “why, I like what I got and it drives just fine”. Well, after a while I decided to do some research on SUVs (those without third seats as to me, they are useless). In 2008, we bought a Nissan Murano and have been very pleased with it. Have had very little issues with it and no major ones. We have over 120,000 miles on this car! One day when I took it in to get an oil change (which, back then I got oil changes as long as I kept the car), I decided to walk on over to the sales room and look at new Muranos. I really liked the style.
We needed to take the Murano back in to get a tire sensor light fixed as it wouldn’t go off and there were no issues with the tires. This week we did that and then walked to the sales room and test drove a 2017.5 Murano. Oh boy, things sure have changed since we bought the last one. Anyway, we told the guy we also wanted to test drive another make/model just to make a comparison and then would make a decision.
Long story short – we DIDN’T test drive the other one (Greg asked me if I was wasting time by doing that and I said “probably”).
So, today, I brought home MY NEW 2017.5 NISSAN MURANO! Honestly, I wasn’t that excited about it until we went to pick it up. I wanted the Pearl color (which cost a little extra) with Cashmere interior (have had dark interior for years and it gets hot in the summer!). The inside of this car is luxurious! Plus the technology aspect had me a little worried (so much to learn), but I have already gotten a lot of that taken care of (for me to read a manual is like Greg going to the mall – ain’t gonna happen!). It got initiated with the Love bugs that have been horrible this year and dirt from our road. I am pretty sure I am gonna love it!
The Beauty of Color
When turning in to our entryway after coming home from church, Greg noticed the Peach Drift Rose that is planted at the front gate, and the varying peach colors. Drift Roses have become my favorite kind of rose – they are easy to maintain, grow low and come in a variety of colors (I think I have all of them too!) Plus, some smell amazing!
The Beauty of Nature
I was walking by the dog pen earlier today and noticed something purple growing inside – it was a beautiful miniature like Iris! I am going to mark it so I can dig it up later and transplant it. Purple is my favorite color! 
Spring has Sprung!
Maybe not officially, cut close enough. Beautiful flowers in bloom, some that we planted just a short time ago. I love this time of year with the wild flowers and all the pretty colors.
A Work in Progress
When the weather is as nice as it has been (a very mild winter for us), I get the “itch” to work in the yard getting it ready to look nice. I have been working my patooty off first weeding flower beds. I was in the back trimming one of the Oleanders and decided I had had enough with them and told Greg they needed to go! They have grown so tall and not really putting on many flowers any longer. Plus, they block my view of our pasture when I sit on the back porch. Major project # 1 – done!
After that, I got out in the front flower bed and made another executive decision – the Sago Palm had to go! It had a lot of brown on the palms and besides, this was a female palm and those scary looking eggs were coming out. Greg actually transplanted it so we will see what happens to it. It is in a place where I don’t mind it being. Then I pulled up ALL of whatever kind of grass was in there (I think it is Fiber Optic Grass, which is pretty when it is green, but once it turns brown – ugly!). This stuff grows from runners and is quite easy to pull up, but there was SO much of it.
Back to the flower beds in the back. After planting two Knockout Roses where the Oleanders were (one red and one pink), I removed ALL of the Sandstone and River Rock that I have as a border. I put some some mesh weed cloth to help with the rocks sinking in to the ground (at least in my mind I think it will). I have two pieces of really old picket fence that was at my parent’s house that I use as a backdrop and came up with an idea that I needed to find an old gate to put in the middle of the two pieces of fencing. Well, Greg just happened to have an old gate that worked out perfectly. Got all of this up today and I LOVE it! Still have to put the River Rock on the back part of the bed, but I think this looks AWESOME!
Now, it’s beer-thirty!
Over the Rainbow Bridge
In November, I found out my indoor cat, and only cat had chronic kidney failure. So, with a heavy heart, I had the make the difficult decision to let her go. She was with me almost 17 years, I am not sure how old she actually was. The last few months of her life, she had gotten to where she was a lap cat (to the point of being obnoxious about it). At night, I would go to the bedroom to watch TV and she always came in there and laid on the bed with me; I actually miss that. To my sweet Tabitha, rest in peace.
It’s a Dog Day Afternoon
Happy 2017! Another year come and gone. And for January, our weather is unseasonably warm (and I don’t like it!). Actually, it was a gorgeous day today, the sun was out and the dogs were enjoying it. Nothing better than taking a nap!
