Day 9 and 10

   



     My husband came to spend the night with me the evening of Day 8, with plans on Day 9 to get on the farm tractor and mow the vineyard.  It was 86 degrees on Tuesday but by Wednesday morning it was 42 and raining, so no mowing.  His plans thwarted, he was restless inside the little house I was staying in, although I was quite content to spend the rainy day finishing the new Dan Brown book- "Origin", he wanted to go somewhere, so we drove to San Saba, TX.  We took the scenic route there so it took us 2 1/2 hours, but on the way back we took the most direct route which was 1 1/2 hours.  The scenic route would have been much prettier had it not been raining, but maybe we will do it on the motorcycle one day.  We stopped at Wedding Oak Winery in downtown San Saba and while I tasted their reds, Jim went back to talk to their winemaker, Penny Adams, whom we have known for 25+ years.  Her boys used to come ride my horses when we lived in Stonewall, and she was a big help to my husband when he was first starting the vineyard out at Becker Vineyards back in 1993.  Wedding Oak's reds were all quite pleasant, approachable, fruit forward and easy drinking.  The tasting room representative was attentive and knowledgeable about the wines, which was a pleasant surprise.  It really is hard to find good customer service these days!  I bought a bottle of their Tempranillo Reserve although I did not get a chance to taste it.  I may save it for when I visit my friends in Grapevine and do a Tempranillo comparison with Bingham Tempranillo.  Wedding Oak also has a location in Fredericksburg, TX at Wildseed Farms, the largest wild seed farm in the United States.  For more information on Wedding Oak Winery check out their website- https://weddingoakwinery.com/.  My husband and I then walked a couple of doors down from Wedding Oak Winery and visited Old Man Scarey Cellars.  We were greeted by a little black dog as we came through the door, which is always nice.  I tasted 4 of the reds and their Texas Viognier, which I bought a bottle of.  Again, nice easy, comfortable reds and not asking an arm and leg for them which to me has become a little bit of problem with some of the Texas wineries.  The Viognier was light, with aromas and tastes of stone fruit.  For more information on Old Man Scarey Cellars, visit their website at- https://oldmanscarycellars.com/ I wouldn't mind going back to San Saba to wander around, on a better weather day, it looked like there were some really cute shops there.  http://www.sansabatexas.com/.   When we got back to Blanco, my husband cooked some steaks for us.  We really can't cook steaks at the apartment and when we moved from our house to an apartment, we had given our son the propane grill.  The steaks were so good.  It was a good day.

Wedding Oak

Old Man Scary Cellars

     Day 10-  This is my last day here, as the kid's plane gets in around midnight, so I will be picking them up and taking them to their car which has been at my place while they were gone.  The dogs and I are having a sort of lazy day, I vacuumed and mopped, washed sheets and blankets and packed all my stuff to take back to my place.  I have really enjoyed my time out here in Blanco.  Living is a little bit easier out here, time doesn't mean much, except to get the chickens and ducks in the coop by dark.  I am happy to be going home and I know my husband and cat will be happy too, but I will miss the quietness, the feeling of, "I don't have to rush because there is nothing really I have to do", I did get 3 books read, saw some beautiful sunsets, moons and stars, got lots of loving from two dogs, had fresh eggs every morning (so much better than store eggs)  and enjoyed my coffee on the back porch watching the deer run across the pasture.  I do look forward to the day when I have a little farm again and can enjoy these things daily, but for now, I am grateful I had the chance to experience them now.

Phoenix & Sadie

Day 7 and Day 8

    

      Day 7 was a very lazy day.  I woke in the middle of the night, and evidently some more chiggers decided to feast on me and I was itching so bad I had to take Benadryl.  That helped put me back to sleep, but in the morning, I was still itching, and it is a painful itch.  I don’t even want to scratch them.  I took some more Benadryl and put some Young Living Essential Oil- Purification on the bites.  That helped, but the Benadryl made me drowsy, so it was just a day of watching football.  The Houston game was a nail biter all the way to the end, and I sure wish they could have pulled it off, but the Cowboys won, so that made my day.  The evening game was pretty boring so I ended up watching Columbo.  It is still a good show, even after all these years.  Funny thing about this little hunting dwelling that I am staying in, if the microwave is going, the TV goes out, and then about 11 pm every night, we lose half the stations.  I’ll be happy to be back home on Friday, watching House Hunters and American Pickers!

      While watching the football games I also read a book, “Gardening with Chickens”, Plans and Plants for You and Your Hens by Lisa Steele.  If you ever want to have backyard chickens it is a good resource.  I got it at the Bulverde Tractor Supply.  It was an easy read, lots of pictures and good advice.  I am debating whether I am going to leave it here for my son and daughter-in-law or keep it for a reference for when I get my little farm. 

     Nothing else much happened, with daylight savings time it is dark by 6:30 so our outside activities end a little earlier now.  The moon is still putting on a beautiful show, and we had clouds again last night so there was a lot of silver with the white.  I will miss the wide open skies here. 

     As not much happened yesterday, I decided to put Day 7 and Day 8 together.  It was cool enough last night to have the screen door open, so that was nice.  Today’s book I read was “out of the blue”, by Mary Terhune.  It is an account of her spiritual awakening, and had some ties to the book I read last week, The Journey Within.  It was an easy read and I am always interested in reading about other people’s spiritual transformations.  From the books I’ve read, there a few things that seem to be the same, but at the same time tailor-made for that specific person, and even though each journey is a personal one, maybe we can learn from other’s experiences, what worked for them, what didn’t, and how we might incorporate something from their journey into our own, if it is a good fit.  Both books focus on daily meditation, chants or prayers, service to others, and reading spiritual books/magazines and/or being around others who have also embraced their spiritual journey.  I know when I seriously started on my journey, 25 years ago, I lived in a very small town, and there was no one to talk to about how I was feeling or what I was going through, and not really that many books around, plus the internet was not a big thing yet.  But again, each journey is personal and maybe I needed to start out on my own in the beginning.  It makes me happy there are so many tools available to me now and I am continually fascinated about all the different ways one can take on their journey. 

                                    

Day 6

     

     Well, here it is Day 6, and I am surprised that I only have 1 chigger bite, especially since I have been wearing my Croc flats.  I know when it happened, I went into the tall grass and Bam!, one got me.  I can handle one.  About six years ago when I had horses, I went to fetch them from a pasture that had never been sprayed and was in flip flops and a skirt, not a smart thing to do.  Anyway, I must have gone through a chigger family reunion, because I had them all over my legs and thighs.  I tried everything, Clorox, nail polish, Chigger-Rid, but to no avail.  One morning I woke up and very passionately told my angels, “I don’t care what you have to do, but get rid of the chiggers!”  Note- don’t ever do that.  I went to go put on my blue jeans, which for some reason I had laid on my bed the night before, which I never do, and there was a scorpion in one of the pant legs and I got stung.  I was pretty pissed.  Here I had just asked my angels for help and I got something worse.  I took some Benadryl after a few choice words and went to work.  Lo and behold, a couple of hours later the chiggers were gone!  If I knew a scientist that could get scorpion venom in a much easier form than getting stung, we could make millions, well maybe thousands.  My son called me a couple of weeks ago, and he had a bad case of chiggers, and went to put his swimming trunks on to clean a wine tank, and got stung by a scorpion.  His chiggers were gone.  I am telling you there is something to this…… 

      I do like wearing my Croc flats, first because they are so comfortable, and second, chickens and ducks do not care where they defecate, so I can just wash off my Crocs and they are good as new.  In the future when I have my own farm I will invest in some L.L Bean duck boots, but for now, the Crocs are good. 

     I went home today to check on my cat and clean out her kitty litter box.  I also went grocery shopping, baked chocolate cookies, cooked bacon, did three loads of laundry, played with my cat, watered my plants and watched a little of the Breeder’s Cup.  Honestly, after doing all that I was ready to come back to Blanco and watch dogs, chickens and ducks! 

     There was a beautiful full moon tonight.  I wish my phone could take better pictures.  With the moon being full, and also the last couple of days being cloudy out here, I have not been able to see the stars as much as I wanted.  I am here until Thursday, so maybe with a waning moon, and no clouds, I will have at least one night for wonderful star watching!

Day 5

     

     Day 5 has been a busy day.  First thing this morning, well, after feeding the chickens, ducks and dogs, I took the recycling, from all the presents that my son received for his wedding to the Bulverde recycling center.  It used to be a weekly haunt when I lived in Bulverde.  I worked at a winery in Stonewall, and since Gillespie County does not recycle glass (what??? With all the wineries around, they say it is not a money-making deal for them, which is so stupid, I mean, do you know how many wine bottles end up in their dump?  Can you tell this is pet peeve of mine?  Especially since they host a “Green” symposium every fall…..) I would take empty wine bottles to the Bulverde recycling center.  One day one of the gentlemen knocked on my window and I thought, “Oh great, they are not going to let me bring these anymore.”, so I opened my window and he said, “Excuse me, but you can’t bring those bottles any more unless they are full of wine!”  And we both laughed.  I used to take them cookies and banana bread, I wouldn’t want to work at that job.  After recycling I was at the Super HEB in Bulverde.  I just walked up and down the aisle of my old HEB.  It is fun to look at the promotional stuff going on.  I did buy a new shopping bag, Christmas themed, I figured I could use it during the Holidays and then as a gift bag for Christmas.  I also bought a pill smasher while at HEB. I am hoping it will work much better than the knife I have using for Sadie’s medicine.  If it works well, I plan on using it at home for the horse pill size Glucosamine tablets my husband bought for his knees.  Sometimes if I overdue it, mine hurt too, but I cannot take those pills.  I would not have been a good drug addict, I cannot stand needles nor pills and only take Tylenol if a headache is so bad I can’t walk.   My husband called while I was at HEB and said that my son’s truck was ready in New Braunfels.  My son had taken it to be fixed while he was on his honeymoon, so my husband met me at the Walmart parking lot in Bulverde and we drove to New Braunfels where the truck was, about 30 minutes away.  I then followed him back to Blanco where we dropped the truck off and drove back to Bulverde to have lunch at the new Schlotzskys and take him back to his truck.  When I got back to Blanco, I gave the dogs bones I had bought and they immediately devoured them in 10 minutes.  Need to get better bones.  I used to buy my dog ham hock bones at HEB, they would sell them for .79 a package, but then people started buying them for cooking (or maybe that is what they were for intentionally, I don’t know), but the price went way up, so I quit buying them. 

     Every hour the dogs and I do a “perimeter check” around the little house.  Phoenix, a mutt, who looks a lot like an Irish wolfhound, but actually more like a cross between The Grinch and his dog, is my daughter-in-law’s dog.  I don’t know him that well, and neither dog knows how to bark when they need to go outside, so we do these little walks around the house, and check the chicken coop for eggs, and sometimes walk up the hill to the well house.  Phoenix has a lot of energy and loves to run.  I hesitate about leaving him outside, because several times he has started down the driveway.  I do not want to close the gate in case UPS has a delivery.  I may start closing it after 7pm and let him out; he honestly would rather be outside.  Sadie, an Australian Shepard, on the other hand is never more than 6 inches away from my side.  Our family got her back in 2008 from a friend of ours who raised champion Australian Shepherds, but Sadie didn’t fit in because she wants nothing to do with sheep or goats, she just wants to be petted.  I did not have any part in getting Sadie, my son and husband brought her home one day, she was supposed to be a companion for husband for when my son went off to the Air Force, but that didn’t pan out, and like almost every animal we have had, she became mine.  When my husband was transferred to Grapevine in 2016, we moved to a one bedroom apartment and could not take her with us, so my son took her.  She then spent some time with my daughter and son-in-law, and then back to my son when he moved to Blanco.  It has not been easy on her.  She likes to be the “only” one.  She is now 11 years old and is having some health problems.  My son and daughter-in-law had gotten her a “thunder” sweater because she started shaking in her back legs, but since I have been here, it has been so hot, I took it off and she has not had the problem.  I know she is going to be sad when I leave, because she has gotten so much attention while I am here, but I can’t take her because I am currently living in a small apartment, plus my cat would not appreciate it much. 

     I am finishing off a bottle of JW, from Silver Spur winery in Hico, TX.  I had originally brought wine to pair with books I brought to read, but my mind is still mulling over the information from “The Journey Within” and I am not ready to read another book, but I am ready to drink wine!  It is a nice little red.  I probably wouldn’t buy it again, and I only bought it because I know from working in tasting rooms, how a sale can help my mood for the day.  I stopped on a Monday, while I was on way back from a weekend in Grapevine, and talked with the owner.  He wasn’t too overly pleasant, and seemed to have “other” things to do, although he did put his phone on silent when it rang several times.  I can get the same quality wine from California for about $8.99 a bottle instead of $30.00 a bottle, and honestly, the grapes were not all from Texas, but I do like supporting small businesses.  I hope to have my own small business one day, a cross between an antique store, shabby chic, cookies and maybe wine.  If you are ever going through Hico, TX please stop and visit the tasting room, I actually did buy a Pinot Noir from them, which I usually abhor Pinot Noir, but a good friend told me I would like theirs, which I did.  There are also a couple of little shops on the street that are fun to visit.  Silver Spur does not have a website yet, but please stop and enjoy Hico if you are ever in the area.  http://hico-tx.com/.

Day 4

     

      Today was a fun day.  My parents came up from San Antonio to meet me for lunch in Blanco atTthe Redbud Café.  I went in a little early to Blanco so I could walk around the square.  I visited the Old Blanco County Courthouse which was very interesting.  It was actually only used 4 years as the Blanco County Seat, before the Seat was moved to Johnson City, which is a town about 14 miles north of Blanco.  It was then used as a school, offices, a hospital, bank and many other uses.  It fell into disrepair, but in 1986 the town decided to restore it and it was rededicated in May of 1998.  It really is a beautiful building as you can see from the pictures.

     

    Surrounding the Courthouse are many little businesses, still in the original buildings, but of course not the original uses.  The courthouse has a visitor’s center/museum that has pictures lining the walls showing the old businesses and locals.  It is quite fun.  One of my favorite places to visit in Blanco is Cranberry’s Antiques.  One can spend hours going through all the items in the store, reminiscing about things that were probably in your grandma’s house.  There used to be a restaurant there called “Sunset”.  I’ve only eaten there once, it was New Year’s Eve about 7 years ago, and my husband and I were on our way home from work and decided we would stop there instead of try to find somewhere in Bulverde to eat.  There was a Goldwing motorcycle parked outside and my husband was admiring it because he has a Goldwing, and the owner of the bike came out.  They talked motorcycle for a couple of minutes and then my husband asked him how the food was.  His reply was, “It wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, but it wasn’t the worst.”  Well, that should have warned us, but we went on in.  And he was right.  We both got the prime rib special, and it was ok.  I am not sure it was because of its mediocre food or not, but it is currently closed and for sale.  There used to be a fabulous high- end restaurant which my husband and I would stop by periodically, plus I sold wine to them from the winery we worked at.  Unfortunately, the property is currently in probate court so the restaurant shut down.  In the same building though is  Uptown Blanco Textile shop which I did visit today.  What a treat!  The bolts of fabric were on bookshelves, so it was like a library of fabric, plus they had sewing notions, they do sewing classes, and also had some handmade items for sale.  I love handmade items.  I wish I could sew.  My grandmother sewed.  She used to sew me dresses, and clothes for my Skipper doll.  I don’t know if she ever offered to teach me and I said no, I wanted to play, or if it was her quiet time “thing”.  I did have a sewing class in 7^th grade, and the teacher passed me because I really did try, but I just didn’t have the patience for it I guess.  I’m more of an outside girl.  Let me brush horses for hours on end and I will be happy. 

     The Redbud Café was delicious as usual.  I had the spinach/pear/maple pecan salad and Moroccan chickpea soup (spicy!), Mom had the spinach quiche and Daddy had the meatloaf sandwich.  It was all good.  I haven’t had a bad meal there yet.  Next to The Redbud Café is Brieger Pottery, which of course has pottery but also a ton of fun, eclectic items.  The Redbud Café and Brieger Potter are owned by a local Blanco couple.  For more information on either visit their websites- http://www.redbud-cafe.com/ and http://briegerpottery.com/Brieger_Pottery_site/Home.html. 

    Our next stop was Arc De Texas which is a wine tasting room between Blanco and Johnson City.  They offer wine tastings, glasses and bottles of wine from a plethora of different places including Argentina, France, Italy, California and of course Texas.  I can honestly say from visiting most of the Texas Hill Country wineries, it has the best views, and is worth just going for the views.  They also have a bed and breakfast on site and other areas around the property.  The cost is $12.00 for 5 tastings.  If you like a big, heavy, tannin-filled red, I suggest the Fall Creek Meritus.  It is one of my favorite wines of all time.  I told my mother that it would be the last wine of our tasting, and after she tasted it, she commented, “Why didn’t we just get a glass of this?”  I replied, “It is the experience Mom, and it probably wouldn’t have tasted as good had you not had anything to compare it with.”  You can visit their website for more information- https://www.arcdetexas.com/wine-tasting-destination.  All in all, a fantastic day, and I will enjoy my bottle of Fall Creek Meritus when my husband comes to visit next Wednesday and we grill Rib-Eye.  My mouth is watering now!

Day 3

     

     Today is Day 3.  A nice cool morning, 60 degrees, albeit a little humid from the rain last night.  The one thing I really miss from living in the Mid-West is after a rain storm, the temperature would drop and there was a fresh, clean smell of rain.  Here in central Texas, when it rains, it usually just gets more humid, and hotter.  Bleh.  It was nice to get some life giving rain though.  The weathermen say we are still 2 inches short of rain of what we should have, but I wonder who comes up with that number?  According to the National Weather Service, folks in the United States have been taking stock of the weather since the early 1700’s.  But, considering the age of the Earth, that is really not a long time.  Anyway, it was nice to get some much needed rain.  If we get a nice rain total for the fall, our wildflower season in the Spring will be awesome, but that remains to be seen. 

      My pairing yesterday of Leroux Creek Rose and the book, “The Journey Within”, was a good one.  It was a pretty heavy book, not one to read and skim over.  There were many points I agreed with and some I did not.  Had I read this book maybe 10 years ago, it might have had a bigger impact on me.  I agreed with the Bhakti doctrine that there is one Source, one Almighty, one Creator and that all of Creation is a part of that Creator and that Love is the driving force behind Creation, although I do have a problem with someone telling me that the only way to be on the receiving and giving end of this unconditional love is to follow certain steps and rituals.  I do not have a problem with others following those steps or rituals for themselves, if that is what helps them along their journey to reconnect with their Creator, just with saying it is the only way, or this prayer is the best one to say, or facing West on a full moon night and howling, or all the other things we as humans have made up.  I do have to admit, I have howled at the moon, but just so I could get the coyotes howling and that in itself brought a sense gratitude and wonderment.  The wine was very light.  It was almost like a very weak strawberry-lemonade, but again, something light and airy.  It did not pair well with the ginger cookies I had, but the cheddar cheese and peppered sausage was a nice compliment.  I would buy another bottle or two if I go back there.

      I am not sure if I will have time for wine and a book today, well I will definitely have time for wine, just maybe not a book.  I have errands to run in San Antonio, and when I get back this afternoon, I have to clean the ducks swimming tub and clean out the chicken coop, and depending how dry it is this give the dogs a bath.  With the rain last night, they are muddy, thank goodness, this little place has cement floors and is easy to clean.  Such is life in the country.  Tomorrow is supposed to be 86 so I will plan a little sightseeing trip to Blanco and maybe have lunch at my favorite restaurant, The Redbud Café.

Day 2

     

      We had a little cold front come through last night so high today is supposed to be 66, cloudy and scattered showers.  I had planned to go into Blanco today to look around, might still go.  I would buy a little scarf but tomorrow it will be back up to 85, such is Texas weather!  One of the dogs is on medication and I gave her it to her yesterday in pieces of hot dogs, then she ate her dog food.  Later in the afternoon, she upchucked everything, including the hot dog pieces I had given her, so this morning I crushed her pills and mixed it with one of the fresh eggs from the hens.  All gone.  And I didn’t give her quite as much food.  There were sketchy instructions given.  We will see what happens today.  She might have just been upset with the change of guard at her house. 

     I did read one book yesterday, Friends, Lovers, Chocolates by Alexander McCall Smith and paired the book with Gnarly Head’s 1924.  I can honestly say I enjoyed the wine more.  I had not read any of Alexander’s books, and although he is a good storyteller, the book was different than I expected.  The wine wasn’t.  Today I will be reading “The Journey Within”, Exploring the Path of Bhakti by Radhanath Swami and pairing it with Leroux Creek Vineyards- Rose De Leroux- West Elk, AVA- Rose wine.  This is a cute little winery/vineyard in Hotchkiss, Colorado.  Although most of the tasting rooms in Colorado are around the Grand Junction area, the majority of grapes are grown in the Western AVA, in the Hotchkiss and Paonia area, right outside of Montrose and across the Kebler Pass from Crested Butte.  Beautiful rolling hills and some majestic mountains views, fruit farms, vineyards and farm land dot this area.  My husband and I have gone on vacation several times looking for a winery/vineyard to buy in this area, I want to move to Colorado, colder weather, but have not settled on anything as of yet.  We may end up just buying a family cabin for vacations.  One of our favorite places to stay in Colorado is up in the Grand Mesa area.  Lots and lots of pine trees.  We picked up this bottle of Rose on our last trip this past August.  I am not usually a Rose person, but if I remember correctly, I liked this one, or I may have liked it better than the other wines he had.  The owner is a cute little Frenchman who loves what he does, and his passion shows in his wines.  Because of the climate in Colorado, there are grapes being grown there that I am not familiar with, and as with any new flavor profiles, our taste buds have to get used to it.  That is why it is said to not judge a wine before the 3^rd taste.  The first taste gets your mouth used to the shock of the flavor, the 2^nd, your mouth and senses have had a chance to discern and the third gives the full flavor as your mouth is coated with the wine.  Although, there are plenty of wines that after the first taste I would not put back in my mouth.  I have certainly come to the age of that saying, “Life is too short to drink bad wine.”

Day 1

   

   While my son and new daughter-in-law are on their honeymoon in Italy, I will be house sitting for them in Blanco, Texas, taking care of the two dogs, Sadie and Phoenix and the ducks and chickens.  It is a beautiful location, albeit a little noisy during the day as it is situated close to a highway, but nights after 10 are quiet, and the stars are so bright.  I am excited about this, I have brought 6 books, 6 bottles of wine, (coincidence?  I think not!) and am looking forward to being in the country again.  I do miss the quietness of country living, the beautiful landscape, the different sounds made by nature, rather than man made sounds of the city. I do have local TV, and thank goodness at the last minute my son got internet.  I was really going to be roughing it then!  I got in last night, and watched the Astros/Dodgers game, well that is until they went in to the 10^th inning, and I was like, nope, not staying up.  I was happy to hear that the Astros won by 1 point.  It will be good for the city of Houston to have a World Series win, after all they have been through with Hurricane Harvey. 

     After taking the dogs outside and feeding the chickens and ducks, I looked in the cabinet for a cup to use for coffee, and there was one of my old ones that I had left behind for my son when I moved.  It made me smile.  I honestly think it was one that the previous owners of the house we sold had left.  It is so cute.  Anyhow, the dogs and I enjoyed the cool morning outside, watching the chickens and ducks scratch around for bugs and such. 

     Blanco (/ˈblænkoʊ/ BLAN-koh) is a city in Blanco County, Texas, United States. It is approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of downtown San Antonio and almost the same distance west of Austin. The population was 1,946 at the 2016 census estimate.  Folks from Alabama and Tennessee started living in Blanco in the late 1850’s.  Agricultural was and still is its main commodity; cotton, peanuts, peaches, pecans, pears, grapes and figs.  As of lately, tourism has played a big part in the small town, as Hwy 281 goes directly through Blanco and takes tourists to Johnson City and onto Fredericksburg towards the Hill Country wineries.  There are two lavender farms, several restaurants, an awesome antique shop, Real Ale Brewery, and recently added were two distilleries- Ben Milam Whiskey and Andalusia Whiskey.  They also have a great state park that is always packed with overnight campers during the summer and holiday weekends.  My favorite place to eat in Blanco is the Red Bud Café, sandwich style dining with local beers and wines, plus attached to the restaurant is a great gift shop full of lavender products, jewelry, eclectic clothing and other fun things.  There is also Blanco Donuts, whose Kolaches are fabulous.  I haven’t tried the donuts yet, but plan to this week.  My son also has raved about the Chess Club Café for a great brunch place.  I will let you know.  And so begins my 10 days in Blanco.  I now have the task of deciding which book to start reading and which wine to pair it with.  Such decisions.