Rain? What's that?

It finally rained today...... after such a long dry spell that the grass sounded like Kellogg's Corn Flakes as you walked on it. Last good rain storm here was at the beginning of May. We have a large pond on our property which is bone dry. It had filled up with that May rain, but the previous owners discovered a problem with the perimeter of the pond, so they emptied it out and had a "dirt company" come in to correct the problem before the closing on this property. So now we have a perfectly-dug pond, but a perfectly dry one. Two or three really good long rain storms will fill it up..... so that's what we've been hoping for. Never thought I'd be hoping for rain.

We drove into Navasota this morning. We have been taking day-trips to the towns around here, browsing through the antique and resale shops, finding cute little cafes for lunch. Today's lunch was at "Navasota Seafood." It was recommended to us by one of the antique shop owners. Amazing little place..... a one-woman show. My husband ordered the fried shrimp, I ordered grilled shrimp on top of a green salad. Being that it was our first time there, the owner/cook gave us a fried catfish fillet and two little cups of seafood gumbo to taste. Everything was delicious... felt like we were right at home and having lunch in our own kitchen.

As the woman cooked, she was talking to us through the little window, and telling her grandson to make sure we had plenty of napkins and cold water. As we were leaving, she gave me a hug and told my husband to take a piece of homemade lemon cake "for later." It wasn't until after we left that I realized we hadn't asked her name.

We have two guest houses on this property.... a cottage and a barn. In all the little antique and resale shops we go to, I am on a constant search for decorative things for both. I found a black and white wooden cow today in Navasota... stands about as high as our dog Gracie... and it looks quite at home in the living room of the barn right now. I also found a little rope-backed children's chair.... rope on the back and also on the seat. Six dollars for the chair (which now holds a small pile of Texas books), and just five dollars for the handpainted, handmade cow. With prices like those, how could I not have bought them?

The best "find" of the day--- a vintage tin chicken roost...... it will hold four hens, two on the top row, two on the bottom row. We don't have chickens yet, but we've been talking about getting some, and four chickens sounded about right to us. There is a feed store here that will order day-old chickens for us. If we get them that small, I'm hoping they will get to know us and not be pecking away at us every time we to to feed them or take their eggs.

The man at the local feed store told us the chickens would last two years if we had a good strong pen around the roosting house (which we haven't built yet). What happens after two years? He said that's about the time we would be wanting them for dinner because they don't lay too many eggs after they're two years old. What?!? I told my husband right then and there that no chicken of mine would be ending up in my oven or on my dinner plate. It was right about then that the man in the feed store was probably singing the theme song from "Green Acres" under his breath.....