Bill and Sheila Go To The Farm

It had been two months since we visited the farm and we were definitely overdue for a work day and a visit. On our last visit we pretty well cleaned house except for the large living area in the rear and of course that final room that doesn't count that is full of mom's stuff that we still have to sort through.
The room in question had succumbed to a summers worth of dead wasps, lizard tracks from the critters eating the dead bugs, etc. It is really a nice room with a large picture window looking out to the south. We attacked it around ten and by noon, the only bugs left were those flying around that we couldn't catch with the vacuum. When we finished, we hung a couple of decorator items, spread plastic drop cloths over the furniture and moved on to other pursuits.


We decided to spend a little time fishing. It was the wrong time of the day and my cousin John's cows followed us to the pond and got in the water scaring any fish that might have been hanging around away. But, I got the chance to show Sheila a little bit about how to use her brand new "Lady Shakespeare" pink for breast cancer cure rod and reel. I must say she got into the thing because her sneakers matched her fishing equipment perfectly. The only thing we came close to catching were turtles. And I have to say, while my ponds may no longer have the number of fish they had when I was younger, they do have some spectacular snapping turtles. The old fishing lore said that turtles will eat up all of the fish in your pond. If I find that that is true, I suspect I may have to do some .22 caliber turtle fishing before the weather cools off.
When we tired of fishing, we drove the little red pickup around the fence lines while I checked out likely hunting spots for the fall season. I do need to get the property posted for whatever good that will do. I would really be angry to be down there on the first day of turkey season and find somebody besides my cousin John or his grandson Johnny hunting the place. We did spot a doe and two nearly grown fawns early on in our drive around. They weren't the least afraid of us or our truck and I had to wonder what in world is happening when you loudly stumble on a deer and two fawns and they don't disappear like lightning. In the olden days, unless your were very quiet and still on your stand, the only thing you might see was a fleeting glimpse of a white tail. Mama just stood there and looked at me for several moments, presenting an almost perfect shot picture. (The deer photo is not mine but this is close to what it looked like.)

When we got back to the house, we had a great luxury, a shower. Not a sponge bath and not a mini shower with a handheld rubber appliance meant for washing hair over a sink. A real, long, luxurious shower. Several months back, Sheila ordered a claw foot tub shower conversion kit and we had a local man install it for us. Wow, what a luxury.

It was dinner time by this time and when we got to the intersection of OK 141 and US 64. Sheila was torn between heading toward Sallisaw for Charlie's Chicken Buffet which is always good and always open or taking a chance on the very good but not always open Wagon Wheel Express Barbecue in Muldrow. I let her choose and she opted for Muldrow. It was open, the food was fabulous and we ate too much.

While my catfish and Sheila's pulled pork could not have been improved upon it was the sides that made the meal for me. Two of my sides were pan fried potatoes and pinto beans. I guess some things never change. They tasted exactly like those that we ate at the farmhouse table many, many evenings so long ago. I guess it is a southern thing and probably even a local thing but to an Okie pinto beans with fried potatoes is the ultimate comfort food. We finished the meal off by splitting a serving of their absolutely perfect bread pudding. Not too sweet, not too bready, not too mushy, perfectly cooked and served with tart lemon sauce that just sends it over the top. You will notice that our huge serving is already half eaten. We both took several bites before we remembered to take a picture of it. It was a meal worth talking about.

It seemed like most of Muldrow had been there for dinner or was coming in soon. They had a good, steady crowd. And I might add, the owners and employees are nice folks. Just plain old nice folks. It is absolutely amazing that Muldrow, the little bump on the map off I-40 has two very good restaurants. Broadway Joe's up on US 64 is about as good a diner as you are going to find anyplace in the US.

We had one final chore to do before leaving town. Sheila had picked up some fall flowers for Mom and Dad's graves. When we got there, we noticed that someone had apparently stolen the flowers from Mom's vase but Dad's still looked fine. So, we gave Mom all of the fall flowers and headed back up 1-40. It was a busy day but a good day. Nothing extraordinary but a lot of pleasant little adventures. A good time was had by all.