BARN WARMING IN THE CROTON BREAKS

There is a brand new barn out in a pasture at the head of the Croton Breaks, not too far from this historical marker.  The area is ruggedly beautiful, enough so that  Zane Grey used it in his book The Thundering Herd.

This is at the edge of the canyon in front of the marker.

Bobby and I went to the barn warming, which is sort of like christening a vessel or dedication of sorts, mostly it is a fun party with friends and kin. It was a beautiful day, a lovely day, as my Irish Grandmother would say. And the party out in the mesquites and grass was great sport, as you will see.

 Bobby and Dan Dibrell, class mates from a few years ago. You can see the sliding door on the back of the barn.  There is a sliding door on each side of the building.

 Dan and Leela Hall, kin folks.

 Music by Brady Rosco, fiddle player and Wendell Sollis, banjo picker.

 Rene Segura is the bar tender and general helper.

 Chris Todd and Bobby.

 Charlie Murdoch lives further down the road in the breaks.

 Craig Harrison, county clerk, is drinking water, for now.

 Rusty Andrews is on the left and Glenn Cherry is on the right.

 Bobby Lee Dibrell, on the right, is one of the cousins.

 Don Wayne Jones is keeping the fire going under the steaks.

 Alex Islas owns the Mexican food cafe in town but he is running the food business here today, and is getting his crew lined out.

 Darrell Beadle and Craig

 Now, this is what I like--no Solo cups, no plastic forks or knives and real plates. If you are serious about the environment, this is what you do--wash dishes.  Besides all these things are so much better to eat with! The table cloths are from somewhere in Africa. Chris says the men wear these plaids winter and summer. Wine was Llano Estacado from Lubbock.

 Bobby and Dusty

 Donnie Shipp.  Drinks were in fruit jars.

 Lella and Glenn Cherry in the middle.

There were a lot of people I didn't know, but they were so handsome I just had to take their photo.

 Rusty and Bobby

 Tyler Luke helped build the barn.  Nice job, Tyler.

 Checking out the goods is Nacho Segura and friend.

 Craig throwing down a little tequila.

 Chris and Charles Krause

 Royce Stanaland

 How about this for dinner, lunch or whatever you want to call it. There were cheese enchiladas and beef enchiladas to be had.

 Chris giving credit to Tyler Luke, Mark and Nicholas Fincher, Aaron Carpenter, Cole Carpenter, Clinton Sinn and David Walker for building the barn.

 Royce and Chris and you can see some of the breaks off in the distance.

 Ed Niel Welch

 Craige and Dusty

 Leela

 Chris

 This is a better look at the breaks.

Bobby and Charles Krause. We left the party kind of early. The sun was in the West and would have really been good for pictures but we needed to get home.  Thanks, Chris.  This was wonderful.

HONEY BUNS--YUM! YUM!

Not too long ago The Texas Spur ran this recipe for honey buns.  I used to LOVE to heat up a honey bun, put a little butter on it and let it melt while I ate all of it. So, yesterday I made the dough and refrigerated it until about 10:00 pm, took it out and let it rise all night. This dough is so rich that it rises very slowly and I wanted to get them baked by 9:00 am so I let it rise during the night.

 I have already taken out mine and Bobby's and I took the rest to the courthouse to let them sample and also to get temptation out of sight!

This recipe is from Angelina LaRue's Food Bytes column. 
Homemade Honey Buns Dough:
1/4 C warm water
1 pkg. dry yeast or 2 1/4 tsp.
1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 3/4 C bread flour
2 tsp. salt
1/3 C honey
6 eggs (I used jumbo)
3/4 C (1 1/2 sticks) softened

1.  Dissolve the yeast in the water.
2.  Add the honey and eggs one at a time while beating.
3.  Gradually add the dry ingredients.  You will need more flour if you use large eggs.
4.  Add the butter 2 T at a time.
5.  Knead on a floured board for 5 or 6 minutes.
6.  Place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
7.  Flour a large board and roll the dough out to 14x18 inches.
8.  Put the filling on.  Slather on the butter, sprinkle with sugar, and drizzle with honey.
9.  Slice into 12 equal pieces.  I use a strong thread to cut the dough.
10.  Bake at 375 degrees.
11.  Drizzle the glaze on the rolls while they are hot and still in the pan. I left them in the pan to serve them.

FILLING:
4 T granulated sugar.  I probably used a little more.
1/3 C honey
4 T butter

GLAZE:
Don't skip this part! It really adds to the bun.
2 C powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk.  I think I used less.  I just added enough milk to make it sort of runny after I added to honey.
2 T honey.

CHRISTMAS LIGHT EXPERIMENT

I think Christmas trees are so pretty! I remember Mom sitting in the living room one night with the lights off, just looking at the lighted tree and quietly thinking.  I need to do that more instead of looking at the phone, or the computer or whatever distraction is at hand.  I took this first picture with no flash and no light around the tree.

 This picture is with a flash and is my least favorite.

This is the photo I like best and I took it with no flash, but I turned on a table lamp behind the tree so light filtered through the branches.
  Epiphany is nearly here and it will be time to take the tree down again.  When I was a little kid it always made me melancholy when Mom took the tree down because Christmas was such a special season filled with expectation and wonder and I didn't want it to ever end. It is still a special time, but I think Amazon has made things too easy for me, and made it too easy to stay indoors, and away from the hustle and bustle, the lights, the excitement of shopping.  I went to Abilene shopping one day this year and by the end of the day I was not in the Christmas Spirit--too much driving, hunting for stuff I couldn't find or maybe didn't even exist, so maybe next year I need to plan a few parties at the house, invite some friends over and get in the Spirit of Christmas that way.  Anyway, I am sorry to see Christmas gone again, but now we have a new year and I am going to make resolutions and really try to work on them.  I have big plans for 2019!