Monday we spent a long, long day in Tucson–the Cowboy had a doctor’s appointment at 2:45pm–ugh! It was a quick visit then we were off to pickup groceries and navigate rush hour traffic in Tucson. When we exit I-10 twenty miles from home we both always breathe a sigh of relief and I usually say, “finally, off the race track.”
It rained Sunday evening and Monday morning–not enough to make the poppies bloom I’m afraid.
Sometime in 2003 or 2004 we met Ralph and Angie. You might remember the blog I wrote about a friend in the hospital with covid in early 2021. His significant other Angie would travel to Tucson every day and sit in a lawn chair outside his hospital window. Ralph recovered. He and Angie workkamp at a shooting range/horse camping/little bit of everything outfit near Tombstone. On the way back from Sierra Vista Wednesday we stopped to visit them–it’s been a while since we’ve seen them and we enjoyed a wonderful visit!!
The Cowboy has been fencing–as in finding the corner stakes for our lots, planting a corner post or two, fighting the tall weeds. That man has to have a project–it keeps him healthy!
Friday afternoon we hosted a happy hour–some attendees have adult beverages, some don’t–we still call it happy hour. Clint and Kristi have been coming to this area for years from Washington. Friends Liz and Larry also from Washington came to visit–and bought a house. These folks joined us along with Dan and Louanne. I made Pioneer Woman’s Jalapeno Popper Dip and it was so, so good!! Guacamole (my own version for which there is no recipe) along with a meat and cheese tray made for a “no one has to have dinner” happy hour.
Sunday we socialized again–Clint and Kristi’s new to them house has a pool–some of the guests were brave and ventured into the pool–we thought we would wait until the water warms a bit or Clint’s new heating system is fully installed! 🙂 We had a good time visiting with friends and neighbors.
I have a delicious cookie recipe for gingersnaps that uses Crisco. I seldom use Crisco and didn’t have enough for the cookies so I used all butter–big mistake!! The cookies were wafer thin and spread all over the cookie sheet–lesson learned. I switched directions and made snickerdoodles instead to take to Clint and Kristi’s.
And that’s it for another week in the Arizona desert–life is good!
Restoration Cowboy Style 
You guys are always busy! It’s a nice treat for you to sit & visit with wonderful friends…otherwise you would never sit still.
LikeLike
Mike’s Dad Nat always said, “staying busy is what kept me alive for 96 years.” And Nat did stay busy up until about the time he turned 85 and had heart surgery. He still puttered but slowed down significantly. I think Mike inherited his motto!
LikeLike
The only requirement for Happy Hour is that everyone should be Happy! Who cares what anyone drinks….or eats. Whatever makes one happy!
LikeLike
Yep, everyone has to be happy! We had a friend in North Ranch at Congress who loved happy HOUR. He started at 4pm and wanted everyone to go home at exactly 5pm–happy HOUR was ONE hour and that was it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Somewhere before, probably on Facebook, I saw how butter, margarines or shortening, makes cookies different.
LikeLike
Well butter sure made those gingersnaps different! Won’t make that mistake again–I’ve chilled the dough and will see if that helps??
LikeLike
Snickerdoodles are my favorites! I have been buying Crisco in the shortening sticks, the size of butter sticks. They come in a set of three, each wrapped individually, so you can cut them and tuck the leftover part back into the plastic container and shut the lid. I do a lot less baking now that the kids are all grown and moved out!
LikeLike
My Mom buys those Ruth–because I use so little Crisco I didn’t even know they existed. I didn’t want to buy more Crisco as I knew I wouldn’t use it before we head north.
LikeLike
Oh, I made the butter/cookie mistake before too.
I found I can use all butter in Brownies…. just fine.
We are getting a smattering of rain finally here in
central California. Maybe more later, so needed!
Packing to leave must always be a process.
Let’s you have the best of both worlds. Good
for you…. a bit more work but hopefully worth it!
LikeLike
I use all butter in a lot of things–snickerdoodles, oatmeal/chocolate chip, etc. but this gingersnap recipe from Taste of Home didn’t like my using all butter! I tried chilling the dough–that didn’t help! Since we started flying home packing is no problem.
LikeLike
I learned that to make the peanut butter cookies that Mo loves, I had to do half butter and half crisco, otherwise they did the same thing! I am always a butter user in cookie dough, so I know exactly what you are describing! We are off to a local campground today, a new experience.
LikeLike
All my cookie recipes use butter so I was surprised at this epic fail. The last time I made gingersnaps I used three quarter Crisco and one quarter butter–that worked.
LikeLike
Sounds like lots of good times with friends.
LikeLike
We did have such a good week socializing!
LikeLike
Finally sent you that friend request you suggested several months ago. Hope you are still enjoying your Kuru’s! So enjoy reading your blog.
LikeLike
Thanks for following along Marlene, I sent you an email.
LikeLike
Your social life sounds a lot like ours. It’s fun, isn’t it? Sometimes just happy hours, sometimes dinner, sometimes happy hour that I call a tapas party if there are enough snacks to make it dinner. :-)) That’s a sweet California Quail photo…I love their topnots!
LikeLike
I love happy hours with enough snacks to make it dinner! We too love watching the quail scurry all over our yard.
LikeLike