A Surprise for Me

I had big plans of getting on the computer this morning and putting up a new post, but all that changed very quickly.Pop's nephew was working in our area, doing some excavating for a neighbor,Connie's kin folks,so he stopped by here to see if we needed anything while he was working close by. We never miss a chance to use him,if we get one. He is in such demand. Nevertheless, he stopped by and did a small job for us, and I fixed a small supper for him and his helper, and another neighbor,and Pop.Pop and I like the Mushroom Cheddar Burgers with lots of smothered mushrooms and onions,so I fixed them each a huge sandwich,which is a meal in itself. We had Mock Italian Cream Cake,for dessert,which I had frozen,and our drinks. that was supper for us all.They had to come back early today, to finish up their job, so Pop informed me that they had talked it over while working on the original project, and while BJ was here, he would dig me a little pond that I had been wanting for years.That was my surprise. I really had a much bigger pond in mind, but I never let on. A small pond would do. I could hopefully use it for water for my Purple Martins and maybe get a couple of ducks,and some fish. I no longer have the goats.Things change and life goes on.It will be a small pond in the back yard. I was hoping we could have it dug in the front, so it could be seen from the road,but due to various circumstances,like the lateral lines, and then a huge sink hole,the back yard will have to do. I was taught never to look a gift horse in the mouth. And I do appreciate Pop thinking of me.
We don't cook big meals that often at our house, so hopefully,I had pretty much everything I needed in the pantry and the freezer to fix one today. BJ loves hitting in here for a meal, so I wanted to have everything nice.I worked for 3 or 4 hours getting it all together and cooked up to have lunch at high noon for the fellows. I chicken fried about a dozen small beef steaks,then made gravy for them. I peeled about 8 or 10 medium potatoes, and a big onion,and laid them on top of two quarts of home canned green beans, along with a big chunk of bacon rind. I put it all in my new 18 quart counter top roaster.Then I thawed and fixed 2 bags of last summer's cut off corn from the freezer.I whipped up a bowl of cole slaw. Baked a dozen biscuits.I made an apple crisp with the apples and topping mix I received from a neighbor for Christmas.I added a few fresh apples and a little more brown sugar and butter to be sure I had plenty for all.We topped it with vanilla ice cream.We had ice tea or colas for our drinks.
I was really pleased with myself over fixing such a nice meal without getting all bent out of shape. I love cooking if I have enough folks to eat it,without having so many left overs, and that was no problem today.I do love cooking for a bunch if I have the time, no interruptions, and everything I need to make the meal nice, without running to town for something.Everything fell into place today.
The pond is finished, and all filled up on the big meal, so it was a really good day.BJ left his equipment here for a few days, so Pop used the extra gravel that was left over from the projects to rework some of the driveway.
We'll be working more on the little pond as time goes by. We'll add more rocks around. There is no shortage of rock on our property.We'll probably put in a pump of some sort and later a few fish. We're new to this type of thing, so we'll need to learn as we go.We have a few friends who are giving us pointers, on the do's and don't's. Pop says if all goes well, we may have the Amish fellows to come one day and build me a gazebo near the pond.Hopefully,I'll have a little more to blog about this Spring.All in all,it's been a good day.Hope your day has been as nice.