Got Groceries?

Amazing how an awesome Sunday morning can be completely ruined by a trip into town. With the crew slated to arrive on Monday evening, Sunday seemed to be the only day available to stock up for the coming week. Before leaving, I watched, enviously I might add, as Gary, Clint and the kids rode off into the sunrise. They were gathering the cattle in West Bull in order to load them onto the truck arriving at 8:30, bound for the sale barn. I dropped them off, headed back to headquarters to gather my list and reluctantly pointed the truck west. After marking everything off my list at the grocery store, spending $309.76, and approaching the checkout with baskets (yes, that's more than one) that looked like this, I was done:

Next stop ~ Sam's. Now I really hate Walmart, but I like Sam's. Go figure. Yes, I took a picture of my cart at Sam's.

I know ~ kind of an odd thing to take a picture of, but I am a scrapbooker and we scrapbookers take pictures of odder things than grocery carts. Another $256.87 vanishes from our bank account. Ouch. Oh, I did buy a cookbook and I splurged on some flat bread hot sandwiches in order to cut corners on our supper. Not a good idea. They weren't very good. No wonder I cook from scratch so much. I've rarely found anything prepared that we care for. Think we're spoiled. On the rare occasion that we eat out, Gary always says it's better at home. Thanks for the compliment Honey. :D I do wish that we could find a few things though; the cook needs a break every now and then.

So today we are tackling our first day of works ~ round 2. The crew just came in and after filling their plates to overflowing and settling in, utter quiet reigns over my dining room. Not a word passes between them. The only sound that radiates through the air is the clatter of silverware against the tin plates, the rattle of ice cubes against the cold glasses and, and the occasional jingle of spurs as they shuffle their feet. Once dessert is served, the stories will begin to fill the air interspaced with groans from having devoured that second piece of pie. There is something very comforting about the laughter of satisfied cowboys as they gather at our table. By the end of the meal, they are content, yet miserable. I suppose that's the sign of a good cook. I don't think I'm that great of a cook, but everyojne seems to enjoy meals around here. Of course, it doesn't hurt that part of the crew consists of single guys. According to Travis, they often dine on Saltines and Tabasco and they're really living it up if they have some cheese. So when you look at it from that perspective, a decent meal becomes a feast. They are incredibly kind and complimantary in their comments, but then again, most cowboys are unfailingly polite. Last night they were chuckling about all the weight they had gained when they were here a few weeks ago. Justin blamed the fact that he popped the button off of his Wranglers on me and my cooking.

I have to admit, it feels good to know that people speak well of working with us. People respect Gary, they are paid well, and they are fed well when they work with us. This place may not be ours on paper, but we couldn't work harder if it was. I think that DK repects that as well.

I never did finish this post yesterday. We had to head into town for Tyler's college class and piano after dinner. I brought home Papa Murphy's pizza for supper ~ that gave me a break and made everyone else happy as well!

So I am now headed back into the kitchen. The breakfast dishes are done, but I've got to pull things together for dinner. Today I'm just grilling burgers. I haven't made burgers for the crew before, but I'm trying not to repeat meals and this just sounded good. I made the dessert (Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert ~ had to repeat this though! Dave wasn't here when I made it last time and he made it clear that he was disappointed that he had missed it :D) and the Coleslaw so all that is left is the burgers and fries. Easy meal today! They'll be hauling the calves over here to process and wean so I should be able to sneak out and spend a little bit of time taking pictures this morning! Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to share than carts filled with groceries tomorrow! Hey, at least no one goes hungry around here!