Visiting the Pioneer Woman's Mercantile

I did not meet "Pioneer Woman" Ree Drummond today when we visited the Mercantile.  I've read the reviews, and I knew Cliff would be a total mess if he had to wait in line for three hours (it happens) in order to get inside the Mercantile.  My research told me that if you don't want to wait in line, the best days to go are Tuesday or Wednesday, and the best times of day are in the morning and evening... it's open from 7 AM to 7 PM.

That's probably the worst time to visit if you hope to meet one or more of the Drummonds, which I had no intention of doing anyway; I'm uncomfortable meeting famous people.  

When we got there, there was no line waiting to get in, and many open tables in the restaurant section.  I can eat anywhere, so that wasn't something I was worried about.  I just wanted to see the store, since I had followed the reconstruction of the place on Ree's blog.  

 That's me, in front of the Merc.   I need to pose a little better so people don't notice my crooked knees in the picture.  Oh well, just "keeping it real", as Ree used to say in her blog.  I miss how her blog was before she became famous.  

The restaurant area is actually very small.  I can see why lines form.  They probably didn't anticipate so much enthusiasm from Ree's fans.  

I took this from the stairs, looking down on the store part of the building.  Yes, the stuff is pretty pricey.  What do you expect from a tourist trap?  I wanted a coffee mug, but they sell out of those as soon as they come in, so none were available.   I made do with a T-shirt and a refrigerator magnet.  

Upstairs there's plenty of seating and a place to buy carry-out food.  This is where Ree usually shows up to meet folks and sign books.  How do I know this?  Because of this lady who guided us through Immaculate Conception Catholic Church (don't miss the chance to take that tour!):

She knows the Drummonds, and had only good things to say about them, especially Ree.  She asked if Ladd and the boys showed up while we were there; they often do, early in the day, and let people take pictures with them.  She said Ree is in the process of getting her latest magazine finished, so she knew she wouldn't be in today.  

Oh, and even though Wednesday is one of their slowest days, guess what we saw when we went past the building at 11 AM?  A long, long line.  

At least I feel better knowing they won't meet Ree.

If everything I've learned is correct, it IS possible to meet Ree or her husband, or the kids.  If you want to meet Ree, you'd better stand in line for lunch.  Be sure and ask about a trip to the Lodge when you're there.  You might manage that if they aren't filming for the TV show at the time.  

I've never been to a more friendly place than Pawhuska.  People are helpful and pleasant, and all the townspeople appreciate what the Drummonds have done for this once-dying town.  You can get on the Internet and find jealous people who say bad things about the whole family (just google something like "I hate pioneer woman"), but if you go down there and talk to the locals they have a different point of view.  

I had plans

Last night as I lay in bed waiting for sleep to envelop me, I decided today would be the day we'd clean the filthy carpet in the living room and hall.  Cliff has been wanting to call somebody to come and do the job, but I think the worst part of cleaning a carpet is the preparation:  moving furniture, vacuuming thoroughly... it seems to me as though the actual cleaning wouldn't be such a huge problem, once all the prep was done.  This morning I woke determined to get it done.

Noticing the eastern sky lighting up a bit, I took my coffee out on the back deck and soaked in the peace surrounding me.  A tiny wren perched on the fence and sang a lively tune for me.  I heard frogs croaking in the distance and various birds awakening, and by the time full daylight came, I heard the occasional hummingbird buzz past.  

I finished my coffee and walked around the yard awhile, strolling to the garden.  I surveyed the tiny (to me) plot and decided on a small vacant area to plant a couple more hills of corn.  I fashioned two hills in the lower right-hand area of the garden.  By the way, a "hill" of corn doesn't have to be an actual hill, just a grouping of seeds.  But since I'm in the process of spreading straw over the entire garden, I though it would be easier to see where my corn is if I made actual hills.  You can see the earlier two hills of corn I planted before, with corn plants about six inches high.  Since I now had the hills made and watered, I went inside to get the seeds I had wrapped in a wet paper towel and placed in an open baggie for germination.

I went back to the deck, sat down, and surveyed the pasture where the calves are; that's when I noticed how healthy the sour dock plants were looking.  Cliff has mowed that pasture twice this year, but within a week after mowing, those dock plants raise their ugly heads as though nothing had dampened their enthusiasm for taking over the place.  Early this spring I decided to wage a war on those hateful plants.  I knew the whole four-acre area was too much for me to tackle, but I decided to simply fight the ones within twenty feet or so of the yard, all the way from east to west, so I wouldn't have to look at them first thing in the morning.  I went out with a shovel at various times and dug the plants in that area up.  Of course I didn't get the entire root on any of these pesky plants.  Those longest roots must go down a yard or more.  But I figure at least it set the plant back more than simply mowing.  

Those broad-leaf weeds are my enemy!

Look at all those nasty seeds.  

Well, I decided I'd better go dig up a few of those while I felt so frisky.  When I got that done, I went in the house to prepare about two quarts of strawberries for eating, since I wanted some ready to put on cereal when Cliff got up.  Plenty for cereal and plenty for dessert at lunch, I thought to myself.  But wait, we don't have any shortcake.  

I love store-bought shortcake, but the other day we didn't have any, so I made the home-made kind, which over a period of two days we devoured (with a little cream poured over them... I wonder why we can't lose weight?).  Cliff remarked that he preferred the home-made variety to those little golden shortcakes in the store.  

Well, I'll just make some shortcake again, I decided.  (Recipe HERE.)

Cliff got up, we had our cereal, and I told him about my original plan to clean the carpet.  Then I put on some boiled eggs to use in the potato salad I intend to make at some point today and took the trash out.  

That's when I realized I had used up my initial energy doing so many other things, I wasn't going to mess with carpets today.  I was tired already!  And I still have strawberries to pick.

And now you know why I hardly ever do any housework.  It just isn't at the top of my list of priorities.