Category: 2023

December 18 White egg mystery

For some time now there has been a mystery involving the appearance of white chicken(?) eggs randomly on the place, usually in or close to the northwest quadrant. You see, none of the resident chickens lay white eggs. Their eggs are mostly a shade of beige, but some a light shade of green. Plus, they lay them in the boxes designed for that purpose in the chicken house, not indiscriminately around the prairie.

Kai and I took a whack at a mesquite out at the Bluff this month. It was an unkempt one at the entrance to the parking lot. I had been telling myself I needed to trim it up for what?, nine years but could always talk myself out of it since I knew it was going to be pretty big job. I mentioned to Kai I planned to bring my chainsaw the next week and trim some mesquites. She said she would like to tag along and I said to myself, “Shoot, if she wants to “tag along”, I’ll just get her to help me and tackle that tree. So I did. She was a big help, even took a crack at using the chainsaw and held up pretty well, but of course she eventually got tired and handed it back over to me. I was weary myself and the breather she gave me was just what I needed. The traffic loop running in front of the Bluff is being widened. In the process a bunch of mesquite was cleared and piled up not far from where we were working. I asked if we could add our trimmings to the pile and was given permission. It sure made it easier to clean up after ourselves. Kai had been building the load of trimmings in the pickup as I cut them, and it was just a matter of backing up to the pile and pulling our load out.

October 31 Halloween October went out with cold weather. Of course it did. It was Halloween. But November followed with really nice weather. Dry of course but nice. As usual, Rebecca was my only trick-or-treater and she cleaned me out of Halloween candy I hadn’t already eaten. She didn’t do anymore trick-or-treating after she came to my door. The Wylie women worked it pretty good, though. Their neighborhood is more trick-or-treater friendly Jill tells me.

We celebrated Thanksgiving to everyone’s’ satisfaction, I think. Food was delicious, everyone behaved themselves (no food or fist fights). Weather was pleasant, but no moisture of course. The Wylie clan arrived Monday evening and returned home Saturday so Kaylee could get some needed volunteer hours, a National Honor Society requirement, I think. Other than another dry month, November was pretty good and left little to complain about, though that didn’t stop us. Now it’s on to Christmas.

September 2 It was time for a quarterly visit to Alibates National Monument to check on it for Texas Parks and Wildlife, just to make sure nothing had changed that would impact the Great Texas Trails map. Kari accompanied me and we found that the road to the visitor center was closed for replacing. It being a temporary condition, I don’t think it needed to affect the map. It was a nice cool morning and we hiked the Mullinaw trail that runs along the river. Flies were a nuisance but we had a nice hike nevertheless. After an early lunch in McBride Canyon next to the rock house, we headed home.

August 9 There was a new helper out at the Bluff today. I was watering and weeding in the butterfly garden when I noticed a raven, or a crow, I wasn’t sure which, on the sidewalk. It was pretty close and got closer as I spoke to it. I figured it was someone’s pet. It seemed interested in what I was doing, or maybe it was hoping for a handout. At one point, while I was bent over pulling weeds, it flew over and settled on my back. I try to be on good terms with most of God’s creatures, but this was pushing it. I explained it wasn’t much fun pulling weeds, even with a raven on my back. When I straightened up it flew back to the sidewalk and continued to monitor my activity. Later I was informed it was a veteran of the wildlife rehab center and was thus accustomed to people and to getting handouts. I’m told it likes apples, which we have plenty on SA, so I’ll take a few next time I go to the Bluff in case it is still around. The folks at the rehab center named it Mavis. I think I’ll call it Wild Thing, WT (dubtee) for short.

There are a couple of hornytoads I see around the Bluff. It is always nice to see them, but these two added a new twist to hornytoad behavior. They both wagged their tail at me, almost like a dog. I haven’t seen that before.