December 20, 2006

Ice Storm

On the one hand it was a winter wonderland here on SA when the sun came up this morning. We got rain off and on yesterday into last night and the temperature hovered around 32 degrees. Then sometime last night the rain turned to snow. On the other hand, many of the trees suffered mightily. They suffer yet. At various times today I saw limbs succumb to the weight of the ice and snap off and even this evening as I rounded the side of the

house on my way back from the office a limb high up in the elm in the corner back of the house gave way and came crashing down on top of those that preceded it. I don't mean to complain but the clean up is going to take a lot of time and work. It could take me until spring. There should be plenty of firewood, though, for the coming years, although that commodity was already plentiful.

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December 17, 2006

Joyce and I cleaned out the garden yesterday. We got started around nine and worked till late afternoon but we got it done. The results may be gratifying but today we are more than a little weary. We first pulled up and collected all the dead vegetation, of which there was a great deal. The dead morning glories alone took a substantial effort. The debris was collected in three large and several smaller piles. After lunch we fed all that through the shredder and reduced it to a covering on the area I spaded up for an expanded tree nursery eight or 10 inches deep. I'd guess the volume was reduced 90% or so. Anyway, it should make good mulch. Joyce was concerned about the seeds in the mix sprouting but I intend to rake up pine needles and cover the mulch with them. Then I'll start filling the space with seedlings, those I collect here on the place and those I buy from Arbor Day or where ever.

Our weather moderated last week. Friday night only got

down to about 40 degrees. Prior to that we were dipping into the 20s most nights. This morning, though, the temp was 32 and I think it is supposed to get colder over the next few days, maybe even snow.

Joyce drove to church this morning. It will be the first time she's gone to the new church building. The parking is adequate now and the new church is some distance farther away so they will drive themselves rather than have Chris drive them.

For the past couple of years we have attended the Christmas pageant put on by the church but they aren't having it this year, perhaps because they were busy moving into their new church. However we are attending this afternoon a performance of Scrooge staged by the Amarillo Little Theater. That should get us into the proper holiday spirit if we aren't already.

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December 3, 2006

SA Snow

Brrr! Cold weekend. We got five or six inches of snow Wednesday night and I don't think the temperature has been over freezing since. There hasn't been much melting. Yesterday afternoon Abigail and I took advantage of the sunshine and cold to go play in the snow still blanketing the ground. I hitched up the sled to the tractor and cut a giant figure 8 in the pasture pulling Abigail on the sled. In past years I've pulled the sled myself but felt if the tractor could pull it, which it could, it would save a lot of wear and tear on me and be more fun for Abigail since no doubt she would get more pull time.

Abigail spent Friday night with us. We had some pizza and watched Rocky and Bullwinkle till bedtime. She

stayed here all day Saturday and we helped Joyce decorate the tree while we enjoyed a nice fire. I ran out of gas while pulling the sled(really the tractor, not me) and while I went to get more gas Abigail made a snow angel. Then she wanted me to make one. To make a good snow angel one needs to fall straight back without putting a hand down. There was some relatively deep snow in the shadows of the junipers that run east and west from the barn so I picked out a spot and hoped the snow was deep enough to cushion the fall. It wasn't. I felt like Roy Williams hit me in the back. My head bounced off the snow pack and I bit the tip of my tongue. I managed to finish the snow angel effect but I won't be doing that again unless I find about a five foot snow bank.

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November 23, 2006

Trip to the Zoo

Yesterday Abigail and I boarded the train in Garland and went to the zoo. It was a nice day and our presence wasn't needed around the house. We stopped at the West End to switch from the blue line to the red line, which stops at the zoo, and had some refreshment before catching the next train. At the zoo, the monorail which circumnavigates the new section, Wilds of Africa I think, which I had never seen, was free, which was gratifying, but that may have been because the artificial river didn't have any water in it. It was closed for repairs and I think it would have added a lot to the experience.

As it was, the monorail was a little boring and made worse by this horrid red-haired, freckle-faced, bespectacled little girl who, at the least provocation real or imagined, would wind her screeching corkscrew of a voice into the decibel level of a jetliner at full throttle and bore into my very being. It was all I could do not to hurl her into the gorilla enclosure in the hopes one would pull her head off. In spite of this, I had a wonderful time, although keeping up with Abigail meant I didn't linger of some of the exhibits as I might have done if left to my own devices.

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November 19, 2006

You know, Joyce is just an amazing woman. Why just yesterday I worked her all day in the fields then made her go to a Amarillo Symphony performance at the new Globe New Performing Arts Center and she didn't bat an eye. Well, actually she did bat an eye. We both did in last couple of movements of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor. Our day was catching up with us and we were getting pretty sleepy. Fortunately for us in good old Amarillo you can be home from downtown in five minutes. The performance included pianist Sa Chen, a pretty little Chinese gal who banged out Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor. It sounded pretty good to this tin ear and, judging from the standing ovation, it sounded good to my betters as well. Now I wouldn't care to hear Toward the Splendid City a second time. The evenings director, Byung-Hyun Rhee, is auditioning for the position and is one of four finalists. He said he chose that piece which is supposed to depict New York city to "showcase the musicians of the Amarillo Symphony." It brought to my mind Mark Twain's comments after listening to Wagner. He supposedly said it reminded him

of the night the orphan asylum burned down.

We finally got the last bit of pasture mowed and raked yesterday and wound up with a lot of hay. We spread it under the eastern line of cedars to smoother weeds primarily, but also to mulch the trees. We didn't quite finish doing that but that work horse Joyce wants to finish it this afternoon, which shouldn't take more than an hour. Early on as we were mowing we rousted a fox from the area. I'm not sure where it was to begin with, maybe underneath the juniper due east of sun room. It was quite a handsome guy or gal in its winter foliage. At first it tried to cross the street into the Pierce's place but there was some work going on there that deterred it. It nearly got run over by a car crossing back over to our side of the street and that really got it spooked. Its actions had been fairly calm up until then but after the brush with the car the fox streaked through our yard, through the gate into the place and off to the south. I don't know where it finally wound up but I hope it was some place it felt safe.

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November 5, 2006

So Joyce and I were coming in from the fields yesterday to have a little lunch. As we came around the corner to the back of the house we saw a Cooper's hawk in the birdbath. We were able to observe it for some time from Joyce's bedroom. It seemed to be soaking its feet at first, then began to move around the perimeter of the birdbath to what end I'm not sure but it seemed to be enjoying itself immensely. After a little bit it flew up into a tree and we had our lunch.

Yesterday was a beautiful Indian summer day and we worked all day on mowing, raking and mulching. Joyce, Genna and Chris pitched in on the raking. We got the section east of 2005 cut and raked. There was quite a lot of grass and we pretty well got the southwest section of the irrigation ditch filled. Some of it had been filled already. We also used some of the grass in the southeast corner of the lane to smoother some weeds there. I also got the meadow cut but didn't rake it. The grass there isn't so dense so there won't be as much raking.

We had a couple of trickortreaters Halloween evening, local kids. Other than that, it was a quiet evening. The previous Friday we went with the Shewberts to New Mexico. They were going to their cabin for the weekend to finish their deck and invited us a long. We left Friday afternoon about 3 o'clock and had a pleasant trip. Gary drove and I was afforded a rare opportunity to look around unencumbered by having to keep one eye on the road. We saw lots of pronghorn. About twilight we passed a section of prairie dotted with bison. It's not uncommon to see small groups of bison but this herd was so large and the countryside, other than the road and fence was so natural that it was possible for one to get a glimpse of what it must have been like in the past. We also nearly plowed into a herd of elk as we approached Cimmaron Canyon. I don't know how many there were but they were all crossing the highway and it was dark by that time. After puttering around all day Saturday, we returned Sunday afternoon.

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October 15, 2006

Sunshine is peeking through the clouds. The early morning fog has disappeared. If the sun dries out the grass I may mow some, continuing the process started last weekend. It's mow some, rake some, mow some and so on. Genna's friend Marty likes the tall grass. She's taken some pictures, I think. She thought we ought to leave it long until I pointed out the downside of that, most notably a prairie fire. Even Joyce's friend Phyllis liked the natural look. The rakings make nice hay which is very useful for discouraging weeds underneath the junipers. I hope to fill the irrigation ditches with hay to kill out the weeds in the ditches. Most of those weeds are the grassy kind that Weed-B-Gone doesn't affect. It seems to me it would be easier filling the ditches with hay which could be raked out when the ditch is needed for watering the tree line and would in the mean time kill out the weeds. It would also conserve moisture for the trees. Hay makes terrific mulch. At the rate I'm going it may take me till next spring to get all the grass cut, depending on the weather. I guess there isn't any hurry as long as the grass doesn't get too dry. I suppose a deep snow could mat it down and make it difficult to cut but that probably isn't too much of a concern. It's really just the gramma grass seedhead stems that make the grass look long. The actual grass isn't tall.

In fact, I'm going to experiment with raising the mower so that it will lop off the stems but leave the grass pretty long. It still amazes me how the grass is so much more lush in areas where it gets a little (but not too much) shade. That tells me the key to developing and keeping healthy native grass it to try to leave it long as much as possible in areas where we have to rely on rainfall to water it.

We knocked off early yesterday afternoon and we went with some friends to the Apple Shack in Farwell. As the name implies, they sell apples, grown in local orchards, and related products. It was a nice little trip in spite of the stockyards so prevalent along the route. We stopped in Hereford for dinner at a new restaurant there on the way back.

Abigail spent the night with us Friday night. Gary and I played a round at Preston West after work Friday evening. It was a perfect evening for that sort of thing. When I got home we had a little pizza and watched some Rocky and Bullwinkle. Saturday morning I scurried out and got bagels for breakfast. After breakfast Abigail and her grandma piddled until it was time for Abigail to head off to her soccer game.

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October 3, 2006

Rebecca Burnese Zbinden

5 lbs, 3 ozs, 18 inches; mother and daughter doing well

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September 24, 2006

Abigail's Soccer Game

Vermont

Kathryn and John are wending their way home now. We had a pleasant visit, if I may speak for others. I know I did. The weather was pretty nice, if a little breezy at times. John and I managed to get in quite a bit of golf starting Thursday evening when we played Preston West with Gary Shewbert. Friday we played Ross Rogers and Saturday we played Commanche Trail. I saw a little bull snake about 14-16 inches long on the fairway at Commanche Trail. I wanted to take it home with me but new better. Kathy drove Genna and I down to McBride Canyon and Riverland Saturday morning. We started out to visit the Kwahadi Indian museum but it didn't open until noon, so we drove down to the river instead. We saw several box turtles and some deer.

I spent last weekend and the first part of the week in Miami Beach at a trade show. There was a little time to visit the beach Sunday and I did but just walked up and down without getting into the water over my feet. It was hot and humid. Since we've been cool for the last few weeks here on the High Plains, I felt the heat a little more. The flight was delayed on the way home but

fortunately I made the flight to Amarillo from Dallas after calling and changing to a later flight. Even then it was a close thing.

Two weeks ago Joyce and I were in Vermont. Our flight from Dallas to New York got held up causing us to miss our connection to Burlington where Bryant and Betsy were to pick us up. We did get a later flight but didn't arrive at the hotel until after midnight. Our first night was spent at the Shelburne Inn and it was unfortunate that we arrived late and didn't have more time to spend there. However, the rest of the trip went very well. We stayed at the Andrews cottage on Isle La Motte in Lake Champlain and from there took day trips to Au Sable Chasm in New York and Fort Ticonderoga. We stumbled on a Revolutionary War battle reenactment at for Ti which was a nice bonus to the trip. On the way home we spent the night in New York and had an afternoon to poke around a little. We stayed in Manhattan and visited Central Park, Times Square and Lower Manhattan. That was September 11th.

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September 3, 2006

Weiner Roast

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September 2, 2006

It is a chilly and wet Saturday so it might be a good time to catch up here. Next week we go to Vermont and will spend an afternoon in New York City (Manhattan) on the return trip so I expect there will be some things to report arising from that little jaunt. We got half an inch of rain overnight but have become so jaded that we hardly think anything under an inch worth reporting. The temperature has dropped steadily since I got up this morning and is currently sitting a 54 degrees. The sprinkling and north wind make it really feel like a late fall day rather than the Labor Day weekend. The grass is knee high over most of the place. I mow around the houses, of course, and the lane along the street, around the garden and play area, barn, etc. I think that makes the place look like it is being taken care of rather than just overgrown. Perhaps I'm delusional, but from the street, one doesn't see the

high grass and the lane is clean and tidy. To me it looks good. I hope it does to the public. I'm not sure how I will handle the rest of the grass. I guess I'll have all winter to mow and probably will wait until it goes dormant to mow generally. Right now I'm concentrating on weed control. I think I'll put down some preemergent in the most egregious places and see how that works.

Kari hosted happy hour yesterday evening so the kids would have more places to play. Abigail and Garret seem to play pretty well together, and why shouldn't they. They are close enough in age to get a bang out of the same nonsensical carrying on. We had a nice visit with Devon. She and I commiserated over weeds, although now that I think about, how much of problem could they be if they haven't gotten any rain in her area?

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August 20, 2006

We got our daily wetting about breakfast time this morning but from the sound of it we might get seconds. There is distant grumbling that may portend another round. The mornings have been cool lately and the clouds have kept the temperature down most of the time. So far we have collected a little over an inch of rain in the last week. This morning may have been about a quarter inch and last Wednesday evening I think we got close to half an inch. Otherwise it has been a couple of tenths here, a couple there with some contribution nearly every day. As you can imagine the mild weather and moisture is much to the liking of the weeds. It is to the liking of just about everything that grows but it's the weeds the give me the fantods. After cogitating on the best method of spraying weeds I had come to the decision that I would purchase a backpack sprayer. That would give me a lot more volume than the little one gallon pump sprayers I have and still give me the precision and flexibility to do the job efficiently. I had thought I would wait until next year to do that, though. They aren't inexpensive and there are so many to choose from, how does one know which one to get? Then I decided with the moisture we've had lately it would be a mistake to wait. I needed help now. In calling the lawnmower shop where I got my chainsaws, I learned that Sithl had a BP sprayer. I think it is a new item for them. I'm happy with the Stihl chainsaws I have so, after comparing features with some of the other brands, I decided the Stihl would do just fine and purchased one. Yesterday I gave it a try. The weight of over four gallons of Weed-B-Gone/water mix is not inconsiderable. I found I had to put the sprayer on the trashcan out back so I could get into the harness and then be able to stand up.

I was OK with the weight once I got it strapped down properly on my back and sprayed three loads. The BP sprayer worked very well. I could cover much more ground in a shorter time because I didn't have to refill as often as I did with the two one gallon sprayers I was using and could actually cover ground as quickly as I can with a hose-end sprayer but with more precision both in the mix and where I was spraying it. So now I feel like I have a least a fighting chance against the weeds, that is the ones affected by Weed-B-Gone. Still nothing easy about handling the grassy weeds. It appears the best strategy there is to just root them out by hand. I spent over an hour in the front yard doing that very thing this morning. I don't let myself think about the many hours in front of me before I finally get the grassy weeds cleaned out of the front.

A watermelon came up voluntarily in the xeriscape next to the driveway. I ignored at first. Then I started watering it along with the little bit of buffalo grass it grew up in. Now with the moisture we've been getting lately it has really taken off. It has two main lines going in opposite directions around the rosemary and had developed a number of additional shoots. Today I lopped off all but the two main shoots, both of which have a tiny melon on them. It's pretty late in the season to expect the melons to reach maturity but we'll see what happens if I force the vine to devote all its resources to just the two lines. Maybe that will speed things up. I guess I could pinch off any additional blossoms as well. Maybe I'll do that. Maybe with all the vine's resources devoted to just two melons we can get a couple of pretty good ones before first frost.

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August 13, 2006

We enjoyed a cool and relaxing weekend in Red River, NM last weekend. The Shewberts were kind enough to let us use their cabin and we brought our own food so it was a fairly economical one as well. It was, however, a shock to spend $49 filling up the car with gas in Logan, NM on the drive home. I think premium was about $3.30 per gallon. Abigail requested and received from her grandfather a fishing pole for her birthday. I think her poppa spent some time with her helping her learn to cast. I dusted off my tackle box and fly rod and took them with me so on Saturday, Abigail, Kari and I did a little fishing at the two little ponds open to the public there in town. I figured Abigail would tire of that activity quickly. Fishing often requires more patience than the average five year old can muster, but, despite her not catching anything, she stuck with it far longer than I anticipated. Moreover, she didn't do a half-bad job of operating her equipment. Though I made most of her casts, she made a few quite serviceable ones herself. When Chris arrived after lunch he took her back to the pond where I joined them and she tried her hand a little further, though with no better results.

She was undaunted though and she and her father did a little messing about in the creek while I tried to snag something other than the brush with my flyrod. I was ultimately no more successful than Abigail but remain equally undaunted. We'll be back.

That part of the country has been getting some rain the last few months and continued to do so while we were there. I understand they didn't have any snow last winter which makes it hard to operate the ski resorts. From Logan or perhaps even San Jon on north the prairie was pretty and green and well stocked with pronghorn and that continued up into the mountains. I even managed to get caught on the mountain during a fairly significant shower on Sunday afternoon. It was cloudy most of the time we were there and rained off and on most of the day Sunday. It did, however, stop long enough for Joyce and me to walk into town for ice cream after dinner. Unfortunately K,C&A had to pack up and go home on Sunday. Chris had to leave town Monday morning so he spent little over 24 hours there.

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July 30, 2006

July 25th, 2006

We've seen lots of wildlife this week. Saturday morning Genna and I were coming back from Home Depot after bagels and saw a dozen or so geese arrayed on the slab foundation of a building that had been torn down. Don't know why they would choose such a site. No water around. Before bagels yesterday, about 6:30 a.m., I watched a bat wheel and dart over the north half of the place. This morning there were three of them. They never left the skies above the north end of the place as long as I watched them. Tuesday morning I celebrated my birthday by taking the day off. I got down to McBride Canyon about 7:30 a.m. On the round trip I saw 6 pronghorn, 5 deer, 7 jackrabbits, 2 turkeys, one roadrunner and one snake.

I took my bike with me to the river and rode around for a couple of hours. With the bike I was able to cover a lot of ground and extend my knowledge of the roads in the area past what I had seen on foot. The poor old Canadian was dry, hardly even any mud, but the deer flies were thick and encouraged me to be on my way anytime I paused to catch my breath and drink some water. On one of the pauses after drinking a little water I noticed I had put my sandaled foot down in a red ant bed. Luckily I noticed my error before the ants took umbrage.

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July 23, 2006

Most gorgeous sunrise this morning, the sun turning the clouds all orange and fiery red. It was cool, too. We couldn't say that for the last fortnight but the last couple of nights have cooled down the way they should here on the High Plains. The rain in June is becoming a distant memory, though. The grass which was growing and lush a couple of weeks ago barely has any green left to it. Genna and I have developed a new routine for watering around her place. Earlier in the year when she was incapacitated I would start a sprinkler going when I arrived for work and then run out every whipstich to move it. Last week we got out one of her travelling sprinklers and set it up. Now when I arrive at work or, in the case of yesterday and today, start stirring about I position it for the day's watering and she keeps tabs on it to see to it it doesn't run amuck. That means I can set it and forget it, she doesn't have to handle the heavy sprinkler, and her yard gets watered adequately.

Yesterday after bagels and before I started my day's work I went by the day labor place to hire some help for the day. This was my first experience with the chronically umemplyed and it was an interesting study in human nature. My pickup was quickly surrounded with job seekers when I pulled into the parking lot. The first question someone asked was how many I needed and when I said one there arose a chorus of "pick me, pick me." Then someone asked "how much?" and when I said $50 that seemed to really excite the mob around my open pickup window. I was trying to figure out who to pick when one of the men, a sturdy-looking fellow I had already noticed as maybe being a good candidate just went around to the passenger side of the pickup and got in. I thought to myself, "Now here is someone who knows how to play the game." I thought his assertiveness indicated he would be a good hand.

Harvey lasted two hours. I set him to work digging up Al Qaeda grass. I do a lot of that myself and know full well what an onerous task it is. I had just finished mowing and trimming in the garden and was going to get Harvey to get him going on raking twigs when I met him coming with his little bag of snacks that he had brought. He said his back couldn't take any more of the bending over. I asked him if he wanted to do something else or quit and

he said he thought he'd better quit. He said he'd walk home but I drove him to where he was staying, the Sleep Inn out on "the Boulevard". On the way he apologized profusely and said he hadn't had a day off for 14 days and, well, a man needs a day off now and then and he was really tired. So I gave him $20 and told him I hoped he got some rest.

Joyce spent all day yesterday in the kitchen fixing chili renos and everyone congregated yesterday evening at our house to celebrate Chris's birthday. He'll be out of town on the actual date. After dinner Abigail and I spent some time in the closet looking for monsters. Joyce gave Chris a set of flashlights for his birthday and got Abigail one, too, so we had to test it out. Later we went outside to turn off some water I had running on her blue spruce. It was so pleasant outside we messed around in the garden and bounced on the trampoline some.

It's been a couple of weeks since our 4th of July shindig. The tent we rented worked very nicely to keep everyone out of the sun and moderately comfortable. It wasn't the hottest of days but still pretty warm and there wasn't a lot of breeze. We got a wading pool for the kids and set up the slip and slide Joyce gave Abigail for her birthday. Jon brought over their trampoline, which I believe they are going to leave here until they move to a new place in a few months. He also set up his horseshoe game and, of course, we had the volleyball net set up. So, there was plenty of things for people of all ages to do. Jill and Dave even brought their bocce balls but the grass may have been a little too deep for that to work well. The elders sat and gabbed. Joyce's uncle came with his daughter and her husband. He stayed with us for the two nights they were here. He's 93 and still quite active. In fact, one needs to provide something for him to do. He helped Joyce make salsa which kept him occupied between the time he went with Genna and me to get bagels and the time people started arriving. When it came time to grill some hotdogs he begged to be allowed to perform some function so he and I teamed up with him handling the buns and me handling the weiners as we served the folk.

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July 9, 2006

July 4th Celebration and Abibail's Birthday

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June 25, 2006

Key West

We spent most of last week in South Florida, first at Naples where I worked a trade show, then in the Florida Keys, Key West mostly. Naples is on the west coast, the gulf side of Florida and is a very pretty area. It is well populated but has a more relaxed feel than big metro areas like Miami and Orlando. Because of the flight schedules we didn't reach our hotel in Naples until something like 2:30 a.m. Sunday. The next morning I got ready for the show which started at noon and ended at 5. Monday the show lasted all day and it was after 8 p.m. before I had packed up our booth and gotten it ready to ship. Joyce and I went out to dinner in spite of the late hour and stumbled by chance on a restaurant called Yabba's Island Grill where we had one of those memorable meals we often seek but seldom find. The fare was Caribbean; Joyce had the macadamia nut crusted grouper and I had the shrimp linguine.

We took a couple of days of vacation to do a little exploring while we were in the area. By Tuesday morning we hadn't had much time to see anything so we got up before sunup and walked down to the beach. To get to the beach we walked along an elevated boardwalk through the mangrove swamp. Crossing a mangrove creek we spotted this guy making his lazy way up the creek. He eventually reached the bridge where we were and rather than shying away from us as I thought he would, he stopped below us as though he were reporting for duty. Perhaps he's used to getting handouts from passersby.

We walked up and down the beach. It was a very nice time of day, plenty warm and humid but not hot like it would eventually get. We saw a few of the inhabitants like this crab and this bird. There was a man fishing and a bird keeping him company like a pet. When the man packed up his gear in the little wagon he had and headed for a more promising spot, the bird tagged right along. They appeared to be inseparable.

We stayed on the 17th floor of the Naples Grand Resort and had an excellent view. Later in the trip we had occasion to stay at a La Quinta in south Miami. By then, though, we were spoiled and were glad to leave the next morning. The other night we stayed in a cottage at the Key Lime Inn on Key West, which was OK, except for some ants, but still a big step down from the Naples Grand.

After leaving Naples we drove south and east through the Everglades. Originally I had thought we might stop at the state park and walk along the boardwalk there but after the morning's jaunt through the mangroves I decided not

to stop. By then it was even hotter, muggier and, no doubt, buggier than the morning walk. We did stop at the state park on Key Largo and walk around a little, including walking on the little boardwalk trail through the mangroves. By the end of that walk we knew as much about mangroves as we cared to (red mangroves live next to and in the water, black mangroves a little farther in and white mangroves on the highest ground). On our walk we encountered a racoon. It passed with a few feet of us seemingly unconcerned with our presence.

After the heat and mugginess of the Key Largo state park we decided to drive on down to Key West. It was much more pleasant seeing the sights from the air conditioned comfort of the car. We called and got a room at the Key Lime Inn, then cancelled the first of the two nights we had reserved at the La Quinta. It took us about two and a half ours to get to Key West. Most of the single highway is two lane and the speed limit is either 45 or 55. The drive is pretty, though, and we reached our destination in time to have dinner and hit the sack. We rose before sunup again the next morning and went walking on another beach. The coral reef that follows the Keys south on the Atlantic side prevent the wave action that creates sand so beaches aren't natural in the Keys. They have to truck in the sand. There was a lot of seaweed at the edge of the sand along the beach we walked along and it gave off a stench that sort of intruded on the moment so we didn't spend a lot of time there.

After checking out of the hotel we took a ride in a glass bottom boat out to the reef to see the sights. We enjoyed the trip but one can see more in any commercial aquarium than we saw through the bottom of the boat. After the voyage we had lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Cafe. Key West has a pleasant, albeit third world ambience. We learned that the chickens one sees roaming around are descendants of fighting cocks, a throw back to an earlier, rowdier time.

We had an excellent storm last night. Lots of thunder and lightening and, best of all, about two inches of much needed rain. That was on top of the inch and a half accumulated over a couple of days earlier in the week. That should be enough to get the grass growing. For a while it looked like the prairie wouldn't get enough moisture to grow and parts of it had really been worn down since I cut it short last fall. I did quite a bit of spraying yesterday morning trying to control the weeds that were growing and would no doubt really take off with the recent rain.

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June 4, 2006

SA Early June

We water constantly. The heat and wind of the past couple of days has taken care of that half inch of rain we got last week, no doubt. But, looking on the bright side, we don't spend a lot of time swatting mosquitoes or mowing. In fact, the results from simply weeding and not mowing the back yard last year have encouraged me to ignore the scruffyness of the front, which would be remedied by mowing, at least temporarily, and concentrate on weeding it instead of mowing. It could take several years but in time we will have a clean lawn of native grass that just needs a little water to keep it green in the growing season. Low maintenance, you see. We need as much of that as possible because even at low maintenance, there is still a lot of maintenance on the place. Just trying to keep the weeds a bay could keep a stalwart youth busy May through July and I would be glad to pay the going rate for unskilled labor if I could find someone willing to do the work, a legal resident, that is.

Our garden is coming along nicely. Joyce spends a lot of time in it watering and weeding. Note the new beanpole design. It represents our third attempt a building something to support the beans when they are fully fledged. Last year's PVC pipe-based approach proved woefully inadequate to support the weight of the vines once they were fully grown and loaded with beans. We're also hoping this year's structure is more resistant to the wind when the vines are mature and present a solid mass. Of course, with some winds all bets are off but we'll just keep our fingers crossed that we don't get any of those. Memorial Day weekend there were some purportedly 60 mile an hour winds during the night and, judging from the detritus strewn around, I have no reason to doubt it.

We planted 16 Colorado blue spruce this spring and some of them are doing quite well. We have lost three but I think one of those was terminal when we got it.

We ordered 15 and they sent 16. There was one so small they might have thrown it in as inconsequential. So far it is hanging in there while three of the bigger ones have succumb to the tender mercies of the Texas Panhandle. We also have three hazelnuts from the dozen we planted last year. We were surprised to have any and thought all along we only had one. But two others have put out new growth, one Joyce discovered only the other day out in the meadow where it was receiving no attention (water). It's in under one of the junipers not too far from the irrigation ditch so it is possible it benefitted from that water. If you look closely here you can see how much things benefit from proximity to the irrigation ditch. Anyway, we're delighted to have it and will now assist it in its attempt at life.

The grapevines all seem to be doing well. Some have grown more than others but all look healthy. Chris and I strung the support wire around the perimeter of the garden above the critter fence even though it will be next year at the earliest before it is needed. From what I have read about training the vines, it doesn't seem difficult although there are rules to follow to maximize the grape production. Should be interesting.

Joyce is watering a spot around the playground equipment where we plan to put a shade tent we are going to rent for the 4th of July celebration this year. Our attempts of the past couple of years haven't been satisfactory. The items we have purchased were too small and, well, crappy to stand up to the wind, etc. Joyce found an outfit to rent us what they call a wedding tent, a 20X20 tent, open-sided, that they will set up and take down. That should be a big improvement. Anyway, she's watering the area where we plan to put it so the grass will be green and soft. She's also watering around the playground equipment. Just a little water and the grass greens right up.

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April 30, 2006

Late April on SA

This morning at breakfast I watched two mockingbirds litigating a boundary dispute mockingbird fashion. The party of the first part, whose territory seems to be inside the fence at 1911 or perhaps extends some 20 or 30 feet beyond the fence into SA proper, seemed intent on disputing his neighbors right to the garden and the row of junipers to the south of it. Whereas the party of the second part did defend his claim to the junipers, garden and such unimproved land extending approximately 30 to 40 feet beyond the garden proper. Mockingbird B also seemed to claim the enclosure but said claim did not seem to be questioned by mockingbird A. So, mockingbird A, starting from the southeast corner of the fence around 1911, would sally forth to the garden area or the junipers to the south. Mockingbird b, who was usually perched on the fence around the enclosure but sometimes was sitting on top of the juniper on the west end of the junipers on the south of the garden, would confront the interloper and the chase would be on. It usually wound around and through one end of the junipers to the other, through the garden and out into no-man's land between 1911 and the garden. Mockingbird A would usually land in no-man's land as if to stand his ground. If he was too close to the garden mockingbird b would continue the confrontation until mockingbird A was back on or within the fence at 1911 at which time mockingbird B would resume lookout from the enclosure fence. As soon as mockingbird B resumed his position, though, mockingbird A would make the same incursion with the same result each time and this pattern continued as long as I sat there observing it, and probably much longer, so that it appears mockingbirds are little better than humans with their incessant wrangling over one thing or another.

Joyce and I got busy with outdoor activities yesterday, caressed by the north wind. We bought some trumpet vines and planted them along the privacy screen on the west of 1911. A week or two ago I planted some trumpet vine roots she got from a mail order outfit but it didn't appear they were going to grow so we went with vines that were already growing. In planting them we discovered a couple of the vine roots were in the process of putting forth so we replanted them in case they

cared to continue. We also bought four raspberry (or were they blackberry) bushes around what used to be the pheasant cage in the inclosure. Speaking of pheasants, I saw a pheasant cock in the bar ditch along Soncy one evening last week when I was taking a load of lane rakings to the brush pile.

While we were out getting the vines, we also rented a cultivator and used that to good effect on the garden after Chris cleared the rows. A couple of weeks ago I had, with an assist from Hans, shredded most of the dried tomato vines, and other detritus left from last year. Joyce got a load of composted horse manure last fall and we worked that into the beds after getting them turned with the cultivator. I was surprised at how hard the ground in the beds was. I thought the compost we added the last couple of years would have kept it fairly loose but apparently it needs a lot more. Some of the areas where we had put more compost weren't so bad but the rented cultivator had to work really hard in the areas that weren't composted as heavily.

At one point we got run out of the garden by a cold, blowing rain but it didn't amount to much and we were able to get back and finish our job. We disturbed a good-sized toad that hopped off underneath the junipers. I hope he finds a moist spot. Where he came from certainly wasn't. Anyway, Joyce can begin planting as soon as we get back from Dallas next weekend and only be a week or so behind schedule.

My grapevines are doing well and the spruce seedlings I planted haven't turned brown, yet. We continue to manage without rain but the prairie has reverted to dormancy, except for the weeds, mainly bine weed. In spite of the drought, the place looks pretty good. The trees are leafed out and if you view SA like you might an aquarium, that is view it as three dimensional up to about 50 feet, the trees freshly leafed out swaying in the wind, the birds coming and going, the rabbits, squirrels and pronghorn (OK, I made that last up), one can be quite entertained just watching what's going on. Include the deep blue skies and/or the interesting cloud formations and you have virtually endless diversion.

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April 12, 2006

Canadian River

Last Wednesday afternoon the Zbindens went to McBride Canyon and I took the afternoon off to accompany them. It was on a day when the wind didn't blow. We get those about every third or fourth day. This one was so still that we got uncomfortably hot even though the temperature was only in the 80's. I stopped by to see Genna on the way out and met up with the Zbindens at the Rock House. As you can see from the pictures, we followed the Mullinaw Trail which necessitated a fording of the Canadian River. I was surprised at how much diminished the river was just from the time Genna and I drove out there with Jill and Cindy, 10 days prior. I estimate it was half what it was then. Then there was evidence of recent moisture, newly dried

puddles in the path/road and such. Now the path was inches deep powder in places it was so dry.

After crossing the stream we followed the road/path to the northwest for several miles. The area to the west of the road along much of the hike had been burned sometime in the last few months. The east side was untouched which leads me to believe it was a controlled burn. Still the hike was interesting but, as Genna and I experienced January 1, the road just kept on going and we came away with the impression that we had only ventured a short way along it before we turned around even though we had walked two to three miles.

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April 9, 2005

Palo Duro Canyon

Over the last several weeks I've been to Glastonbury, CT, Kansas City and Minneapolis. Really, that was over a 10 day period. I spent the past week in the office. All of this was business travel, you understand. First came our annual meeting. Then there was installation and training at the Kansas City School District followed by a show in Minneapolis. All three trips were successful and I enjoyed each but I was glad to get off the road, at least for a while.

In Minneapolis we found an excellent breakfast place called Hell's Kitchen. It had an extensive breakfast menu and everything we tried was excellent. The motif was the nether region. Pretty interesting. I would recommend it if you ever get to Minneapolis.

Hans and Elisabeth arrived on schedule last Thursday. They came by with Chris briefly Friday afternoon to say hello. Saturday I went with them to Palo Duro Canyon. K,C&A bought a season pass and go hiking there somewhat regularly. As many times as I have been to PDC, I haven't hiked any of the trails except the one to the Lighthouse. Chris suggested the Juniper trail. It was a nice, easy loop of two or three miles. Midway or so we stopped and had a picnic lunch on a table set up underneath a large juniper.

This guy was probably 18-24" in diameter, pretty large for the variety. No doubt it is really old.

Last Saturday I trimmed an elm in the north lane and managed to punch a hole in the Quadrille fence in the process. I had worked a large limb that stuck out over the fence back by timming off small pieces and I thought I was clear of the fence when I took off the last five or six feet. In fact I was clear of the fence but when it hit the ground it sprang forward into the fence. This piece was about as big around as my thigh a little above the knee and it came down from about12 to 15 feet so the fence offered little resistance to it. It cracked the bottom rail and broke one of the pickets. Trouble is, the picket is an odd size and I'm having trouble finding a replacement. Bebe lumber may have something I can cut to size.

Jill and her maid-of-honor Cindy visited last weekend. Kari gave Jill a shower Saturday morning. Sunday morning Jill, Cindy, Genna and I went down to McBride Canyon. We didn't spend a lot of time because Joyce, Jill and Cindy had to drive back to Dallas Sunday afternoon, but Jill wanted Cindy to see McBride Canyon. It was a nice day and warm enough that the breeze felt good.

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March 19, 2006

We enjoyed an excellent dinner at OHMS last night, the six of us (Genna, Abigail, Joyce, Kari, Chris, and me). The occasion was Genna's birthday. Joyce and Chris had the duck, Kari and Abigail had meatballs, Genna had beef and I had fish. No one was disappointed. Some of us shared a bottle of wine and most of us had creme brule for dessert.

We've been getting a little rain the last few days. It probably hasn't totaled a quarter of an inch yet but the overcast skies and drizzle make us feel better. Today is more of the same so there is hope for decent moisture yet. At the very least, the weather gives me the excuse I need to lie around the house all day.

Genna and I did some tree trimming yesterday morning and that is about all I have to show for the weekend. I was tired from my week in Connecticut yesterday so I had to talk myself into getting out yesterday morning to work.

Speaking of last week, we had our annual meeting and it went pretty well. Betsy invited us field reps to dinner at their house Wednesday evening and we had our annual dinner that included everyone Thursday evening. After dinner Wednesday evening we got to see some of Betsy's slides from her recent trip to Africa. Very interesting. The weather was good although a little snow fell Wednesday evening.

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March 12, 2006

Greetings from the dust bowl, or a least the wind bowl. It blew all to be damned yesterday and has started off that way today. At least yesterday when Genna and I went for our bagels is was fairly calm, a beautiful morning in fact. Then the wind started blowing. Genna helped me with the tree trimming, having decided the hitch in her get-along wasn't going away if rested and wouldn't be made worse by activity. At breakfast this morning at Kari's she said she was none the worse for wear.

Yesterday evening I joined K,C &A for dinner and a movie afterward. Dinner was salmon, quite tasty, and the movie was something Winn-Dixie. We consumed a half-gallon of chocolate almond ice cream Chris went to Braum's and got. It was so hard we nearly had to use a chainsaw to cut it.

The painting at No. 8 Quadrille Park is finished and looks very nice. Abigails new bedroom looks like a young lady's bedroom, as it should as that is what she is fast becoming. The new furniture is also very

nice. Kari said it was made from the wood of rubber trees that have ceased to produce sap sufficient for making rubber. It is supposed to be an environmentally friendly method of harvesting wood.

It's evening now and I believe the wind is settling down to a moderate 20 or 30 miles an hour. The yard art has taken a beating today. One of the moons had a piece broken off it, probably caused by a collision with another piece when the wind flexed the rapidly spinning arms into each other's path. This afternoon I vacuumed out the pickup and took it to carwash where I hosed it off, all the while trying to stay up wind of the spray wand to avoid a drenching. Water that was supposed to run to the drain underneath the pickup instead pooled up at the front end, the east end, where the wind blew it so I had to wade through a puddle when I crossed the front. After that I went to the library to retrieve the book, The Worst Hard Times, I had reserved. It deals with the dust bowl. How fitting on a day like this.

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March 5, 2006

New Gate

We saw lightening and heard thunder last night for the first time since maybe August. Genna reported this morning at breakfast squeezing 2/10ths of an inch out of her rain gauge. That would do little more than wash the dust off the grass but that's something. I ran water around the north tree line yesterday and have it going again this morning. The rain we got last night wasn't much more than a novelty.

Yesterday I trimmed and hauled a load from the elms along the west side, mostly around the well. My sidekick is still nursing various hitches in her get-along so I worked by myself. It was a mild, cloudy day, a bit breezy but not bad and I managed a satisfactory effort on the trees. After lunch, I started the water running down the ditch, then set to on a little gate project I started during the week. I've wanted a gate on the east side of the fence around 1911 so I wouldn't have to walk all the way to the gate on the south if I was headed down the southeast side of the place. Maybe that doesn't seem like much distance and it isn't, but take yesterday for instance. I worked all morning trimming trees which is a pretty good upper body workout but does involve quite a few steps and contributes greatly to overall fatigue. So, yesterday afternoon when I needed to check the progress of the water down the ditch on the northeast, in other words due east of my backdoor, I would have to walk an extra 100 yards to go around through the south gate. Hopping the fence is not something I

care to do anymore. With a gate there at the northeast corner of the 1911 fence, I save quite a few steps. I guess when the Quadrille fence replaced Dad's chain link fence, a gap was left at the end of the 1911 fence. Some renter had plugged it with a Grovite-looking collection of 2X4s and plywood which I had long intended to get rid of when I got time. So I built a little gate (the gap is about 13 inches, about enough to squeeze through sideways) out of scrap lumber one evening last week and yesterday I mounted it with the hardware I purchased when Joyce and I "went to Sears" Thursday night. I had to adjust for the inevitable design flaws but my only real problem is I got some bolts that were too long. Maybe on this week's trip to Sears I'll get bolts of the proper length and finish the job. For now, though, it serves the purpose of letting me squeeze through. Yesterday evening Abigail tested it thoroughly. Really, it is just her size.

We've had a beautiful day today. There was a cool breeze out of the northeast but it died down to nothing as the afternoon wore on. Joyce and I tested out the walkie-talkies Jill loaned us, the first chance we've had to do so since we went to Beavers Bend. They worked pretty well. Joyce could be in the house and easily raise me on the southend of the place so we were able to rendezvous for smoothies at the picnic table underneath Abigail's playhouse.

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February 26, 2006

One night last week I had a dream in which Kathy and I were visiting Mom at SA and were about to leave. We were heading home but I wasn't going back to Garland. I'm not sure where I was going. Anyway, the three of us walked out to the driveway where Kathy's car was parked. It was Mom's Buick, the last car she had and Kathy had converted it to a convertible and painted it gold inside and out. Only the seats weren't painted gold. I don't know what the significance of the dream was. Most likely there was none. I have very strange dreams. Last night I dreamed there were cloud formations with the head and horns of a longhorn coming out in front. There was also a meteor and I thought to myself as I watched them (there were several of varying sizes) approach, "If this isn't a dream, you (meaning me) are in trouble." Fortunately it was a dream.

Abigail spent the night with us last night. Joyce got Thai food while Abigail and I watched the Wind in the Willows. It was a chilly evening and we had a cozy fire going. After a delicious dinner we watched A Bug's Life, again enjoying a cheerful fire. Genna joined us for French toast this morning.

Yesterday after bagels, Genna and I went to Home Depot where I bought the things I needed to replace the top of the workbench Dad built over 40 years ago. During its stint in the shed, a time when the shed roof had deteriorated to the point it leaked, it sustained some damage. Water had warped the surface of the bench, a quarter inch thick layer of some man-made material covering the 2Xs underneath. Also, a couple of the legs had stood in damp ground during the same period and rotted some at the contact point. All I did to correct that was knock the packed dirt off the bottom and shim the one short leg up with a cedar shingle. For the top I purchased a 4X8 piece of something like particle board but which is a step up from that and provides a fairly hard and smooth surface. I had hoped to get HD people to cut it to size. Dad had fitted the top with a steel lip around the edge and the new top needed to fit down into that so it needed to be cut fairly precisely. While they could manage the horizontal cut, the man didn't seem to think he could do the vertical cut, the hard one. So, with Joyce helping me, I made that cut myself with my circle saw. It turned out satisfactorily. Dad had the two vices, one for wood and one for anything else, both mounted on the same end. Since I have the bench against the north wall of the garage, one of the vices was in a very unhandy position so I

remounted both in a more accessible spot. It was the wood vice that was against the wall but instead of just moving it I moved the wood vice to the corner where the other vice was and that vice to the outside corner of the left side of the bench. My reasoning was that that vice would be used mostly and for rougher work and in that position it would be easier for me handle anything I had clamped in it with my right hand. Dad had both vices mounted with bolts all the way through the top of the bench. When I took the wood vice off, three heavy wood screws fell out of the inside of the hollow metal post the vice mounts on and rotates around. That seemed odd to me until I realized that the screws probably came with the vice and Dad had felt he needed something more solid to fasten the vice to the bench. I realized he had done just what I would have done to keep the screws with vice in case they were needed in the future. I decided they would be satisfactory for my arrangements since anything I put in the wood vice would likely not be handled as roughly as something placed in the other vice. That vice is fastened with bolts all the way through the bench and is quite sturdy. What is the difference between a wood vice and a regular vice you ask? The wood vice has large, flat jaws with no teeth to mar a wood surface. A regular vice, of course, has smaller jaws and teeth for gripping things tightly.

The big story of the week is Joyce's new piece of furniture. She ordered it back in early January and has been eagerly awaiting its delivery. She placed it to the left of the sink where she originally had the china cabinet containing her depression glass. That is now in the guest bedroom and for several weeks the gap had been empty. Because of a failure to communicate the piece had been in the Dallas area ready for delivery for several weeks but only arrived yesterday morning. A couple of weeks ago Joyce got a postcard asking her to contact Bekins for delivery. She got excited, then disappointed when she contacted them and found the truck had already been loaded for the week's delivery and it would be the next week. The next week she was further disappointed to find out it wouldn't arrive till Friday. Then, of course, something held things up so it didn't arrive until Saturday morning. It is here now, though, and she's quite pleased with it. Not only is it very attractive and lends a homey touch to the kitchen, it is quite functional. It gives her a lot of much-needed storage and the pull-out working surface expands here work area significantly.

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February 12, 2006

Assorted Pics

It's a little warmer today and the wind may not be blowing quite so badly but I still don't want to go outside. Joyce and I got out yesterday morning and got groceries, Genna and I made our usual Saturday morning bagel run and yesterday evening I got out to pick up some Thai food but that was it. Strong winds and low temperatures made us want to stay inside. I took advantage of the situation to get our taxes done. That's one good thing that can be said for February. There is usually a weekend that is so cold and miserable that it almost makes it a pleasure to stay inside and work on one's income tax return.

Last week I spent several days in northern New Mexico. I was there to install our software at the Dulce School District. The one hotel in Dulce was closed for remodeling so I stayed at Corkin's Lodge near Chama. When I was making my travel arrangements I had a hard time reaching any of the hotels listed on the Web. There was no answer when I called. One had a recording saying they were closed for the winter and would open back up in May. So, when someone finally did answer and the price wasn't too bad, I made my reservation without investigating further. That was Corkin's. My accommodations were nice enough but not as handy to the job site as I would have liked. Corkin's is eight miles off the main highway and it is 30 miles from Chama to Dulce so I had a little driving to do each morning and evening. Once in Chama I saw that there were several places open and with vacancies. I would have had plenty to choose from among motels and lodges that weren't eight miles off the highway but that is hindsight. Probably in warm weather and if one is vacationing,

Corkin's is a really nice place. When I got there Tuesday afternoon I saw lots of wild turkey and deer on the drive up to it. It is nearly at the end of a box canyon, pretty secluded. At night it was very dark so the moon and stars were especially pretty. It was also very quiet and cold. Again, under different circumstances it would probably be better and as it was it wasn't bad.

We spent last weekend in Beavers Bend on our annual getaway. Abigail and I spent a good deal of time hiking around, especially on a trail called the Tree Trail, which is an easy loop. Part of the loop runs along the creek and Abigail took great delight in crisscrossing the creek on the rocks. At first we went together holding hands. Those dang rocks can be treacherous. However, I did not share her enthusiasm for hopping from rock to rock so pretty soon she was doing it on her own. My first impulse was to prevent her from doing that sort of thing. One can imagine all sorts of unpleasant outcomes. But, I gritted my teeth and tried not to worry. As it turned out she was really pretty surefooted, only getting her shoes wet once. Henceforth she will be known as the Rockhopper.

Kari and Jill joined us on one hike, the Lookout Mountain Trail, which was moderately strenuous since, as the name implies, one climbs to the top of a mountain so as to look out. Abigail managed this hike with a minimum of grumbling and that only as we were approaching the summit. Once we started the descent her good humor was restored and back at the cabin she was as lively as if she had never left.

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January 29, 2005

Joyce and I went to see "Glory Road" last week. It's the story of Texas Western's national basketball championship in 1966. I wasn't paying attention to such things at the time but it's a remarkable story. The coach recruited black basketball players from all over the country at a time when there were next to no black players in Division 1 college basketball. Joe Kirball, the football coach at West Texas did much the same thing and managed to field a very competitive team, one that played in the junior Rose Bowl, I think. He had players like Mercury Morris and Dwayne Thomas who went on to NFL stardom. "Glory Road" is well done and the championship game is very exciting. I recommend it.

Yesterday Joyce and I got out early despite a chilly west wind and completed the reinforcement job I'd started on the privacy fence. Then we moved four of the rose bushes planted between the privacy fence and the chain link fence. Something clobbered the rose bushes last year, an insect or something and they had not done well. Several were dead or nearly so. Also, we concluded the space was just too small so we moved the best ones to the northwest corner inside the privacy fence and against the Quadrille brick wall. They had begun to leaf out since just last weekend so we moved them none

too soon. Here's hoping we didn't set them back too much. Joyce has ordered trumpet vines to plant in their place on the west side of the privacy fence.

We'll make our annual pilgrimage to Beavers Bend, OK next weekend but this year we aren't driving from Amarillo. Thursday we will fly to Dallas and Friday we will drive to BB. From Garland it is only about a three hour drive. I think it was nine hours from Amarillo. We will return Sunday in time to catch a flight back to Amarillo.

Week after next I'm going to Dulce, NM to install our software. The one hotel in town is closed for renovations and for a while last week I was wondering if I could find accommodations close by. Chama has a number of hotels, motels and B&Bs but when I started calling I didn't get any answer. One place had a recording that said they were closed for the winter and would reopen in May. I finally talked to someone at Corkin's Lodge and made a reservation there. I'll be staying in a cabin with kitchen and fireplace. Of course, I won't be around much to enjoy it but it should be something a little out of the ordinary. It remains to be seen if Joyce will accompany me.

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January 15, 2006

Pond Pictures

We are looking for a new solution for keeping water in the pond. After several months of hoping the ground would become saturated and hold water in the pond for a reasonable amount of time we've given up. It just wasn't happening. A nearly full pond would barely last a week so we have let it dry up until we can come up with a better idea. That's where you come in. We need to find people with experience to advise us or give us new ideas for lining the pool and the more people considering the problem the more likely we are to find a suitable solution. So put on your thinking caps and email me with your ideas. You can refer anyone you like to the pictures so they might have a better idea of what we are working with.

We've considered using pond lining material and that might be the solution but we would want to talk to someone with experience before launching into that. The main problem is the irregular shape of the pond and the island in the middle. We don't think we need to nor do we think it would be desireable to completely eliminate water going into the area surrounding the pond because the trees need it. Another thing I came across was a brief comment by someone in a pond organization about using a product called Gator Gard. It is commonly used for pickup liners and coating a lot of other things. This person said it could even be used on dirt and didn't harm fish or other aquatic flora/fauna. Since it is sprayed on, that might solve the problem of getting a liner to conform to the shape of the pond. It would be nice to talk to someone who new something about that.

In other news, Joyce and I have been taking it easy

today. I worked pretty hard yesterday doing our usual Saturday morning tree trimming. Genna and I loaded the pickup with mulch after offloading our trimmings. The wind was blowing pretty good yesterday and we lost quite a bit of mulch on the drive home. That turned out be helpful though because the light stuff blew off and revealed an incredible amount of nails, screws and other pieces of metal in the mulch. The jackasses may not be able to read the sign that says tree and brush only but more likely they just don't care. Whatever's easiest for them. Well, the junk they dump gets ground up in the mulch and we nearly got a bunch of it put down on the lane. However, we returned the load when we saw all the metal scrap and got another load from another pile that looked cleaner. But that meant I got to load and unload two loads.

I also spent time yesterday getting stuff squared away in the carport/shed. I had a fellow come out last week and haul off the old trailer, the metal rack I had in it, the two old refrigeration units from the candy biz, and several tables from the candy shop that had been sitting outside ever since we cleaned them out of the barn so we could accommodate cats and dogs. It was hard to give up the trailer but I was pretty sure I wasn't going to use it and if I didn't who would? The man that took it talked about letting his Cub Scouts use if for camping so maybe it can be of use to someone. It is nice to get that stuff out of here because, especially in the case of the refrigerator units, they were a bit much for one man (me) to handle. Most everything that is left I can handle so if I decide to take it to the dump or metal recycling I can without any great strain.

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January 8, 2006

Genna and I spent our Saturday morning trimming trees on the south end. Some people spend money on gym memberships and/or purchase exercise equipment. I find a morning spent handling a chainsaw and a pole trimmer gives me a nice upper body workout for free, if you don't consider the cost of the chainsaw and pole trimmer. The later especially is good exercise. It only weighs 16 pounds or so but when I lift it over my head a few times and extend it the leverage increases the equivalent weight exponentially, or so it seems. At any rate, it's all I need. Genna lost a little bark on the side of her nose when a tricky limb managed to duck under the ladder as it came down and then come up to clip her a good one. She was a trooper, though. She shrugged it off without complaint and didn't abandon her post. Genna came up with the idea of collecting mulch and spreading it on the lane. It is so dry the lane is like loose powder. We haven't cared much for the mulch at the chipping sites where we take our brush because the yahoos bring all their junk and dump it so that it gets shredded along with the branches and pollutes the mixture with all kinds of non-biodegradable detritus. However, we thought that might be acceptable for the lane where for a flowerbed it wouldn't be, so when we dumped our load we loaded up the pickup with mulch, took it back and spread it starting on the southwest end of the lane. As it turned out there wasn't much junk in what we got. I don't know that I would still want to spread it in a flower bed but it works nicely for the lane. As you can imagine it will take a few pickup loads to get all the way around.

Eventually though it should make a better walking surface, hold down the dust and erosion and benefit the trees by holding moisture for them better.

Yesterday afternoon while I was working at reinforcing the privacy fence, Abigail, who had been out in the pasture with her Dad messing with a kite, came and invited me to join them. We had a brisk but gusty west wind, pretty good for flying a kite. Abigail did a good job, though the kite we were using may have been a little too flimsy for the amount of wind. The gusts would distort it and sometimes cause it to abruptly go into a dive. Sometimes we could get it to recover but sometimes it would dive straight down maybe a hundred feet to the ground. It was fun, though, and we managed to let it out to the length of our string. Chris and I thought perhaps it would be interesting sometime to get a hold of a sturdier kite and see how high we could get it. If we built a big enough kite and flew it on one of our windier days, one of us could probably ride in it and wouldn't that be fun except for those precipitous dives.

So, the year is starting off warm, windy and dry. We haven't had rain to speak of since August. It hardly seems like January when it is as warm as it is. This morning Joyce said she wished it would rain a couple of inches a day for several days. I reminded her of the really cold weather we got in November or early December after she had wished for some cold weather.

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January 1, 2006

Tiptoeing into the new year...

Genna and I spent a good part of the day out at the river. In fact we waded across it twice in the process of exploring the Mallinaw Trail. I did not know the river was so close at hand. I wanted to explore that trail a little since I had seen the sign for the trail head, which is not far, two or three miles, from McBride Canyon to the southwest, but it is only about a quarter of a mile from the trail head to the river. We were surprised at how much water was in the river considering how dry we've been lately. And by the way, that water is cold.

We hiked up the trail for an hour or so after crossing the river. The "trail" is actually a road just like the rest of the dirt roads in that area so the going was easy. The trail/road forked several times and we followed a couple of the forks but they didn't go far and we returned to the main trail. After an hour or so we got to the top of a rise and saw the road disappearing into the distance,

so we saved the rest of it for another day.

The day was very windy, the opposite of yesterday which was calm all day. It was a west wind and it was predicted to have gusts of 50 miles per hour. We have no reason to doubt it. While we were hiking it clouded up and sprinkled on us a little. By the time we got back to the river crossing, though, the sun was peeking out again. We didn't see much wildlife but did see a deer from the top of the high ground we reached before turning back. The deer was almost black except for its white tail. I'd never seen one that dark but I noticed it was the same shade as the mesquite tree trunks so it must be a local adaptation.

We celebrated New Years Eve at K,C&A's and had fondue as is our custom. We older folks didn't try to last till midnight, though. It would have been futile anyway.

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