June 8 Apparently we have been working under a false sense of security. We believed the chickens were safe enough from predators during daylight hours that they could be allowed to free range. They took full advantage and roamed over the whole place to the point of sometimes straying away from the watchful eye of King Julian the rooster. In the last couple of weeks several hens have gone missing leaving behind only scatterings of feathers. It had been the consensus that a chicken was too big for a fox of the variety we see around SA to handle, and that may be true. It seems, though, that there may be more foxes around and less food, so that the foxes have learned to work together and that two or more can in fact overwhelm and consume a chicken. The chickens are no longer allowed to free-range, which is not popular with the chickens or the humans that care for them. It remains to be seen if that is a permanent solution.

Chicken incarceration didn’t last long. They looked so forlorn shut up in the chicken yard after being accustomed to roam freely the powers-that-be decided it was better to risk their lives by letting them free range. There are only six hens left and maybe the six will stick a little closer to the rooster.

There were a couple of deer on the place when we got up Friday morning. They looked like a couple of adolescents; one male and one female judging from the fact that, though about the same size, the former had velvet-covered horns and the latter didn’t. They sought the cover of the perimeter tree line and kept a safe distance from the scarier bipeds. We couldn’t think of a way to handle them so we just left them alone, hoping that they would take care of themselves. Saturday morning they were still around but somewhere along the line moved on, probably by hopping over the 1911 fence. Here’s hoping they find their way back to the country-side and live happily ever after.

June 15 Our week began with more rain. We didn’t get a lot of rain with any of the storms but each added to the accumulation of previous weeks and the grass and weeds grew apace. I was unaware that there were some terrific hail storms and downpours in the area, notably between Amarillo and Canyon. One of Rebecca’s previous teachers from Amtech who lives in that area reported significant hail damage to house and livestock. We were blessed with rain, not much wind and little to no hail. We were fortunate.

By Friday, the lanes were sufficiently dry to drive the pickup down and we took advantage to haul off a load of trimmings, the first in weeks, or maybe even months. There is still a load on the ground which we will deliver to the brush site this week , provided it doesn’t rain.

June 22 We are celebrating two birthdays today; Kaylee’s and Jill’s, both born on the summer solstice, albeit decades apart. Celebrating may be a little strong. The Wylie girls arrived Saturday evening, attended church with us this morning but otherwise there has been no, um, celebration. Maybe the fact we are heading to Red River in the morning is on everyone’s mind.

SA is still pretty green despite the heat of the last ten days. Also, there is some nice color from some of the foliage. The Mojave sage has been showing out all month. It continues to slowly grow and makes me wonder if it will eventually take over the entire front yard. The desert willow put on a nice display of blossoms the early part of the month. The evening primrose continues its fabulous display when it usually ceases to do so when it gets hot. Throw in the annuals and wildflowers and there is a display worthy of, well, I won’t go that far but I’m satisfied.

June 29 We observed our mid-year break this past week in lovely and pleasant Red River. The Wiley women arrived at SA Friday evening. We loafed around the house after church, resting up for the drive next day, which was uneventful. I’m glad to report that the countryside along our path and in the mountains was lush and green. We were dry in Amarillo the previous 10 days or more and had engaged our old friend Doc to do some watering. Chris made it home the Friday before so the dogs and the watering around 2005 were taken care of.

As it turned out, SA received over 2 inches of rain over the week we were gone and there was little to no need for additional watering. In Red River it rained nearly every day. The weather was cool mostly but we did enjoy some outside activities, including a somewhat lengthy walk up a mountain to Cabresto Lake. Some of the girls and I found playing pool in the hotel rec room was a good way to spend the time while we waited for the afternoon shower to pass on.

Back home we celebrated the 4th early. Other than Nicole, Carson and Parker, it was just me, my daughters and their families. Attendance has diminished over the years and we didn’t play any volleyball. Still, we spent a pleasant afternoon, warm but breezy enough to keep us cool.

May 4 The first king bird of the season was seen perched on a telephone wire close to the shop. The next day, the first hummingbird of the season visited the feeder in front of 1911. Kari saw one in the garden a day or two before. All the trees are leafed out in their Sunday best. SA has gotten more rain this April than any April in the last 17 years, over three inches. We are being challenged to keep the place mowed and trimmed. We never turn down rain in Potter County, but…we wouldn’t mind fewer weeds.

There was no line to vote Saturday in the local election. I didn’t know who to vote for. All candidates were accusing their opponents of being rascals, so I just picked a rascal for each race and let it go at that.

May11 Kari and I managed to get to our destination on Lake Forest Lane without mishap, which is not to say without any inconvenience. There was plenty of that. Getting as far as Gainesville was easy enough but soon after turning on to IH35 traffic was funneled down to one lane and it was stop and creep for the next 40 minutes until there were more lanes accessible about at the junction of Hwy 80. We encountered yet another clogged artery in Sachse where Sachse Road, just a two-lane road to begin with, was turned into one lane for repairs. That meant alternating the traffic going one with the traffic going the other. By that time we were really close to our destination, but were still delayed by nearly half an hour. Nevertheless we still managed to get to Sachse with just time enough to change clothes and get to the wedding venue. We made on it time, but of course the proceedings were delayed another half an hour just because. Finally, the happy event took place, and the principals embarked on their journey of wedded bliss. We wish them well.

After several days of rainy weather this past week, we’ve exceeded our average May rainfall already. SA and the entire panhandle we drove through is as green as it gets. I’m still trying to keep up with the weeds but we had little opportunity to mow and trim because of the rain. I did mange to run the trimmer over the east easement, though. Lo and behold, some had already trimmed behind one of houses along there. It was only one but every little bit helps. Everybody else along there seems content to let the weeds do their damnedest, but I find easier to keep up rather than let it go and try to catch up. I’m trying to minimize the weeds on my side of the fence, so the easement is my first line of defense.

May 18 One evening this week after dinner the sky above SA was filled with Mississippi kites soaring, swooping and putting on an aerial circus. These were the first kites of the season, and they seemed to be happy to be back. There could have been as many as a dozen.

Hans and Chris finally made it back to Switzerland this week. Hans was scheduled to fly back early in the week aboard a Swiss air ambulance. After boarding the plane, a fuel gauge became erratic, showing full, then showing empty. Hans was transported back to the Amarillo hospital while the plane was flown to Kansas to get the gauge straitened out. That resulted in a delay of several days, but finally C&H caught a break. Chris was able to catch a ride on the air ambulance. He would have had to fly commercial otherwise. As it was, they were able to fit him into a jump seat.

Abigail and I made considerable progress whipping SA into shape this week. Abigail spent the whole week on the mower, but managed to get the whole place mowed. I got a lot of the perimeter cleaned up but still lack quite a bit, which I hope to finish off this coming week.

Also this week, I managed to get the vincas Dear Sister gave me planted. Knowing I wouldn’t be able to the following weekend motivated me to get busy in spite of there being plenty of need for cleanup type maintenance; didn’t want to be planting in June.

May 24 Another week, another graduation ceremony. Make that two: Rebecca’s and Kaylee’s. First Rebecca’s. I’m told the Amarillo school district held their high school graduation ceremonies in Dick Bivins stadium due bureaucratic tyranny during covid. Then when the idea of continuing the practice was placed before students and parents for a vote, the majority of the voters gave a thumbs up. So, the idea of scheduling senior graduation ceremonies outdoors in May in the Texas panhandle was embraced by people who ought to have known better. Sure enough it was a blustery day, but tolerable until sunset, which is about the time the ceremonies started. By then the west wind was uncomfortably cool. Then it switched around to the north and increased. It took me all night to warm up when I was finally able to slip into bed.

Thankfully, Kaylee’s graduation was held indoors. Kari and I rose early and made yet another trip to Sachse to celebrate Kaylee’s graduation. After enduring the shrieking of the harpies, we were able to break free of the traffic and get back to Jill’s at a decent hour.

April 8 Much like March, April started off with a little snow, enough to cover the ground good. Friday it rained and kept raining on into early Saturday morning when the rain turned to snow. That kept up until Saturday afternoon. Total we accumulated 1.8 inches of much needed moisture. Abigail and I got some good grounds keeping done early in the week but none from Thursday on. Sunday morning the thermometer stayed above freezing, barely. That was forecast to be the coldest time, so it looks like we dodged a killing freeze yet again.

April 13 Yesterday Hans and I took a little trip north to the Alibates Flint Quarry National Monument area. We first visited the visitor center. Though Hans had been to the flint quarries, that was some time ago and before the visitor center was opened. It has interesting exhibits and we visited with Gigi the park ranger whom I have gotten acquainted with over time. Seems she was down to her last days there due staff reductions. She told us AFQNM is one of the least visited of national monuments and may well be closed along with other National Park Service facilities as the current belt-tightening transpires. I may be out of a job as well, with no AFQNM to check on quarterly.

Hans and I partially hiked the Mullinaw trail. It was a nice day; warm but breezy enough to be pleasant. One drives through McBride Canyon to reach the trailhead. After hiking we were driving back to McBride Canyon to have lunch and encountered a pickup pulling a horse trailer blocking the road. It was at a particularly steep part of the road and the trailer-pickup were jackknifed across the road. I don’t know what caused that. Maybe the pickup lost traction trying to get up the grade, truck and trailer started sliding backwards down the hill and the driver wasn’t able to keep the trailer straight. The trailer was long, probably able to accommodate six or eight horses. I only saw two horses outside the trailer and neither appeared to have been injured when the incident occurred. There was no way around and it seemed like it might be a while before we be able to continue on our way. Fortunately, someone with a heavy-duty pickup, a dually, was able to pull the pickup and trailer straight so they could get over the hump and go on their way.

Last week, Abigail and I started the process of removing the dead tree near the 2005 back porch. We trimmed all the limbs off and started digging up the stump. After removing the dirt around the stump, we whittled on the roots. I was under no illusion that cutting the roots to remove the stump would be easy and I wasn’t disappointed. It will be a process over time. Meanwhile, we have still a long way to go to clean up the detritus accumulated over the winter and beat back the weeds.

April 20 We celebrated Easter with the Wylies, first by attending an Easter service and then a lunch on Sunday. It was nice to have the downtime after the busy week last week. The trip home was long but uneventful. It was clear sailing once we exited I-35 at Gainesville. There apparently had been quite a bit of rain in the Gainesville to Henrietta area since we drove through there a few days ago. There was standing water in the low places and some fields were more lake than field. The bluebonnets were showing off along Highway 82, along with orange flowers that looked like globemallow but might have been something entirely different. Pretty, though.

April 27 Abigail managed to excavate enough dirt around and under the tree stump we’ve been trying for a couple of weeks to remove and sever a few remaining roots to break it from its moorings. It will be interesting to see if we can lift out of the hole and transport it to somewhere out of the way until we can take it to the city brush site. A couple of days later we were able to extract the stump in spite of it being very heavy. We cut it in two with the chain saw to make it possible to wheelbarrow it to a holding place out of the way.

There were significant thunderstorms early Saturday. Alarms were going off and I tuned in Weatherman John. He informed me conditions were right for a tornado to develop, and I debated whether or not to make a run for the shop. I went so far as to get dressed, but it was raining heavily so I stalled until the storm had begun to move out the area. A tornado did touch down in Canyon and remove a few roofs. We collected over an inch and a half of rain but Canyon got between three and four inches.

There was a murder in my backyard the next night. After spending most of the day Saturday collecting observations for the iNaturalist City Nature Challenge, I was hoping for a peaceful night’s sleep when I crawled in bed. Instead, I tossed and turned into the wee hours. Finally, I was sleeping soundly when I was awakened by dogs barking outside my bedroom window. I thought it might be foxes yipping and tried to ignore it, hoping they would move on so I could get back to sleep. Eventually the barking increased, and I realized it was dogs, so I got up and ran them (there were four) off. After that I was fully awake, so I got to toss and turn a couple more hours before falling asleep again only a little while before it was time to get and get ready for church.

The next afternoon I was reading the paper on the back porch when I saw a small possum in the backyard. Investigating further, I found a mother possum that had apparently been mauled to death by the dogs. I collected six babies from around the carcass and the mother’s pouch. I’m hoping they will survive till tomorrow morning when I can take them to Wild West Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

April 28 This morning I was able to transport the six possum babies to the rehab center and turn them over to the tender mercies of the ladies there. The babies had survived in the box okay for 24 hours and were, in fact, quite lively. They received a warm welcome from the critter ladies; lots of ooing, cooing and such. I was impressed that the ladies treated them with such tenderness and seemed to truly welcome them. I thought they might be jaded toward such a common occurrence as a litter of baby possums being dumped in their lap must be. They told me I did a good thing rounding them up and bringing them in, but they were ones doing the good thing, me thinks.

March 8 It’s back to winter. Yesterday was chilly, breezy and dismal. Then the light rain gave way to snow. Last Tuesday, I think it was, it snowed briefly with some of the biggest snowflakes I’ve ever seen, but it didn’t last long. Pretty, though. Yesterday evening’s snow flakes were small but there were a lot of them and it kept it up well into the night. The skies cleared during the night and today dawned clear and bright. Most of the snow had melted by afternoon and balmy weather is forecasted for the coming week.

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February 9 This month started off pleasant, then it wasn’t, then it was again. Monday afternoon was warm, officially 88 degrees, with light wind. I took advantage to spray weeds, mostly in the perimeter tree line. Don’t remember if I’ve ever sprayed this early in the year, but I’m hoping to get an early jump on the weeds and thus avoid some of the problems when warmer weather really kicks off the weed growth. Then Tuesday cold returned. The thermometer said it was 22 degrees when I got up. That was low enough to keep me inside, so I finished treating the wood floors. Abigail kept on with her tile grout project and is getting close to finishing up. Wednesday it was back to warm weather again, so I continued spraying the perimeter and Abigail kept working on the tile grout. Next day she left for Kerrville to attend a ball with Nathan.

After a semi-productive weekend, I’m relaxing in the sunroom waiting for the Super Bowl to start. Whichever team loses I won’t be too disappointed. They can’t both lose though I wish they could. May all the players avoid injury and could there please be a minimum of silliness in the end zones.

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