by 
Vincas on parade
August 2 Glad to have July behind us. The latter half of the month wasn’t pleasant; too much heat and humidity. Our weather was more like Garland with the heat and humidity but it was back to drought after the nice rain we got in the early part of the month. The weatherman said we might get rain this past Friday and we did get all of five hundredths, but we are back to hot and dry for the foreseeable future.
Kaylee returned to Sachse last Monday. We all will miss her. Rebecca will begin her courses in a couple of weeks, so I’ll have the groundskeeping all to myself. Since I have had help for the last, what, three years the thought of having it all to myself is daunting. Oh well, I’ll just have to keep my head down and keep slogging away.
August 16 There has been a spot of bother on Bellaire Street recently. A gas leak was discovered that required that the gas line from the Elliot house to the access road be replaced. To avoid catastrophe, the electricity along that stretch was cut off. This occurred on a Thursday evening, and the power remained off until the following Saturday evening. Somehow 2005 did not lose power but the well did, which meant there was air conditioning for 2005 but no water during that time.
On the other hand, 1911 had water since it is on city water but without electricity there was no AC. When power was restored Saturday evening, the 1911 thermostat failed which meant still no AC. There was power to run the ceiling fans which made it slightly more bearable until the faulty thermostat could be replaced Monday morning.
I’ve been enjoying watching the antics of some hummingbirds outside my sky room window. I had moved the feeder to that area so there was less activity around it as when it was adjacent to the bird feeder. A hummingbird apparently has claimed the desert willow close to the feeder and, of course the feeder itself as its territory and vigorously defends its claim against all comers.
When the Mississippi kites showed up in late spring and we thought a pair might be building a nest either in the bois d’arc trees or maybe in one of the trees in the island enclosure. Kari and Chris finally saw a little woogie head poking up from the side of a nest in one of the bois d’arc trees. It whistles at us when we walk by.
August 23 Out Foxed We are beset by illegal alien foxes here on SA. This morning about 5 o’clock when Kari was out walking her dog she saw five of the rascals. She couldn’t let the dog chase them because it will then think it can chase foxes anytime and it is strong enough to be difficult for Kari to handle if it wants to take out after something. She and Rebecca have lost a couple of hens recently, which is discouraging for them. They want the chickens to free range but they scatter and become vulnerable to predators when they wander away from the rooster. Chris had been stationing himself on in a lawn chair at dusk, which is when the foxes show up while the chickens are still out. Rebecca has taken over that job while Chris is away. We need to come up with a way to discourage the foxes. They are too smart to get caught in Chris’s traps.
August 30 Rain at last We recorded over an inch of rain last Tuesday evening. It came about the weatherman forecast. About 8 o’clock that evening the lightning began to flash and the thunder began to rumble. By and by it began to rain and all three phases the storm kept it up for an hour or so, during which we received slightly over an inch of much needed moisture. The thunderstorm was entertaining and there wasn’t a lot of wind to cause damage and debris. One really couldn’t ask for a better pause in the drought. We just hope the spigot isn’t cut off again for any length of time.
For sometime the Mississippi kite chick has been whistling at us from the bois d’arc tree where the parents built a nest. Saturday morning, Kari noticed it was whistling from the elm tree in the enclosure, but we couldn’t see it. Later I saw a kite fly out of that tree, make a loop or two, then return to that same tree and perch where I could see it. It looked smaller than the adults but I couldn’t be sure it was the youngster. Then an adult flew by and I could see it was much larger, therefore I concluded it was the youngster, alright.