Author: rakeeter

Memorial Day
by rakeeter

It was a stormy Memorial Day eve and we got a nice rain. Memorial Day dawned bright and beautiful and we made our annual trek to the cemeteries to pay our respects. The rain, somewhat over half an inch, was the first for May, except for an inconsequential wetting early in the month, and it was welcome. Our rain barrel was down to about a third full but this rain topped off.  It was full from April rain when I attached the dripper to it about a week ago.  That set up is self-regulating because as the water level in the barrel drops there is less and less pressure and consequently the drip slows down.  The dripper is maybe 10 inches high and would stop dripping altogether once the water level in the barrel reached the same level.  Whereas it took a week to run two thirds of the water in the barrel through the dipper, it would take longer than that to lower the level to reach parity with the dripper because of the aforementioned slow down.  No doubt we will eventually learn how long it takes to reach the no-drip point, but for now the system is all charged up and the cycle begun again. Continue reading “Memorial Day” →

Gardening notes
by rakeeter

Joyce and Li’l r planted flowers in the containers underneath the black pine next to the front porch. That tree, which we bought in Garland after moving to Amarillo 13 years ago and brought home in the back floor board of our car, is now taller than the chimney. Some lower branches had taken over the rock bed underneath and needed trimming to open the bed up again for the flowers, both planting and growing. For some time I had entertained the notion of trimming some limbs but was hesitant to do so since once removed, limbs can’t be put back on. Now that I have finally done so, we are happy with the way the tree looks and have reclaimed the chimney liners and other planters underneath to plant annuals for a little color. Continue reading “Gardening notes” →

Raw May Day
by rakeeter

Temperatures in the 40s aren’t bad unless the wind is blowing at about the same speed as the temperature, as it was here on May 1.  If the workers on the High Plains were marching, and I don’t think they were, they were wearing their parkas.  As for myself and the lovely Mrs. Keeter, we hunkered down in the house and enjoyed a restful Sunday.  Oh, we did venture forth to attend church.  We even took Joyce’s brother Max with us.  He spent the night with sister Janice, who is recovering from surgery and would have been without adult supervision because the rest of the family was attending a wedding in Austin.  Janice is doing better, by the way.  She had been in considerable pain and the surgery relieved some of that, I’m told. Continue reading “Raw May Day” →

Sweeeet!
by rakeeter

Behold, the rain comes.  After getting pretty dry while watching all they rain pass us by it was finally our turn.  We collected an inch and a quarter over several days, cool days, I might add, so that the moisture was able to soak in good.  And we avoided the hail and high winds that afflicted other parts of the High Plains.  SA, which was already greening up pretty well in spite of the dearth of moisture  turned green almost overnight.  Yesterday there were mostly clear skies so the sunshine helped in that process.  It was an ideal time to pull and spray weeds and I took advantage. Continue reading “Sweeeet!” →

Rehab center
by rakeeter

Meanwhile out at the Bluff, there is a new endeavor taking root.  Bluff land has been donated to the Wild West Wildlife Rehabilitation Center to build a facility to house wild animals in rehab.  There was already a slab where some sort of structure used to be and there is a nearby well that could, with a little work,  provide water.  An unused building that served as the office of a gravel pit has been donated and moved to the slab.  It needs a lot of work but is a good start. Continue reading “Rehab center” →