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Autumn color on SA
November 9 Kari and I visited McBride Canyon for my quarterly Great Texas Trail inspection. Unfortunately, the Alibates Flint Quary National Monument visitor center was closed due to the government shutdown. All was not lost though; we were able to take a nice walk down the canyon road and along the river valley. Starting out, the wind was a might chilly but we warmed up quickly as the day warmed and the wind lessened to the point we began to look forward to the next little breeze that came along. It was a clear day, good for a stroll. We didn’t see any fauna and the flora was mostly dry. Some cottonwoods along the river were bright yellow and the sagebrush on the sides of the valley were a nice greenish blue.
Last week there were some hints of color around SA and this week there was quite a bit of yellow and some red. I think we had peak color on Friday. Saturday a front blew through to blow off the leaves, or at least to start the process.
Abigail and I got a good start on the touch up painting on 1911. The forecast for the work days this coming week are propitious for our finishing the painting. Our goal was to finish painting by Thanksgiving and it looks like we will make that deadline.
November 16 This past week has been a spell of an excellent weather, as good as any one could hope for if one didn’t mind the dryness. The colorful foliage persisted during the week and I would stack the fall color here on SA against any other fall I can remember. Even though the breezes have been moderate, toward the end of the day the leaves were really coming down and each day there are more and more naked trees.
Abigail finished the painting Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday we helped Kari harvest compost. Her idea of concentrating fallen leaves in the northwest corner of the 1911 fence and the Quadrille fence worked well and we harvested 29 bags of compost. We emptied the three compost bins we had put in that area a couple of years ago. The leaves we had put in there weren’t breaking down, not being exposed to the chicken scratching like the leaves in the corner. We added the bin leaves to the corner compost cubicle which made for a nice base layer. Yesterday I spent some time raking the leaves underneath the big pecan tree in my backyard and dumped them over the fence into the corner compost cubicle, so we’ve made an excellent start on next year’s compost crop.
With all the pleasant weather this week, I was able to finally transplant a couple more agaves along the fence in my front yard. The one I transplanted several years ago has done well and could possibly bloom in the next couple of years, which would be the end of it. Assuming the latest transplants, which are about volleyball size, prosper, there will either be three nice-sized agaves along the fence or two nice- sized and one smaller one coming along after the biggest of three blooms. No chance I’ll run out of agaves. They are doing well on the cliche mound, now the agave mound, and pupping like crazy.
November 23 Some rain Thursday, about a third of an inch. Abigail and I trimmed trees, mostly in the enclosure, this week and drove two loads to the brush site Wednesday. Timing was good for getting a little much needed moisture after we were through working for the week. Then another.44 of inch fell on Sunday to give above average moisture for November after a shutout in October.
November 30 Wylies arrived Sunday evening as scheduled. Jill and I went to the grocery store Monday morning to stock the pantry for the coming week. Tuesday we drove to Lubbock to collect Kaylee. After the Wylies were settled in, Sophia and I played race cars on the PS3 in the cave. We had been trying to do that for the last year, but I couldn’t get the program to work. There was too much time since I last played around with the game, and I had a tough time getting it going. I was convinced the handheld game controllers weren’t holding a charge, so I bought a new pair. They weren’t working either but then I figured out there is a little button on each that turns them on. From then we had no problems except we kept crashing our cars. One evening Sophia, Rebecca, Jill and I played. Sophia was the best driver, and I was the worst, but it was fun. Maybe I’ll practice in my spare time and do better next time we play.
Jill and them left for home as we left for church. Kaylee stayed behind and will ride back to Lubbock this afternoon with Abigail as she drives down on business.
Good Thanksgiving and everyone was duly grateful. We kept at the leftovers through yesterday evening and finally managed to consume them. Now, on to Christmas.
