Author: rakeeter

Rainbows
by rakeeter
  • Freshly trimmed junipers

Joyce and I had a nice chat with LTC (retired) Allen West this past week.  He lives in the Lake Highlands area of Dallas now and was in town to talk about the Booker T. Washington Initiative to a group of us blue-bloods at Amarillo Country Club.  He was as pleasant and personable in person as he seemed when we’ve seen him on TV.  Under West’s leadership, the BTWI will attempt to employ Washington’s (not the nation’s capital) belief in entrepreneurship and free enterprise as the only true path to prosperity and well-being to revitalize the spirit of the American Dream by emphasizing that all Americans can be entrepreneurs.  The Texas Public Policy Foundation has an enviable track record of success with these kinds of programs and I have no doubt they will make a difference with this one. Continue reading “Rainbows” →

Rain, sort of
by rakeeter
  • purple flower

We got some intermittent showers yesterday, which was unexpected.  These were more than the six to eight inch varieties (distance between drops) we’ve seen lately.  It rained hard, just not for very long and .17 was all I could squeeze out of the range gauge this morning.  The showers did cool us down some and the moisture didn’t hurt anything so we’ll take it. Continue reading “Rain, sort of” →

Natural observations
by rakeeter
  • Wild flower
    May 4, 2013 Caprock Canyon

It appears the hummers have abandoned us.  We replaced the old feeder they were used to with a new one and for some reason they wouldn’t sip from it.  After examining it, they would fly off.  That is the black chin(s) would.  I saw a transient visit it but the black chin ran it off, a dog-in-the-manger attitude if there ever was one.  We bought the new one last year in Red River and the store proprietor told us the one we selected was the favorite of the hummers around there.   We finally went back to the old one but have had no customers since.  It’s been several days so it doesn’t seem that our regular(s) are just in a snit but have moved on completely.  With the dry spell the flowers are sparse so you’d think a steady source of sustenance would be attractive. Continue reading “Natural observations” →

April wrap
by rakeeter
  • feathered dahlia
    feathered dahlia

Friday (April 20) we finally got some rain.  It was predicted to start at 7 p.m. but didn’t start until 7:06.  There was a little more on Saturday and altogether I emptied .73 of an inch out of the rain gauge.  Yes, it’s true that isn’t much but when it has been six months without anything more than a wetting, it seems like a fair amount.  That is more than I can put down running a traveling sprinkler around the tree line and rain waters everything.  Needless to say our rain barrel was empty and had been so for months.  I was interested to see how much water it collected and was mildly astonished to see that it was full.  It only collects the runoff from the front of the garage.  If we don’t have to go weeks without any more rain this one will be a good start to recovering from the drought. Continue reading “April wrap” →

Orchid in bloom
by rakeeter
  • orchid
    Orchid

Probably a decade ago or more Grady gave Joyce an orchid, maybe one he’d raised in his greenhouse.  It has prospered in spite of depredations by little people over the years.  Those little people have all reached an age where they don’t present a threat to orchids or other tender things around the house and Joyce thinks this year’s bloom is the prettiest to date.   If not, it’s got to be hard to tell the difference. Continue reading “Orchid in bloom” →