Have I mentioned there are more red (harvester) ant beds on the place than I can remember. Usually there are only one or two. There was a bed on the east end of the old orchard area for decades. I used to harass it as a boy. It was great fun to set off firecrackers in it, fun for me anyway. Not so much for the ants. This year there are half a dozen beds on the place, at least. Some have been around for a year or two, but others are new this year. Kari treated one on the caliche mounds because she was trying to grow things up there. The Amdro seemed to work, but, after a while, the ants came roaring back. Chris has bee hives up there so one runs some risk of getting stung by bees and/or ants if one ventures on the caliche mounds. Too bad we don’t have any horny toads to take advantage of the harvester ant bonanza. They like dry, sparsely vegetated ground and to dine ants. Maybe if this dry cycle continues long enough, they will spontaneously appear, much like the frogs did when I started putting water in the pond. Unlikely, I know.
It won’t be long before the hummingbirds head south for the winter. They’ve been around since April, and it has been fun to watch them. Until recently, I haven’t seen them quarrelling over the feeder, which is unusual. Normally one stakes out its territory to include the feeder and drives off all usurpers. The other day I saw two at the feeder. Apparently, they were in a standoff because neither one would give ground, or air as the case may be. They almost seemed to dance as they hovered, neither getting much of a chance to suck up some sugar water. I started out keeping the sweet stuff in all three feeders, but then ants were getting into the two on shepherds’ crooks, so I started just putting plain water in those and sugar water only in the feeder outside the kitchen window. I was tired of filling all three feeders anyway and those with water in them don’t empty very fast.
I will also miss the Mississippi kites. I enjoy watching them soar high in the sky. There has been one or more hanging around SA all summer. It often whistles at me when I walk down to the south end to feed the fish. I guess they go back to Mississippi for the winter. Maybe the call them Texas kites in Mississippi.
Just now we got a nice rain shower that came down pretty good for about three minutes. I think there was a 40% chance we would get rain today. Well, we got it, alright.
Right on schedule, the gayfeather started blooming the end of August. I think August 30 was the first day I saw color on one. By now they are more than 50% bloom. Purple blossoms begin to appear on the tips of the “feather” and, as time goes by, the blossoms work their way down until the entire feather is in bloom. As blossoms begin to fade, again, they start at the tip and over time all the blooms turn to seeds and the feather is no longer colorful. I haven’t mowed the pasture or the meadow this year so there is a dozen or more gayfeather plants scattered around. The grass is fading and the gayfeathers add a nice, colorful contrast.
It was a pleasant fall evening here on the High Plains, just right for high school football. I went with Chris and Rebecca and wore a red shirt for the Rebel red-out. Rebecca wore gold for the Sandie gold-out and sat with her friends. Chris also sat on the Sandie side of the new WT stadium in Canyon. I guess a large crowd was anticipated and they weren’t disappointed. I managed to find a good seat on the Rebel side near the 50-yard line close to the field. I hadn’t been keeping up with the Tascosa team and didn’t know what to expect. Apparently, Amarillo High didn’t either because they showed up with their JV team and got thumped 45-10. It wasn’t as close as the score indicates, in my opinion. Rebecca gave me the stink eye when we met up to go home. I assured her I didn’t have much to do with the outcome and she mumbled something about my lucky charm red shirt. All’s fair in love and football.
We closed out a pleasant September with a football game, Garland vs. Wylie, on a pleasant evening. Kaylee and her marching band put on a good show at half-time. Kaylee is a section leader, something of an accomplishment for a sophomore, I’m told. The Garand Owls football team wasn’t up to the task, so I left with Jill after the half-time. After visiting with Jill for a while, I called it a day and retired to my quarters.
by 
Cookie and Abigail
