Category: 2022

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.

August 31

Well, that’s it for the month. We are gaining on the weeds, thanks in no small part to the herbicide killing the purslane. In the past, I got the impression that it didn’t. Maybe it only appeared to not kill it because there was enough fresh sprouting to camouflage the treated purslane. That’s the only thing I can think of to explain my error. Anyway, we are getting it under control. Now if I could just get my front door from sticking.

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July 29

There was .01″ in the rain gauge two days ago, .25″ the next day and 2.93″ in it this morning. It started raining while we enjoyed berries and cream and watched telebision yesterday evening and it was raining pretty good when A&R headed home. I offered to drive them. I invited them to spend the night, but they chose to borrow a golf umbrella and make a run for it. Poor Black Nose the cat. They carried him with them when they came to 1911 and he got stuck on the front porch when it started raining. They tried to carry him back down to 2005 under the umbrella with them but the last I saw of them all three were scampering across the prairie toward high ground.

It having been so dry for so long, seems a miracle we got such a good rain. It didn’t pour down hard like a cow pissing on a flat rock as it frequently does with thunderstorms. It’s frustrating when it rains hard briefly and then stops. As I said, it rained while we were watching television and I wasn’t aware of it. About 10:30 there was a lot of water running in the yard and not just in the dry creek bed. Later in the night I got up and the puddles had mostly disappeared. Then, when I got up this morning, there was water standing in low places around the yard, indicating it had rained enough during the night to saturate the ground. This is a reprieve from watering, at least for a little while and a much-appreciated break.

Abigail heads off to Lubbock next week to get her apartment squared away and handle other business. We’ve had a good summer working together and got a lot done. While there was no mowing necessary, there were plenty of other things to spend our time on. This was Abigail’s fourth summer helping me and she has practically gotten to the point where she gives me direction. It won’t be easy adapting to working by myself again.

July 27

Abigail and I spent this morning working at Wildcat Bluff. Last week, Regina the director asked if we could trim a hedge and Abigail took on that project today. Calling it a hedge might make it sound like something it’s not. It is a series of bushes, but I don’t what kind they are, certainly not something that would typically be used for a hedge. It was overgrown and had needed attention for a long time. Abigail, on her own volition, trimmed one side of it a couple of years ago. I had often thought I should clean it up but there were always things I felt more pressing. It had a buildup of leaves underneath and the odd yucca growing in it. Overall, it looked like a good place to harbor slithery things. I took care of the yucca and helped deposit the trimmings in the dumpster. The trimmer ran out of juice and so did Abigail by the time she had blown all the dirt away that came out with the leaves and other debris, but she got it done.

While Abigail was working on the trimming, I watered the butterfly garden and was rewarded with seeing the first monarch butterfly I’ve seen there. The garden is a designated monarch way station but has long been ineffective due to neglect. We have been trying to make it more hospitable to monarch and other butterflies, so it was gratifying to so one flitting around in the sprinkler apparently enjoying itself.

July 18

We got Parker married off Saturday evening. It was a nice ceremony and well attended, though it was held outside and started at 7 p.m., so it was hotter than the hinges on the door to hell. The bride was lovely and there was a gaggle of maids of honor and some questionable men standing by. Even the dog got in on the action. Terry walked it down the aisle, or maybe it walked Terry. Hard to say. It may have been some stray they grabbed at the last minute. There were several speeches at the reception. My favorite was the best man’s. Essentially, he said he was nervous giving a speech, had known Parker for a long time, yada yada and let it go at that. Jill drove in Friday for the wedding and drove home Sunday.

Abigail drove to Lubbock after the wedding to move into her apartment. Chris followed the next morning with a load of furniture she claimed from the loft above the shop. She got her great-grandmother’s dresser and rocking chair. She also got the chair that goes with the roll-top desk Genna had, which Kari uses. She also took an empty filing cabinet and an end table that went with the 3-piece set but didn’t use because it was too large. She seemed to be happy with her acquisitions.

July 8

We celebrated Abigail’s 21st birthday this week. It was a low-key affair despite being a major milestone in the Abster’s journey.

July 3

We got back in town Friday afternoon and Jill and I went to the Honda shop to retrieve her car. The A/C failed on the drive to Amarillo and, because it was Friday evening when she got here, there was no time to get it repaired before we headed for Red River. Jill took it to the Honda shop Monday morning before we left and drove the Pathfinder on the trip. That worked out well and with any kind of luck, they will have A/C for the trip back to Sachse.

Saturday, we had our 4th of July gathering. Wonder of wonders, it rained on us before we could get all the food out. The storm passed in plenty of time enjoy the late afternoon and evening. The rain had cooled things off nicely and we had a good time playing volleyball, visiting and eating. We had watered the volleyball court and it was nice and green, a contrast with the grass on the rest of the place, and very pleasant to play on. Some of us ate too much ice cream, but it was homemade, and we only get it once a year, so what the heck.