Category: SA Times

April 4…

There were many turkey buzzards perched in the trees behind the house one morning this week. Maybe that’s an ill omen or maybe they just needed a place to roost for the night in their journey from somewhere to somewhere else. Seems they migrate from as far south as South America and as far north as Canada.

March 14…

We got some rain to go with our wind this past week. Today we just have the wind, though it is nice to see the sun. Jill and the girls made the trek here from Sachse, arriving in the wee hours Thursday morning. The weather had already turned from pleasant to not pleasant and they have pretty much been house-bound since they got here.

Our water heater finally gave up the ghost after over 17 years of service. That may be putting it too strongly since it was still keeping the water hot but had only become incontinent. We decided not to push our luck, though, and opted for a replacement. A nice and seemingly competent young man handled the job without delay and we are on to the next problem. Our internet service went kaput the week before and we managed to get that problem remedied without too much jump and jive. It was interesting that the plumber had to jump through some hoops unrelated to the water heater. He had to install anti-siphon gizmos on all the outdoor faucets, for one thing. Then he had to install a couple of carbon monoxide detectors in the hall outside the bedrooms. He even had to peek at our toilet tanks to make sure that, well, I’m not sure what he was making sure that. Checking for leaks, maybe. You may be thinking, “Well, he was just running up the tab on us.” Could be, but he seemed like a sincere young man and he explained that these things all were required by the code enforcement Nazis, my word, not his. When he had finished the job, he had to do a virtual inspection with his phone and a code inspector on the other end of the line. He had to crawl up in the attic and let the CI see that, yes, there was sufficient clearance around the vent; that the anti-siphon gizmos were installed; that the detectors, fire and carbon monoxide, were installed. He even had to test them in the virtual presence of the CI. With the way things are going in our country, I think it might be prudent to closely examine the detectors to make sure there are no cameras and/or listening devices. Just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.

Sunday January 10…

Snows covers the prairie, what prairie there is here on SA, and skies are cloudy. The weather was up and down this past week, some good and some not so good. I worked out at the Bluff Wednesday despite a chilly wind but had to cut my time there short to get a flat on the pickup fixed. Abigail left for Lubbock yesterday to move into her apartment and get ready for classes which may begin tomorrow. Kari and Chris accompanied her to help move her in. She was happy with the household items Jill gave her and those she liberated from the man cave. Rebecca stayed home and I took her to her tennis lesson. She told me she and another eighth-grade girl will start practicing with the Amarillo High junior varsity tomorrow, which she’s a little nervous about. There were six girls in the lesson she went to yesterday and a couple of them drove their own cars there, which must mean they are, what, 16? The instructor had them rotating around in a doubles configuration and Rebecca was having no problem competing so she shouldn’t have any problem fitting in with the JV.

As I write (Dec. 12), we are facing prospects of snow during the night and into tomorrow. It is our policy to accept moisture in any form as we cannot afford to be picky. Our moisture total so far this year is less than 15 inches. Our average on SA over the last 12 years is over 20 inches, which isn’t a whole lot, thus we can ill-afford a >25% shortfall. It would be nice if we didn’t get the kind of wet snow we got in late October which took half of November to clean up after. Up until yesterday (Friday) the weather this week was outstanding. I got in four days of working around the place and Wildcat Bluff. They were the sort of days one likes to be outside.

Last weekend, Joyce and I rode with Kari and Rebecca to Grapevine where Rebecca played in a tennis tournament. Jill and the girls drove over to have dinner with us and took Joyce back with them. They returned her in good condition Sunday morning and we drove home. Rebecca and her opponents are now at the level where their matches are entertaining. The weather was good and it was a good way to spend a Saturday.

The big news is Wylie world is relocating to a new home in Sachse. The house is bigger and more modern than their current digs. Each of the girls will have their own room which they are really excited about. They’ve been sharing the one bedroom in their old house since from get go. By the time I post this they will have moved in and Joyce and I will be there to add to the confusion. It should be an interesting Christmas and New Years.

A week later…

More snow this week. It is really piling up, or would if it snowed more and didn’t melt between snows. Why, at this rate in a few thousand years we might be covered by an ice sheet 10,000 feet like the one that covered much of North America back when ol’ Heck was a pup. There wasn’t much that got done around the place this week due to the weather. I didn’t even get out to the Bluff. As always we’ll take the moisture when we can get it. When strolling around the grounds one day when the sun was out I scared up a red tail hawk from the junipers on the east. That is, I think it was a red tail. I only got a glimpse of it before it disappeared back into the tree line. It isn’t unusual to see a raptor of some sort around now and then. I wonder what they eat. Apparently not cat. Our supply hasn’t been diminished. Maybe they prey on doves or other birds. There is the occasional pile of feathers, although the cats are responsible for some of that.

Well, that’s that. Christmas and New Years have come and gone. We arrived in Garland Christmas afternoon and used a phone to find the new address. The Wylies had only moved in a couple of days before so things were in disarray but the new digs are almost twice as big as the old house so it feels roomy in spite of the moving clutter. The girls each have there own bedroom now but had little time to enjoy them before they were forced back into one room to accommodate Gramma and Grampa. Jill said if we didn’t help her move we wouldn’t eat so we helped with some of the small items. Movers handled the furniture. The weather was nice before turning wet and cold. Then our problem was overeating. I worked in a visit to John and Kathryn and found them behaving themselves. We have enjoyed the idleness but we soon will be back on SA keeping busy with what needs to be done.