Category: SA Times

It finally rained. No, that’s not an April fools joke. Earlier in the week I emptied .27 inches of rain out of the gauge, enough to clean out the bird droppings and wash dust off the grass.  It didn’t stop me from continuing watering, though. I run the traveling sprinklers around the perimeter any day it isn’t too hot or cold. It’s a slow process and only time will tell whether it makes a difference. Much to my shame, there are still trees standing along the perimeter that perished in the drought of ’11.  I’m hoping we don’t lose any more. Continue reading “April fools” →

It was supposed to be a pleasant day here in the Panhandle for St. Patrick’s Day, but nooo.  The predicted calm didn’t last past sunrise.  And it’s cloudy to boot.   No rain since October, in case you were wondering. Continue reading “Honky-tonkin’” →

I could complain about the weather.  I could complain about the cold, the wind, the drought, yada yada, but that would be boring so I won’t.  Let’s just say Joyce and I survived February and the befuddling flu, although the effects of the later still linger.  Some weeks I wasn’t able to work outside more than a day or two because of the cold.  Last week I was outside Monday through Thursday, but Thursday was March 1 so I guess that still counts as only three days for Feb. Continue reading “February wrap up” →

Rojo the rooster stopped running.  He was a good ol’ rooster.  Always kept a benign watch over his flock and even tolerated the guinea, mostly.  We buried him up on the caliche mound in an unmarked grave which may seem cold but at least we didn’t just chunk him in the trash.  We are down to three black hens, one gold hen and one guinea.  It’s doubtful any will survive the year since they are at the end of their normal lifespan.  Not sure about the guinea. Continue reading “Adios Rojo” →

Spreading, or prostrate, junipers live up to their name.  In fact, all junipers tend to spread as they are a very undisciplined species but spreading junipers raise it to an art form.  It may be possible to plant one in the middle of a football field and, in time, have it cover sideline to sideline, end zone to end zone.  After having my friend Doc help me clean up under and trim a juniper due east of 1911, a task in which we made use of Doc’s gas hedge trimmer, I decided it would be a good investment to have one of my own.  I’ve done some trimming with a hand trimmer, a thankless task if there ever was one, and a corded electric hedge trimmer.  Doc’s gas trimmer worked well when we could get it started and keep it running long enough to get something done.  That experience gave me the idea of exploring a cordless electric trimmer since it will be used infrequently and gas engines really need to be run periodically.  There are many cordless models on the market but I decided to stick with Stihl, which is the brand of most my other other equipment, such as edger, string trimmer and chainsaw. Continue reading “Tree-trimming time” →