Periodic review of life on Six Acres
by rakeeter Abigail’s junior varsity volleyball season is over. The T-Rebs finished 28-4 overall and 11-1 in district play. They won their district, as did the varsity, but there is no playoff for the JV as there is for the varsity so the JV is done for the season. Continue reading “Volleyball wrapup”
by rakeeter One day this week as I was headed toward the gate in front of the house, a quail burst into flight from the other side of the juniper in the corner. It had probably been outside the yard and I couldn’t see it because of the juniper. I knew immediately what it was because of the distinctive whirring sound of its wings. There are plenty of quail out at Wildcat Bluff Nature Center and I often scare a covey up out of the tall grass. This one flew straight toward the enclosure and disappeared behind a juniper. Cookie the cat set off in pursuit but I don’t think he was successful in catching it. Continue reading “Quail sighting”
by rakeeter 
Celebrating September/October birthdays has been a challenge this year. It was simple enough with Vivian. Jill made a cake, we sang happy birthday and Vivian opened presents. But Rebecca and Joyce were another matter. Rebecca’s was on Monday, October 3 when we were still in Garland. We got home that afternoon but Monday is an odd time to celebrate a birthday so the plan was to combine Li’l r’s with Joyce’s the following Sunday. We did manage to squeeze it in Sunday afternoon between other activities so they got their cake and all but I still haven’t gotten a present for Joyce. She just waves me off when I suggest doing so. Continue reading “Birthdays”
by rakeeter 
We uncovered the west row of grapes Tuesday and Joyce has been busy ever since making grape juice. She bought a juicer that she just feeds the bunches of grapes into and it separates the juice from the skins, seeds and stems. It makes short work of that process and she’s been making popsicles out of the juice. She added cream to some of the juice and made popsicles out of that delicious concoction, too. Continue reading “Joy(ce) juice”
by rakeeter 
Smells like bread baking down here in the cave. Monday we harvested grapes, that is, we harvested some of them. This year’s crop far exceeds anything in the past and just picking the west row we had 140 pounds, more than enough for the five gallons of wine I make. And even at that we only picked the low handing fruit, so to speak. We left a lot of grapes on the vine for whomever or whatever wants them. As for the east row, we’ve left the bird-blocker netting on it for now. I want to compare the ripeness of those grapes in a couple of weeks to the the ones we picked this week. Continue reading “The crush”