June came wet and left dry. It’s been nearly two weeks since any moisture fell from the skies and three since any appreciable amount fell. There are still lots of wildflowers out at the Bluff but there probably won’t be for long. It’s time to start catching up on the mowing out there. We had to let it go because of all the wildflowers mixed in with the weeds and grass.
My new assistant groundskeeper is working out well and we are gradually getting caught up on the weeds on SA.

Trouble is, the drier it gets the less effect herbicides have on the weeds. Since we are in an El Niño year, I’m optimistic we aren’t at the beginning of a dry spell but that doesn’t mean we won’t get really dry before it rains again. There has been rain in our part of the world all along. The local news showed pictures of the main street of the little town of Panhandle east of here running like a river this past week. Seems like there has been damaging hail and winds accompanying the rain places around the area have gotten. Childress got whacked a couple of weeks ago. We are willing to wait for something more benign.
Some of the powers that be out at the Bluff decided it would be nice to have a pavilion for outdoor education and other events. A grant was secured, purchase made and construction, rather assembly, is under way.

I had hoped to avoid getting involved in that since I was already up to my ears in work at the Bluff and on good old SA. Instead I’ve spent the last five Saturdays doing my part getting the pavilion built. We started out with lots of volunteers, too many really, but the number has dwindled as the weeks have gone by so that yesterday it was just me and another fellow until Chris showed up about mid-morning. He told me last week to let him know if we needed help, which we did yesterday, and he came out to lend a hand. We are in the process of putting down the base layer for the roof which entails climbing up ladders and hammering nails. After busting my hump around SA all week, can’t say I enjoy such activity on Saturday but maybe the job will be finished before I am.
Chris still had a couple of bee-less hives out at the Bluff and after we knocked off the pavilion job he lingered to mess with his hives. Apparently he planned to remove them. I had gone home to lie down and he sent me a picture of the rattlesnake he discovered underneath the hives. He claims he jumped like no white man has before and counts himself lucky that he didn’t stick his hand under the hives to lift them, something to do with there being two hives. Being an intelligent person, he surely understands now the oft-stated admonition in snake country not to put one’s hands or feet where one can’t see. That wasn’t the only Zbinden-diamond back encounter this week. Abigail and I did some trimming out there Wednesday. Abigail has a strong aversion to snakes so she raked the areas I trimmed and thus had exposed and banished any slithery reptiles. We were putting up our tools when she commented that she was glad we hadn’t seen any snakes, which of course jinxed us. She spotted a rattler not far from the door of the building where the tools are kept. It was far enough away so as to present no hazard to us and the snake was probably not even aware of us, intent as it seemed to be on finding its next meal. Still, it wasn’t far enough away for Abigail’s comfort and she was glad when we were in the pickup headed home.