Temperatures in the 40s aren’t bad unless the wind is blowing at about the same speed as the temperature, as it was here on May 1.  If the workers on the High Plains were marching, and I don’t think they were, they were wearing their parkas.  As for myself and the lovely Mrs. Keeter, we hunkered down in the house and enjoyed a restful Sunday.  Oh, we did venture forth to attend church.  We even took Joyce’s brother Max with us.  He spent the night with sister Janice, who is recovering from surgery and would have been without adult supervision because the rest of the family was attending a wedding in Austin.  Janice is doing better, by the way.  She had been in considerable pain and the surgery relieved some of that, I’m told. Continue reading “Raw May Day” →

Behold, the rain comes.  After getting pretty dry while watching all they rain pass us by it was finally our turn.  We collected an inch and a quarter over several days, cool days, I might add, so that the moisture was able to soak in good.  And we avoided the hail and high winds that afflicted other parts of the High Plains.  SA, which was already greening up pretty well in spite of the dearth of moisture  turned green almost overnight.  Yesterday there were mostly clear skies so the sunshine helped in that process.  It was an ideal time to pull and spray weeds and I took advantage. Continue reading “Sweeeet!” →

We’ve had some dust storms up here on the High Plains lately. There was one nearly a week ago we didn’t know about since it happened at night. Joyce’s walking buddies told her about it but we were oblivious since we’d already gone to bed. I remember the house creaking as the wind picked up out of the north but thought nothing of it. Then Sunday night just before bedtime a thunderstorm in the area sent all kinds of crud whirling through the air. Joyce switched on an outside light and it was remarkable how much dust and debris there was illuminated by the floodlight. Judging from the windows there were just enough rain drops to put a nice earthy tint on the windows. Continue reading “Outflow boundary” →

They first showed up on March 14. I don’t remember them being here earlier. Then they absconded for a week or two, perhaps checking out other venues. Now they seemed to have moved in and made themselves at home. When I first saw them on the 14th, there were two drakes and a hen. All three seemed comfortable with me being in the area. Now it is just a single drake and a hen. They must be the ones that have been coming around for several years because they seem at ease with me, Chris and anyone else I suppose coming into the enclosure. They keep their distance, of course, but act nonchalant. Saturday Chris spent quite a bit of time in the enclosure messing with his bees and that didn’t seem to trouble them. They are helping me control the moss. Continue reading “Ducks are back” →