Storm last night!

Most of the spring storms have passed north of us this year and last night seemed as though it would be the same. Although the northern part of the county got most of the storm we did get the tail end of a trailing squall line. There was high winds and lightning for over an hour and we thought again we had been passed when we caught that trailing cell. We needed the rain but we had 2" in about ten minutes which is not good. A little small hail as well. All the run off was gone within hours as it came so fast. Our ranch road was really gullied. We lost several trees, one that we had groomed to be the only tree on the new western bluff we are clearing.

This week we have again been working on that western bluff taking out several cedars and burning a few stumps. We have really come up with a good system for burning the stumps. We can have one burned below ground in less than two days using the burn ring and old dry cedar stumps for heat. We plan on taking out more cedar trees. We now almost have a full 180° view both up and down Gary Creek valley.

The Goldfinches are gone and the Cardinals are becoming active. They perch at the tops of the tall trees and sing in the evening. Wildflowers are mixed. A few more Bluebonnets, but not as many as last year. Mixed wildflowers are coming out. Lot's of grass for the goats and they are all doing well. No escapes this week so looks like we got the 'hole' fixed last week.

Photo 1: The downed Spanish Oak. Photo2: View of the western bluff from back of house. Note-Gary Mt. in far background.