Beautiful Weather

The weather has continued to be beautiful. Some of the best of the year.

We have been catching up on chores and projects. The masonry projects around the pool and around the house are completely finished so we used some extra rock for landscaping and I have picked up all the rest and stored them below the mountain. There was rock, stone and native rock. I spread two big loads of top soil over the fill area and area below the road and the bluff. We've never had grass there before as it has been too rocky, but we should be able to grow some there now. I also covered the construction area around the pool and existing grass of the front yard. I did plant winter rye grass next to the pool and will get the large area this week before a forecast rain we are supposed to get on Sunday. DW mowed all the grass around the house and lower pasture that was so high due to the rains. Pepino was able to work one day and he did some edging along the road so the road and lower pastures look very good. The grass is very green and the entry has never looked better.

The pool company made another attempt at repairing the pool deck and the color really didn't change. Now they are stripping the previous work and will just attempt a concrete paint and get a color that is at least close to what we want. It has been a long process for us and the company. The effort and labor is fine, I believe they have bad product. Hopefully we will have it all completed within a week though.

I discovered some of the mystery of the missing goats. Evidently they were killed next to the stock tank and when the big rains came and filled the stock tank the water covered the goats. This week the water has dropped low enough to expose the carcasses. I saw them and the blood so I do believe we have a big predator of some kind. After spotting the carcasses I went down there the next day to clean them up and they were gone. All of them gone and nothing left behind. So it's a predator large enough to carry them off. A neighbor did see a very large bobcat so that could be the predator. Amazing. Now another goat, a small one, has disappeared. That's five in total. I need to get Jerry back as none of this happened when he was here.

Deer season has opened and I heard a lot of shooting opening weekend. Maybe everyone already has the limit. Several bucks have walked up during the day looking for does so they are in rut. Not as many deer coming to the feeders so I think they have been culled or in hiding.

The big goldfish have adjusted to the new wildlife tank. I though they might eat the smaller goldfish, but so far so good on that. I believe there are 8 small goldies in there with them. It's fun to watch them when I feed them they really put on a show.