Heat Wave

It has been well over 100º for several days and forecast for several more. 106º yesterday and already 105º today. Very hot. We had two cloudy days as a result of Hurricane Dolly, but only a trace of rain. Just made it hot and humid. We can not keep up with the grass so our goal will be to keep the shrubs and plants watered. A few boxwoods look bad, but everything else is OK so far. Deer have eaten some of the Mexican Heather on the patio and armadillos have dug holes in the front lawn. Very hard to keep ahead of the critters.

We had a new visitor last night, a baby skunk. I've never seen a baby before. They are very cute and they try to look big by keeping the tail raised and open. Very interesting and fortunately the dogs didn't see it in the courtyard. Only saw the one so there may be more.

I think after the big weekend last week we had hospitality withdrawal so we had the neighbors over for mojitos. I used the mint that had grown back from the original location saving the newly planted mint. It was fun. Mojitos are a great drink for the hot days.

Too hot even for summer hours so the goal will be to water were I can and keep training Tessie.

Big 'Clan' Weekend

We had "the Clan" visiting this weekend. On Friday we took a tour of the Norse Historic District visiting: Norway Mills, Bee Hill Farm, Ringness House, Norse Church and cemetery, Quested Farm, the Rock Church, and Gary Creek Ranch with a stop here for lemonade and a meeting. On Saturday we visited the Bosque Museum and the Conservatory. Saturday evening, after it cooled, we had the group over for refreshments and steaks. We grilled some good Bosque County ribeyes on a fire pit and it was very good. The weekend was a lot of work, but I think everyone really enjoyed it.

Here's a link to photos of the tour (click on photo):
by buoso

Some good friends stayed in the cabin and they brought their two Scottish Terriers. It was very interesting having the four Scottish dogs. Tessie really did well. She was familiar with Scotties as we adopted her from a Scotty rescue. The big excitement was when we got an armadillo trapped in the court yard on Friday night.

Lots of great stories & gossip and times like these I could use a more personal blog, but I better keep this in the JOURNAL format!

I'll be resting up this week after all the prep work we've done. I did get four more squirrel baffles so I've installed them. All the feeders now have them and I did get another new Droll Yankee bird feeder which I have placed next to the bedroom window. I've already seen painted buntings on it twice.

It continues to be very hot. Hurricane Dolly is supposed to hit far south Texas tomorrow so I hope we get some relief. We used 24,000 gallons of water this past month. I had banked several thousand gallons, but have used them up the past two months. We are current with the water meter now. (FYI-In the country we read our own water meters--some cooler months I over pay my actual usage in order to help reduce the large pmts. in the summer months)

Hot...Hot...Hot

If I'm typing hot...hot...hot I hope it's about Caribbean music on my cruise blog. Unfortunately it's about the weather. It has been a high of 96º-98º-100º for a high all week. We are on summer hours and doing a lot of work though. We have a group visiting the Ranch next weekend so we've been cleaning, cutting, hauling, mowing, burning, trimming, planting, hauling, painting, & repairing for a few weeks now. I did get my new propane torch working this week. It will help control growth in some areas that can be burned. A little afraid to use it with it as dry as it is right now, but as I get used to it, it should be a good tool.

I did water the grass around the house this week. Will probably do so again this week, but that will be it for the year. The goats are still getting grass that is growing in the shade. It's not all dry yet, but it will be if we don't get a break in the weather soon. There's still a lot of grass on the house side growing in the cedar. I can let the goats over here later if needed.

I did get 100 lbs of sunflower seeds to mix with the bird seed. The birds are already enjoying it.

Tessie is adjusting well. She helps us get up early (summer hours) and really enjoys the outdoors. We think she has not had a lot of freedom in the past and the rescue group did well in getting her. She sure seems to likes it here.

The mint we planted is coming up behind the pavilion. I did water it several times and it will probably do well there. Sure hope so. We use it in iced tea and mojitos.

July is here

July is starting off with typical summer weather. Nice mornings, but hot days. We have been getting out very early working and cleaning mainly around the house. We have cut and cleared cedar back to the very large old original cedar trees. I call these red cedar. We have seven very large old cedar trees about 3-5 feet in circumference and 40+ feet tall. These were too large to cut in the 1930's when the mountain was cut for cedar posts by the CCC. Of course when we clear we also have to clean up the debris left in the 1930's as well. We again have a huge burn pile down at the 'gravel pit'. We have also burned some stumps and laid out a new fire pit on the western bluff. We are trying salt on the patio to keep grass from growing between the stones. We've spread fifty pounds and will see if that works. Nothing else has so far.

Tessie seems to be adjusting very well. We take a walk every morning and she now looks forward to them. She has taken the lead a few times and she almost chased a rabbit this morning. We don't always see deer, but this morning one ran/bounded along beside us and got well ahead and then jumped the fence in front of us. They look very graceful and jump so high. I'm still amazed at how well the squirrel baffles have worked. I've moved some bird feeders and will invest in some better quality seed now that we are not losing so much.

We cleaned all the mint from along the house and hopefully have replanted some behind the pavilion. It really took over the area it was originally planted and the new area should be much better for it. I do hope it will take in the new area we prepared for it. I took the excess mint and buried it in a draw on the mountain pasture. That area has good soil and gets run off when it rains. I'll be curious to see if it comes up on its own in that area.

The Mountain Pinks are starting to fade in the heat. Looks like we may have to water the grass some as well. We'll allow it to go dormant by the end of the month if we don't get rain.

Wonderful Summer Day

We had a great surprise on Sunday afternoon. A wonderful summer shower. We had a full two inches of rain averaging the two gauges. 1.9" at the house and 2.1" on the mountain. Good run off and all the water drainage features installed last year worked very well. I had actually just dumped a load of gravel Sunday morning to divert water away from main gate. I still try to do some tractor work on Sunday mornings to keep it charged up and in working order.

Welcome Tessie

We had some rain early Thursday morning. The gauge said .6 inches, but it seemed like more. It must have fallen quickly as there was run off. In fact I was surprised to see about a foot of water in the tank. About half of that is now gone though as it's continued to be hot.

The four new squirrel baffles were delivered yesterday. Very impressed as I only just ordered them on Tuesday afternoon from Tractor Supply. I installed them this morning and filled all the feeders.

There was another important delivery yesterday. We adopted a West Highland White Terrier from Scottie Kingdom Rescue and she was brought to us yesterday. Terry saw this dog at the Texas Scottish Festival and thought she needed a new home. Her name is Tessie and she's anywhere from 5-7 years old. She gets along well with Kenzie so far and will start to learn the ropes of life on the ranch very soon I'm sure. She's already learned to be lazy and stay inside during chores, just like Kenzie. I'm sure she will be more comfortable outdoors later. They aren't really ranch dogs anyway although Kenzie tries to help herd goats on occasion.

Cleaned flower beds today and took vines, grass, weeds, etc. down to the goats to enjoy. The three amigas (the three former then different neighbor donkeys) were came down to visit and brayed until they got our attention. They sure look good. They have plenty to eat now and seem to be very healthy.

Mountain Pinks

The Mountain Pinks are really out in full bloom this year. This is as prominent as I have seen them for many years. These flowers are unique to this area and really can't be transplanted. We did try years ago when we were weekenders even using the limestone caliche soil. You have to be here to enjoy them.

I did install squirrel baffles on two of the bird feeders yesterday. They seem to work very well as they are still full this morning. I have four more baffles ordered. In fact within 30 minutes of installing the baffle and filling the bird feeder I had a Painted Bunting. He returned this morning as well. There are so many squirrels this year that something had to be done and this seems to do the trick. All the birds have been active and the Painted Bunting was on the feeder just outside the BR window most of the day.

Still hot and dry. The early mornings are very beautiful though. We are on summer hours, out early and back in the house early.

Some Relief

We had been missing the rain that most folks north and east have been getting intermittently for a week. We were so close on Thursday morning being on the edge of a storm and in fact they lost power in Clifton and Meridian for six+ hours. We got the wind, but no rain. Finally last night the radar showed one heading towards Bosque county and indeed it passed through about 2:00 a.m. We received 1.5 inches of much needed rain. The rain was soaked into the ground and there was little run off so the tank is still dry but we will take what we can get.

The armadillo problem wasn't completely resolved, but may be now. Last night before the storm Kenzie alerted me to something in the courtyard and sure enough it was another armadillo. This one was smaller and younger and I'm sure he was mortally wounded as he took off like a balloon losing air and disappeared into the woods. That's actually a typical reaction for a amadillo that has been shot and does cause some confusion as it's happening. Interesting to see though.

Armadillo

The Armadillo problem is hopefully resolved as of 3:45 a.m. this morning. We will need to plant around the fountain again as most of the begonias are now gone. My favorite plant in that location is a fern as they get enough spray from the fountain to survive the heat and they seem natural around a water feature. The problem with planting ferns are that rabbits love them and we have a lot of rabbits this year.

I did burn the large cedar pile in the TOR gravel pit area today. It is the first calm day we have had in weeks and I'm sure a county burn ban will be in effect soon as it has continued hot and dry. It was burned in just a couple of hours.

I started some tractor work on Sunday bringing some gravel over from some neighbors where they have an active gravel pit which is supplying gravel for the on-going county road construction project. I finished off my repair area this morning with lighter material to pack in the gravel. Looks good. Maintenance on our own ranch road is important to keep up. The word is that the county will begin paving the county road this summer, but I doubt they get to it by then. They are still building up low areas of the road and have more culverts to install. The neighbors and other land owners still have the road paving fund in the bank just waiting on the county. Someday it will be paved.

Armadillo & Road Runners

We were visited again last night.  All the begonias were dug up and not sure they will survive being replanted again.  There were also lots of holes dug in the turf grass.  We'll try to put up a temporary fence across the courtyard.

This afternoon we saw the largest Roadrunner we have ever seen.  Must have been a huge male almost the size of a small turkey.  Earlier this week I did seen what must have been young ones with the momma hen.  There were 3-4 together, who scattered after they saw me.  When I first saw them I thought they were turkey.  

Today has been the hottest so far this year.  The tank will be dry within a few more days.