May weather

We had a big thunderstorm come through during the early morning hours overnight. Not a lot of rain, .45 inches, but a lot of lightning and some light hail. That always gets your attention. The dogs were up in the bed looking for cover. The power was on and off a few times, but never lost. Still cloudy but looks like the rains are over for a while.

Yesterday DW trimmed a few shrubs in the front of the house. Thank you, one was obstructing my view. I have a sweet spot on the couch with a perfect view through the window of Gary Creek valley and Sugarloaf Mountain. I cleaned out the culverts on our road. The 1400 gate on the county road was really blocked from the previous rains. Same goat in the county road yesterday. I brought down some goat panels and put one up in the spot I suspect she's going through. I'll have to wait until it's dry and I can cut some cedars before I can put up the rest of the panels. I already have panels up over half that stretch so I might as well do the whole fence line that borders the county road from that pasture. It's only about 250 feet.

It is very green. Lots of wildflowers. The morning glories are really coming out now. The Prairie Vebena is everywhere and high. I even saw a few more Bluebonnets.

The birds are still very active. I did see a Painted Bunting on the ground with an Indigo Bunting yesterday. I soon as I say I've never seen something it seems to happen. Petey loves the pavillion. Tessie chased it and it flew to the top at one time, but usually just hangs around under the open area, sometimes between the cars or on the patio. I've seen several female Goldfinches, I think we may have some that have decided to just stay this year.

Painted Bunting

Saw the first Painted Bunting of the year today. They are by far the prettiest birds found at the ranch. Very good to see them back. I also saw an Indigo Bunting this morning. I don't recall ever seeing a Painted Bunting on the ground, but the Indigo Bunting seems to prefer feeding from the ground. Interesting. I don't mention the Blue Jays as now I see them everyday and there are several pairs now living here.

We are supposed to get rain this next week so all the neighbors are trying get their hay in the barn. We really need the rain. Still water in the tank, but low.

Another Sighting

I had almost given up on the hopes that the Indigo Buntings would stay. There were 8-10 last Saturday so it looked like they were migrating. The good news is that I saw one this morning so hopefully one pair have taken residence. The birds have been very active and it seems we have been discovered as a 'bird friendly' place. I also saw a female Summer Tanager on the bird feeder this week. I'd love to see the male. I won't add them to the list until I see a second sighting to confirm.

I did some fence repairs as we have a goat who likes to roam. In spring when the briers and brambles come out along the fence row she likes to get into the road. I think I found the holes. This particular goat will be on the sale barn list next time around. The former bottle babies have adjusted well. We have all 25 goats so far but the little runt does wander off on her own so I wouldn't be surprised to see her missing one day.

Something interesting happened this evening. I took the dogs out for a short walk and went back from the house towards the north fence row and a small bluff. I had cleared a small place there years ago so I could watch the sun set to the west looking down the fence row. (This was before we had cleared the mountain west of the house which is now a better view) I found my small stump I had cut years ago to sit on and was just sitting and enjoying a diet coke. Looking down the fence row I see two deer running up the mountain heading straight towards me. I was higher and they did not see me. They ran all the way up and the first one stopped just twenty feet below me and turned to look at the trailing deer. When he turned he saw me and we looked eye to eye. She was very surprised. A big snort and she dashed off into the brush. Until the snort the dogs had no clue to what was happening but that got their attention. It was a little exciting. It might be a good place to observe as the trails along the fence rows have tracks of all kinds of critters.

Indigo Bunting

We had a very nice rain early Friday morning and showers throughout the day. About 1.65 inches of rain. It did gully our road especially the fresh material I had place just last week. An hour or two on the tractor today will clean it up.

I did get a new multi-station hummingbird feeder and placed it in the back of the house. We have a very good view of it from the bedroom windows. I've seen two at a time on it, but no more so far.

It is very green following the rains. A lot more wildflower too. We have yet to cut the grass so we have quite a collection of grass, weeds, wildflowers, etc.

Another first for the ranch listings (on the left side of this blog) in the bird section. On Saturday morning there were three male Indigo Buntings feeding on the ground below one of the bird feeders. There were also females, but couldn't tell how many. When I first saw them I thought they were Bluebirds as they have bluebird boxes up in several places along the County Road, but these are a solid blue. I'd never seen any Indigo Buntings here on the ranch before Saturday, but the Painted Bunting I see every year about this time. I spotted them again in the evening about 6:30 in the same place. Hopefully they will become regulars like the Painted Buntings.