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.

Bad Raccoon

I made a deal with the raccoons long ago when we came here. If they leave me alone then I will leave them alone. I actually enjoy watching them and they were very curious about me when I was in the cabin early on at the ranch. I haven't had too many problems with raccoons, perhaps every few years. I don't mind when they eat the deer corn or even attempt to get the bird feeders, but when they start getting too close to the house or into the Gator that's when they are going too far. For about a week something has been getting into the bed of the Gator and dumping the feed buckets and bird seed buckets. There is usually very little feed, if any, in them as they are empty other than when taking feed down to the goats. There will be bird seed or oats on occasion. I saw a cat there last week but I really suspected raccoons. I didn't really want an 'all out' war or culling of raccoons, I just wanted the guilty ones, so I thought I would set an old fashioned steel trap. The DW asked me to wait until she left town so last night was my first opportunity. After feeding the goats and parking the Gator in its usually spot I set the steel trap in the back of the Gator. I covered it and most of the bed with a sheet of newspaper and placed empty buckets around to hold down the paper. I knew the buckets would also serve as my alarm. I also knew it would take a lucky step to catch the varmint. I had my doubts. I then went inside the house and went about my business.

I was on the computer about 10:15 when I heard the noise of empty buckets moving about. I hadn't even thought about the trap since setting it, but I knew immediately what had happened. Sure enough I've trapped a raccoon. At least I know this one is guilty. There was plenty of corn on the ground so he wasn't hungry he was up to no good. Scratch one raccoon. This was actually the first one I have trapped. I've had to shoot them with either the rifle, pistol, or shotgun and that's different. I've caught coyotes in snares and then dispatched them, but this was somewhat a first. I learned some lessons and will do it a bit different next time. I haven't decided if I'll put the trap out tonight or just assume this one was the only varmint getting into trouble.

The weather has been pleasant. Cool nights and then a high about 72°. Very nice. We did get .4 inches of rain overnight one night this week. Everything is now budding so it's a full spring. Also getting a nice crop of weeds. The Prairie Verbena is looking nice.

The bottle babies have adjusted to one bottle a day. They are eating the dry feed at will now as well. They are not following the herd up the mountain though. It will be time to start cutting back the amount of the daily bottle soon.

First Day of Spring

The four bottle babies, with Zulu and Annie watching.

The weather has continued to be very nice. We prepared for guests so we did some cleaning and little chores around the house and ranch in order to get ready for them this past week. Our guests came in Thursday evening and we cooked out that evening and the following evening as well. It is nice to have a fire and to cook out on the coals. The teens helped feed the bottle babies and with the extra help I really tried to introduce the babies to the mountain pasture and to feed. They have to learn to be goats sometime. The ten pasture babies and their nannies are all doing well, they are a little larger than the bottle babies and already eating grass and goat feed.

We took a mini tour of the Norse area and enjoyed just 'hanging' at the ranch. It was a fun weekend and our guests seemed to enjoy the ranch.

More Live Oaks are losing their leaves. More Spanish Oaks are budding and growing leaves. Interesting transition and it makes for many different colors of green in the trees. Check the photos in the link below. The shrubs are starting to bud. Just beginning to see growth on the jasmine. The 'Prairie Verbena' is starting to bloom on the ranch and I did see some bluebonnets on the highway between Cranfills Gap and Meridian. The next two weeks will bring a lot of change. I hope we get some more rain to help the growth along.

It's nice to have a photographer as a guest. I can use the photos as future reference. Here is a link to some fantastic photos taken this weekend: http://www.isgrenphoto.com/g/twisted_oak