Spring Time

It has warmed back up and the weather is very nice. It's warming up during the day, but it still cools in the evening. It will be swimming pool time again very soon. No more rain so it's getting dry again. I didn't have a chance to burn any brush piles. I need some burning weather soon. I did cut a few more damaged trees, but need a place to burn them.

The cactus is blooming, it's very pretty yellow blooms, but they only last a few weeks. The wildflowers didn't do well this year as it was too dry. We have already cut the Prairie Verbina.

Maisie did get a good chase of two big does this week. I don't think the deer like the new puppy. I saw some individual turkey on Ray's ridge. I think there are quite a few in there.

The Painted Bunting are around, I even saw one on the fountain.

Painted Punting

This morning I saw the first Painted Bunting of the year! A very bright and colorful one indeed. I try to update this Journal/Blog when I see my first of the season. Of course they may be here a day or two before I see one, but at least I get a good idea of when to start looking. The puppy barking didn't seem to bother the bird at all. The puppy is starting to discover birds and squirrels.

There have been very big thunderstorms in the area but most are missing us to the north. Still no rain, but it has been cloudy and cooler.

Painted Bunting

We are lucky to have Painted Buntings on the ranch. I think they are one of the the prettiest birds in Texas. For about five weeks we have had a Painted Bunting tapping on our bedroom window early in the mornings. Not every morning, but 5 days a week on average. There is a bird feeder right outside the window and I thought he was seeing the reflection, but a few times it has been on a different window. Not sure what's up, but a least he is making it very easy to watch him. I do keep the better seed in that feeder just to attract the Buntings and it is their favorite bird feeder. I wasn't counting on the early wake up calls though.

Nice Week

It was a nice week on the Ranch. The weather was generally nice with high's about 78° and cooling at night. We did get an inch of rain on Friday night. We planted some more larger Asian Jasmine as a ground cover, but our order of two flats of small AJ didn't come in this week.

I did get the huge pile of brush burned this week before the rain. We had accumulated a lot from trimming and cleaning on the county road fence row and other places. I also did some stump burning as weather allowed.

The water temp of the pool reached 75° on Saturday so I had the first official dip in the pool. It was very nice. We will enjoy it this year.

Pepino painted the new pipe rail gate and entry. It looks very good. He will be in Mexico for three weeks so we'll miss his fine touches around the place. The wildflowers are looking good. They are everywhere for better or worse. We cleaned the wildlife tank and added two Water Lilies that we got from our neighbor. The deer are trimming the pads closest to the edge of the tank for us.

BTW--I also saw the first Painted Bunting of the year on the bedroom bird feeder.

Zulu

We have eleven deer in the big group for sure. Got another count yesterday. In addition to the 11 feeding close to the house there were several does 150 yards away on the bluff waiting their turn. I saw four different fawns for sure. One fawn is very big and will probably be a big buck. (Fawns in photo)

It has been raining around us for a few days but we have not received anything as yet. It is our turn. We had .10 overnight which does help the trees, but isn't enough for the grass.

I was watching a Painted Bunting this morning on the feeder next to the window and sure enough a sparrow came and chased it away. I may have to get that trap out or invest in a good BB gun.

Poor Zulu. She was our first Boer Goat and she isn't doing well. She really has never recovered from the dog attacks that got her last kids. Both nannies who lost their goats were very stressed at the time and in fact I was afraid I would lose one. She recovered with some meds and TLC. I though Zulu would 'shake it off' too but she is older and although it's been several months she just acts like an old granny goat now. I gave her penicillan yesterday, but she is thin and looking frail. I will watch her closely. I can't sell her and she deserves respect as the 'mother doe' of all the goats we have ever had on the ranch.

Good Week

Very busy in the office again this week. The weather is warming up somewhat, but it's still cooling off at night. It has warmed up enough that most of the spring wildflowers are gone. We did get 1.2 inches of rain this week and looks like we are going to have a lot of Mountain Pinks. They will bloom in mid June. The trees are really looking good we are getting plenty of rain for them this year. DW cut most of the grass this week so everywhere has been cut at least once now. It's very nice and green everywhere. Hopefully it will be that way through June.

We haven't seen Petey all week so I guess he/she has moved on. Still seeing a LOT of Painted Buntings though. I've seen a lot of lizards this week too.

I'll be glad to get back to a routine on the ranch. I have a lot of maintenance work to do on the chain saws and tractor before getting back to work.

Chores

We ended up doing more work in the goat pen or the 'feed lot' as the neighbors call it. It really cleans up very well. There is a very large and old stand of Texas Live Oaks that really stand out now that we have cleaned a lot of the old cedar from around them. They may be the tallest on the ranch as a group. Since we used all the goat panels along the county road fence we no longer have any fenced nursing pens. I'll probably just use the entire area as a big nursing pen when that time comes again. Now that its cleaned out it will be harder for a critter to sneak up on the goats without Annie seeing them.

I saw a fox today, first one in a while. Also the swallow who has nested on the back porch is pleased her eggs have hatched. She's flying all around the courtyard, but still watching the nest. Petey is still hanging around too. I'm not sure how big the territory is for a Painted Bunting, but I think I saw two different ones today. I thought I saw two a few days ago as well. I'll watch close for a while.

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.

Good Morning Painted Bunting!

Woke up at first light to thunder as a thunderstorm came in from the west. This was an isolated storm and this time we are going to get some rain and did get a nice light rain for all morning and most of the afternoon.  A total of 1.8 inches.  A very good test for the rock work I did yesterday on the road. Since it's a light steady rain the road is holding very well and actually will hopefully help position water flow off for future rains. So far so good.

Late last year I moved a bird feeder to the tree just outside our bedroom window. 

It's less than two feet from the window and has become popular with the birds and the occasional squirrel. I was watching the rain when I noticed a bird on the feeder. Yes a Painted Bunting, the first I've seen of the season. I had noticed during the numerous rains last year that the Painted Buntings seemed to enjoy the showers. This one certainly was enjoying it as the rain was coming down directly on him. He stopped at all three perches on the feeder and gave me the best view of a Painted Bunting I have ever seen. I'm glad I filled all the feeders yesterday. I have moved a camera to the bedroom just in case it should happen again. The Cardinals and Hummingbirds have been very active as well. The Poorwills have also been calling at dusk the past few weeks.