Some Relief

The past five days have been a relief from the 100º heat. It has been cloudy as many have been getting rain. We have had some very light sprinkles and mist, but not yet had a good rain. At least we are getting a very slow accumulation but it's been less than 1 inch total over the five days. Some have had 5 inches in the surrounding area. But it has cooled off and we are in the 80º-90º range for high temperatures. That is nice.

I did have a large Spanish Oak fall in the recent weather phenom evening. I just had not been down that trail to notice it. The Spanish Oaks just aren't as sturdy as the Live Oaks. The neighbors said they lost some Ash trees. Both the Ash & Spanish Oak grow taller and thinner around here because of all the Cedar surrounding them. I only have a few Ash on my place that I have seen. I did find another when we cleared some cedar a month ago. There are probably a lot of things out there I just can't see due to the dense cedar.

The animals and wildlife are enjoying the cooler weather. Let's hope it holds for awhile.

Trophy Deer

There is with out a doubt a trophy deer here this year. I think he is a regular he is just getting a huge rack this year. Probably a 3-4 year old. I got a good look at him last night. He is also very athletic and bounds and jumps beautifully. I really enjoy watching him. There is one that travels with him that does not look near as good. I think the lack of water in the area is drawing a lot of deer earlier in the day to my wildlife tank. The previous night I counted seven deer at one time in the back. I also noticed that the fawns are big enough to jump the fences so they are scattered about now as well.

A little cloudy yesterday and there was rain in the area, but as usual we had none at Twisted Oak Ranch. Hopefully we will get our share soon. We didn't get near 100º and we won't today either. At least that is some relief.

New Trail

We had two days of somewhat cooler weather midweek due to Tropical Storm Eduardo which hit the Texas coast. We had two days of clouds, but really only one evening of cooler weather and only .6 of rain. Other than that brief relief back up to 100º and very dry.

I did open a new cross trail today. I consider it open as today I drove the tractor and gator through so it certainly can be walked now. Since we began walking the dogs in the mornings we've needed a trail across Ray's Ridge back towards the house so that we didn't have to just double back on the same trail when walking to the bluff and the view from the far ridge. This will give us more options on our morning walks and some different views as well. It's a short trail, but will allow us to get to various locations much easier. I still have some brush to clean up, but I'll wait until cooler weather and the burn ban to be lifted to completely finish.


Photo 1 is the entry to the trail. Located at the cross fence between mountain pasture and main property. Facing west. Photo 2 is a view of the house from the trail and where the trail starts to drop down off the ridge into the draw behind the cabin.

Weather phenomenon

On Sunday night everything was normal until early evening around 9:30 p.m.. I was watching the Texas Rangers on TV and doing some genealogy work on the lap top when all of a sudden the electricity went out. Then the wind began to blow and there was a big boom noise. The air pressure dropped so fast that the noise (I think) was air escaping from the house. We went from a dead calm to a 25-30 mph wind instantly. Lucky the power began to come back on or it would have been even more scary. Having grown up in Oklahoma I didn't thing this was a tornado. It was clear skies overhead but I could see a big thunderhead (from the lighting inside of it) to the southeast. All the big live oak trees around the house were really shaking and leaning over. I really though the one on the side of the house was going to come down. Standing in the wind was like standing in a hurricane. It was I believe a very powerful squall line that hit the sides of the mountains and created a small chinook effect. It was quite amazing. The winds slowed somewhat to say 15-20 for the next half hour, then gradually died down. No rain, just dirt falling from the sky. I watched the weather at 10:00 and they just explained it come from no where and went away just as fast.

I inspected the trees the next morning and no real damage. Two bird feeders were blown down. The baffles acted like sails in the wind and they unscrewed themselves from the rod. No real damage. It did blow some trash (bread wrappers that the raccoons had stolen from the back of the gator) that I couldn't get to in the brush up to the top of the mountain. That was helpful.

Tessie had her first experience with deer. I put the dogs in the back about 7:00 and as I was putting on my shoes to go out with them when I noticed Tessie in a stare off with a young fawn. Kenzie just returned back into the house as I don't let her chase deer and she knew that would have been my next command (she is such a good dog). Tessie and the fawn were both curious about each other and it was very interesting watching them stare each other down. One would move it's head then the other. It was kind of a Disney moment. I called Tessie in and she came right away. The fawn actually followed her about ten feet towards the house. When the fawn saw me it ran away, I assume it didn't see me before as I was bent down lacing my shoes and it was focused on Tessie. I can tell from the tracks that the fawn are following their mothers up to the feeder at night. I don't think the fawns are eating any corn though.

Very Hot

The heat is on. The tank is dry (see photo). Twenty-three days over 100 degrees. Nine days over 105 degrees. Just saw the weather and forecast is for 107 tomorrow and 105 on Monday.

There were a bunch of deer out back this morning. I see the bucks are getting their antlers. There were two bucks just showing off for two does. Interesting to watch.

Staying indoors during the middle of the day and going out only to water and feed the animals. Maybe a few hours in early morning to do any chores. Did fill all the bird feeders. It doesn't take as long with the squirrel baffles installed.

Summer Time

Late the other night I took the garbage out to the county road to be picked up the following morning and I noticed it was a nice clear night. I turned off the lights and sure enough, there were the stars and the 'milky way'. Can't always see it so clear, but it was a nice evening with no moon or clouds. We do not have any 'light pollution' in this area from neighbors lights either. We are very lucky there, but we don't have many neighbors. Don't know why people move to the country and then put in a big electric pole with a night light and a big gate with lights. The light pollution is getting bad on the other side of the mountain. I also don't think power poles should be in the Historic District, but I understand that problem. When we built on the mountain we paid extra to have all lines placed underground so that at least we don't contribute to the situation. I guess we should appreciate the stars at night and pretty views while we can.

Took care of one armadillo that same night. There are a lot of holes dug up in the front of the house. The grass looks bad, but too dry to mow and even it out so we'll live withe the small holes and pulled up grass for a while.

Saw a big snake crossing our road today when I came back from town. It was at least half the width of the road so I'd say between 7-8 feet in length. A big one. Saw the baby skunk again a few days ago, but not since. I have been keeping water in the wildlife tank behind the house. It's so dry that I have to fill it every few days. It gets a lot of use at night. I need to put up the camera again.

Tessie is adjusting very well. She will lead on the walks now. She did fall out of the gator yesterday when I pulled away from the barn. Stopping, picking up feed, putting it in the gator, then pulling away has become so routine that I forgot to hold her. She sets in the passenger seat and Kenzie surfs from the back. This is her first week to go with us to feed so she'll catch on soon.

Watering the shrubs and plants. It's clouded up a few times, but no rain. Just very hot. 100º every day. Looks like a long hot August.

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.