Good Bye 2010

The weather has been more typical. Some nice warm days and some cooler days. We finally got some rain, about .80 and then a few days of light drizzle, probably an inch overall. That will help the grass and trees. Since we finally got some moisture I did put out 50 lbs of rye grass seed on the bluff area where we are still trying to establish some soil over the rock. We have about half covered and well established with grass. The deer and goats love it.

There was no run off of the rain so my berms didn't really get tested. I'm not finished with the big one yet but will be soon. I have decide to move it forward towards the road.

The neighbors deer hunter did shoot a wild pig this week so it is official about them being on top of the mountain. I will keep an eye out for sure. My big buck seems to have made it through hunting season, I saw him yesterday. It will be interesting to see if he rejoins the little group of does that come up to the house most evenings.

The goats are doing fine in the mountain pasture and the kids now follow the herd. The kids are also eating or at least trying the goat feed in addition to the pasture. There is a lot of dry grass and still a bit of good grass so all is well. I expect new grass in 6-8 weeks.

First Day of Winter

It's hard to believe that it is the first day of winter and the weather has been brilliant the past two days. It reached 84° both days. Great weather but the days are so very short. We need rain, it is very dry.

For about two weeks we've been letting the goats out on the 'house' side since we wanted to do in order to watch the kids closer. This requires me to manually open the gates each day and also keep the gate from the ranch road to the county road closed. We don't really want to do this any longer than we need to, but the goats have been pretty good about staying away from the house. I did have to repair a few holes in the fence along the road. The kids have stayed with the herd the past few days so I have reopened the mountain pasture gates so they are now on their own again.

I took advantage of the weather to build and finish a small berm next to a culvert crossing under the ranch road. We have a draw between Ray's Ridge and the mountain that drains all the water during a rain. This draw comes down the mountain and opens into the lower park area. I've previously diverted the water to go behind the cabin. When we have a big rain with a lot of run off the water needs to slow down so it will drain through one of the two culverts that drain water from the upper to the lower part of the park area. If it doesn't it will flow over the road. Thus the need for a berm so water will slow. I'm very pleased with the way it looks. I had a temporary berm there so I know it will work well. I've started a new long berm below the road where it goes up the mountain. This berm will hopefully divert water and keep road material and gravel from washing into the park area. This one will require a lot of rocks to finish, At least we have plenty of rock.

Wild Hogs

I've had some discussions with the neighbors and it looks like the wild hogs may now be coming up on the mountain. A deer hunter got a photo of some in his wildlife camera on my neighbors place and I now believe that is what got some of my kids. The hogs had been staying in the river and creek beds, but I guess they are now going up hill looking for food. We did have a lot of acorns this year, they may be foraging for them and new territory. I will keep an eye out.

This photo wasn't taken on the ranch, but just north of here near Meridian this past weekend. (I just got this photo and my information is second hand but I believe this is on the Domel place.)

December update

The month started with nice weather, warmer than normal. We didn't get our first 'hard' freeze until this past weekend. The Spanish Oaks have lost most of their leaves by now (probably 60%), but they had very pretty color for a long time. A lot of Texas Live Oaks have also dropped their leaves due to how dry it has been. They do that when necessary, but most are all green.

We don't have a billy with the goats, but we have had a few kids from some late does. Lost a few, but we have three nice ones. We will have a few more in a few weeks. I have the goats in the lower goat lot and have cut a few cedars to clear and then feed to the goats, but still lost 3-4 kids. Not sure what got 2, but 2 were natural.

There were a lot of wild turkeys around at Thanksgiving. Most of the folks that came saw them on the road. Very fitting for Turkey Day.

St. Olaf Kirk- The Rock Church

November 2010

I can't believe it's mid-November. We were away from the ranch from 1 November for 11 days. Thanks to the neighbor kids who fed the animals. By being away we were able to notice things we may not have noticed had we been here every day. First, the deer are much darker in color than when we left. I don't think I have noticed that before. Then again we have the one group that stays so close, I'm getting a very good look at them and recognize them as individual deer. In the past I may have just thought it was different deer. It is amazing that they are so much darker. I wonder if it has to do with the loss of daylight? Second, the Spanish Oaks are turning a nice fall color. Very pretty actually. We drove to Stephenville to shop and the countryside looked good with the fall colors.

It is cooler. About 72°- 48° temperature range.

We still have grass. We did have at least an inch of rain while we were gone as there was almost that in the gauge and the pool was full. We needed the rain.

Animals are all well.

Beautiful October Weather

October is my favorite month and this has been a very beautiful month for weather. Really making up for last years October weather. The weather actually got very warm with highs around 88° and only cooling down to 70's. Today it is 87° at lunch time and supposed to reach 91°, that will be a new record high for this date. We did have a cold front come through on Saturday and it was only 68° with cloudy skies. They had rain, thunderstorms, and a few tornados in the surrounding counties, but only had a few sprinkles. So it is very dry. We really could use some rain, but the grass still looks pretty good.

We really did a lot of clearing and cleaning of cedars the past ten days. This time we are working behind the house expanding towards the bluff and north fence line. I had already cleared the bluff itself over the past few years as it has a nice view to the west and at this time of year the sun sets directly on the fence row and property line (due east/west) so at sunset you can see rays of sun go through the woods and up the mountain. What we are trying to do is clear the area between the bluff and the cleared area behind the house. We can now walk from the house to the bluff without having to take a trail. We had two good burn fires going and I did scorch a few more cedars than I originally intended, but they will probably go out in the next stage of clearing anyway. The area does look good and you can now see the house from the bluff. It still has a lot of cedar, but we have burned all the 1930's CCC debris on the ground and cut as many dead branches as I can reach. We leave the larger cedar and take out the crooked and damaged trees. We have a lot more to do, but it will look good and it is much safer in case of a fire. It will also be a lot harder for a mountain lion to sneak up on us as well. The area that we just cleared is where I lost a big bob cat about five years ago. I know I shot him as went three feet into the air when I hit him, but he got into the brush and escaped.

I mentioned that we need a new name for what we called the lower pasture, it's really not big enough anyway. It's also been improved so much it's really not a pasture even though it is basically native pasture grass. We have removed the stumps, the cactus, and now cut the grass so it's really a landscaped area now. Last night a herd of deer were enjoying it. Some possible names: lower yard, lower lawn, or lower park. I like lower park, but I have to think on that for a while.

The goats are well. The kids are getting big and they are at the stage that they are getting hung up the the field fencing. When their horns get bigger they just can't get into the places they used to be able to so they get hung up. I took two out last night. If I don't find them, the coyotes will get them for sure.

Hummingbirds are gone. Not a lot of birds on the feeders right now. There are a lot more doves than I usually see though.

Love the weather so the usual Ranch chores are getting done: equipment repairs, trimming and maintaining trails and the road, fence repairs, etc. Pepino has returned from Mexico so he was able to work a couple of days too.

Don't usually mention personal stuff, but I will say that have really enjoyed following the Texas Rangers this year. I have watched every game on TV from opening day (except when away) and the two playoff series were very good. I will enjoy the World Series. Good Luck Rangers.

Clearing Again!

It has been beautiful weather all week. Warm in the day, but cool at night. I guess it's considered warm for this time of year, but we'll take it as long as it cools of at night. It has gone from 88° to 55° during the day.

We did some work in the lower pasture this week. (we really need to get better name for this area). We have been working on it off and on for over a year. We cut cedar, burned stumps, cleared briars, and general clearing. We had two fires going to burn debris so we were making good progress. This area is viewed from the big house directly below where the ranch road goes up the mountain. It does look good from the house. The deer have already been there and seem to approve.

The water temperature in the pool is 74-75° very tempting after working outside and used it to cool off, but didn't really swim.

Goats are happy, still lots of grass and I took them some good tree tops including some shumate and live oak tops. Those are their favorites.

Great Fall Weather

The weather is wonderful. Cooling off at night into the 60's and the highs are now in the 80's. The A/C will be off soon.

DW hopefully cut the grass today for the last time this season, but we thought that the last two times. The rains have been very good for the grass. The new area planted has covered so we only have one more area to establish next spring and we will have grass planted all around the house. This year we had a lot of pasture grass that invaded the planted bermuda areas. I'm not sure of the variety, but it is really growing well and fast. Good for the pasture but not so much in the lawn areas we are trying to establish. The goats are very happy.

I worked on removing stumps down in the lower pasture. So we had our first small fire of the season. When we were clearing we had 3-4 big fires a day going, but now that's probably only going to be a weekly thing this fall.

Did the pool thing for probably the last time this past weekend. Water temp was 77-78° I've been leaving the pool sweep in the pool so it's getting the frog eggs. Looks like that has now slowed down, haven't seen any for a few days. Hope so.

Deer should be happy. Cooler weather, lots of acorns, lots of grass, and corn in the feeder. The group of four rarely leave the area around the house. I've seen a lot of fawns in the mountain pasture.

All is well on Rattlesnake Mountain.

First Day of Fall

We have been away from the ranch for a while on a couple of Cruises and a California holiday (read my cruise blog if interested). My aunt and cousin again minded the ranch while we were gone. They enjoy the wildlife and like to come down so we are very lucky that they volunteer.

We had a nice rain the first week we were gone, but the second week brought Tropical Storm Hermine and we had ten inches of rain over two days. I was told it came down well and not all at once. The ranch roads were not near as bad as I thought they would be when we returned. The rain did bring out the grass. More than enough for the goats since we culled the herd before we left. There is a lot of grass. After a few days of rest we got to work repairing the roads and culverts. I hauled a lot of material from the gravel pit and filled in the road as needed. Pepino is in Mexico and he would have mowed but a safety switch on the JD tractor mower malfunctioned. After repairing the mower, actually by passing the switch ;-), it took several days to get all the grass cut. The trees are having a banner year.

Weather has been very nice. Still about 92-95° as a high, but cooling off at night.

There are a lot of acorns on the ground right now. Good for the deer. Also a lot of fall blooming plants. I still see a few Hummingbirds so they are here a little late. Cardinals and the usual are still around.

We do have something new we have have never had to deal with before: frog eggs. I thought this was a spring thing, but the frogs are depositing their eggs in the swimming pool. I've been scooping them out and putting them in the wildlife tank for the fish to eat. They look like caviar. I sat out on the patio last night during sunset and seven frogs gathered around the pool as it got dark, no telling how many frogs we have. Amazing. The frogs do like to make noise although I do find the croaking to be a nice country sound.