A Busy September

Tres Colinas on the road less graveled

I said I would try to blog more frequently but I've been pretty busy this month. 

Patiently waiting in line to buy Kolaches

 First, we had the Kolache Festival.  It was the same weekend as the Texas A&M-Alabama Football game so the attendance was less than the typical 12,000-15,000.  Still, there was a big crowd and lots of Kolaches to sample.  I may have said this before but Caldwell was originally a Czech settlement and this festival celebrates that heritage.  It began with the singing of the National Anthem, the Texas State Song (also known as the Texas National Anthem-I like the sound of that) and finally the Czechoslovakian National Anthem.  Then you lined up to buy Kolaches.

Kolaches bagged up for sale

Personally, I went for the raspberry, blackberry, poppy seed and key lime (like a summertime party in your mouth they claimed) versions of the Czech pastry.  I had to stand in line for an hour but it was worth it.  There were also lots of arts and crafts as is typical of festivals like this all over Texas (every town seems to have some type of festival during the summer).  All are centered around some type of food (sausage, fish, beef, etc.) and/or some form of arts and crafts.  It gives us something to do instead of drink beer all the time. 

 My next big event was attending an A&M football game.  I've attended college games in several different stadiums and they all have their traditions and unique spin on how to support their football team.  After visiting Kyle field, I don't think anyone beats the Aggies.  They have the Corp of Cadets that march in and sit together, they have a military style band that plays military march songs (kind of like watching Ben Hur, Patton and a couple of WWII movies at the same time) while executing precise military march movements across the field, they have cheers led by Yell Leaders (all male) who use hand signals to tell you what to cheer (this is why they have midnight yell practice the Friday before each game), the students stand the entire game (this indicates their readiness to respond if called on to play-hence the 12th man concept, they yell "Whoop" after each first down and high five each other around the stadium with each touchdown, you kiss your date after each score, they play their fight song a couple of times and everyone sings it while swaying arm-in-arm (some schools play their fight song ad nauseam) and finally (this really wasn't an all inclusive list) the Corp members chase, catch and throw the Yell Leaders in the campus fishpond after a victory.  Between these activities and getting to watch Johnny (Football) Manziel, it was one of the best college football games I've attended (Gig'm Aggies!).

 

 

Foundation

Either side of these events I started building a well house.  I needed it to get the sun off the water tank (we essentially had hot water all the time without a water heater) and to protect the pump wiring from the dogs (who decided it was chewable).  I'd never built a building before so it was trial and error.  I built it on pier blocks to make it easy to level and because I didn't need it to have a floor.  Then I added the walls, roof joists and the siding (I also anchored it to the ground with anchor rods and straps.  Sounds simple enough but there were several "learning opportunities" at every step.  I also hadn't worked with sheet metal and learned (the hard way) a few tricks on how to handle it.  I plan to add some white trim to the door and as the shed is 8'x12' will also build some tool storage inside.  With that experience behind me, I'm ready to start on the chicken coop in a couple of weeks (have to let those metal splinter cuts heal first).   

 

Walls up

 

 

Essentially finished well house

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While all of this was going on, we were finishing the tank (pond) digging process.  The digging was completed on a Thursday afternoon and at that point it had about 2' of water from the spring seepage.  It rained 2.5" the next day which recharged the spring resulting in about 5' of water in the tank within two days.  The spring ran for another day or two and then stopped but started again the next Thursday when it rained another 2".  The spring has continued to flow into the tank filling it to overflow.  I planted both ryegrass seed and Tifton 85 sprigs and both have begun to grow with the rains.  This all happened so fast I felt like I was watching the Genesis Project (old Star Trek movie) come to life. 



Finished Digging (you can see Mattie on the right bank waiting for water)

"Where's the water you promised me I could play in?"

 

Add water and instant tank!

Hauling the granddaughters around the Fair

We wrapped up September with the Burleson County Fair.  I'll have to admit being a bit disappointed in the animal showing portion of the fair.  I expected (or at least wanted) to see a variety of breeds of cows, goats, sheep and chickens but that isn't how they do it.  There were some different breeds of cows but everything else was the same breed and color.  I don't know if this makes the judging easier or is considered a level playing field for the competitive entrants.  It was interesting to see the auction held after the judging is finished.  The top five in each category (chickens, rabbits, steers, goats, pigs, lambs, etc.) are auctioned to the highest bidder with the proceeds going to the child (typically a 4-H member) who raised the animal.  It's not unusual to see these animals sell for tens of thousands of dollars.  The buyer views it as marketing expense and a tax right-off and the seller gets a leg up on college tuition.  In total, the fair raised over $1.5 million from ticket sales and this auction (pretty impressive for a rural county).  Of course they had all the rides and fair food (red velvet funnel cake was one of Pam's favorites). 

 

The heifers are doing well (eating grass and adding weight) but we lost one of the cats.  Miss Kitty (the white one with grey spots) disappeared one day and hasn't returned.  That leaves us with the odd couple of Lilly and Matt.  They seem happy with their surroundings and Lilly captured and killed a gopher last week.  Fall arrived on the heels of a norther Saturday evening so the morning temps are in the low 50's with daytime highs in the low-mid 80's.  We are seeing several deer around the tank but haven't seen any hogs since all the tank digging started.  I expect them back any day.

 

Finally, I will end with this picture of Shane.  I said in one of my first blogs that I planned to use the dogs as a deterrent against wild hog interventions in the garden.  It's obvious that Shane took his training very seriously as he literally is using his body to protect a pile of dirt in the garden.  With that kind of dedication, the garden should be safe.