What's Up

Tres Colinas-on the road less graveled

What's Up

It's been a while since I last blogged.  We had computer problems that lasted about two months and it's been a busy time.  The house was finished and we spent a hard 2-3 weeks getting moved in.  We still have 10-12 boxes and some furniture in the barn but don't have anyplace for them in the house.  Our house in Knoxville was considerably larger and we have a lot of "stuff" that simply won't go in the new house.  It's hard to have a yard sale in the middle of nowhere so not sure how we will deal with the leftovers.  I do plan to have my barn for other things so something has to give.  I will say that we had an excellent building experience with Tilson Homes and would recommend them to anyone building a home in Texas.  Here are three views of the house.

 

 

I will do some landscaping this fall.  Planting trees and shrubs at the beginning of a Texas summer is a recipe for disaster (unless you want to water every other day for five months). 



 Bluebonnets

Indian Paintbrushes

We had a good wildflower season with both Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes being very showy.  This is a pretty typical scene on many county roads in central Texas.  The State tries to enforce a "no roadside parking" law to reduce wrecks but people stop to take pictures anyway (I may be on the most wanted list myself).

 

 

 

Learning to eat cat food.

We had our first births on the farm in April with the arrival of six kittens.  They were born in the barn in the top bucket in a pile of black plastic buckets.  They outgrew that in a week or so and Lilly moved them all to a larger bucket.  They stayed there for five more weeks.  Lilly has been an excellent mother, getting the kittens to six weeks with no problems.  At that time, she moved them all from the bucket to the floor of one of the barn sheds.  They are now venturing out to explore a bit.  Two are them are almost identical and one of our neighbors will be taking them in a couple of weeks.  I guess we'll keep the other four along with Matt and Lilly.  Matt doesn't spend much time with us.  He has other pursuits that take him away for days at a time.  He wanders back looking thinner and often with a few new scratches.  Love is painful.

Checking out the outside world (under a watchful eye).

Home, home on the range.

 

The cattle are doing well since we finally got some rain.  We had a dry period from February to May and until the last two weeks were about eight inches below average rainfall for the year.  Thankfully, we've had about seven inches of rain in May and the grass is growing again.  That seems to be the rain pattern for central Texas.  No rain for extended periods then several days of heavy thunderstorms.  Reminds me of the man in west Texas who when asked how much it rained there replied, "Eleven inches a year".  The questioner responded, "That's not very much."  To which the Texan answered, "Nope but you should be here on the day it comes."  Most if not all of the cattle will have calves early this fall.  My plan now is to sell them at weaning time.  I've got to get a corral with a squeeze and loading chute built sometime this summer to make working them easier. 

We finally got chickens in mid-May.  One of the largest hatcheries in the country is about 10 miles north of us, so we placed our order and picked them up on May 12.  I built a brooder box with some of the left-overs from the house construction.  Chicks have to be kept warm (around 95 degrees the first week) dropping 5 degrees per week until they grow feathers.  They also have to be protected from predators such as snakes.  We put heat lamps in the brooder box and have it in the barn for now.  They'll be ready to go the coop and pen in a few more weeks as the outside temperature will be well within their range of tolerance.  We got 26 chicks (Ameracaunas, Black Sex-Linked, Production Reds, Leghorns, Silver Wyandottes and Buff Orpingtons- you can see that we embrace diversity at Tres Colinas).  That should give us a good mix of white, brown and green eggs.  I didn't expect all of them to survive but at the 2 week point all are doing well.  Of course, they haven't met the dogs yet (more on that below).  When they start producing eggs this fall, we'll be looking for people wanting eggs. 

A box of day old chicks

Checking out their new home in the brooder box.

 

 We also got some Guineas, mainly for pest control.  Guineas are known for their stupidity but do a good job eating grasshoppers, ticks and other bugs and they excel as an early warning system.  They emit a loud series of rapid clucks anytime anything unusual is going on near them such as stray dogs, snakes, hawks or other visitors.  They roam the farm during the day scouring the ground for bugs and roost in a tree at night.  Unfortunately, they are easy prey for Owls who (can see better at night) knock them out of the tree and kill them when they hit the ground.  One got cornered and caught by our dogs.  Pam looked out the window around dusk and saw Shane loping across the yard with a guinea in his mouth.  She yelled and he dropped it.  Fortunately, he has a lot of Lab in him (they have soft mouths for retrieving) and all the guinea suffered was the loss of a few feathers.  I hope they can survive and stick around for the reasons I listed above.  They do lay occasional eggs which are considered a delicacy but you have to hunt for the eggs.  They are terrible mothers, laying eggs wherever they are at that moment and forgetting to go back and hatch them.

Guineas busily searching for bugs to eat.

 
 

A 24" Redfish caught near Hackberry,

 I did find a day to go fishing in Louisiana for Redfish with Pam's Dad and Brother.  We caught our limit and had a big fish fry the next weekend.  It's not Trout fishing in a stream but it was fun enough.

Can you see the wires holding her in this position?

Pam has started teaching Yoga/fitness again.  She teaches a couple of classes per week at an assisted living facility in Bryan (she loves teaching yoga and water aerobics to eighty-year-olds) and ten or twelve yoga classes at the Yoga Pod in College Station.  I am busy enough with the animals and trying to get the garden to produce something.  The drought has been tough plus our soil still needs improving.  With the manure the cows and chickens will produce it should be in better shape next year.  I may throw some mushroom dirt in the mix to add a little more texture for moisture retention.   

 

OK, that should catch you up to date.  I'll try to blog again soon.