Day Ninety Seven...

Well, so far so good. The nuclear clock/weather station reports the temperature to be almost 42 degrees, and that means the temperature on the ground should be about 37 degrees, and that means there was no real freeze last night. Hopefully, we dodged the bullet on this one, and it will be seen as the day goes on as to whether or not we DID have a freeze. The tender new vegetation will tell us if it got below the freezing mark last night or not.

I have been sleeping relatively well for the past couple of weeks, except for this persistent hacking cough, and I think that is something that is just going around. It is not nearly as bad as it was originally, so I hope there will come a day when I realize, hmmm, I have not been coughing as much as I had been. I really think many times that we cough as a matter of habit, not just because we have something to cough about. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

We had company in the office today, Victoria (see photo, ain't she purty!) from Arizona is one of the folks that helps to make us all better at what we do, and she was in town to work us through any questions we might have about the compliance software that her company provides. It is always nice to see her, and we have a great time when she stops by our office, and makes sure we are going forward and not regressing. Ultimately, we hope to be in a paperless environment, and Vickie will help us get to that point.

Traffic yesterday and today has been okay, not great but not terrible either. I got home in time to see part of the news, and then Michael, one of our neighbors, came over to find out what areas I wanted wee treated. He came and fertilized the entire property today, and will be a weed treatment on the pastures that will be used for baling hay later in the season. AND, we may even get a little bit of rain over the weekend, so having just fertilized, I hope that will all be helpful.

Okay, so I hope you have had a wonderful day, and that it was good enough for you to share your blessings with someone else. It should always be remembered that you are lucky for all your blessings, and if you can share some of it, it will make you just that much luckier. I wish you could all be as lucky and as happy and content as I am!

Day Ninety Six...

It is windy (whatever) and cool this morning (not as cool as they were predicting) and it is supposed to be even cooler tomorrow morning. And maybe THEN that will be the last of the cool weather for this season. I think lows in the 60's and highs in the low-to-mid 80's would be just perfect for me, because for heaven's sake, I really do not like to be inconvenienced. That is so inconvenient! They are predicting a possible light freeze overnight tonight, but I hope they revise that forecast, since I really do not want to do all the stuff that would involve just for one night and then, just the possibility of a light freeze. Depending on who you believe, it could be the coldest day on record in Central Texas in April, but another prognosticator says our county (Williamson) may not even see a freeze. That is a problem when you live 50 miles from any television weather source, you are never really sure what is going to happen!

It should be a good day at work today, nothing really on my schedule, so I can play catch up, and hopefully get things started for my estimated income tax liability. That will entail entering several months worth of checks into my Quicken program, and that will take at least a day or two to accomplish.

RATTLESNAKE SACKING UPDATE: It seems the event was held this past weekend, and all I knew of it was what I saw on the two signs advertising the event. Unfortunately, there were no dates, times or locations included on the signs, so I had to look it up on the Internet. So, better planning for next year's event is called for, and maybe a little advance notice would be helpful as well. AND, maybe I should go into Taylor a little more regularly. If you are really interested, you can click on this link http://www.taylorjaycees.org/snake/index.htm and you can see details AND PHOTOS of past events. Whatever it takes to keep you informed, that is my mission!

I am absolutely, positively certain that there are hundreds of reasons for traffic accidents on our Interstate Highway Systems, one of which I AM POSITIVE is a driver taking photos of other drivers on the road. BUT REALLY! I honestly think one of the reasons could also be the total stupidity of the other drivers. Look at this truck! How long do you think the washer and dryer on a mesh-metal platform, designed to carry iced-down coolers filled with crawfish (mud-bugs if you are from Louisiana) is going to last? I predict it will be Maytag Mayhem before it gets to the county line! I will watch the evening news and the morning paper to let you know if my prediction was an accurate one. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

It was a good day at the office, and lots of work was done. It is really one of the first days in a long time that I had that luxury, and it was nice. I got some of my income tax stuff done, some Defensive Driving done, and actually some of my office work done! What a deal. This week will kind of be a short one, a full day in the office tomorrow, a couple meetings an Wednesday and an appointment at home in the late afternoon, Thursday will be a couple meetings and the office is going to see Aliens vs Monsters (at the Austin IMAX), and then Friday is Good Friday, so the office will be closing at noon, and I won't go in that day. Nice work if you can get it!

Jody made Mexican Pork Chops for diner tonight, yummy, yummy good! Big thick pork chops baked in a casserole with lots of rice, and onions, tomatoes and green peppers on the top. Like I said, yummy, yummy, yummy!

So, go make a good dinner for yourself, and always make enough to share. You never know who might drop by unexpectedly, and you need to be prepared. And if you have something left over, it would not hurt you to call someone up and ask them over for a quick bite!

Day Ninety Five...

Jody and I picked up some butterfly iris yesterday afternoon on our adventures, and we will get them planted this morning. Otherwise, I am thinking this will be a relatively calm day. I think we will get in the car and head out somewhere like we used to...just point the car and see where we end up. I expect I will include a photo or two in this entry, but I am not sure I will be able to beat the photo from yesterday. The cattle will need to be fed later this afternoon, and one of the neighbors is supposed to come by and talk about fertilizing and weeding the pastures, so I guess there are a few things that need to be accomplished, but I do not think there will be any box openings!

The winds are supposed to shift and be out of the north later this afternoon, and the temperatures are supposed to cool down for a couple days. Lows tonight are expected to be in the 30's and highs tomorrow and Tuesday are only supposed to be in the 60's. So far, our spring has been pretty nice, but we could still use all the rain you can send us. I know when it gets hot, it will be hot for a long time! I believe we are going to convert the pool into a salt water pool, so it will generate its' own chlorine and it is supposed to be better on the skin. AND I intend to spend a lot of time in the pool this summer. When we bought this house, that was one of the things I really wanted, a pool. So, there you have it...

So, we are back from our adventures and as you can see, we went through the towns (burgs, communities, wide-places-in-the-road) of Red Ranger and Zabcikville. I have never heard of either one of those, and I was really disappointed in Red Ranger. First, I did not see a single ranger, and second, I saw nothing really red about the place. Zabcikville was a bigger someplace actually, at the junction of County Roads 437 and 153 (I think), and it had lots of nice houses and what looked to be an old city hall type of structure. Further on up CR 153 we came to a city named Seaton (or maybe Seatonville), just before we took the road to Oscar, and there was a wind generator just a generating up a storm. It looks like the same type of generator that we are having put on the farm, so I am thinking of looking it up later to see if it is so. Anyway, that was fun to see like minded folks in Seaton (or Seatonville).

So, the cattle have been fed, the butterfly irises have been planted, lunch has been consumed and Jody is taking a nap. Life is exquisite. We have no idea where we will be going for dinner tonight, but it will be the perfect ending to this perfect (albeit really windy) day. So, why don't you see what you can do today for the environment? It is not really that hard...just go change out a light bulb or two to the compact fluorescent type (or better yet, change a couple to the LED lights, even more energy efficient). Or maybe you could just do a better job of recycling. If I can carry my recycling into Austin, you can separate your cans and paper and plastic. It will do the planet good!

Day Ninety Four...

Purple Martins! We have Purple Martins, too! About a month ago, I finally got the second Purple Martin house up, but I thought we were most likely too late in the season to attract any Purple Martins for this season. Jody and I were sitting out by the pool last night, watching the hummingbirds fight over the feeder, and low-and-behold, there were Purple Martins swooping in and around the two houses we put up back towards the pastures. I love the sounds the Martins make, and I love watching them fly around and circle around overhead. The fact that they eat mosquitoes is not a bad thing either. Just one more reason to love them! We had lots of wildlife at the old farm, one thing I miss a little bit (but not a lot) is squirrels. Squirrels can be pretty darn entertaining, BUT they can really play havoc with the bird feeders, so a little bit of squirrel action can go a long way. Now if it is barn swallows you are looking for, look no further...we have plenty, and they are obviously of the Catholic faith, because they do not believe in contraception. They are multiplying at a frenzied pace. I actually think they have two broods per season, and there are not wasting any time about it. They have nests in every possible corner under every eave of the house. Once they go away later this spring, we will remove the mud nests and paint the ceilings of the eaves a lovely sky blue color, hoping to deter them from another season of connubial bliss.

One thing I really miss from the old farm is the woodpecker. We had a woodpecker there that would come and jump down the side of one of the trees and get drinks of water. I liked looking at that old guy, but there do not seem to be any woodpeckers around here. Also, we do not seem to have any painted buntings here. They were truly beautiful birds, but so far I have not seen any in this area. I will keep a watchful eye open for any sightings, and report back to you.

The yard maintenance guy just left, and he will be back on Wednesday or Thursday to finish up (yeah, whatever). So far today, I have emptied a couple boxes that we brought into the house last week, scooped dog poop from the BIG DOG's yard, re-arranged a little bit of furniture, trimmed an Oleander at the side of the house, and cut back most of one of the palms by the pool. It is already putting up new fronds, so we want it all pretty for spring. And it is not even 9:30 AM. I wonder what the rest of the day will bring? I am anxious about the wind energy guy coming to do the evaluation...

He showed up late, but everything worked out. I handed over a bunch of money, and in about 35 days we will be doing our best to harness wind energy to reduce our carbon footprint. I think that alone will put us head-and-shoulders above many in the effort to prevent global warming and the wasting of our resources. I hope so anyway. As always, I will keep you informed as we progress.

I have no real idea if anyone reads these daily entries or not, but it certainly does keep me amused. It is like, I try to find things that are interesting, things that we otherwise would just either drive by or walk past and not pay any attention to it. Today's photo is one of those things. It seems the Taylor Jaycees are going to have a rattle snake sacking contest, although no dates or times were included on the signage. I can hardly wait! I guess I have lived a relatively sheltered life, but I have never been to a rattle snake sacking contest, not a local one or a national one. So, I hoe I do not become too jaded by attending a national contest before I have actually paid my dues and worked my way through the local circuits. We shall see...

So, be kind to yourself and to others, and it will come back to you. And if you see any rattlesnakes along the way, advise them to steer clear of Taylor!

Day Ninety Three...

I had a meeting at the Williamson County Board of REALTORS this morning at 10 AM, (this is a photo of their brand new digs, just opened less than a month) so I got things off to a very leisurely start, and managed to get a lot of things accomplished before I had to lease for reality! I actually got the pool cleaned pretty well after all the leaves blew in from the gale force winds we had yesterday, and watched the cat chase a bunny rabbit from the office window. She came into the house shortly after that, so I can only assume that she did not catch the bunny. Life is good, and I was off to start the business day.

I finally got to the office about 1 PM, and got some stuff accomplished, and just a few hours later, I am getting ready to go home for the weekend. I am really excited because we have appointments tomorrow with the landscaper (who started working about three weeks ago, and is still not finished BUT he has not presented a bill, either) AND the wind energy person from Dallas. They are supposed to do a site survey, and tell us what our options are. I am very excited about that. The power at the house actually went out yesterday, and if we had the wind turbines working, we would not even have known the power went out. The winds were gusting up over 50 miles per hour, and that is pretty darn unusual for winds to be that strong, but not unusual for then to be 15-20 miles per hour most of the time. So, I hope we are good candidates for the wind turbines. I will let you all know how it turns out.

I just found out there is a city wide garage sale in Bartlett tomorrow, and I am strongly considering attending. Like I don't have enough crap around the house already. What am I thinking? Oh yeah, stimulation of the economy is the most important thing right now, spend, spend, spend! So, hopefully there will be some good crap to go along with my other good crap, and my HUGE storage shed full of really good crap. I cannot help myself, I obviously like crap!

The pool is warming up nicely, and soon I think it should be warm enough to enjoy, rather than cold enough to go into shock. I think I will try it out this weekend again, just to see how long I can stand it.

Have a great evening, or the rest of what ever part of the day you can enjoy where ever you are and what ever time it is. Go do something nice for someone, and there is no real need to hurry it up, there is plenty of time.

Day Ninety Two...

There was a quick, loud and bright storm that came through early this morning, about 4AM, and it was interesting to 'see' the lightning, even though my eyes were closed trying to ignore it. And then there was the thunder, and then the sound of the sheets of rain hitting the roof and the windows. And then there was the dog in his casa barking, not sure if he is afraid of thunder and/or lightning, or if he was just trying to get our attention. Anyway, I managed to stay under the covers and did not get out of bed until about 5:30 AM, which is really kind of good for me.

It had stopped raining when I walked out to get the paper, but there was still lightning off in the distance, and it was really kind of pretty. The coyotes were pretty active all around as well, I could hear them in the distance, and I could hear one in the pasture next door, although, even with shining my flashlight around, I never was able to spot him or her. Sometimes when I shine the flashlight into the pasture, I can see the reflection of their eyes. The closest I have been is about 100 feet...I assume I am too big for them to mess with, and that is okay with me. They might also think that my flashlight is one big eyeball, and they would just as soon not investigate any further.

Hopefully this will be a quiet day in the office, and I can start playing catch-up with things that have been put off for a while. Meals-on-Wheels is on the schedule, as is a trip to Home Depot for a couple items...some special light bulbs for one of the properties we manage and some zinnias (if they have any in stock) for one of the beds in the back by the pool. I know zinnias are not native and may require more water than we would like, but they are big and colorful and showy and I like them and so does Jody. They are easy to maintain, and they last a long time. And did I mention they are big and bright and showy? Just my kind of flowering plant!

Today came and went pretty much in a blur, it was really kind of over even before it started. We had our usual Thursday morning Property Management meeting in the office, then it was off to do Meals-On-Wheels, and then a couple errands, then some office paper work, then I had to leave at about 3PM for another set of errands and then on to a 4:30 PM appointment, and then home. Whew!

When I got home, I fed the cattle and took the photo in today's entry. I love that photo, three great big cow butts! Perfect! Can you pick Mr. Speckles out of the crowd? All the cattle were happy to have some feed, and the little boy calf was not even paying any attention to me or his mama or the other cattle in his pasture, he was totally absorbed with the other calves in the adjoining pasture. Our neighbor has about three or four new calves, so our little boy was more interested in them than anything else. He obviously needs someone to play with.

So, basically, life is very good here, and I am headed into the kitchen for another Popsicle. I think it would be a good thing if you were able to locate someone who needed a kind word or deed. Any small kindness towards another creature (human or otherwise) will be rewarded. You shall see.

Day Ninety One...

We saw the first hummingbird of the season last night in the garden, feasting on some salvia out by the pool...accompanied by a bunny rabbit...but that is a good sign. So, I put a shepherds hook out close to the salvia, and this afternoon, Jody filled one of the humming bird feeders with some nectar, and we should be ready to go now. We have another feeder that we think we will put in the front of the house, so we can watch for hummers as we sit in the office. It will be nice to cultivate some hummingbirds...my opinion is, 'if you feed them, they will come'. It worked last year at the other farm in Bastrop County, I see no reason why it should not work here. We ended up with about 8 regular visitors to the feeder there, and it is really a lot of fun to watch them zoom in and out.

Today my classes went really well (the proof will be in the evaluations), but all seemed to enjoy the classes, and there was a good bit of positive feed-back. I was surprised that there were over forty students in each of the classes, so I was very pleased with the turnout. It is the first of the month, so it is not the case that a lot of folks were there because their licenses expire in five days...I think most of them had a genuine interest in the subject, and that made it good.

I got home about 445 PM this afternoon, and since I had no lunch today (that happens a lot when I am teaching, we left for Jody's birthday dinner a little earlier than usual. We are true creatures of habit, very methodical, and on any given day, you can pretty much believe we are following our normal routines. We went to Mimi's Cafe for dinner in Round Rock, and it was very good. We both like the food there, and of course we brought some home to enjoy at another time. Don't get me started again on leftovers...

On the way home, we stopped at the Chevrolet Dealer in Georgetown, and I wanted to see if they had any information on the new Chevy Volt that is supposed to debut in 2010, or if they were taking names for a list when they are offered for sale. You would have thought I had just landed in a space ship in the parking lot...they had no information and they were not taking names or reservations for the cars...Well, it will be 2010 before you know it, and with the situation the car makers are in these days, I would have thought someone might have broached this subject with them, but I was wrong. The salesperson at the dealer was certainly not at all accommodating, and I wonder if that behavior has come down from the top, and if that has contributed in any way to their challenges they face currently. Oh well, there are other dealers, and I can ask them the same question at a later date.

So now we are all pretty much settled in for the evening, and life is good, we both have full tummies, and I am about to have a Popsicle. See if you cannot find it in your psyche to go and do something nice for someone tonight or early in the morning. It is always nice to do something for someone else, and I really think it will all come back to you in the end. Have fun!