Busy At The Farm

As we drove in, this guy greeted us.  I believe it is a grass/garter snake.  When he figured out what we were about, he turned around and headed for the weeds.  We didn't have as good of luck up by the house.  Rooster jumped out of the car and immediately found a dead snake the construction guys had killed several days earlier.  How could he miss it?  It was unbelievably smelly which is always the draw for him.  Rooster rolled all over the carcass then ran over to announce his good fortune.  Geez did he smell!!  So I covered up the beast so it would be off limits and we headed for the tank for a bath.

It was like the stink lit Rooster's fire and he was wild and crazy!

 Finally enough of that wicked smell was washed off and he settled down.

In the mean time, Beulah looked on in disbelief.  Thankful that she was not a part of such unladylike behavior.  I also believe she knew Rooster would not get off so easily.  There was no doubt in her mind that he would see a bathtub when we hit the city (which he of course did).

With most of the stench gone, we headed for the deer feeder to change out the game cam.  The solar panel continues to get knocked around by the racoons.  Hoping to get some pictures of the racoons soon??!

We

We looked at the area beyond the feeder that was under water during the rains of last fall and only a puddle remains.  This area needs some rain as the crops are in the fields.

Then we headed up to the house to see what had been done.  This first picture is of the wall studs before the insulation is installed.

 The pictures below show what the insulation looks like "blown" in.

Very interesting stuff!  We were shocked at how quiet the house was.  Hopefully we have increased our energy efficiency many times with this stuff.  The grandkids arrived later and carried around huge chucks of it and pretended to open an ice cream shop.  As pictured, the sheet rock is here and it will be installed this next week.

We worked on some brush and looked for fire ant mounds to treat.  Ryan arrived and met with the trim carpenter and mason.  A lovely day by all accounts.

Spring Has Sprung!

You know spring has sprung when you drive along Texas highways and families are stopping along the roadways to get their pictures taken in the bluebonnet fields.  After some arm twisting, I stopped and took a few pictures...

 A quick kiss!

Well, hopefully we have adequately captured the season. 

We had our big framing and systems check this past week.  Nothing major so that was good.  Trades are making corrections in anticipation of the insulation and sheet rock installation which is suppose to happen at the end of this week. 

We picked up trash around the house for a while.  We really want to get as much of the nails/screws and metal pieces so we don't have to find them in our tires, etc. in the future.  
Made a short sweep of game cams, tank, etc. so the dogs could run and we could put ant bait on active fire ant mounds.  I have to say it was difficult to find many ant mounds, and I think that says a lot for how well we are addressing this problem.

Rooster was in and out of the water and Beulah was sunning!

I plan to take my camera in for some repairs so there may be few pictures in the coming weeks.  I have asked Peg to assume this job with her fancy cell phone camera.  Maybe we will even get a word or two from her!

Just Another Saturday

We got caught in some construction in downtown Dallas on our way to the farm.  Between 6-7 AM we moved maybe 100 feet.  It threw the dogs all off as they have the trip pretty well timed with a potty break at the Loop in Temple.  So we ended up stopping in West at Slovaceks.  Wow, not only was the doggie potty area nice but so was the human's!
After arriving, we loaded the deer feeder.  The weeds were something else and the dogs were not happy with the reduced visibility.  They stayed close so they knew where we were.

If you look at Beulah's brow, you can see how stressful she thinks it is.  We need to get in and shred these weeds!

Then we headed up to the house...

 View from pasture during our walk

Another view from the pasture

The roof is on and the exterior has a coat of paint.  Yeah!  

Then we headed to the front gate to brush cut the weeds there.  What a miserable job!  A job that should have taken a few minutes with the right equipment, took an hour and a half! 

After a quick lunch, we headed out for a walk with the dogs to the tank.  Rooster ran way out in front to do some swimming before we got there.  Beulah was more interested in the smells and participating in the leisurely walk with her humans.  Once there, she found a soft spot in the grass to rest and enjoy the sunshine.

A fairly nice day overall, though windy.  In theory, we have our big inspection on Monday.  If all is well, the insulation and sheet rock will be installed the following week. 

Winter versus Spring

This week the seasons continued their battle.  It was cloudy, breezy, cool to cold, with threats of rain every day.  Today was no different.  My hopes for a lot getting done on the house this week were not realized.  Yes, though a major portion of the exterior got a coat of paint, it was not completed. 
When we arrived, the roofers had just gotten there to begin working.  The metal for the roof is in these rolls.  The sheets go through a machine and are crimped and cut to fit right on whatever portion of the roof they go on.  The man working the machine said there is little waste this way.

It is a very interesting process.  Once they get the sheets cut, they start installing them.  Below is a series of pictures I took over the course of the day.

 My first picture of the day.

At this point, it was about 4:00 and they were winding down for the day.  We were told that they would be back on Monday and finish on Tuesday.  We'll see...

We also walked around changing game cams and letting the dogs run.  Lots of wild flowers out.  Rooster "in the weeds" checking out how well his allergy medications are working!  Peg wanted a picture in the bluebonnets with the dogs.

We checked out the new front gate for heavy farm equipment.

We were also interested in the finished fence our neighbors put in.  First we were amazed that most of their brush piles had been burned.  So organized!

 Nice looking fence too.

We are hopeful everyone gets with it this week so we can get down this ever so long road!