Partying At The Feeder

Bandit and his group of partying raccoons continue to enjoy the bounty at the feeder!  Everyone benefits from his climbing skills and showmanship!

The deer who are more reserved and dignified, are staying away from the raucous atmosphere!  I thought this was a DEER FEEDER! 

Visitors

We have a nice collection of Visitors at the feeders.  Amazingly they even seem to tolerate each other to a degree...

Then those with less than honorable intentions show up...

The "table" empties pretty fast!!!  I have to say, that I am tickled that we have these rascals around.  If they take down one of their "meat sources" occasionally, I can live with that.
We still are waiting for our big "capture," the elusive cougar!  When we get it, we'll post it
 

And There Are Deer At The Feeders

Even though I have shown the raccoon parties taking place at the feeders, deer are also coming in for a corn snack.

"Howdy!"

I see this big boy often.  I think he's the biggest deer I've seen this year at the feeders.  The battles for the girls are also going on.  We have lots of activity!

Farmers

It has taken us a while to get here, but we are finally farmers.

  Here's Peg shredding...

 
The new pickup truck...

Modern version of a cow pony...

AND a barn...

Bandit's Party

As fate would have it, Bandit told his friends about the "abundance" at the deer feeder...  They partied hardie!!!

If you look closely at the bottom picture with the raccoon on the far right, you will see his tummy is about ready to explode.  Yes they know how to party!

Deer Feeder?

One of our chores recently was to set up the deer feeders.  We have moved the protein feeder up close to the house because of the cows knocking it over all the time.  Every morning I see deer around this feeder; lots of deer!  The only actual visitor is this little guy...

Thank goodness he's able to reach in and get what he needs.  I don't know if it would be possible without the help of the "block".  I've named him Bandit!

Emergency Surgery

Driving out yesterday morning we were shocked to see one of our two pecan trees not just bent over, but broken midway at the trunk.  What could have caused such destruction?  The winds have been low and no grandchildren have been around lately...  I noticed that the six pecans were gone and determined that either a squirrel or large bird of some kind had sat on its upper most branch and caused the break.  So we taped the trunk backed together and reinforced it like a broken arm or leg. Looking at the top of the tree this morning, it appears that the leaves at the top have not shriveled; a sign we may have saved it.

 As this is one of two pecan trees that form the basis of our future pecan grove, we are hopeful it will make a full recovery.  This tough little tree produced at least six-seven pecans this year!  We don't want to start over.  On the other hand, those pecans may have contributed to its current condition!

Hurricane Harvey

How did Harvey impact us?  Well, we ended up with over eight inches of rain.  Normally we get a big rainfall like that within a 2-3 hour period.  Thankfully the rains were moderate to light over a 48 hour period.  The result was all the water was mostly absorbed.  What didn't get sucked up by the thirsty soil, drained into our three tanks.

When I took these pictures (24 hours after the rain stopped here), there was still some run-off occurring.

We dodged the 52+/- inch rains Houston got.  The impact from Harvey in this part of Central Texas was some much needed beneficial rain.  Rain in August is always good!

Meet Flag

We have experienced some sad times after loosing a calf about three weeks ago.  But today I am happy to show a picture of Flag the newest arrival.

I'm not sure if Flag is a girl or a boy at this time.  I am just happy to have a great picture of the little guy!  His mama has kept him/her well hidden.  It took 4 days of looking around the pasture before I finally have proof all is well.  Sweet sweet!

Strange Vegetables

We were surprised to harvest a few vegetables from the garden today.  I think the three inch rain we had on Monday gave a bit of life to our dead garden.  What is strange are the vegetables we harvested and their sizes in relation to each other.

What do I mean?  Well, we would expect the watermelon on the left to be the biggest...  Yet both squashes are bigger.  I don't think this is a seedless watermelon either...  Maybe two melon balls out of this specimen!

New Calves

I know these cows are not ours, but a baby is a baby!  In the last ten days, three calves have been born.  July arrived one morning after a little rain shower.  What I mean by that is, her proud mama led him out of the trees to join the herd at that moment when the rain shower was ending.

July loves to run ahead of his mama, then wait for her to catch up.  
A couple mornings later, just as the sun was hitting the pasture, Sunshine and his mama joined the herd.  This little guy has had a big adventure.  He got to ride on the Go Buggy when he was separated from the herd a couple mornings after his birth.

 That adventure has made him stick closer to his mama and she's keeping him on a tighter "leash."

Three mornings ago, I was watching a giant flock of blackbirds and cowbirds, when I noticed a mama laying down.  I thought this was strange and if she had laid there much longer, I was going to call the owner.  She stood up, something was hanging below her tail, and then a baby was born!  It was too amazing!  Of course I named this little guy, Birdie.

These three little guys are slowly getting to know each other.  One or more of their mamas are watching them all the time.

The older calves in the herd hang out together, are starting to eat grass, and are acting more like teenagers instead of babies.  But for now, we have these three little fellows to watch and enjoy.

Forward

Completion of the new fencing was another step toward the goal of becoming cattle ranchers.  I think there might be some kind of cow and acreage numbers where you actually become "cattle ranchers." Since I don't know what those numbers are, I guess we're cattle ranchers (some term that describes extremely small numbers of both would be more accurate??)  Anyways, this bit of fencing has been completed.  The guy who rents the rest of our pasture was allowed to run his cows in this new area so the old hay grazer plants would be eaten down.  We've had the area shredded once and we mowed once.  It took the big tractor with the large shredder about 20 minutes and us 10+ hours mowing once. Still the old hay grazer was continuing to grow back and take over; so we thought the cows might enjoy something different.

It was good to see that it took the cows longer to eat the hay grazer down than it took us to mow it!  I enjoyed seeing the calves up close too.
There is always a down side...  Red, the bull, decided to show off in front of the girls and knocked down our protein feeder.  It didn't have any food in it; he was just showing off his muscles for the girls.  Red has been doing the same thing where we have the deer feeder set up.  It is getting old!

We've spent our weekends lately spraying brush and mesquite.  The mesquite seems to continue to out pace our attempts to kill it!  What a hardy tree!

More Fencing

We have put off installing this new bit of fencing because we were afraid of loosing our view into the pasture.  Although, as I look at it now, there's a baby live oak right in the middle.  At any rate, we have finally installed this new fencing.

Well they finished the work this morning and as I look out, there are very few visual obstacles.  We can live comfortably with what we've done I think.

Next we plan to tackle building our barn/shed.  I can almost hear the property tax people smacking their lips as they prepare to sweep in to get their "pound of flesh!"

RIP Beulah

Beulah, full of goodness and sweetness, recently passed after a short struggle with cancer.  Her loving spirit and laid back demeanor were always appreciated.

On walks, she "sashayed" ahead happily, stopping occasionally to sniff.  If she crossed an interesting scent, the chase was on!  Beulah loved living in the country and assumed a "watch dog" position as she surveyed her territory for intruders.

Though a hound in every respect, she originated the "Beulah Ears" hair style adopted by her two legged friends and admirers.

She lived her life modeling the true meaning of what it means to be a loving and loyal friend.  We miss her greatly and have her in our hearts forever.