Hopeful plantings...

Due to rising costs, I decided to try my hand at a crop.  My crop is trees.  After the drought from a couple of years ago, we have lost and continue to loose trees.  An arborist said Texas will loose a very high percentage of trees (70%+/-) over the next several years as a result of that drought.  Planting whole trees is too expensive so have decided to plant acorns.  I am planting oaks: Burr Oak, Red Oak, and Shumard Oak.  I have been collecting acorns the last week or so and have "classified" them as follows:

Admittedly the "classification" is not scientific other than to say those acorns identified as small, medium, and large have leaves that are turning a bright red right now.  So maybe an unofficial ID of Red Oak might be best.
Peg and I planted close to a hundred and are hoping we get a 5-10% success rate.  Both of us dreamed out loud that it would be cool if in 20-25 years we are walking around the farm and see all the red leaves of those trees!
One of the reasons I decided to get with the planting is central Texas has gotten a lot of rain in the last week or so.  Maybe 10 inches or more.  The ground is wet and there is more rain forecast for next week. 
Pictured below is another tank on the farm which usually has only about a foot of water in it's small "bowl".  You can see that the water has spread out into the trees and pasture.

Our pond/tank is as full as we've ever seen it also.

When we headed out to go to Salado by the "quicker" back road, we encountered the low water crossing filled with water.

We have never seen water over this roadway.  Maybe it shows that we are going into wetter weather  conditions which may help our acorns.

Oct 20th weekend

See below an amazing photo of two fawns playing in parallel at the feeder.

See the fawns prior to their display.

Off on the left of the picture we installed a dog and people gate as the dogs would not cross over the cattle guard.

We do get an occasional buck at the feeder.

We have recently gotten a good bit of rain in our pond which you can now see from the hill close to where we are building.  The field is plowed now & ready to plant winter wheat.

Today At The Farm We...

Today at the farm we dodged a storm.  Well maybe we didn't dodge it; it just arrived after we had left.  So we got with our chores...  The first being to fill the deer feeder.  If you wave a feed bag in front of a cow or they hear the rattle of the bag, they arrive for an expected handout.  As we unloaded the corn from the car, the cows arrived.

Including this cute little guy... (I've known some bald men who would die to have his rug!)

 

 

We filled the feeder and left with the feed bags flapping.  Well, several followed us back to the car while the rest looked for goodies on the ground.

 

 

 

Then we headed up to the building site.  We were excited to see that Bartlett Electric had tied us into their line so in theory we have electricity.

 





Then spent some time walking around pouring ant killer on the fire ants and picking up trash.  Under a huge piece of rotting cardboard, we spotted this little guy.  I let it be known that he was always welcome, but not in the house.  "Entry into the house means a quick trip to your maker!"

After all the activity, Beulah decided it was time for her late morning nap.  Her late morning nap was

followed by her midday nap, followed by her early afternoon nap...  Being well rested is important to Beulah.
We spent the rest of the day cutting mesquite and working on the brush piles.  As we headed home, we were happy that we missed the rain and got so much done.

"Farmers" At Work

We have been waiting for the cooler weather since May.  Now it is here, though the temperature will hit the middle 80s today.  With things "cooling off," our pep returns and we hit the ground running.

 

Here we are clearing out mesquite, cleaning brush, and removing abandoned barbed wire.  We are farmers!!! 
Notice the new equipment...
I know it looks like we know what we're doing, but we are just fumbling through in hopes of learning how to be farmers as we go along.  All informed suggestions are welcome.  And the equipment, well it's all battery operated because we couldn't navigate how to use the gas versions with their chokes, etc.  All we need to know now is how to remove, charge, and replace the batteries, then turn "it" on.  How simple is that???
Removing old barbwire is more problematic.  We have tried a couple different wire cutters but we don't have the strength in our hands to cut it.  So will head back to the hardware store to find something else. 

The Slab

A beautiful day at the farm....

Then clouds moved in as a front approached.  After filling the deer feeder, we headed up to see the slab.  All the form boards had been removed and we once again could feel the size.  Honestly it seemed small.  "Just like a postage stamp on a giant package."  We need some walls, etc. to really get the feel of our new home!

 

This is a view of the back porch off the family room.  The width is 10 feet and I forget how long it is. I have a sense that this area may be "big enough." 



The electrician had come and the panel box was ready for Bartlett Electric CoOp to come out and hook us up.  See the two little boxes at the bottom?  When we get hooked up, we'll finally be able to plug into electricity with all its wonders and possibilities.

For now, we are waiting on the framers.....

"The Pour" or Who Gets Up This Early To Watch "The Pour"?

We got the Approval we needed to pour the slab:

I had decided that I was not going to witness "The Pour." After all why would I get up at 1:30 AM to drive to the farm to be there by 5:00 AM to watch cement truck after cement truck dump concrete into the ground?  Yet there I was, blurry eyed and coffeed up to witness "The Pour."  It was incredibly dark at 5:00 AM!  The construction guys who were there set up a generator and lights so we could at least see where the cement was to go.  If it weren't for the lights on the cement trucks and their truck noises, I don't know that we would have even realized they were there.

 

 

It went along pretty much as I had imagined, cement truck after cement truck after cement truck....21 all totaled (I only watched 20).

I guess the interesting thing was they used one of those cement pumper trucks so they could reach the center of the slab with cement.

Finally, cement truck #21 dumped its load at about 2:30 and headed out...

So the slab has been poured and we are on our way.  Oops, just was told the framer backed out.  So full speed ahead and STOP!   

Preparation for the Pour

The preparation for the slab started last week.  They compacted the soil and framed in the foundation. 

When we came by this weekend, more work was completed in anticipation of "The Pour" on Thursday (10-3-2013).  For the first time the house looks big enough, because without walls, it has looked like a puny postage stamp in the middle of a field.
Our builder and associate were here to measure, locate floor plugs, and check plumbing locations.

With lots of help from his associates, Ryan declared the measurements were correct and we would have a solid base from which to build our home.

After completing the measurements, Peg and I as well as Ryan and his group headed in different directions to watch Arkansas play...guess who?  You guessed correctly, Texas A & M.  The Aggies won, so a productive day on all counts.