Rooster

I lost my "black lab puppy" today.  He has been my faithful and loyal companion for eleven years.  I'll never forget the first time I saw Rooster: there he was this little black furry bundle with a bright pink bubble gum colored tongue.  His eyes sparkled with friendliness and he could hardly wait to meet me.  Rooster was a people person.  He never met a stranger and his mission in life was to make as many people as possible as happy as he was.  His enthusiasm and exuberance for life were contagious!

His passing leaves those who loved him grieving.  Yet when we remember him, we can smile because of the joy he brought into our lives.

RIP my sweet boy; I love you!

Some Rain

We had our first big rain since Harvey this past week.  We got three inches.  Unfortunately it came as one big flood and the water didn't have much of a chance to get absorbed. 

  A snowy egret flew in from the Gulf to enjoy the wet.

The tank is full which is always a good thing.  More rain is forecast for the next couple weeks.  I am practicing my scratching in anticipation of the hungry bugs fixing to hatch.

We Have A Herd!

We have five first-time mamas with their babies.  They are Santa Gertrudis.  Sitting Bull is the "baby daddy" for all of the babies.  They seem to have adapted well so far and it is really good to have "Cow TV" to watch again.  The difference is we're in charge instead of the cows belonging to someone else.  They all look alike.  There is one mama who is a little bigger than the rest and seems to be "in charge" of the group.  We call her Big Mama.  Her calf is more blond than the others, so her name is Goldie.  Needless to say, there have been many suggestions for names:  Fahitas, Burger, Steak Fingers, Roastie, Yummy, Delicious, Well Done, etc.
We have embarked on a whole new adventure...  If we screw up, we can just eat our mistakes, right?

"Small Time" Odds and Ends

Rooster continues to monitor the goings on at the farm.  It's an important, yet sometimes over looked job of the "Watch Doggie."

The phoebes have returned for another year of nesting.  They started building a nest above the front door, but I managed to put in place some "scary string" things which stopped all nest building.  Yeah!!!

A big investment in farming equipment was our little plow.

We are able to move the plow where we want it, turn it over to the blades, hook it to the back of the go buggy, and plow out little plots of corn or what ever.  It's a beast in terms of weight and the sharpness of the blades yet it gets right down to business.

We needed a rain catcher drum so we could have water for the small cattle/bull area.  We've had only a couple inches of rain since we installed it (attached the gutters from the barn) and it's full.  It'll take a while to empty the 1550 gallons it holds! 

Here it is attached to the trough.

This is a cattle feeder.  Hmm...

This is a mineral barrel.  Cows come by and lick the hard stuff inside and get whatever minerals they need.  Another hmm...

So what's going on?  All of this preparation for something...  Stay tuned...

Update And, By The Way, We Have A Tractor

I could show some more pictures of deer and raccoons, but you've seen all the "players" before.  We miss not having any cows to watch, but with each passing month, we are getting closer to having our own.  This spring we are working on trying to get grass for hay growing.  Last spring's sprigs basically had a tough time and less than half made it.  So we're going through the process (and expense) again.  We've sprayed for weeds, then we'll plow up the ground, resprig, and fertilize.  At that point, it's a game of dice with nature to get the right amount of rain, sun, and warmth.  Too much or too little of any one of those items means we will doing the same thing all over again next spring.  Due to rain and mud, the garden still is not in!!  We have a couple weeks and hope the ground dries a bit by then...

Tractor???

Yes, we finally have a tractor.  It's a compromise of what Peg wanted.  Her RED tractor would have cost 20-30 percent more and essentially been the same.  So we have "Big Blue" to help with all the present and future farm chores.  The good news is we know how to make it go forwards and backwards and raise and lower the bucket.  Honestly that's all we know.  The manual is an inch thick and does not cover any of the other things we got with it--shredder and bale spikes.  So we're doing a lot of studying and I'm afraid we're going to have to call in some "seasoned farmers" to help in this learning process.  We'll keep you posted...

The Bucks

The bucks have been showing up this week at the feeder.  I guess they feel more relaxed since the closing of hunting season.  I can't say that I blame them!  On the other hand, it's been so foggy it is easy to "disappear."

We refilled the feeders a while ago so we should be seeing these big boys often in the coming days.

A Kill

The coyotes have been doing a lot of howling lately and calling to each other as they run through the pasture.  I sometimes see between 15 and 20 deer in the mornings.  Well the coyotes finally killed one of the adult deer a few days ago.  I saw one big coyote and five smaller ones before I figured out they were on a carcass.  By that time it was in pieces and the hunters were taking it to parts unknown.

The deer for their part, are more restless and observant.