That Blows

Feb 25th - Our ranch was hit with 50+ mph wind.  And I'm not talking wind of that speed for an hour.  This was ALL day.  It was really scary.  I have never EVER experienced wind like this.  Not only was it loud and made me and the kids feel like we were blowing away to OZ, it also did quite a bit of damage.  

For us - the windy day meant a loss of 7 of our trees.  6 of them were dead anyway (remember our fun drought from a couple summers ago?)  But 1 oak was as green as it could be.  It was really sad to see them falling.  Loud - and sad.

JL came home early from work so we could move the boat out into the middle of the driveway away from any potential falling trees.  We also parked his truck in the middle of our front lawn for the same reason.  It was quite a day.  

As I mentioned, 6 of these trees were marked to be cut down because they were dead anyway.

Alas, our trampoline was struck down.  Luckily, it didn't put a hole in the black top - just the net.  We are still able to use it.

JL cut up the trees and harvested the wood for our smoker/fireplace.  But the branches and twigs met another fate...

We all enjoy watching a bonfire!

April 2 - This spring has been unusual.  In our 12 yrs here, we have never had a spring like this.  We've been abnormally cool!  It's been wonderful!!  And we have been getting some rain!  Not lots of rain (we are still behind and technically still considered to be in a drought) but every drop is precious and we enjoy it anyway!

On this particular day - a big storm blew over and dumped over 2 inches on our place in just about 3 hrs!

Cooler Weather

I know it is too early to say that fall has arrived on the ranch - but we have certainly been enjoying this brief relief of cooler weather!

Yesterday, we thought it would be a great time to bring out Ol' Junie and put her to work!

Storm

August 18 - started out as a typical Saturday.  JL had a bunch of ranch chores lined up.  We all started outside early in the morning to work on the garden.  Me and Quatro supervising while the kids helped JL move and haul stuff in the tractor.

Towards the middle of the day it started to get really dark.  The sky was full of beautiful gray clouds.  This was a sight that we haven't seen in a very long time.  True, this summer hasn't been near as awful as the last one, but we still aren't exactly swimming in rain around here.  Not to mention THESE kind of dark clouds.

Manny checking things out while I admire the sky

Woo hoo!  Could that be rain?

Beautiful E posing for me

The boys coming back in with a load of mulch.  

Quickly spreading out the mulch before the sky opened up.

About 10 minutes after the boys wrapped up the mulch spreading the rain started to pour down.  We were over joyed to see buckets of rain start to fall.  About two hours later we were over the moon when it was still going!  By Sunday, we were in disbelief that the rain hadn't quit yet!  We ended up with over 4 inches of rain from that storm!  It was fantastic!

Bonfire

Remember all that pruning JL did a while back?  Well, last weekend, the time had come to dispose of the clippings.  How does a person go about doing that when you have a pile as big as your pickup and no where to put it?

Start a fire of course.  You may be saying: but I thought you were in a drought and isn't burning wood the LAST thing you should be doing?  Nope.  Turns out, since January, we've had 15 inches of rain.  Almost 3 of those inches coming in this month alone.  More specifically, during the week that JL selected to start his small fire.

The ground was super wet.  The day was overcast and very humid with a 60% chance of more rain.  Conditions were perfect.

I must admit when I first stepped outside and saw the little fire, I was alarmed.....

Heat.  This sucker was so hot I had to sit WAY back from it.

And LARGE.  I got use to it after a while and my concern faded.  That and JL had a live hose running, a big pile of manure within easy reach of his shovel, and the air was very wet.

Still, it was impressive!

Whole trees were being added at one point!

After a bit, the huge looming pile of brush was gone!  The fire died down to ashes and embers and then about an hour later it rained a half inch!  Perfect.

Heatwave

The end of June on the ranch was brutal.  A nice big high pressure system parked itself over our state for about 3 weeks.  Bringing with it temperatures in the high high 90's to low 100's.  The heat indexes were soaring to the 110 ranges.  It was awful.  Especially for one pregnant girl that I know.

But I wasn't the only one dying from the heat*.  So were our chickens.  Literally.

Yup.  I'm sad to report that 3 of our 4 baby chickens that we raised up from infancy died during a week span.  It was tragic!  Of all the chickens to die - I would have much rather have had the old girls kick the bucket!  They are not very reliable and only lay maybe an egg every 4 to 5 days.  But the babies were regular little gals.  Each giving us an egg a day.  Beautiful olive green and tan eggs.

But, as most of this stuff goes, this was a really good learning experience for us.  Apparently, chickens regulate their body temperature through their feet.  Our theory went something like this:


-  Why are the old chickens surviving while the young chickens are dying?


-  Why are the old chickens constantly kicking their water bucket over?  Don't they know they need to leave that thing alone so they don't thirst to death?


-  Why is the older chickens' water pan constantly dry but the babies don't seem to be drinking as often?

Come to find out, the older chickens were smart enough to kick their water over so they could STAND in the cool water/mud all day.  Meanwhile, the baby chickens were standing on the hot, dry ground soaking up a ton of heat.  They were still drinking, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't enough to cool their body down.

So how did we stop the death and destruction and save that last remaining baby chick?  We put a few pans of water in the coop.  That's it.  Something for the birds to STAND in all day. 


Information we could have used 5 weeks ago!

For now, the plan is to wait until fall and replace the young girls with 6 month to 9 month old chickens.  Some that are regular layers and can immediately start to produce again for us.  I'd love to raise up some more chicks, but it takes 6 months for the eggs to start, plus, I'm going to be a tad busy come fall time.


*The loss coupled with the extreme heat was too much for me to handle, and I found myself needing an escape.  But that's another story.

Wacky Weather

The weather on the ranch lately has been wild! Last Sunday (Feb 12) we got snow! Last Saturday (Feb 18) we got flooding! One thing about it, we are so grateful for the moisture! Our drought situation is getting better and better with every drop!

A huge improvement from earlier this year

I tried to get a few pictures of the snow. It was impressive in real life, although the pictures don't do much justice. Typically in February, we get a skiff of snow. This stuff didn't stay on the ground, but it was sure pretty to watch it fall!

Wyatt checking out the weird white stuff falling from the sky. Meanwhile, his brother and sister were running around trying to catch flakes on their tongues
They were the nice, big puffy flakes!


This past Saturday was amazing! The rain started Friday evening and rained hard off and on all through the night. By Saturday morning, there were rivers running through the property. By Saturday afternoon, the rivers had run off, but that didn't stop the sky from opening up for a few impressive downpours. JL recorded aprox 3.5" in the rain gauge!!

We couldn't help but al gather on the porch to watch one of the most impressive storms late Saturday afternoon
Can you tell how much is pouring from the roof? The gutters couldn't even filter the rain away!





I love this kind of weather! But it is especially fun on the ranch!

Weather and Bucks

We have been having some very seasonal weather on the ranch lately - it is wonderful! There were two mornings last week that we woke to frost. Lots of frost! As in, ground is crunchy frost. It was neat!


In addition to the frost and chilly temperatures, we have been getting a lot of fog! It is very festive and adds to my Christmas Spirit. Last Friday, it was so foggy, the sky was blue! It was one of the most beautiful mornings I've seen on the ranch so far.





The other thing we have been seeing a lot of lately is the "Monster Buck." This guy has been around since we moved in - but I had yet been able to capture a good picture of him. He was thick and fat during the summer, but he's trimmed up some since it turned cold. But what stays constant is his beautiful set of antlers! He's a 10 point (because, you see, here in TX they count EVERY point) with symmetrical 5 points on each side.




He's been known to stop traffic around our neighborhood. Often, I'll come up on 3 or 4 cars that are stopped in the road and I know that the Monster Buck must be near. There is another big buck that floats around our area. He's got a similar set of antlers, but they are MUCH wider set apart. He's not as thick as the Monster Buck, but he's impressive. He's a lot more illusive, so I haven't been able to get a picture of him yet. We've named him the "Moose Buck" because his spread is so wide.

And then there is "One Stab." He's a spike buck that only has one antler on his left side.

Yes, we do name the wildlife. :)