Hauling Posts

This morning I did nothing more than crossing the street to a nearby ranch and loading up my trailer with his discarded cedar posts.
The terrace I dug a few months ago is eroding, so I need to lay some logs down to stop the soil (and I use the term loosely) from running into the pond.

Before and After

Every day (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) I go down to feed the fish. Today I counted 14 hugh catfish -it't time to harvest some of them. When I arrived at the pond's edge, a young gray heron was startled away. And I was struck at the difference between when I started and today. Last year I had made a trip to Colorado and brought back a cat tail. I walked it to the pond, scattered it's seeds and gave them a blessing in the hopes that they would spring forth life. Boy did they spring... And now, I have arrived from a visit to California with a gallon baggie full of seeds. I will plant them this fall and hopefully the blessing will work on them as well.

Anyway, here's some before and after shots"

















Before. The view from the north.

O.K. This is not my tank. I took this shot on a recent trip to California's Huntington Gardens. But it is a good inspiration/goal.

This is, however, the tank. It's a good start, and the cattails and water lilies love it.

Further Plantings

A call from my good friend, Barbara is always a welcome surprise, and this time was no exception. She had the good fortune of being asked to help out Susie Stewart, who had an overgrowth problem in her water feature. Some lovely water plants had grown over the edge of their buckets and overtaken her goldfish pond. And who better to call than Wandering Spirit Trails, the place to go to get rid of extra flora.
Barbara and I went over about 2:00 in the afternoon. In July. In Texas. Not the best of conditions, or decisions. But the offer of free stuff has often been the downfall of many. Nevertheless, we got there, wrestled with the beauties, cut their roots, trimmed their broken stems, and even found an egg in the bottom of the pond. We filled the back of the truck, and, fortunately, about the time I got dizzy and Barbara got red faced, it was time to quit. We spent about 20 minutes discussing the name of the plants, came to the realization that none of us knew, then I drove home, wondering if it was legal to drive under the influence of Texas heat. Then I unloaded all and put in large galvanized buckets, and the next morning set off to the pond to plant them. That went well, and thus ends the story.

Today I Saved a Life

There were a few more bamboo plants to be transplanted this morning, so bright and early I got to it. After placing the first few in the ground, I poured some water that had been sitting out and nourishing other plants.  As I watched the muddy water cascade over the lip of the bucket, out poured a fat, juicy tadpole. I lost track of him for a second until I saw his struggles as the water unmercifully disappeared into the sand. "Oh, no, Mr. Wiggles, don't despair" I shouted as I scooped him up and placed him back into the awaiting bucket. Then we hopped on the tractor, which had been magically transported into an ambulance, and rushed to the pond. When I gently tilted the bucket enough to let Mr Wiggles escape into the largest home he had ever seen, three of his siblings followed.
I drove home full of the smug satisfaction of one who has just saved not only one life, but four.

Too Hot to Work (a lot)

Today I did the only thing I could do in this heat... Use the tractor's bush hog to cut down unwanted weeds. Early in the morning. I cut about an acre of Goat Weed along with two young mesquite trees.

I learned that I should limit myself to the early morning when yesterday I went out to transplant bamboo. It was the morning, and a lot of weeds had grown up around the bamboo planted against the fence. I planted them for the purpose of blocking off an ugly oil company's tanks. After bush hogging and transplanting about six young bamboo shoots, I got dizzy and out of breath. I had to lean on the tractor's wheel until it passed. Once it did, I got off the tractor to do "just one more" and got out of breath just walking to the plant. I decided that was enough, and rode back to the house. Once inside I got a glass of Gatoraide and slid down to the cool wooden floor. That wasn't enough so I laid out flat. That did the trick. I realized my limit. Damn limiting body. Only early a.m. work for a few months.

Tractor Work

This morning all I did was tractor work. The path had grown over, and I couldn't walk the property without scratching my legs till they bled. I guess I could have worn long pants, but that would have taken foresight, planning and thought.

But first, the story of the tractor..
   

I got a flat on the tractor's rear tire, so I loaded it up and took it to Adamcik's station. A real throwback to the times when there were real service stations. Two brothers run it, Fred and Larry,you can see them above.

Anyhow, I pulled into the station and started chatting with one of the brothers, with my back to the truck and trailer. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, my outfit started rolling away. Panicked, I thought of how stupid I would look for stepping out of the truck and leaving it in drive. As quick as a flash I jumped toward the drivers door, already ready to open the door, jump in, put on the break and throw it in park. As I reached for the handle, I saw the tanned elbow of Fred hanging out the window. He was driving it to a better spot so they could work on it.

When I realized what had happened, I bent over laughing, slapped the elbow of the driver and hung my head as I walked back to my mechanic. Through his giggles, he said something like: "You move pretty quick for an old lady." I think he said "girl", but I'm pretty sure he was thinking "old lady".

"Sorry, we should have told you that we were moving it" Larry said. I told him that not really, they had no idea I would do something that stupid. I think those guys are going to remember me.



This is just a pretty fern I planted last week.

 This is the trail I cut from the first tank looking back to my house.

And this is the trail I cut this morning leading from the tunnel to the second tank. Remember, non-Texans, a tank is another word for pond.

Nothing Much

Today I bush-hoged several giant thistle patches. The thistles were giant, not the patches. Well, the patches were pretty big, too. But it was not even interesting enough to document with a photo.