What a long, strange trip it's been

Years and years ago I attended a Grateful Dead concert with a friend I've known since 6th grade. It was quite the experience. I don't know many of their songs, but I sang along where I knew the lyrics. One line that I'll always remember is from Truckin'. This year has been quite the strange trip. I'm happy to say that the pond is filling back up. Fingers crossed we get more rain soon.

 Our first trip to tour the place. Little did we know we'd buy the only place we looked at.

 Springtime. Water down in the pond(s).

 The "Glade."

 Heartbreaking.

 Happy to see the water at this level.

 Got stuck in the mud on Christmas day. We were able to winch ourselves out.

 Yes, bears to sh*t in the woods.

 The Aussie, hard at work. Not easy on the grass because it's so soft, but better than a pickup truck dragging huge logs around.

 Beautiful Grandfather tree.

Praying these are deer and not hog tracks. Bottom may be deer, top hog. Hopefully they'll move on.

A new toy for me

After quite a while researching and drooling over dSLRs, I actually own one! I took some time the other day and wandered the property, trying to take artsy photographs. Some of them, if I do say so myself, came out kind of neat!

"The Glade" at sunset. I call it a glade, but it's really just an overgrown area off to the side of the house. It's kind of cool and spooky when it's getting dark.

 

I love the texture of the bark on this tree.

 

 

Getting artsy with the logs in the wood pile.

 

And with the rusted metal drum.

And lastly, a zoomed in shot of little Bambi. I didn't have the longer lens on, so I got as close as I could. She's a pretty little thing.  Other than on the game camera, we haven't seen the males, but our friends who were there the night before us did. Clashing of antlers and lots of bugling.  Maybe we'll catch their show next visit.

The answer is no

The question? If The Aussie could get the mower down the bank of the pond and mow around the edges for a bit. He got it down there. And got it stuck. 

 

Enter Tigger (yes, I named the UTV) to the rescue. We were able to winch the mower out of the soft sandy area and back up on to slightly more stable ground. This little thing is a serious workhorse. She was hauling stuff all weekend. On a side note, we aren't always there working alone. We are blessed to have some really good friends to help us with this place, and rescue me when the car breaks down, over an hour away, with a car full of three dogs and a parrot, in 104 degree heat on a getaway Friday. Things could have turned out very badly for my pups, but Someone was keeping watch over us and I was able to limp to a gas station and made it under the shade cover over the gas pumps. (Thank you, also, to the man who gave me bottles of water for the dogs, and Angie and Brooke, who kept me company while I was waiting for my rescuer, my husband (who wasn't allowed to leave work, even though it was an emergency, thank you very much corporate person who doesn't know what Texas heat is like), and a tow truck.

 

Some of these friends are REALLY, REALLY handy with chain saws. The guys were able to finish cutting down a number of dead trees and get them cut in to logs. We really need to research converting a gas fireplace (no chimney) in to a wood burning fireplace to take advantage of all of the dead wood we have. (Another side note: I wonder if we can get Gatorade to be a corporate sponsor of our work weekends.)

 

Last time we were there, we noticed a hummingbird flitting around the patio. When we went in to town, we picked up a hummingbird feeder and some nectar. As it turns out, we don't have one hummingbird. We have four that regularly visit. One of them is a bit of a bully, too, but it's really neat seeing hummingbirds so close. If you look just to the left of the bottom of the feeder, you'll see a little light brown shape. That's one of the regulars. They are seriously tiny!

 

 We also had a couple of Bambi sightings. The light tan spot in the middle of this picture is a young fawn. We didn't see her mom, but the guys said that momma was likely hidden in the trees. Little one was grazing on some of the brush near the edge of the pond. It was so cool, seeing her!

 

Next work weekend trip we'll be making bread. Start to finish, I'll grind the wheat to make flour, and then make bread. Okay, so we'll be using a bread maker, but still. It will be very fun. Now if only we could get some cooler weather. I want to do some campfire cooking!

Hey, are you taking my picture?? Cheese!

The mystery of what made the footprints in the sand in the backyard has been solved. We weren't sure if it was deer or hog. Trust me, I was praying for deer. The thought of feral hogs that close to the house freaked me out. The Aussie set up a game camera and hung it on one of the trees is the back. Bambi and friends made their camera debut. I guess this means I'm going to have to fence in any garden I plant. Seriously fence. With a roof.