Monday, April 30, 2018

Skunk

Lilly was barking again the other day on the back deck. Thankfully I could just look out the window and didn't need to go outside. 

Because this time it was a skunk!

We often smell skunks but I have only seen them once before.  Remind yourself here. The main difference this time was that it was so close to the house. In fact, it was acting very comfortable wandering around our deck.

At first it was hiding between a couple of tubs of firewood. Then as Lilly barked and chased, it scampered across the deck a few times. I'm pretty sure it sprayed Lilly at least once, based on the posture. I lost sight of it when it went over the end of the deck. Lilly seemed to think it had gone under the deck.

I did venture out a little later and the skunk smell was pretty strong. Thankfully it was a breezy day so the smell didn't linger very long.

Lilly slept outside that night.

The dogs found it again the next day and chased it into the woods.












Saturday, April 28, 2018

More Sunsets

I never get tired of watching sunsets from our front porch. It's the same view every day: same tree, same fence line, same field, but yet they are different every evening. They sometimes change within seconds to something even more spectacular. Sometimes it looks like there are mountains on the horizon. Sometimes there are lots of clouds, and sometimes the sky is completely clear. My little phone camera doesn't do them justice.

I know there are other places that probably have nicer sunsets. But I just love ours.

April 19, 2108 at 7:50 pm

April 22, 2018 at 8:05 pm

April 23, 2018 at 7:58 pm

April 24, 2018 at 7:48 pm

April 26, 2018 at 7:45 pm

April 26, 2018 at 7:55 pm

April 26, 2018 at 8:03 pm

April 27, 2018 at 7:55 pm

April 27, 2018 at 7:56 pm

Friday, April 27, 2018

Iris and Amaryllis

We have a few flowers in amongst the weeds around the garage. The iris and the amaryllis are blooming at the moment. We have white, yellow and purple irises. And we have a variegated red amaryllis. Both were transplanted as bulbs from other people's gardens. They seem to grow well here without much attention.
















Thursday, April 26, 2018

Copperhead

The dogs were going crazy and barking constantly the other day, so we went out to investigate. We could hear something rustling in the dead leaves, that sounded like it could be a rattlesnake.

Thankfully, Son was home, because we all know by now that I do not like snakes.

We went back in the house and got boots on. Then we gathered some tools: spade and hoe. He managed to rake back some leaves to see what to attack. Once he got it out on open ground, he managed to deal with it.

Turns out it was a copperhead. We were watching the head move around for awhile. I don't think we chopped close enough to the head. We need to get better with our aim.







Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Armadillo

There was an armadillo around the house the other day causing trouble. It was driving our dog Lilly crazy, and driving us a little crazy because Lilly was barking so much.

Seems it was trying to get away from Lilly by digging under the house. Dumb idea.

So we used our fireplace tongs to pick it up and remove it. I think Son walked it down to the goats and let the other dogs deal with it.

I've heard you can get leprosy from armadillos, so we didn't want to touch it just in case.







Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Deodorant Class

Our ladies group got together again, this time to make deodorant. It seems I've become the self-appointed teacher of weird things.

I know this sounds like an unusual thing to be making, but most of the ladies in the group were really excited about this activity. Some had tried it before and loved it, while others had never thought about it before. One lady sheepishly admitted she didn't wear any deodorant. 

Although I'd never made deodorant before, I am rather passionate about avoiding the aluminum based antiperspirant versions you buy in the store. They contain so many chemicals that I know can't be good for you. Plus sweating out all the toxins in your body is a good thing. Since I started paying more attention to healthy things about 30 years ago, I have used several natural versions. My least favorite was probably the rock crystal that kept slipping out of my hand and breaking. The other two that come to mind are Toms and Native, which are both fine but I keep going back to my favorite. For the last 10 years or so, I've settled into using a product from Aubrey Organics with a weird name called "E Plus High C". 

After conferring with a few people, and doing a little online research, I decided to use a simple recipe found on a health conscious website Wellness Mama. She had a couple of recipes to choose from. These classes are testing my math skills, as I try to figure out the quantities of a recipe multiplied several times. And then try to estimate how much of each ingredient I will need. And then work out how much one portion will cost. I also bought empty plastic jars so it would look nice.

I provided enough ingredients for everyone to make one batch using shea butter. And enough ingredients to make several batches of the coconut oil version if they wanted. The cost for each batch was about $5.

The bulk costs were:
12 x 4 oz. containers  $16
2 x 28 oz. coconut oil $25 
8 oz. shea butter $10
16 oz. arrowroot powder $6
2 lbs. baking soda $3








Monday, April 23, 2018

Texas Lupine

The floral trademark of Texas (a guest post)

I didn’t quite understand the obsession with this blue flower when I moved to Texas almost six years ago but I’m slowly becoming ‘that person’ who just keeps taking pictures of them. This year they bloomed so beautifully and I just couldn’t help myself. And now having a model of my own, poor Randy had at least three photo sessions. So I consider myself a true Texan now that I am eagerly awaiting tiny blue flowers to pop up out of the ground every spring. 

What you need to know about the Texas lupine.

Part of the Lupinus species the Texensis, which have vibrant blue blooms, have a distinctive white tip to the cluster of pea-like petals. There is a common myth that the flower was brought over to Texas from Spain long ago, however the Texas Lupine is naturally found only in Texas and nowhere else in the world. Adopted as the state flower of Texas, this iconic annual flower is almost as recognizable to outsiders as cowboy boots and longhorns. On March 7, 1901 Texas legislature passed into law that the state flower would be the Lupinus Subcarnosus, one of 5 species part of the Lupinus family. They later had to amend their law to add the four other species, like the Texensis, so there are actually 5 state flowers of Texas. 

The Texas Lupine blooms in the spring every year and prefers well drained soil and full sun, which is often why you’ll see them on hillsides or sloped ground. Ideally one should plant seeds in September and October to allow the cold weather to develop the flowers root structure. Then the heat of summer helps them to germinate every year. If you’re lucky enough you can stumble upon a lone white albino bluebonnet and even more rare, the pink bluebonnet (if only!!) Bluebonnet seeds need to be lightly covered or raked into the soil in order for beautiful blooms in spring. Because they are so hard to grow from seeds most recommend a raised bed in full sun for your own little bluebonnet garden, or transplanting a well established bluebonnet plant. 

Which brings me to the most common myth of the Texas Lupine. I’m not sure who the first person was, but somewhere in these past six years I was told that picking the protected bluebonnet flower was frowned upon, and not only that, it was also illegal, possible jail time. I was so scared to even accidentally step on one. So I googled it the other day, out of curiosity, and it is NOT illegal to pick a bluebonnet. The myth arose from people pulling over on state highways onto private property and picking a few for the road. It is illegal to tamper with anything on private property, and so the fallacy was born. But still, Texans love their state flower and want it to keep blooming every year, so they are quite protective of them. 

I happen to live in Ennis, Texas which is the bluebonnet trail city of Texas. They are amazing out here and I’ve been obsessing over them for at least a month now. 

Still hoping one year I’ll see a pink one!

(This post was written by one of my daughters, KP, who lives nearby. She supplied all the photos, except the last one which I took to show how many people stop to take photos.)