It’s still darn hot outside, but that didn’t stop all us hermits from heading back to the country near Milano to get more stuff from that sale.
The booty
We went to get the metal beams we saw yesterday. They will grow up to be supports for the extended cover for the horse stalls. We spent all the money we each brought but got so much metal and other cool stuff. Of course, Kathleen found cool things to repurpose.
I kept enjoying nature, like this snake skin.
Of course, I mainly looked at nature, trying to find dragonflies. I ended up finding a lot of cool insects that were new to me. Fascinating!
Wow! This is a grasshopper! An Aztec Spur-throated one.
I feel like this next thing is stingy.
Dasymutilla klugii looks scary.
I saw two of these nasty-looking things. One was eating a fly. Really looks like it could sting badly.
Very ugly thing. False bee-killer. Promachus bastardii
Some things I saw were old friends like this guy.
Harvestsman on beautyberry
It’s blurry, but a wolf spider.
Some insects were cuter than others.
Katydid
Anyway, it was fun. We stayed a long time, sweated a lot, and did a lot of negotiations. We even saw friends way out here! and a former friend of some sort. Kathleen found someone’s head.
A skull with holes.
I’m glad we are easily amused by rusty metal and the flora and fauna of a post oak savanna.
Good old country beauty.
The good news is that even though we spent money, this stuff would have cost many times the amount new.
Treasure. Yep.
And we have all sorts of building blocks for future projects. We are all excited. Even though we were hot.
We filled a trailer with stuff, put sir in the tires, and made it home!
I noticed an ad in the Facebook Marketplace yesterday saying there was a large building full of stuff that was for sale near Milano (20-something miles from here). It sounded like it might be a thing the builder in the family might enjoy, I thought.
A beautiful place.
So, in a work break, we headed out somewhere in the area near Milano, Texas (mil-Ann-o). We hit a couple of bad train tracks, which was fun, then found the place. What a beautiful property.
And there were dragonflies!
While one of us patiently went through a treasure trove of old tools and equipment, I wandered around and took pictures of the plants I found.
There were lots of these Cuban jute plants
This is legit post oak savanna territory and the plants were right on! Gosh, the trees were beautiful.
Post oak.
Meanwhile, the building full of tools was fantastic. It had so much cool stuff, including some antique tools and a lot of wire we can use to make fencing. We both had a great time!
Some cool chains from today.
So. We each got what we wanted out of that expedition! A bunch of tools and equipment and plenty of iNaturalist observations!
The guy at the sale liked me, so he gave me this old lamp.
After all that fun, it wasn’t over! Later in the day, more fence poles went in. You can really see the pens taking shape.
Fence poles at sunset.
I also had a blast this evening helping with Sara’s family, who wanted to give their toddler his first horse riding experience.
I feel pretty.
We did a group grooming on dear Lakota so he’d look good. The poor horse was like, “No one pays me any attention for a month, then, boom, three people are grooming me!”
Sara had fun.
The little fellow really enjoyed his ride, but I think I enjoyed watching his parents and Sara’s sister the most. It must be so great to have grandkids! So many firsts.
This evening I went out to check the new pullets, because I wondered if they’d roost in their cage. Sure enough, I found five pullets in the cage, but Babette was even higher, on top!
We are all up here.
The other chickens were ALL on one branch. I love how chickens sleep together.
Sleepy time.
All in all, it was a fun day. Things are fine. I’m just not letting things outside my control bother me. Maybe my philosophy is actually sinking in.
Maybe it isn’t that, but it’s the gate to our livestock pens! This is so exciting to me!
The second gate support up.
The chickens weren’t the only new additions to the property. There are also lots more holes and poles than yesterday.
I love this picture of the dirt flying!
It’s so much fun to watch the progress. This area will be so darned sturdy when it’s done!
Holes ready for poles.
I lucked out and finished work in time to watch some of the process of erecting that second giant gate support. It is a delicate process using huge machines.
Picking it up
Moving into position
Lifting
Sliding it into the holes
Unfortunately, I realized I was supposed to be feeding horses instead of being mesmerized by tractor ballet.
While I was gone, the giant H got in the holes, and the front-end loader was holding it up, ready for concrete. Lee arrived and helped out with the other tractor, and soon it was in!
Lee is helping.
We now have two big H braces. They would make great supports for an adult-size swing set. So, that won’t happen, because it would need mosquito netting. Holy cow, the recent rains have created swarms. Trying to find a sneaky calf this evening ended up being a buzzing, stinging nightmare.
Maybe this fascinating spider will eat mosquitoes. It’s a giant lichen orbweaver.
We’ve been having fun working and enjoying the animals. Carlton is out with us often. He’s gotten so well behaved that he’s a great outdoor companion.
I’m a good boy.
Who cares if work’s hard? After work is great on these long days!
I don’t even know where to start telling you how cool our new fencing is. The craftsmanship is incredible. My gratitude is immense. But look, here’s one completed run.
Harvey is trapped! Not really.
The fence may look like normal horse fencing (not all barbed wire like cattle fencing), but what you can’t see is that all the parts were fabricated by one person and the whole thing was installed by one person, not a team. Plus, many of the tools used to make this a one-man show were hand-made, as well.
The industrial-strength auger
All the heavy braces required deep holes filled with concrete. You can’t dig those with a shovel! Luckily, the nephew happened to own a big, yellow auger that attaches to a tractor. But, what to do with it in between uses? He fashioned a way to hang it from the rafters of the future stall roof, then dug a hole for stability. Cool!
Daisuke at work
But, how the heck will all those t-posts and the metal support poles get dug? Well, I wish you could have seen it in person! First, each post got spray painted to show how deep it needed to go. Then they all got started by hand, which involved climbing up the front-end loader forks and pounding them down with a huge mallet. One mallet made the supreme sacrifice and separated from its handle during the process. Always have a backup!
Doing a wheelie. Some posts didn’t go in as easily as others. I forgot to edit this one, so the world looks sideways.
Then, one by one, Daisuke, our “big helper” tractor did the work of sinking all the posts. It is really fun to watch, especially when a post hits a rock and won’t go any further. Daisuke’s front tires go off the ground. We may have to break out the bigger tractor for some fine tuning.
Just getting started, but a good photo of the fencing on its spindle.
So, how do you string all the fencing by yourself? First you make a spindle kind of thing. It’s like a record player, and goes round and round. You put a pole on it, then put the roll of fencing on that. You can then attach to one end, and just slowly drive Daisuke backwards and unspool the wire. Ta da!
The tensioner, right after it was finished.
Great, so after that, you have a length of fencing, but it’s pretty loose and wobbly. You need to tighten it, which is much easier with a helper. However, if you’re a master welder, you “just” (easier said than done) make yourself a tensioner to attach to the tractor. There are the same number of hooks on it as there are spaces in the fencing. You hook them on the end of the fencing, and gradually tighten it, then fasten. That’s really clever.
Getting ready to stretch. Pretty cool.
Before the afternoon was over, there was an entire length of fencing, which confused the heck out of the cattle.
Fencing row number one.
By the end of the day, two rows of posts were laid out, and the top strand of barbed wire was up on the second row. Once there are three rows (we are making two pens to rotate the horses between, for parasite management), the more detailed work of putting in the fencing around the stalls, adding gates, and setting things up will start. There’s plenty of work left for our one-man crew.
Two rows of posts, and fencing ready to be strung.
And the cattle aren’t being ignored. There’s a shiny new gate that holds their heads in place so they can have their shots and other things done to them. That should work with these fairly docile cattle. We’ll still have to borrow the fancier equipment over at the Wild Type area for palpitation and anything that requires no movement. (I say “we” but I mean “he.”)
A head gate, I think it’s called.
We are glad it didn’t rain yesterday, so all this stuff could get done! Since it’s a US holiday to honor people who died in wars, I’m off work today. That means I can do my own physical labor and help with cleaning the tack room. Sara did the floors yesterday, so I get to do everything above floor level today. I’m not complaining; it needs doing, very much!
All clean and shiny, and no longer limping. Hooray! Patchy may not be as pretty as some of those fancy horses, but he’s beautiful to me.
Plus, I’ll get to hang out with Apache and Fiona. Apache feels good enough to do ground work, and Fiona is finally shedding, so I’m working on her coat. She does love attention!
I hope you are having a fun time, whether it’s a holiday or a “real” Monday for you. Life feels so much more “normal” now, with everyone home and doing stuff (and I even had a traveling friend drop by yesterday!). I’m savoring every moment.
It’s still raining today. There were brief respites, but we’ve had at least an inch. Whew. The good news is we have a lot of mushrooms to enjoy.
Happy puffballs.
I tried to go check out what was going on at the fence project. But it started raining real hard, so we went off to see a horse that we may board over here to keep Apache company. It’s all alone, and belongs to some folks who live near our office.
Howdy. I’m Prince.
He needs a Coggins test and stuff, but if he came here, his owner says we can ride him. That would be fun. At least he’s small, and he’s named after my dad. This isn’t a done deal, but a possibility. In any case, I got to meet a friendly horse.
It then rained more. But, not before I went out to take some pictures of the Black-eyed Susans. I lucked out and Penney joined me. I got some lovely photos of her looking romantic.
I’m so romantic.
She sure blends in well with scenery.
This is just so beautiful. I love the storm clouds.
Being with the dogs makes you notice so many things! I didn’t even get mad at Vlassic when he jumped up and got my entire outfit muddy.
Who, me?
But even muddy weather has its good points. There’s always beautiful nature to enjoy. Like, why were there so many mud daubers on sunflower leaves? And why is Mr. Toad living in this trough?
Wasps and toad.
All in all, it’s good to be back in the swing of things. I got work done and caught up with my Master Naturalist blogging. It’s volunteer week at work, so it was authorized. What fun! I’ll try to get more fascinating tomorrow. I’m still wiped out.
Penney is tired too. All that glamour wore her out.
Even though I had meetings that went until almost 6 pm yesterday, Lee and I vowed to have at least a little fun at the beach. And the late afternoon is a wonderful time to go out and enjoy the water. We even went in! I had on a hat and t-shirt, so I didn’t go deep, but I got soothed by the salt water, anyway.
This is an unusual place to wade, thanks to the weird currents that keep the red flag flying at the lifeguard station. It alternates between being very shallow, then there’s a trench a foot deeper. If you successfully negotiate the trenches, you can get pretty far out and not even be waist high.
You can see how far out the people behind Lee are.
We had a wonderful stroll down the beach, where I had a good time looking for little beach fish (the water was crystal clear today, not all churning with stirred up sand and shells like it was earlier). It was fun watching the patterns of water as they flowed from low areas.
I think there are people prints, bird prints, and dog prints here by the outflow area.
As always, the gulls were entertaining. They seem unafraid of people, but not as obnoxious as some of the ones I remember in Fort Lauderdale. They enjoyed the little pools, too.
Coming in for a landing
Fun with gulls
They flew all around Lee, too, which made him laugh a lot. We’ve been laughing a lot this week. This time alone together without the stresses of day-to-day chores has been really great.
That’s our building reflected in the shiny Sea Glass building.
After our nice, long walk we managed to get to the pool bar just before it closed, where I got a hard-earned beverage with dark rum and ginger beer, and Lee got two Cuba Libres. Well, we don’t have any Coke in the room, now that we’re trying to use up everything, and what we had was Coke Zero (my vice). So, to get two drinks, he had to buy them both. He got some funny looks in the elevator.
This should get me through the elevator ride; it’s a long way up!
We enjoyed our final relaxing evening at the condo, and I made the most of the chaise-lounge (however you spell that) part of the couch, and cozily knitted away at the Lines and Lines shawl. I got through my fourth pattern repeat, and now that I see how it works, it’s a very relaxing and satisfying project.
I can’t stretch it out any more than this, but you can sure see the lines!
I have a good amount of yarn left on my first skein, so I’m sure I can get at least one more repeat before switching to the border that makes up the second half of the shawl.
We Have a Plan
I was sitting around last night, thinking about going home and not looking forward to the same interstate highway scenery, when I got to wondering how much longer it would take if we went on state and local roads? I plugged it into the Maps app and here’s what I discovered:
Two travel options
We were going to take three days, anyway, so this adds less than two hours to each day of travel. We will get to see Montgomery and Selma in Alabama, which are historically interesting, plus we go through the center of Louisiana, where I’ve never spent much time. I brought the idea up to Lee, and he was sold immediately. We both LOVE looking at small towns.
By taking this alternate route, we will have a fun weekend of driving, and I won’t have to do too much work tomorrow, since I got so much of my writing stuff done already. I’m looking forward to heading back to Texas and seeing new things. Then I’ll be home and get to see both familiar and new things. Hooray for the weary travelers.
Thanks for reading, and for those of you who give it a try, thanks for listening to the podcast version.
It appears that I have become extremely boring, or maybe I’ve always been, but people figured it out. I’m just joking around, but I was sad to see only 11 people looked at my post yesterday. I don’t think I’ve had so few hits since I was first starting out! It’s okay, because I found the information on black folks and swimming useful, and I’ll have all the links shared on the blog so I can find them again!
Honestly, I find myself boring right now, since I work until so late that there’s no way to go do much interesting afterward (because work is an hour behind me, so their 5 pm is my 6 pm). You can only post so many photos of the view of the ocean. It’s still there, though. Lucky for us, we went back to the German/Austrian restaurant last night, so I can share how pretty our beer glasses were. Lee appears to be in love with his beer. I got the same dark Hefe that I had last week. I think that may be my favorite kind of beer now.
I love my beer.
I ate some brats and sauerkraut, which was darn good comfort food, and splurged on an apple strudel dessert. That’s the only dessert I’ve had since we’ve been here (other than a little ice cream from the grocery store)! Lee says we’ve become old people, because he was displeased to miss the news and Jeopardy last night. We’ve become the people all those drug ads are aimed at. Help!
Since I didn’t do much other than work and knit yesterday, let me be more interesting and share that, despite a week of rain and more rain, the fencing for Apache and Fiona is moving along. It appears that the fabrication stage of all the fence posts is over, and the installation stage has begun. Apache will have a larger place to hang out than he’s in now, but one that will be easy to keep free of lush grazing.
This picture tells all. It’s rainy, Carlton has stayed glued to the nephew all week, and soon the portable round pen will be a round pen, not cattle fencing! In the far background by the RV, you can see a LOT of fencing material ready to be used.
One good thing about all the rain is that indoor activities had to be done, so all the burned-out can lights throughout the downstairs at the ranch house got replaced. Kathleen says it’s like the sun’s shining in there now. That has to perk everybody up! I’m so grateful to see how well things are being cared for in our ridiculously long absence. I guess it’s our turn to leave and never get to come home. (I assure you, we are GOING home on Friday; gas situation is good now.)
Here’s another H-brace that’s up. Looks like we have yellow flowers blooming now. Sniff. I miss my ranch.
Other than that, I’m happy that all’s well with our business. Since the restrictions are lifting, we seem to be getting more clients, and we got some new caregivers, too, thanks to an amazing job fair that Kathleen, Meghan, and I’m sure some others put together last week. The Hearts Homes and Hands team is a bunch of incredible people, and Lee and I are so grateful for the very hard work Kathleen and the crew are doing. I did my part by explaining how personal assistance services work to a coworker who needs one for his mother. He can’t be our client, but maybe he can recommend us to someone else!
Yes, the dogs are happ
It’s off to work for me, and apologies for being so dang boring! It’s not boring at home, though, because yesterday’s sunset was beautiful. I’m so glad people posted lots of photos on Facebook. Here’s the one I was sent from the ranch. Thanks to the family for sending it! I miss you!
Yesterday I hinted that my spouse, Lee, was going to be surprised last night. We were hanging out watching television, when we got a phone call from the folks at our company who were attending the annual Cameron Chamber of Commerce Banquet. We put on speaker, and enjoyed our friend Melanie announce some nice awards. Then, she started in on the Chamber Member of the Year biography. I said, “Wow, that’s well written” and at that point, Lee realized it was him.
Who, me?
It was nice to see him recognized for all the stuff he’s been doing. I know it’s really helped understaffed Melanie! Both Lee and Kathleen have stepped up to serve on committees and do work to improve little old Cameron. I’m glad Melanie has such great other volunteers, too. And somehow, this helps us feel part of a larger community.
A fine award, too.
It must have been a fun night, because Kathleen won a lot of wine at the raffle. We can use that, if I ever stop pivoting and make it home.
Woo hoo!
I’m proud of Lee for lots of reasons other than his civic pride. For one thing, we’ve been together practically 24/7 for two weeks and we’re really getting along fine! Now, that’s a sign of a stable marriage!
Beach umbrellas sure look cheerful.
We’ve each been compromising, dealing with what comes up, and enjoying whatever we do. It’s taken us a while to get vacations down, because neither of us has really done many, but I’m no longer rushing him to get out in the morning, and he’s not been forced to go shopping, so he’s happier.
Sunny pelicans.
I get to go on boat rides and nature walks. So I’m happy! Plus the beach view really helps. I’ve had a nice week off.
And more pelicans
Time to read and knit and look at waves. I’m lucky in so many ways to be stranded at a lovely place with a fine human.
My patience paid off! I have been scanning the ocean from our room every day since we got to Myrtle Beach. I mentioned before that it was oddly empty of…anything. Slowly, but surely, more things have showed up. I saw a couple of yachts, a kayak, and sailboats yesterday, and today there are parasailing boats, sailboats, jet skis and all sorts of activity. Maybe today is the first official day of “the season” or something.
What I was actually looking for all that time was dolphins. I knew they were there, but all I saw was a glassy sea. Today, though, I saw something black out there. I figured it was a sea duck or something, so I grabbed the binoculars (so glad I brought them) to check.
This time, there are dolphins in that glassy expanse.
There was at least one, and maybe two pods of dolphins out there, playing and jumping. At one point, three of them were jumping together. It was mighty fine entertainment! I had a blast, and I felt like it was my Mother’s Day gift from my Mom and Mother Nature. What a full heart I had watching those families playing together!
The black dot in the center is a dolphin heading down. Obviously I couldn’t get a real photo, since they were way out there.
It’s Mother’s Day in the US as I mentioned. It’s been hard since my older son stopped speaking to me, but I think he knows I love him anyway. Maybe I’ll hear from the other one today! I liked the new Facebook background that showed up today, of love cactuses. That’s how family is; you love them, even if it’s prickly.
My sentiments.
Sometimes you lose loved ones, they don’t appreciate you, they don’t understand your motives, or they have challenges that make loving hard for them. I’m sending love to all of them, as well as to my own loved ones I don’t understand. I’m no saint about it, myself!
I did enjoy mothering my kids!
Hug someone you’re allowed to safely hug today, and enjoy whatever gift Mother Nature brings to you, my friends!
Um, that would be everyone, right? I’ve known I’ve needed to do it for quite a while, since we downsized our real estate work and parted (as good friends) from our Hermit Haus Redevelopment partners. Eventually all that internet stuff will get retired, though I need to figure out a way to archive our blog and photos of our work.
My reward for boring as heck work.
I’ve never liked using Gmail but it’s the best option for right now. My presence at Hearts Homes and Hands is very minimal, since I’m not beloved in all parts of our community. I’m no longer too concerned about it. Life at the ranch is good, and that’s what counts! Anyway, I’d only use that email account for business.
Speaking of the ranch, this will grow up to be the arch going over our cattle guard or second gate. It’s happening!
Still, it has boggled my mind when I realize how many logins, sign-ins and account names are tied to your email address! I spent hours this morning changing things, and I’m nowhere near finished. But, it had to be done, and I certainly don’t have many expanses of unbooked time at home!
After I at least got my major accounts and lists switched over, I tediously went through my Gmail account and deleted spam and ads from 2015 until today. 20,000 plus emails. Fun times. I didn’t want to delete them all, since there might be personal email in there. Yep, my sister, my friend Pamela, and two others had been sending me things I never saw.
I’d rather have been at the pool!
Actually, that’s what prompted moving at this exact time. My sister, who is the latest person to say they are going to the Farm in Yorktown for a weekend and not returned, texted me to “check email.” Nothing like a cryptic text to get me concerned, you know? But I couldn’t find anything on my work or personal accounts. Was something wrong? Did I mess something else up? Finally I looked at Gmail. Whew. There was a message there. I’d forgotten to send some money in our confusing travel stuff.
All, right, I said, it’s time to start using that account and phasing the other one out. Once I figured out how to delete everything from a particular sender, it was only slightly unbearable. And at least I could look out at the ocean while deleting. It was fun mass deleting email from presidential candidates who won one and l0st another election. Quite a trip through time.
I’d rather have been in the ocean. Yes I went in. No jellyfish got me.
Now I have that account organized and set up to store email right. Still, I have to figure out what stuff I get on Hermithaus I want to keep getting. And I have to figure out why the new signature I made refuses to show up. This is why I didn’t want to embark on this task. Ugh
But, I’m at the beach, in the shade, and drinking a drink out of a bucket. And my ranch family is busy planning a swimming pool.
Everyone is saying my obligations can wait, so today is just Beach Day. Hope you’re doing well and handling what can be a hard weekend for some of us.
The Hermits' Rest 