The Hermits' Rest

More Adventures and We Didn’t Melt!

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.

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.

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.

It’s blurry, but a wolf spider.

Some insects were cuter than others.

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.

I’m glad we are easily amused by rusty metal and the flora and fauna of a post oak savanna.

The good news is that even though we spent money, this stuff would have cost many times the amount new.

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!

Your Junk Buying Expedition is My Dragonfly Observation Expedition

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

I also had a blast this evening helping with Sara’s family, who wanted to give their toddler his first horse riding experience.

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!”

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!

The other chickens were ALL on one branch. I love how chickens sleep together.

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.

Have a good weekend!

Enjoying a Pleasant Morning with a “Friend”

This morning was really pleasant. I went out to take a few pictures and check on the new pullets, then sat on the porch for a ten-minute coffee break. It was breezy, so the mosquitoes that tried to suck all my blood yesterday weren’t out. I took this picture to post on Instagram, planning to caption it “What I’d like to be doing the rest of the day.”

I thought I was alone on my break, but no, the rocking chair across from me had someone else enjoying a pleasant break.

Well, hey there rat snake. I thought, wow, what a cute little snake, but when I got up to get a better photo, I saw it’s not a little snake, not at all. It’s probably close to my height.

Since it was not actively in the process of eating eggs from my hens, I left it to enjoy its morning. And it is why we are keeping the grass near the house mown nice and short (as long as we can keep lawn mowers going).

Speaking of which, in addition to getting new blades that cut evenly, our good old riding mower also has a new feature designed to keep my brother-in-law more cool and less heat stroked: an umbrella! Most of the area we mow has no obstructions, but he can lower it to get close to fences and the house. I hear it feels twenty degrees cooler under there! With summer coming up, that is a fine thing.

Other “home improvements” that I took pictures of on my morning walk include this chicken ramp. I had put a board up to help them get high in their roost area, but it was too slippery, so they now have a custom ramp made from scrap wood. I know they used it last night, because there’s poop in the roost area in the cage! Yay!

Now the chickens have more area to spread out in, which is good, because they spend most of their time chasing each other, when they aren’t eating. At least they are all still with us!

I also figured out why we hear so much bird noise in the evenings. The barn swallows are nesting AT LAST, right outside the back door. Since that’s where the dog door is, we can hear them well. I’m quite relieved to see this, because they are running late this year (no doubt thanks to that bad ole Uri storm in February). This is good news.

I’m not the only one who got to see a pretty snake yesterday. This garter snake was over at Sara’s. It got run over, though. They’re so lovely.

That’s it for the morning ranch report!

To Share or Not to Share

Yesterday, someone asked me why I share my thoughts and issues here and on Facebook, when it just invites people to criticize and mess with me. It’s funny, but I don’t get a critical vibe from my blog readers, and rarely get any negativity from Facebook, either. I get lots of ideas, support, and conversation, which I love.

Most of the critical stuff comes from people close to me who are reminding me of their privacy, which is totally legitimate and fine! When I’ve gotten requests from people not to mention their names, or talk about their animals, or not mention their business stuff, I totally get it, and do my best to just stick to my ranch life and my own thoughts and opinions. That makes sense, to me, and I’m happy to comply.

And sure, I know that there have been times where people took something I mention here and put an unintended slant on it, use it against me, or some unknown thing (because I generally don’t know what is going on behind my back!). But, that’s really none of my concern and reflects more negatively on gossipers and rumor-mongers than it does on me. And it goes both ways. If I don’t like someone or disapprove of them, it’s probably a reflection of my own issues or misconceptions, not a reflection on them, either.

Do other people bug me? Not right now, wheel bug buddy.

Honestly, I’m not very interesting, am not pushing any hidden agendas, and just want the best for everyone in my family, my inner circle, my extended community, my work, and my volunteer life. That’s it. I share my thoughts and ranch life adventures because it’s helpful to put your thoughts into words. Besides, since I’ve found reading other people’s thoughts and insights have helped me clarify things, I’m just returning the favor, potentially.

I’m fascinated by the way other people think, how they form their opinions, and what influences them. I’m grateful to bloggers, essayists, and Facebook posters who are willing to share with me and others. I enjoy giving other bloggers feedback, and really get a lot out of comments on this blog, whether praising me or bringing up a potential area for improvement. That’s all.

So, no, I don’t mind “putting myself out there in front of the whole world,” because that’s what writers DO. It’s a risk we all take. It’s worth it, to me, for the community it makes and for the feedback and great conversations that can arise from it.

What do you think? Am I a fool to blog about my imperfections, ups and downs, and adventures?

Chicken Name Update

I decided since I’d already given two of the chickens names that start with the letter B, I might as well do that with all six of the new little henlets. So, here they are:

Babette: the Faverolle
Billie Idyl: the Brabanter with the mohawk
Barbara: the Mystic Midnight Maran (black)
Blanca: The True Blue, yellow and white one
Blondie: the yellow Buff Orpington
Betsy: the black and white/gray Americauna

The Gate to Adventure

Maybe it isn’t that, but it’s the gate to our livestock pens! This is so exciting to me!

The chickens weren’t the only new additions to the property. There are also lots more holes and poles than yesterday.

It’s so much fun to watch the progress. This area will be so darned sturdy when it’s done!

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.

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!

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.

Who cares if work’s hard? After work is great on these long days!

Sure, We Will Take More Chickens

Since the current bunch of five hens plus Bruce have remained stable since last year, I feel safe to bring in some company for them in our big ole run. So, we headed down to Bird and Bee Farm and got 6 pullets about ten weeks old.

Bruce lays his eyes on his new little ladies.

They are pretty young, close to the age the chicks we hatched would be if they hadn’t mysteriously disappeared. I enjoy watching them grow, and I feel more confident in their housing now.

We have chicken wire on the feeder, because we saw

So, what did I get this time? Ones that lay different colored eggs and one that’s plain cute. I haven’t named them all. Shocked? I know!

This is a regular laying hen, a Buff Orpington.

Next is Babette. She’s a rare fancy French Faverolle chicken. She has five, rather than four, toes under those feathery feet.

Now for the colorful ones. This one is a real Auracana, not a hybrid Americauna. I took a picture of the wrong label, sigh. We hope she lays blue eggs. Also she is lovely.

Now this one is cute as heck. One of my coworkers called it the Billy Idol chicken. So that one already has a name. That head! That face! she sort of looks like a roadrunner to me.

Billie is a Brabanter, a breed I never heard of. She’s the smallest and has already tried to escape through the holes in the fencing. Luckily she is chunky.

Next is this beauty. She’s a new breed, the Whiting True Blue. They are supposed to lay blue eggs, too. I had a choice of dark or light ones. I chose this, because she’s lovely.

This last pullet may look like a boring black Australorp or something. But, no. She’s an exotic hybrid called the Midnight Majesty Maran. She will lay extra dark brown eggs and will have deep brown undertones from her Copper Maran heritage.

She doesn’t have foot feathers, which I like, because they stay wet and muddy a lot.

The other chickens are very curious about the new teenagers. They will be separated quite a while, so the young ones can eat their chick feed.

I have a few more things to add to their pen, but they seem happy now. I’m happy, too.

We Have Fence Poles

This is happy stuff! There are now poles in our stall area! Thank you, Mother Nature for a dry day!

The area near the shipping container. The square pole is part of our roof support.

There are a lot of holes to dig and concrete to pour, but it’s coming along! The big auger makes short work of the digging, but the concrete has to be poured by hand.

Posts are leaning because they are just sitting in big ole holes.

When I’m not working and working and working, I can help with the fencing, too. Some of the fence poles just have dirt in them, so I got to fill the holes back up with a weird hoe. Quite the manual laborer I am.

In front is a sturdy concrete post, behind is one I helped with.

However, I truly wish I’d been outside to see the big gate support go up. It must have been quite a sight! And quite a feat. No wonder I’m impressed with the new horse fencing!

That’s one fine gate support. I feel like we have a real ranch.

I’m looking forward to gates, some of which will be hand made, too. Wow. Apache and the cattle will have fancy digs.

In Bug News

And as a postscript I have two cool insect photos to share. First, I saw a spider wasp dragging a hapless wolf spider off for dinner.

Also, my friend Pamela saw baby preying mantises on her property and got a shot of one whose shadow looked exactly like a giraffe. Cute!

Sad Sombreros and Beautiful Beetles

I spent a nice time today just looking at the plants and insects around the Hermits’ Rest. As I was walking down the path I enjoyed the Mexican Hat flowers (Ratibida columnifera or upright prairie coneflower).

I’ve always loved these plants, because they look cheerful, have cool leaves, smell interesting, and attract lots of insects.

I’m glad they are all along the drive between the two main houses, because I get to be distracted by the butterflies, bees, and bugs.

What’s weird is that I’ve been noticing weird flowers in the Mexican Hats. Really weird flowers.

They range from double flowers to extra flowers growing out of the cones to multiple cones. It’s quite odd.

Of course these aren’t “normal.” I see no flowers like that along the roadside. These flowers are next to the field where the oats were grown that became this year’s silage for the cows on the land we’ve leased out. They applied herbicide to get rid of non-oats, and it landed on the edges of the oats.

Engelmann daisies and Mexican Hats in front of the oat area.

I feel bad for the flowers, but we gave permission for the spraying. That’s modern farming. As a Naturalist I may have a different viewpoint, but these folks need to make a living and feed their cattle efficiently. And they ARE cute when they are young.

There’s plenty of wild space here at the ranch, so I’m happy. Look at this gorgeous milkweed beetle!

I’m cool. More than just monarchs eat milkweed.

It’s grasshopper season, too. There are just “a few” in the pasture where Sara’s horses are.

And I just have to say some of the bugs make me smile. This flower scarab beetle with its pollen butt is just cute.

I’m very grateful to have so many things to discover and observe here. I really enjoy sharing it with all of you. It’s a great journey.

Ranching, at the Ranch

Yesterday was quite a good day! I don’t think I have ranched so hard in a long time. So many things to do, and so many involving dirt and more dirt. It was great to have a non-rainy day.

To start the day, Sara and I played on the ground with Apache and the cute mare, Bonnie. Everyone got very clean, even Fiona, and we all had a nice time walking around. Apache still looks good (other than that abscess, his feet look like a textbook illustration of a fine horse foot), and Bonnie’s a nice girl. Since I don’t have more photos of that, enjoy Alfred drying off after a quick bath in the Little Pond. Gracie says, hmm.

After that, I “helped” with the horse fencing project by holding tape measures and other vitally helpful things. I even got to move something in the tractor to help the auger thing work right. So ranchy.

Next up will be putting poles in at all the marked spots, if it doesn’t rain.

But wait, there’s more! I hope to get some new pullets from Bird and Bee this week, so we worked to get a separate setup for them in the chicken run. As long as I keep giving the chickens tomatoes, they don’t care who moves in next door.

It came out pretty spiffy for something made out of stuff we had on hand! All my chicks escaped while I was out of town, but don’t worry, we will try hatching again, with a new, more secure area.

Later, it was time to move some cattle that recently arrived at the Hermits’ Rest, and I got to “help” wrangle an escapee, which turned into a fun time with lots of help from others and good conversation. I enjoyed watching the new cattle settle in and establish their “pecking order.”

I’ve been ordering some supplies for my tack room over here and for taking care of Apache and Fiona in our paddocks. I needed a few more chicken and horse things, so off we went to Tractor Supply, with me all covered in really disgusting mud (okay, not all covered, but you couldn’t miss it). I was told to wear my work cowboy hat, so I looked pretty legit. The best thing we got was a cool utility cart for hauling horse poop. It will be fun to use and looks to be quite sturdy.

I got a chicken feeder and horse bandages.

Actually the most fun part of the trip was getting lost wandering around the area where the ranch is. There are some pretty homesteads and lots of nice land out here. But, I’m still a hermit, so don’t move here (or Austin, if you can afford the skyrocketing home prices).

Since I have no photo of getting lost, enjoy Spice and Lakota eating each other’s food, because they knew Sara was paying attention to Bonnie the new gal on the block.

On the other hand, the ranch seems to have opened up post COVID. Lee’s friend from high school, Matt (who reads the blog), was here for a couple of days, so that was our first overnight visitor. You can tell Matt was here, because the brother-in-law mowed around his car. And my son and partner are coming today!

I’d say the coolest visitor, though, was the guy who delivered all the bags of concrete for the poles.

He had a fun little forklift kind of vehicle that made the process seem easy! I really enjoyed watching him drive the concrete around, plus he seemed like a nice guy. You can’t beat that in a delivery, right?

And, it’s raining. Oh, weather, you annoy me. How’s it going with you?

Fun with Dickcissels and Horses

It’s looking

In years past I’ve mentioned my fondness for the migratory dickcissel birds that come through here at the Hermits’ Rest each year. They’re small sparrow-sized birds with big sound and friendly personalities.

I usually see them on barbed wire or electric wire. This is a female.

They have a charming gurgling song and often chirp away after sunset. I don’t know why this is.

They hang around here late spring through mid summer. I wasn’t sure if they bred here or not until today when I was walking over to see Apache and Fiona.

Females followed me along the road, moving down the fence as I passed.

Eventually I made it to the old, hollow, cedar elm just before the cattle guard. There I saw much dickcissel activity, and both a male and a female. They were working on a nest!

I was so pleased to see this! I hope to soon see or hear babies when I walk by. Here’s a bit more on these birds from iNaturalist.

Horse update

I’m other news, we have Bonnie the quarter horse visiting for a while. She’s 19, and wanting to do stuff.

Apache went for a walk with her (and us humans) and they got along fine as long as Apache didn’t get too close, because her flank must look delicious.

It’s looking like Apache is healing well. We walk and walk, and he is fine. I’m hoping riding can resume by the weekend.