Holiday Rambling

We volunteered to go to the Farm in Yorktown at Christmas so that Chris could be with his family. The first thing that entailed was taking Ursula out of the shop, where she had been having things looked at. Unfortunately, the water leak has NOT been fixed. Dang it.

Second, we had to do the family Christmas gifts and all that. We did it Christmas Eve morning, which was very nice. We got to be as leisurely as always, and because it was Christmas Eve, Leigh could join us. Winners all around!

The good thing is that the kids came with us for the first time since Ursula showed up. It was very pleasant having them around, though I wish we had remembered to tell them to remove the couch cushions for more comfortable sleeping!

The trip was rather unpleasant, thanks to a cold and persistent rain (on the other hand, hooray--it has rained a good amount this month!). Here is the rain, and a dim image of my new red cowboy boots I got for Christmas!

My boot and scenic US 183 construction

When we got there, we could not park in the usual spot--it was way too soaked. So, Chris helped us back into the driveway. It was a little mucky, but we made it. It was nice to visit with him (and Gaylene) before they left.

I prepared meals for the weekend ahead of time, knowing Ernest Sr. does not have an oven, and knowing that Ursula's oven is tiny. For Christmas I got a spiral slice ham, which could be eaten cold, and made really fancy mashed potatoes that I could reheat. I also cooked fresh spinach. For Christmas Eve I made my favorite baked pasta dish, but used a sauce with eggplant in it. It was really good.

First thing we did (after mourning the passing of #10 and the Friendly Calf) was to check on Bun Bun. Looking good, little bunny!

Bun Bun looking forward to the delicious fancy lettuce and spinach we would give him or her later.

After watching everyone eat tons of pasta (Kynan had 3 helpings, and Lee and his dad both had seconds), the kids played some music on their instruments. It was so good (it's on YouTube and if you haven't seen it already, here it is), considering they really hadn't played together much before. They played a number of songs and practices switching off solos. I sure hope they do more of it, and that Lee will join them some. He had left his acoustic bass in Ursula and didn't want to go back out in the rain to get it.

Jamming in the kitchen

I know Lee's dad really enjoyed the music. He also remarked more than once about the hat I had finished making for Kynan.

Easy Hat I Made

So, I asked him if he wanted one too, and he said he did. I got to knitting, and before we went home, Ernest Sr. had one just like Kynan's! I knit it listening to specials on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and St. Olaf choirs.

Hat for Lee's Dad!

It was nice having Ursula to retire to after Ernest was ready for bed around 7 pm! We watched movies and chatted quite nicely. It sure is nice having mature, adult but fun kids. I think spending a lot of time with my kids was the highlight of this holiday season. I really enjoy them.

On Christmas we were very low key, but the food went over well.  We gave Ernest some German foods and he broke right into them. He did eat well over the weekend. We watched football until I think the kids were going to explode. Still...my favorite player from the kids' high school years who is also a rookie (Aaron AJ Williams) intercepted Tim Tebow. A Christmas gift for me. Sorry to digress into football. It must be a sign my blog entry is done.

The trip home was a lot easier than the trip to Yorktown. We had a lot of good conversation and arrived all happy. Hooray! Ursula goes back out this weekend...stay tuned!

Lessons Learned:

• 
  
• Tell your guests how to make the couch into a bed, or they may be uncomfortable.
• Mud is not fun in an RV.
• Competent RV repair people may be difficult to locate.

Yorktown Thanksgiving—Surprise!

Friday Morning

One of the good things about having an RV is that you can be flexible. We certainly found out about that over the Thanksgiving weekend. We started off after my early dismissal from work on Wednesday, since Lee had the whole week off from his generous employer. By the time we got all the errands taken care of (which I handled gracefully, having finally figured out that “leaving” doesn’t mean heading for your destination, but doing a couple of hours’ worth of errands I didn’t know were coming up, THEN leaving), it was around 4 pm.

We didn’t take any pictures on the trip out, but this one from the Robert’s Steak House web site should help you find a good meal on I-10. This photo from Wikipedia is just a reminder of what put Shiner on the map—other than the Lutheran retired preacher’s home.

We were, at that point, heading toward Angleton to spent the night at Chris’s house, then go to the family Thanksgiving dinner at Lee’s brother’s house (Chris’s dad). We had not been through the Bastrop area since before the huge fire there, but by the time we got to that part, it was too dark to really see anything. The traffic through Bastrop was pretty incredible, and we enjoyed watching people attempt to get ahead by driving on the access road that they didn’t realize veered off from the main highway. At some point, Lee had me look at his phone because he saw a text had come through, and realized Chris had been trying to get in touch with him. It turned out that Ernest Sr. did not want to go to the family Thanksgiving after all, so we decided to turn Ursula around and head to Yorktown, so we could stay with Lee’s dad and let Chris go to Angleton and see his family for the holiday—he now works in Yorktown, so any chance to see them is good.

Turning around meant that we embarked on an adventure in driving down secondary [and tertiary] highways in pitch darkness in a huge vehicle. [Across the railroad tracks from FM154 a few minutes out of West Point, we saw huge piles of smoldering embers. Remnants from the Bastrop fire?] Luckily Lee was up to it and Ursula did just fine.

When we got to the scenic town of Flatonia (really, it was scenic from what I could tell in the dark) we stopped at Robert’s Steak House just off I-10. [It really is unusual to find food this good abutting a truck stop. Take note trucker friends!] We had a really good time bantering with the saucy and very sparkly waitress (she had the biggest earrings I ever saw, avery shiny nose piercing, and shiny hair doo-dads), watching a family patiently taking their potty training twins back and forth to the bathroom over and over, and eating some truly delicious meat. I had kabobs made with filet, and wow they were fine. [I was not able to finish my New York strip, so we had the leftovers in eggs for breakfast the next day. It was all the seasoning the eggs needed.]

We got to drive through Shiner, Texas and see where all that yummy Shiner Bock beer comes from—the brewery was already nicely lit up for Christmas, as was the whole town. I loved their décor—simple strands of colored lights across the streets.

We eventually made it to the farm around 9 pm, long after Ernest Sr. had gone to bed, so we parked and listened to the owls and coyotes. Let me tell you, both of them have been quite loud on this trip. HOOT HOOT HOOT YIP YIP YIP. In the morning, we found evidence of some coyote fun—a whole bunch of really pretty feathers from what appeared to be a former caracara bird (Mexican eagle). I am not sure what happened to it, but it didn’t look good.

Above: Suna holds one of the caracara feathers. Right: Suna made some of the feathers into this bouquet in a paper “vase” that came from Dad and Flo’s house. Below: One of the feathers as the coyotes left it.

By the time we were up and active Thanksgiving morning, Lee’s dad was already out in his New Tractor and plowing away at a field. For someone who wasn’t feeling too well, he certainly had a lot of plowing in him. He plowed at least 6 hours. He has already plowed a bunch more today, too. [If you’re interested in more about Dad’s current status, I posted an update to The Hermitage.]

Dad loves to do things in his new tractor. He just loves everything to do with farming. He often quotes a former neighbor, “If you love what you do, it ain’t work.”

Lee and I checked out the baby bunny they had rescued last time he was here. Bun Bun seems fine. All the cattle seem fine, but I was sad to hear that #10 lost another calf this week, so she is doomed as a chronic aborter. She is the nicest one. I wish I could keep her as a pet. Sigh. You can’t be sentimental about livestock, I know.

I didn’t get any new pictures of the bunny, but this little feller was very perky. He was very persistent at chewing walnuts and thawing the shell remnants at us or Ursula. Can you say, “Cute?”

Lee cooked us some egg sandwiches with leftover steak in them—that tided us over until time to feed Ernest Sr. We had figured we would “get” to go to Victoria and eat at the Furr’s cafeteria. I remember the other time we did that—just about the most miserable meal I ever ate, though Lee and his dad liked it just fine. It was just so sad seeing all the old folks being-taken out of their nursing homes for a meal, all the sad people who were unable to make a meal for themselves, and the poor folk having to work that day (who were quite cheery about it). And argh, that food just is not of the Canova Anderson Kendall (Mom) quality I remember from childhood. So when it was declared that no, he didn’t want to go to Victoria either, I was pleased.

Suna is either checking her email or posting to Facebook. Look how happy she is!

Then I realized I needed to make something for dinner. I had just about settled on festive macaroni and cheese when it hit me that I just about had a Thanksgiving dinner in Ursula. I rummaged through the pantry and discovered that yes, indeed, I had bought a thing of Stovetop Stuffing at some point. And we had delicious turkey lunch meat! And 5 leftover rolls from dinnerTuesday night! Plus, there was the stuff I had intended to contribute to the family dinner we were originally going to. So, I made home-made cranberry-orange sauce first.

Here is how to make that:

Cook one bag of cranberries and one cup of sugar or equivalent together with a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice. Put some of the orange pulp in there, too. (Optional is bits of candied ginger. ) Cook on high until the cranberries pop and turn the liquid red. Cook a few more minutes until the sauce get a bit thick. Cool in refrigerator, which will thicken it more. This is so good.

After the cranberries went into the fridge, I went to work on the sweet potatoes that Lee had baked Wednesday morning while I was at work. I mashed them up (had brought the masher with me, thankfully) and added a tablespoon of cinnamon and a stick (yep) of butter. It looked like it needed a bit more liquid. The only milk product I had was caramel latte flavored creamer(the kind with real cream) that I had brought for my coffee. I put about a half-cup of that in there and mixed it all up. I then put it in the new baking dish we had bought, and made Lee figure out how to light the oven pilot light. We got that going, then, oops. The pan was too big for the little RV oven. But, the stuff heated up OK with the door slightly ajar. And we didn’t asphyxiate or anything.

While that was cooking I washed dishes. That is how we know there is a leak in the water line somewhere. Ursula has to go back in the shop, because we could not find it without moving the fridge. Good thing we have old towels.

Can you see the dog?

Moving along, I set the table nicely and decorated with some wildflowers I picked when we were out looking at the oil wells earlier, and the feather bouquet. I lit a candle, too, so it was all quite festive. We ended up having a fine feast, even if the turkey was lunch meat, and Lee had to eat a sausage because that’s all we had! Oh, and I had bought some dates rolled in almonds, so we even had dessert. I was really proud of myself for cobbling together a meal for the three of us, just like in the tradition of Thanksgiving. I may not like the “exploitation of Native Americans” aspect of the holiday, but I do like the family nature of it, and the focus on being thankful for what you have. It’s a good thing to remind ourselves of, perhaps more than once a year, even. [Yeah, a wise person once said, “It’s not so important to have what you want. It’s more important to want what you have.” How many of us clutter our lives with unimportant things we don’t even want once we acquire them?]

The flowers I put in with my poor plant, which is sprouting from its roots. Note we have a Christmas Tree!

Lee’s dad went to bed real early, so we finally broke in theTV and watched football and some other stuff. It was quite homey! More later…

We were treated to a really spectacular sunset.

Saturday Morning

Yesterday was a pretty lazy day, at least for us. Lee’s dad continued to plow another field. He felt better for doing it, too--it is so good to see him feeling stronger, so maybe he will be able to do all his treatments starting next week. I was not feeling too great, on the other hand, so mostly took it easy. Lee and I did go for a drive in the Prius, and we got some fencing to make the bunny a little cage to hop around outdoors in. We also got materials to make spaghetti for dinner. The spaghetti also went over well. Lee’s dad said I was “a good girl,” which means I did well, I guess. [It does. It also means he likes you.]

We took it easy, but bird drama ensued.

We spent the evening watching Iron Man on the television, since we can’t get ESPN on the rabbit ears and Chris decided not to show up after all. I also read a most informative issue of Mother Earth News. I guess we need to subscribe to that, since it has so many ads for utility vehicles, small tractors, chicken houses and other accoutrements of gentle-person ranchers.

These guys were not impressed by the drama unfolding above them. They didn’t even take bets on the outcome.

We spent the evening watching Iron Man on the television, since we can’t get ESPN on the rabbit ears and Chris decided not to show up after all. I also read a most informative issue of Mother Earth News. I guess we need to subscribe to that, since it has so many ads for utility vehicles, small tractors, chicken houses and other accoutrements of gentle-person ranchers.

It was eerily quiet much of last night. The harsh winds of the day completely died down and it was deathly still. For the longest time there were no birds, coyotes or cattle noises. There was just the distant sound of a well getting fracked a few miles away, emitting a sort of spooky, foggy glow. And it was hot. We awoke to cloudy skies, and a front has just rolled through, bringing some welcome rain. Luckily the plowing got finished just in time!

Lee is taking the rain as an opportunity to give Ursula a good bath. She gets lots of bugs on that huge windshield. Even if we drive through mud on the way out of here, her screens and such will be cleaner—they got pretty dusty over the long, dry summer. I straightened up Ursula, but figure there is no use vacuuming if Chris will eventually get here, and the guys will come in with rainy shoes on. Might get another dose of cow poop on the carpet.

Nothing witty to say about this one.

Saturday Night

I went on a walk once it stopped raining, to see if it would help whatever ails me. It was breezy, but a nice walk around the property with nice birds and fresh air.

The tractor tire is taller than me, even with the hat.

By then Chris had indeed showed up, so we all chatted about how happy we are to have jobs, because, well, we are. It has been a rough few years! Then Lee and Chris decided to go put in some more fence posts. So I got to see Lee in action driving the tractor! Go Lee! It mostly went quite smoothly, except a couple of the posts hit rocks, which caused the metal posts to bend, then reverberate, leading to Chris getting bonked on the head by the shovel attachment. They eventually took it off. I know I am proving I am quite a city girl for saying this, but wow, tractors are powerful. And it is cool to see all the delicate things you can make them do. All of this time, the cows watched us carefully.

Lee not bonking Chris on the head with that shovel-y thing. In the foreground is the next pole to be driven in.

Actually, they were following us around all afternoon. I think they know something's up. The calves are going to new homes next week—turns out they BOTH get to be professional cow daddies. Unfortunately, #10 has to go be someone's dinner, because she can't seem to bear calves. I tried to argue for keeping her as a pet, but it didn't work. City girl. The other two cows get to have new little ones around January, with the big gray Brahma as the father. I can't wait to see them! And apparently three more cows are coming, which have a white bull as the father. At least there will be more cow variety next year.

This patient mama is still nursing two full-grown bull calves, only one of which is hers. She does draw the line when they try to mount her—at least for now. That’s why they’re going elsewhere to be daddies.

This is some of what can happen when you find a rock a couple of feet underground.

We needed to head out around 5, so off we went. Unfortunately, the wind had not died down. Driving a large rectangular object down the road in gale winds is not fun, judging from watching Lee do just that. It took so much effort and concentration to keep her on the road and not against a guardrail or other car. And we also had to dodge various items that had fallen off someone's vehicle in the wind. A set of steps, a folding chair, a small baseball bat. We were very happy to arrive home and see the happy young people. Ahh. I am thankful that I get to try to make a more "normal" Thanksgiving meal tomorrow.

If anyone other than Lee or I reads this, I hope you had a reasonable Thanksgiving. It has been a bit hard on me with my dad gone, and not being able to be with my kids, but on the other hand, Lee and his dad seem really happy, and that is wonderful. I think it was much better to stay on the farm than to try to make him travel.

More Non-Ursula Travel

In the last post, Suna mentioned that I traveled to Yorktown this weekend without Suna and Ursula. I posted the results in my personal blog since they are more related to Dad, his struggle with cancer, and things that happened on the farm—and it wasn’t a pleasure trip in Ursula.

If you’re interested (there are lots of pictures posted there), here are the links:

• I arrived in time to check Dad out of the hospital, see his new tractor delivered, fight a fire, and check him back in to the hospital.
• Chris and I brought Dad back home. Then we all fell over.
• Chris and I hung two gates, planted fence posts, and rescued a bunny.
• The test results show Dad is doing much better than we had originally been lead to believe.

This wouldn’t be an Ursula post without a picture, so here’s one now:

Dad admires his new tractor.

More Ranching, November 5-6

It’s been a busy couple of weeks—lots going on with Lee’s dad, which will be another post, and while he was gone I was partying all last weekend (really, three parties in three days—that never happens!). This is why I have not managed to post about our most recent trip in Ursula until now!

We had planned to head back to Wild Type Ranch in early November, but we realized it would be a good idea to wait until Saturday morning to head out, rather than Friday evening after work. It just didn’t sound fun to try to navigate an unfamiliar cow pasture in the dark, and dark is coming earlier and earlier these days [thanks to the disappearance of Daylight Savings Time! Why can’t they just leave time alone? (L:)].

This is one that really interested me. On the ranch, it could use off-road diesel, which would pay for the difference in cost over time. There’s also a 6x6 that has twice the cargo capacity of the 4x4s. Photo courtesy of Central Texas Power Sports

On Saturday we did get out fairly early, for us, but we made a lot of stops. One was a fun stop. We visited the place that sells "mules," those little vehicles you drive around on your farm or ranch and use to do work. It was fun looking at all the options, and looking at what was available helped us narrow down what we think we will need when/if we have the property to drive one on. The diesel ones were cool, but they only come in the large size that costs as much as a small car. I was pleased that you can get windshields on them. My poor hair has enough issues, even with the new cowboy hat. It looks like if Lee trades in his motorcycle, we won’t even have to shell out bucks, too. That is nice.

After other errands, such as putting gas in Ursula, we finally lumbered our way to Milam County. Some of those roads are not fun in an immense vehicle. On the other hand it’s fun scenery. We made it to the ranch by mid afternoon, and got Ursula all situated in a beautiful spot next to the woods, with a view of my favorite tank (a tank is a man-made pond, in Texan).

Ursula looking spectacular next to pretty woods and clouds

The spot we parked in was perfect. The dining area window looked out on the woods, and the front was perfect for watching little birds in the area between the woods and the field. It was also fairly level, which worked out well. Once there is electricity out there, it will be fun to listen to all the nature sounds from there. On the other hand, there was evidence of feral hogs on the other side of the woods—I would be OK not hearing those.

My favorite tank. I hope the willows come back.

Lots and lots of birds come to the water around here. I saw a whole bunch Sunday morning when I just went over and sat quietly for about an hour. There was a cool curlew looking for something in the mud, a flicker, a tiny hawk (forgot what that one is), and all kinds of sparrows in a mixed flock. They were taking baths at the side of the water and looked like they were having so much fun. Of course there were many doves, meadowlarks and such. My idea of a good time, anyway.

Look here’s one now…It isn’t by the tank, but you can see the wire oscillating from the bird’s immediate departure.

Anyway, once we were all settled in we ambled over to the barn and visited with Sara and Ralph. She was sorting beef deliveries out of the many freezers o’ beef, and he’d been messing with the cattle that are still there (lots had left the day before, to lands where grass still exists). He showed us the incredibly cool scaffolding kind of thing he had made from scraps lying around the place.

Scaffolding demo

It’s a platform that the front loader attaches to, creating a very sturdy surface for painting the steel framework of the house that’s exposed over the porches. No moving of ladders necessary! It also angles further up for tree trimming (there are slats on the floor to keep you from falling). What I like about it is that he had painted all the metal to match the house, and stained all the wood parts. It has both utility and craftsmanship. And, I suspect, it is a lot of fun. Between Ralph and Lee’s nephew Chris, I think they could make almost anything.

The cow dog puppies. There mother is off searching for a ball.

We went for a visit to see the progress on the really interesting house they are building. It’s a metal frame building with amazing insulation. It is totally silent inside. I can’t wait to see how it finishes! And it is way bigger than their current cabin, to which we returned to chat, fetch eggs (yay I like that part), and pet the horses (I also like that part). Both Sara’s horses are lovely, and she is doing a great job with them.

I didn’t get any pictures of the house, but here is one of a hawk. “House…” “Hawk…” They both start with “H.”

We then had another delicious dinner cooked by Ralph, and fun conversation. It was so relaxing in so many ways. They are great hosts.

I got up pretty early the next day and made coffee so I could stare at birds. Lee and I also walked a lot, checking out the terrain, climbing in the areas that eventually will be water, and just breathing in quiet.

This view is just one of the reasons why we love this place. There is also a sense of peace I have only found a few other places.

Later in the morning, Sara went riding.

Around that time, a guy came over to practice falconry in the next field. To so this, he put a big red and white kite high in the air, with a big old hunk of meat hanging off it. He then got the falcon out of the car, put it on his gloved hand, took off its hood, and sent it up. After a couple of screeches, it spotted the food and went for it. Lasted about a minute, I guess. Then it ate for quite a while. He brought the bird over for us to meet her. That’s her there.

The bird also has a faithful companion.

The bird’s place in the back of the SUV

I thought I had a picture of the falcon striking, but damned if I can find it! This one is just after, and the falcon is on the way to the ground with its “prey.”

It turns out the falconry guy used to be a horse trainer, too, so he talked to Sara about the gentle way she is teaching her horses to do things. It’s like a partnership, and you have to understand what is going on in the horse’s mind.

Discussing horsey things. Note the horse is participating.

It was fun watching Sara convince the horse to approach Ursula. I am sure the noisy box was not his idea of a good time, but eventually, he went up to her. It was two steps forward, one step back. During all this time, the poor other horse was not pleased. He missed his friend and was not happy to not be the center of attention. He kept running up and down his field, flinging his beautiful tail and neighing as if to say, “Look at me! I am over here! I am very pretty!” [And he was, too! (L:))]

It’s a good thing horses are telepathetic. Otherwise, how would we have known the unridden one was unhappy—except by listening to his frantic whinnying and watching him run around like a border collie fenced next to a busy road.

Before we left, we went on another long walk. Below is a nice photo of some of the land we were wandering around on. It was nice and cloudy, too, so not too hot.

The creek and hay field.

We were pleased that it did not rain, even though the rain is needed, since getting Ursula off that field when it became mud would be a challenge. But we did it! Lee is a great off-road driver of immense vehicles!

Farmorama

Suna says: It was time for our monthly trip to see Lee's dad (delayed so I could sing a solo at church last weekened), so we rumbled off as soon as I could get away from work. Lee had the day off, so he had Ursula ready to go as soon as I got home. We had a very pleasant drive with little horrible traffic to deal with, though now that it's fall, it's hard to get anywhere before dark. I remembered the blanket that was supposed to go in Ursula when I finished knitting it, plus Lee had bought me a lovely pansy plant. We looked quite civilized!

Ursula's interior with her nice blanket and pansies.

We did get to the Farm in time to chat with Lee's dad and Chris, so all was well. We enjoyed looking at brochures for the nice new tractor Lee's dad had bought that day. His trade-in on the old tractor was for more than he's originally paid! Wish it worked like that with cars! I am go glad Lee's dad is enjoying his time right now. He looked pretty good, though his bladder cancer treatment is going slow. We hope it can get going again after he gets checked out again. After Lee's dad went to bed, we talked to Chris for a long time--there's so much to catch on every time we visit, plus there is all the necessary joking, kidding and poking fun that has to happen. We heard lots of owls and coyotes.

Chris and a tree

We woke up at a reasonable time Saturday morning. It had been pretty chilly at night—we inaugurated Ursula's heating system, which worked just great. Lee made us a nice breakfast of eggs and toast, then Chris brought kolaches, so there was plenty of breakfast. We spent most of the day hanging out at the Farm. I was trying out my new roper-style boots and Stetson hat that Lee had bought me last week. Both worked out GREAT. I had gotten the hat a size big, and the guy had put some foam inside it. That has made the hat incredibly comfy. I wore it all day Saturday and it did not hurt a bit.

Chris and Suna survey Dad’s domain

The new DeWitt County icon

We all walked over to the pad to see how the oil company had painted the well and storage equipment all a lovely shade of tan. Chris and I climbed the stairs up to the top of the storage tanks (they store water and only smelled a little like the city of Luling). You could really see a long way--lots of the new RV parks that have sprung up, and plenty of oil equipment.

Quite attractive water storage tanks

View from the tanks, with Lee and his dad discussing the lovely tan paint. The green stripe is the grass that got patiently irrigated all summer. Soon it will be a pasture.

Much of our time walking around was spent in the endless quest to eliminate the evil "smell apples" from the fields. Lee's dad hates them. After a great deal of searching, I found that these are an invasive species called the dudaim melon (or smell melon or apple melon, thus the colloquial smell apple). They do seem prolific, and pretty useless. Apparently they came from Iran--those darn terrorists. OK, really they came from Persia, which was before Iran was there, so no bad intent, ha ha.

Smell Apples

Suna actually pulled the smell apple pictured above. See! Here she is pulling it.

The grass that Lee's dad so diligently watered during the drought has taken hold and looks really good. He and Chris have also planted a field with a mix of oats and rye grass. We spent some time trying to figure out which were the oats and which were the rye--as seedlings they look pretty similar, but by pulling a couple up and seeing what seed was attached, positive identification was achieved. Judging from Lee's photos, it was pretty hilarious.

This is what Dad’s jigs looks like from the ground. Some of the runners are almost four feet long. Hard to imagine that it started out looking like hay being plowed into dry soil.

Dad calls these, “Those damned yellow flowers." Suna calls them by their botanical name. I just call them “pretty.”

Here they are up close and shady

This coy beauty posed for us on the walk back to the house. Growing up, I never knew scissor tails were so colorful.

#10 lets Suna pet her nose.

Speaking of hilarious, when we got back we were chatting, when one of the cows (good ole #10) came up and looked like she wanted something. She had heard the rattle of the paper bag my knitting was in and had hoped it was a feed bag. She is like a larger version of Scrunchy the Pug I guess. So, Chris gave me a handful of feed and after a bit of patience, she came up and ate it out of my hand. A bit slimy, but really a lot of fun to be licked by the big, black tongue! Then ALL the cattle showed up. I ended up quite the popular human, and got to pet one of the little bulls quite a bit. Both the little bulls are very sweet—too bad they have to go somewhere else so that inbreeding doesn't happen. They are each nursing off the same cow, since one of them decided to wean her calf. The poor nicer cow gets quite bothered when they both are thirsty at the same time. Mostly they eat grass—they are almost a year old.

Suna feeds good ole #10.

Dad and Chris recently planted a mixture of oats and rye grass to feed the cattle through the winter, but some other things are coming up in the mix. Here Chris and Suna try to discern which seedling is which variety.

As if that were not enough excitement, we then decided to head to Cuero for an early dinner. We did make a detour to see some donkeys, since I had mentioned, oh, once or twice, that I am interested in a spotted donkey. Yep, they were pretty nice looking donkeys down by the Yorktown cemetery. Most restaurants in DeWitt County close on Saturday afternoons, but we found a Mexican restaurant that was open. The food was really good and the servings were immense, but gee whiz the place was filthy. And the paint peeling. Well, as long as the food prep area was OK [I wouldn’t count on it; some things you’re better off not knowing], so were we.

Back at the Farm we enjoyed a nice sunset and watched Lee take photos. Then, we had a rather surreal experience watching a 1970s Lawrence Welk Halloween show rerun on PBS (watch link for a laugh--for a bigger laugh do a Google Image search on "Lawrence Welk Show Halloween" and note how many Saturday Night Live images actually appear). This is the highlight of the paternal week. The weird part was that while all the singers were dressed in Halloween costumes, the songs were mostly spirituals. Most...interesting.

Lee's dad thought he was coming down with a cold, so Chris and I went to the store and got him a variety of zinc, vitamin C and other things to head a cold off. It's always fun to go to the rural grocery store. All that got everyone tired out, so we returned to Ursula and relaxed with Chris a while, then turned in. Coyotes were really, really loud last night. And lots of mooing. Something must have been going on!

From the water storage tanks, it looked like the sky was on fire.

Dusk was nice, too.

Later that night, you could see the shadow of the moon through the trees. You could also see a couple of planets in opposites quarters of the sky, but those pictures didn’t come out well. I need a faster camera.

Eek! Something is eating the moon! And there’s a lens flare watching.

This time exposure of a car going down the road shows just how bumpy it really is.

This morning (Sunday) we had to get up early so Lee could go to a meeting at church at noon. We couldn't get there in time for choir, and I felt bad about that, due to there being only one actual soprano left. Ursula apparently did not like that, so she decided to make her alarm go off, trying to tell us the levelers weren't back up all the way, even though they were. Lovely. But we had a nice time going home a slightly different way, and made it in a timely fashion.

Next week we hope to get up to the Ranch (as opposed to the Farm) for rural camping in scenic Milam County. I hope we make it there by dark, since I am not exactly sure where Ursula is going to park. It's hard enough navigating a familiar pasture in the dark!