When we purchased the pecan orchard last August, FD and I were both aware the property had a thistle problem along its south and west boundaries. For much of the autumn and winter months, when the thistle plants were in the rosette stage, FD would pry the dinner plate sized plants up with a shovel … More A Sticky Situation
Early yesterday morning while I was enjoying a cup of coffee on the back porch, I noticed some odd movement down in the canyon near the dry creek bed. Fetching my binoculars I observed a fox squirrel rolling around, flipping, jumping straight up, and then back to rolling in the red dirt. I wondered if … More Squirreling Away
When I was eight years old, my folks bought a small house on the outskirts of town. They had been renting farm land for many years but, one day out of the blue, the land owner decided to burn all his buildings on the property and lease the whole thing out to a company that … More Summer Friendships
Years ago when FD and I owned a little house in town, a pair of Bewick’s wrens set up a nest on our back porch. We were especially excited about this nesting since the bird house they chose for a nesting box was a small, wooden creation my dad had crafted as a young boy … More Front Porch Nursery
After taking the previous week off to spend time with Emily and Sidney, a niece and nephew from Nebraska, FD and I had a lot of mowing to do yesterday. Just before Em & Sid arrived, the drive shaft on the brush hog mower broke, so mowing in the orchard came to a stop. The pasture on … More Fawn Season
Last week, the previous owner of the pecan orchard began moving some of the farm equipment he had left behind after the sale of the land in August last year. Old farming implements, several broken down pickup trucks, a couple of cattle feeders, a couple of stock trailers, a brush hog mower, a broken tiller, a … More Parents on the Rocks
Lately, the weather has been favorable for continued work in the pecan orchard. There are times when I feel like I have not made the slightest dent in all of the cleanup that needs to be done on the fifty-two acres of land and, more specifically, in the orchard itself, where 142 pecan trees have dropped limbs … More The Consciousness of Mindless Work
Almost every morning when looking out the kitchen window while finishing up the last of the breakfast dishes, I can find Emma and Ronnie deer, grazing in the yard. Of course, this time of year there are numerous weeds growing, and my herb and lettuce bed is sprouting all sorts of greens that deer like to nibble … More Shadowing Your Mom At Work
Last night before bedtime, I made one last scan across the front yard and pasture with the flashlight, hoping to spot Emma and Ronnie deer, but there was no sign of them. I walked through the house to the back porch and shone my flashlight down in the canyon. All I found there was a lone raccoon … More If You Go Looking for Trouble, You Will Find It
I did not know what to think yesterday morning when I walked out to the front gate to unlock it and found Ronnie deer by himself on the north side of our house. Since it was still dark out, I scanned the property with my flashlight, but found no sign of his sister. While Emma … More Love is in the Air
Surprisingly, I slept soundly the night after we released Emma and Ronnie deer. I suppose my body was fatigued after spending so much of the previous day on foot, while leading – or, I should say, mostly following – our two little charges around to show them the woodlands. I am quite sure my emotions, leading … More Rest and Rumination
