It's Burnin' Down In Texas - End of Summer 2011

It has certainly been a record breaking summer. We've had no measurable rain and almost 80 days of triple digit temps. The ground is dry and Central Texas is in flames. Our hearts go out to the over 1500 families who have lost their homes. I honestly can't imagine the upwelling of sorrow that has gone out from those who have lost everything.

Yesterday Eric and I drove out to the ranch to check on things. We have not done must of anything all summer, simply due to the heat. We just have not been able to get much work done. Not to mention the ever increasing rise of fuel prices. It costs $100.00 to fill that tank in my truck. I get 19 miles to the gallon and burn 80 miles to get to the ranch and back. It's not that I can't afford it, but considering the little amount of actual work that gets done. I think we'll have to wait until it is cooler before we can focus on really getting any work done this year.

On the way out to the ranch yesterday, we had to stop twice to put out fires on the roadside. We pulled off, jumped out, grabbed the shovel and rake and got to work putting one out...I ran up the road a ways and put out the beginning of another one. Then looking behind us the way we had just came was an even bigger fire on the roadside. We jumped back in the truck and took off. When we got onsite, there were several other people there, but it didn't look like they knew how to deal with the fire. Eric and I got busy and got it put out. One guy standing by looked at me and said "Thanks". When we were sure that it was out, we hopped back in the truck and continued on to the Circle H.

We worked on clearing some of the dead briar away from the back fence and before we knew it our time was up. We had only planned on being out until noon, and our firefighting efforts had chewed up some of our time and energy.

We did see a young horse over in the neighbors side of the fence. I gave a short whistle and he came over to say Hi. Eric and I gave him a couple of good pats to say hello and I used this as an opportunity to take a couple of pictures.

Below you'll find some pictures of Eric and the neighbor's horse and some shots showing how dry the place is. Also, a couple of shots showing some wind damage to the shed where it has blown off some of the siding. We have some more work cut out for us before Winter hits.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Springtime at Circle H

Well, it's springtime. Lots to do. It has been a couple of weeks since I went out to check on the place. I spent a few hours out this week clearing a few more trees and getting a few more stumps up out of the roadway. I'd like to get another load of roadbase put down soon before it gets too hot. I had hoped to do that this week, but I had more higher priorities happening this week so it will have to wait.

I did take a few pictures to document how things are looking this year. I enjoy going out here. I wish I could do it more often.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Owls in the shed

Okay, I remembered to bring my camera this time and sure enough, I caught some pictures before he flew off. The window there is 2 feet wide so you have a good point of reference for how big and beautiful this owl actually was. I think it's pretty awesome. Of course, Todd wasn't very happy with the amount of mess they are making in his shed. We'll seal up the holes in the rafters this next weekend and then they'll have to live somewhere else.

The Mighty Owls

I have always thought that Owls were awesome creatures. In my life time I have seen them swoop down and catch mice without really missing a beat of their wings. They are magestic birds that are equal to other predator birds and only surpassed by maybe Hawks, Falcons or Eagles. When I was in High School, our school mascot was the Owl. As a student I just didn't quit understand why a school would call themselves the fighting owls. After all, didn't owls just sit up in the tree tops and Hoot? It wasn't until I was much older before I realized that Owls were truely magnificent predators. Yesterday, Eric and I went out to the Ranch to burn some brush. Before we started we hiked out to Todd's Shed to check on it. Todd didn't have time to finish it or seal it up from the weather and the past few weeks had been pretty rainy and cold. I wanted to make sure that it had held up. When we opened the door and walked in, it was obvious that some birds had been enjoying having a roof overhead. There were dropping all over the place. There were also some Gray balls about the size of golf balls or a little smaller. I wondered out loud, "What in the heck are these?" Eric stopped to take a better look, pulled out his knife and cut one open and found some small bones and a skull. "I know what these are." Eric exclaimed. "These are owl droppings." I was facinated because I had never seen anything like it. The large amount of them got me to wondering where they could be nesting. I looked around and after ruling out most places, I moved over to where a couple of sheets of OSB plyboards were stacked up against the wall. I leaned them out away from the wall, looked down at the floor and saw a fairly large owl sitting there. I leaned the boards back and said to Eric, "I think I found out where the owl is." At that instant a large barn owl came flying out of his hiding place and flew up to the rafter peak, (where I imagine he had been getting in), and in a panicked state, couldn't get out. So, he started circling the room just over our heads and landing at every window. It was an awesome site to see a bird with a 4 foot wingspan circling inside a 14 foot square building but at the same time. I knew that its beak and talons could tear up my flesh with little effort. I was not in any hurry to see how badly it could hurt us. I used my walking staff to reach over and push the door open. After a couple of circles around in the shed, the owl noticed the opening and flew off. I was so overwhelmed at the silence of the great bird. How huge it was. How close we had been to it and how surreal the whole experience was. I wished that I had had my camera with me but in afterthought, I'm not sure I would have had the presence of mind to get it out and record anything let alone get a picture. The whole thing was over in about 30 seconds. This particular owl was absolutely beautiful. I would say that it's body was about the size of an average house cat. I'm guessing at it's wingspan but I would have to estimate that it was somewhere between 4 and 5 feet. Upon further inspection, we fould another smaller owl hiding in the same spot but she was not interested in moving from her hiding place. I suppose that we experienced natural behavior in the fact that the male flew off as a distraction to protect the female. I assume that the male flew off because it had such beautiful coloring and the other one looks more like it was camouflaged in the same pattern as the woods. After this experience, we sat down for a quick lunch and then propped open the door and went and burned brush for the next several hours. Upon returning to the shed, we noticed that the female had left. It was quit an interesting day at the ranch. It all goes to show you that if you put a shed out in the middle of nowhere and don't live in it, wildlife will move in. Honestly, I was expecting mice. However, with owls living there, mice won't be an issue. I did some research online and found a picture of a typical Texas Barn Owl that looks pretty close to the one that flew around inside Todd's shed. The next time I go out to the ranch, I'm going to have my camera at the ready.

Shhhhhhh I'm Hunting Rabbits

Rabbit hunting with Son and Grand-son. Well...more like 2 and a half hours of chasing rabbits around. You know how it is. You walk around as quiet as you can...two feet ahead of you a rabbit suddenly appears and then runs off before you can say "Bugs".

The ranch has quite a large cotton tail population. Not to mention an abundant assortment of other rodents, mice, rats, and other ground dwelling critters. The hawks and Owls are very healthy.

I've never seen any coyotes but I've discovered their scat and seen their prints in the mud on occasion by the pond.

Eric and Zep wanted to go rabbit hunting. Eric had discovered a rather appetizing recipe for rabbit and was anxious to try it out. I needed to recover a ladder that I had left at the shed because I needed to clear out my gutters before winter rain hits and I promised the dear wife that I would hang Christmas lights up this year at the house.

So...we got a bright early start on Saturday afternoon around 2pm. That put us at the ranch around 3pm. By my reckoning that gives us about 2.5 hours of daylight left.

We had lots of fun. At dusk, I decided to grab my ladder and take it to the truck. Now, you need to understand that the distance from the shed to where I parked my truck is about one quarter of a mile. Later on that fact will become more clear.

Once I had stowed my ladder securely in the bed of my truck and tied it down, I decided to go look for Eric and Zep. My now it was getting pretty dark. I found them about 800 feet away, still hunting.

Eric had just taken a shot and asked me to go to the truck and get his LED flashlight so he could track the blood trail. So...off I went to the truck to retrieve the light.

Back in the brush, there was no sign of a blood trail so we began our walk back to the truck. Along the way, Eric heard a rustle in the brush, shined his light on it and saw a single glowing eye. He handed me the light and asked me to keep in on that spot and he took another shot. We saw the rabbit hop about 3 feet and stop.

(Now, I'm going to pause here and mention that Eric was using a .177 pellet gun that he had just bought at Wal-Mart. We had zeroed in the scope previously and he was really chomping at the bit to use it to get a rabbit.)

Okay, back to the story. I kept the light on it while Eric took another shot. Down went the rabbit right at the spot. Upon further inspection, we learned that the first shot had gone through it's ear. The second shot in the head. It was a fully grown rabbit about a year old based on what it's ears and teeth looked like.

We walked back to the truck, there was a small table nearby that would be perfect for quartering the bunny.

Eric started skinning it and then asked me if I had any water. I answered, "I have some water back in the shed. Do you want me to go get it?" He replied in the affirmative. So...I headed back to the shed. Remember how far I said it was? By now it was pitch black outside. The sky was clear and there were so many stars visible that I couldn't identify anything. The milkyway was visible and I was looking heavenward as I walked.

When I was about 800 feet from the truck, I heard a pack of coyotes going wild, the howls and barking was awesome. I can't help it, I love that sound. I thought to myself, "They must be feasting on rabbit or something. They sounds like they are quite happy." As I turned a curve, it got suddenly very quiet. My mind immediately raced and I realized that the coyotes were much closer than I must have thought. Then after a moment, I told myself that the sudden silence at my approach means that I'm the predator here. So, I turned on my flashlight and shined it around the woods and kept walking to the shed to retrieve the water. On my return trip, I saw a huge owl swoop down from overhead to retrieve something on the path and vanish into the trees. To be honest, at that moment, I was having the time of my life.

When I got back to Eric and Zep, He was almost done with the process and needed the water to rinse off the meat and his knife. He packed it in ice and went were on our way back to the city.

All in all, I got a pretty good amount of walking done. It was a very nice night.

I hope you enjoy the pictures that I took.

The Shed is Up

Me and my sons all went out to the ranch and finished building the shed. It now has four sides, windows and a door. We'll have to wait for Todd to get back from his TDY assignment before we put up weather proofing, siding etc. The pitch of the roof isn't much but I think it'll be alright. The center is 12 inches higher than the edges. Todd is planning on getting regular siding installed when he gets back. After that we'll work on wind and/or solar power for electricity. It may not look like much but it is solid and has already held up to some very high winds. Since none of us are carpenters, I think we did a good job. Here are some pictures.

The Framing has begun

We hand carried every single stick of lumber through the trails we cut. So every piece you see here was carried 1200 feet from where we park. Once we got all of the lumber hauled back to the site, it was time to start framing. We all managed to pick a free weekend (labor day weekend) and we got busy. I loaded up everything into the RV and hooked it up. It is always a good time when I'm able to work side by side along with my sons. The worse thing about the whole thing was that I realized that the sun was simple sucking all of my energy out of me. If I moved into the shade I was fine or if the sun was blocked by a cloud. The second that the sun was directly on me, I would almost black out. I realized that my blood pressure medicine specifically says "avoid direct sunlight", but I didn't think it would be my Kryptonite. The pictures below will tell the story and you'll be able to see how things came together. Not too bad for a couple of guys that really don't know anything about carpentry. Laying out the first section. Two walls up and braced.

Me and Eric standing under the only shade available.

Four walls up and braced.

Ok, not much of a pitch to the roof, but what can I say? Did I mention that I'm not a carpenter? That is a 1 foot rise over 8 feet.

Todd did reveal a talent for trying to kick over the ladder while he was standing on it. Now I know why his ladder is bent. Ha Ha!