Happy Birthday Jenny! This rooster is sooo gentle:) The cypress are putting on the winter colors. Last rose and camellia pictures before the freeze. Sophie the real estate dog! Driving slow to the barn to feed animals so Babe can be in the lead:) Arwyn making sure I'm doing everything just right. A B-B East sunsetđź’—
Dalaa worrying about her vet appointment. We always take a break here on our way west. Beautiful fall colors. A last pic before I take down my fall decorations. I got a beautiful buck on my birthday! Hank got a trophy hog too. He took me out to dinner and surprised me with a silver bracelet! Sophie found a pretty waterfall. We have had so much rain that our concrete tank is full.
Snicker :)
We made it home with this huge aoudad mount riding in the back seat taking up all the room. He looks wonderful above the mantle! The fall colors are bright this year. Our pecan tree leaves turned golden yellow. We are so excited!! We will get to have all of the girls home at once. On "ranch patrol", we came across this huge patch of red plants. Picture time with dad and his girls:) Jenny and Ryan arrived. The girls made mini sweet potato casseroles to take to our Boswell family dinner tomorrow. Kate is going on a trip and brought sweet Jacie all dressed up for me to puppy sit. After Thanksgiving, Rachel, Jenny and a few furry folks helped me pick out a Christmas tree. It was a mess getting it home in the rain! Jenny holding a sleepy baby Jo who was wearing her Christmas dress:) The girls made cinnamon ornaments with each dog's paw print. After everyone went home, I walked outside to find this poor little guy stranded on the sidewalk in the icy night air. He spent the night in our mud room shower and warmed up. I let him stay in my greenhouse after that:)
We got to the ranch late at night. Hank started his hunt as soon as we arrived. A huge pack rat was trying to get into our house and he shot it with his blow gun! I began cleaning cactus out of the yard. Jenny and Ryan were great helpers:) Ryan helped dad finish putting up the barn wood wall in the shop.
Jenny and I took Lena and Bree to a Les Vogt horsemanship clinic. There were quite a few folks and we made some new friends. We got to see Isabella riding Matt, who is now Jag:). He has grown so much taller! We had a great time. Well, most of us did. Bree had this face on pretty much for the whole two days.
Beautiful Kate:) Claire is super excited about our trip to B-B West. Maybe not so excited about having to share her bed with Dalaa though! Tess cuddled up with her leopard blanket. The raccoons dug under the quail feeder and raked out all of the millet looking for a bit of corn. A pretty Hereford bull napping in the mesquite and cactus. We drove to Brady and picked up the javelina skulls from our January hunt. See where the arrow pierced the bone? Ryan's first turkey! Hank killed a huge hog with his recurve bow. Look for it! Do you see it? On the light bar. Someone left the door open and we had a visitor.
"Running" the dogs is one of my favorite things to do. I planted a Burr Oak in the front yard. It has really rough and interesting bark. We added lots of dirt and leveled the floor in the greenhouse. Stealer is home and gets very excited when he sees me coming with a feed bucket:) He is 23 years old now! Tess went with Jenny and I to a horse clinic. She was in charge of "trailer patrol"! Birdie peeking out of the dog house. Muzzy drying off in the grass after her swim in the lake. Poor Minnie has another ear infection. She's at the vet looking worried. Unfortunately, I planted my river birch too close to the pool and we had to take it down. Sunrises like this make it worth getting up early!
There were only a few Gulf Fritillary caterpillars this year. Look at the colors on this one. Isn't it just beautiful!! Chrysalis on the passion vine. A passion fruit. We love to do our exercise walk thru the woods. The velvety moss on our green ash tree was just aglow in the morning sun. During a quick trip to Northpark mall, Kate and I got to see the mall's awesome fall displays. Riley's show heifer doesn't like retirement. She still begs for feed every day! Hank planted wheat and it is beginning to come up. Well, it wasn't a raccoon stealing cat food at the barn after all! Jenny and Ryan came and brought baby Jojo, their precious new puppy:) The light from the morning sunrise was wonderful!
It has rained so much this fall that my jalapeños have done very well. How much rain? Well, these buckets were empty a few days ago! I finally got my flowerbed weeded and planted for fall. There is way too much energy in our house! Bree is happy to be back home from the trainer. Hallie decorated herself with a goat weed blossom:) Another volunteer! You better be careful when turning over an old trough at the barn! And thanks to Tess, we found this guy before we swam! Rachel and Stephen in the pumpkin patch:)
The days are getting shorter. I will soon have to change my feeding schedule. Jenny and I made a trip to the pumpkin patch. Mommom and Pa had fun helping me gather pine cones. We discovered this huge tree while exploring. The spring rains have washed up sand that is like a beach! We also found some ripe Buckeyes! Muzzy loves to go on our walks with us:) I'm about to take down my vine. It has grown bigger this year than ever!
A favorite stop on the trip west! Time to fill the feeders with protein, corn and milo. Tess making sure she doesn't miss a ride on the ranger. Ranch patrol:) We found a cactus wren nest built by a heart shaped cactusđź’• Ranch helpers setting the new cattle guard. A stretch without too many rocks and cactus for the dogs to exercise. Tess on lookout:) So pretty!!
These cypress knees are crazy! Beautiful wild Passion flower. The summer drought has left the beaver house high and dry. "Heart" leaves. This poor girl has had a fence post tangled in her tail for two weeks. We got a protein feeder for the food plot. The closer I got to it, this sunset looked like the ranch was on fire!
We drove to Tennessee to see Rachel get inducted into vet school! We are so proud of her! Her school is surrounded by beautiful scenery. We spent one day with Rachel and Stephen exploring the area. It was a fun treat to pack a picnic lunch. Ichi says she likes her new home:) She shares it with a really pudgy bulldog! The next day we hiked to a couple of different overlooks. Our time went way too fast and we had to head back to Texas. We had a goodbye breakfast at one of her favorite little cafes.
Stealer is really excited about being home in East Texas. We made him a new pasture trap close by the house. Claire met her first skunk today:( We have an abundance of green anoles this year. And they are fat and healthy! Our rooster is molting along with most of the chickens. These awful worms hatched overnight and are stripping all the leaves from the pecan tree. And making a huge mess! Tess and TC make me smile. This gal was reserve champion at The Houston Livestock Show in her younger days. Now she likes to come and beg for sweet feed in the evenings:)
One of my favorite places. This cactus is really going a little crazy! Sweet Babe is having her 13th birthday. Where does the time go?! She spends a lot of time nowadays sleeping in the sunny spots. This was one of my dove hunting friends in the sunflower field:) This is my best friend dove hunting by the tank. And this Sophie, his shadow and trusty companion! Sunset over the tank.
Everyone had a fantastic weekend dove hunting but I think Dalaa had more fun than anyone! :)
