Texas Heat!

[Bird]

Officially, the NWS says Denton got .04" of rain yesterday. My gauge stayed bone dry. And officially, Denton got down to 50 degrees this morning, but I don't think it got below 53 on my patio.

But whatever the difference, I consider this first day of Autumn to be wonderful, even though I sure would like some more rain.

 

[blueriver]

Officially, the NWS says Denton got .04" of rain yesterday. My gauge stayed bone dry. And officially, Denton got down to 50 degrees this morning, but I don't think it got below 53 on my patio.

But whatever the difference, I consider this first day of Autumn to be wonderful, even though I sure would like some more rain.

And it don't take much to fill your gauge !! Our rain last week was great, I walked the field this morning and all the rye grass I seeded before the rain is a couple inches tall.

Have not run the irrigation since 9/15 ... but I.m sure in 10-14 days it will be going again.

BTW 54 here this a.m.

 

[Western]

56 at 2am when I pulled in this morning. I notice "fog" early in the evening last night, was a bit off moisture in the air to be sure. Today is supposed to be a super nice day:thumbsup:

Now, if we can get enough moisture to keep my food plot going, the world will be right by me:laughing:

What little rain we have had has had very little impact on the vegetation as far as I can see. I have "new" deer showing up all the time. I have 7 that come in the back yard now from across the road and 7-8 that frequent my feeder area, ( I can tell by the time on my game cam). Water is still a hot commodity, but the corn and protein are really getting hit hard.

 

[Western]

Here is a photo I took yesterday evening before leaving for work. This is only 30-40 yards from the back porch and my dogs (in a fence). Seems the deer are hungry enough that they are making some "concessions" on their normal safety agenda! The 3 little munchkins are funny to watch, not a care in the world.

 

[Bartcephus]

53 degrees this morning on my way to work. Very little rain in west end of county, if any at all. Heavy dew this morning as dew point was within a degree or two of temp. Nice fall start, but expecting temps back in the 90s this weekend. Ugh!

Jim,
At least your making the best of the dry weather cleaning out the sand bar. Whatcha gonna do with all that sand? Sounds like the start of a watermelon patch.

My turnips are about 3" tall now. Food plots still need more mositure but I do see some green comming up. Maybe this dew will help there.

Regards to All!

Bart

 

[tungularafishcamp]

53 degrees this morning on my way to work. Very little rain in west end of county, if any at all. Heavy dew this morning as dew point was within a degree or two of temp. Nice fall start, but expecting temps back in the 90s this weekend. Ugh!

Jim,
At least your making the best of the dry weather cleaning out the sand bar. Whatcha gonna do with all that sand? Sounds like the start of a watermelon patch.

My turnips are about 3" tall now. Food plots still need more mositure but I do see some green comming up. Maybe this dew will help there.

Regards to All!

Bart

So are the deer eating your turnips or just the greens?

 

[pacerron]

Here is a photo I took yesterday evening before leaving for work. This is only 30-40 yards from the back porch and my dogs (in a fence). Seems the deer are hungry enough that they are making some "concessions" on their normal safety agenda! The 3 little munchkins are funny to watch, not a care in the world.

Dennis,
That's a great shot. I added a little saturation to better compare the hair color with those up here now. Hope you don't mind.
Ron

 

[two_bit_score]

You want to see how bad the drought is in Texas, here's something from the Parks & Wildlife Department.

2011 Texas Drought

Lot of that looks dry but it's wet below the surface. Lots of mud. There will be good fishing when the rains fill Travis back up. The 'sometimes islands' are now permanent but hopefully not for long.

Just trying to look on the bright side. The rains will come and the lakes will fill up again.

 

[jinman]

Just trying to look on the bright side. The rains will come and the lakes will fill up again.

Yep, you are right, the rains will eventually come, but before everything 'heals' with the moisture, the lack of good vegetation will mean increased erosion and silting of ponds, streams, and lakes.

Here are some pictures I took this afternoon while mining sand on our lake's sandbars. There is a small creek (really a ditch) that drains into the lake after travelling 1-1/2 miles from Hwy 287. It collects sand and silt and deposits all that at the mouth as it empties into our lake. I just happen to own the land where it makes the deposit, so I guess I'll eventually own everyone else's property around me when it arrives via the creek.:laughing:

The first two pictures below show the lake at about 4-1/2' down from overflow. The sandbars are clearly visible. I can't get to the ones near the water because they wont support my TLB. When I put down the outriggers, water seeps up and they just wallow down in the mud. I haven't been stuck, but only because I'm savvy to what is happening and move the tractor before it sinks in the sand. I tried to move with a full bucket of sand and the front tires just sunk almost to the axle down into dry sand. The mud below the sand is no support and the loose sand provides almost zero traction.

The third picture is of my slough. It's normall 3' to 4' deep and just to the left in this picture is an island that is home to a beaver colony.

The 4th picture is the pile of dirt from today's digging.

The 5th picture is my pond. Thank goodness it is 12 feet deep or it would be drying up. I'm guessing half the water is gone. The small surface area compared to the depth is the only reason I can figure it isn't dryer. It's also protected from a lot of wind since it sits down in a bowl with a nice growth of trees on the 50% of the shoreline.

Ron (pacerron): I noticed two young bucks a couple of nights ago that had almost black, faces, manes and tails. I commented to my wife that their color is getting very dark. Not all deer seem to be that way, but some of them have made dramatic color changes in the last month.

 

[Western]

Ron,
I don't mind at all, I didn't even go into my editor for the photo.

Jim,
I guess digging out that silt is one positive thing about this drought. i have read allot of threads on the net of other doing a complete "re-dig" since the dry ponds allow for it.

Weatherman said it would take 3 days of constant hard rain to get the water flowing, or to start rising.

 

[pacerron]

Here are some pictures I took this afternoon while mining sand on our lake's sandbars. There is a small creek (really a ditch) that drains into the lake after travelling 1-1/2 miles from Hwy 287. It collects sand and silt and deposits all that at the mouth as it empties into our lake.

Are those lakes like your #14 owned by the state or by private land owners and the state gives them a tax credit for them being a reservoir? Is it a natural low area or a result of mining?
It sure is a nice looking lake from space!

 

[LarryD]

When I put down the outriggers, water seeps up and they just wallow down in the mud. I haven't been stuck, but only because I'm savvy to what is happening and move the tractor before it sinks in the sand. I tried to move with a full bucket of sand and the front tires just sunk almost to the axle down into dry sand. The mud below the sand is no support and the loose sand provides almost zero traction.

Jim, you could put down a couple tires with dunnage to help with the outrigger problem. Of course that doesn't help with moving the spoil away. But hey, you could use some air field matting and then you're golden.

 

[two_bit_score]

Great pics, Jim! You are right about the upcoming erosion problems.

 

[jinman]

Are those lakes like your #14 owned by the state or by private land owners and the state gives them a tax credit for them being a reservoir? Is it a natural low area or a result of mining?
It sure is a nice looking lake from space!

Ron, the water is owned by the state as is the dam. However, the land under the lake is owned by the various landowners and property lines/corners are shown under the water on plat maps of the area. For this privilege, the county and school district raise the value of your property since it's waterfront and you end up paying more instead of less unless you have an ag exemption. If you go out and spend thousands of dollars to control erosion and build your own ponds, the taxing districts get a warm fuzzy feeling for you. So not only do you never really own your land, but if you make it better, you have to pay twice. Ag exemptions by declaring wildlife conservation areas are becoming very common. It's a matter of survival for low-income rural people.

Larry, I've considered several options for getting the sand out of the creek, but ROI is the big problem. You can very easily spend a lot more money than the sand is worth. For that reason, I just take what I can get to easily. Actually, the whole area in the photo is sand, but there is a heavy overgrowth of grass and cattails on part of the sandbar. Traction there is no problem. It's when you get off into deep sand with no vegetation that a 16k lb tractor with a full 1-1/2 yards of sand in the bucket will sink the front tires in a hurry. Completely flat sand seems to be okay, but if you have any grade, the tires lose traction and start to spin and sink in a hurry. My TLB is 4WD and it still can't handle the deep fresh/loose sand.

 

[jinman]

Went to feed my catfish this morning and noticed some really pretty Maximilian Sunflowers blooming near my pond. Even with the drought, the small amount of rain has given these flowers a kick-start. If we had normal rain, they would have been spectacular, but even so, they are very pretty.

I also took a picture of the silt pit I dug where runoff goes into my pond. You can see where I left a sand dam to the main pond, but water seeped through and filled up the pit.

 

[Bartcephus]

Rick,

Turnips are at the house, (within the city limits), where I water them. My food plots are out on the farm, So far, the food plots are just comming out and getting a little green tint to them. The turnips in my back yard are thriving. Just goes to show what a little moisture can do.

 

[Western]

What little moisture I have had, is rapidly disappearing.

Lawn greened up nice though and my food plot has begun to sprout good, but between the deer and the dry conditions, the oats are struggling. Hopefully we get some moisture this week from that cool front Wednesday or Thursday.

Jim, That small patch of Sunflowers would qualify for a "dove lease" this year, I have seen little to nothing of SF this year

 

[Gordo 56]

I just finished reading "The Time it Never Rained" by Elmer Kelton. Some of you here on this thread suggested it. I really enjoyed it. It is a must read for those of you who are going through the drought now.

Mr. Kelton does a great job painting a picture with his words of life In West Texas in the 1950's. The hardships the main charater and others ranchers go through to keep opperating and to keep from going under, is heroic. The different decisions each ranchers make to keep going, and to save their land, I am sure is being played out now in Texas.

Most of the ranchers don't make it in the book and it makes you think twice before taking any government aid.

This book is a thumbsup:thumbsup:

 

[Bartcephus]

Western:

I've seen a lot of dove. We have a great crop of goat weed in some newly dozed (clear cut and then dozer with brush blade) areas out on the farm. But I haven't seen a single sunflower. This last weekend I was surprised to see a river otter in one of our EXTREMELY low creeks that just started flowing again after the rains earlier this month. I really don't know what he is surviving on as the same creek bed was dry almost 2 full months. I too am hoping we get some rain out of the cool front. My food plots are turning a little green but need some rain to help them out. Yesterday, it got up to 97 degrees.... still feels like summer!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Thought I'd ask here to get the quickest replies.

I caught a skunk in a havahart trap. Thought I was gonna catch a possum. Apparently, its been in there all day and maybe last night too. It is barely moving after todays heat(staying in the spirit of the thread).

The trap is about 30 feet from my home and slightly upwind unfortunately.
It has it's head kind of covered up where I can't get a clean shot.

Should I:
shoot it to mercy kill it and possibly miss a head shot? thus, spraying up a storm from being shot.

Or, let it die on its own. I feel it is near death already unless a skunk can go for days in the heat without water.