Texas Fall/Winter thread!

[jinman]

Jim,
I'm sure you didn't have your camera quite level and this perspective is hard to figure, but I'm wondering if this is the finished dam height and if you will have a cliff on the other side even when smoothed out?
Ron

Ron, your illustration has level skewed a bit. The bank on the far side is slightly above overflow. Water will fill and the basin and come halfway up the feed gully before it fills. The deeper water will be in the foreground. The cliff on the other side of the pond will be sloped some, but it will always be a huge drop to the water. At the highest point, water should be just below where the soil turns from red to white.

 

[Western]

That storm systems seemed to affect you depending on where you where standing:laughing: It never got as wide spread as I thought it would, but good some of you got something more substantial than just a dirty truck

39* here right now, they lowered our high for today for under 50*, which just "figures" since I have to work outside tonight in around 33* temps..YEAH

 

[Western]

Crazy weather for sure. My daughter sent me this photo taken with her cell phone a bout 2/10ths of a mile from our place. The Rio Grand turkeys are already "feeling the urge:laughing: I was thinking it was a tad early, but March is usually breeding here. Also, just for the "record" that's not my crappy fence!!:laughing:

Since it has been so mild, even some of the brush is starting to "swell" and get some color on the stems, now watch us get 15" of snow again

 

[jinman]

Also, just for the "record" that's not my crappy fence!!:laughing:

That looks like a pretty nice fence before some crappy driver modified a post. There's a fellow on Hwy 287 that has had to replace/repair his pipe fence three times in nearly the same place. The highway is clear with no intersection or even a driveway nearby. I can't figure why they run off the road and into his fence, but they do.

Nice turkey photo from your daughter. I saw two hens a couple of weeks ago, but haven't seen any large groups yet.

 

[Western]

Jim, I saw about 60 turkeys today, Toms all strutting in groups around the hens, kinda like the 1st hour on prom night:laughing:

That fence appears to have had a run in or 2, the biggest problem with it's strength though is whomever put it up, didn't use "slip" joints in the top rail, so with the freeze/thaw cycle, it is popping welds and failing. I havent seen where a vehicle has gone through it, but it does appear as though a tractor implement got to close.

 

[ronjhall]

Been raining down here is the valley everyday since Sunday. Got a little over 2". Weatherman says we will continue to get more each day until Monday. Good for farmers down here. Not good for Winter Texans.

 

[Bird]

NWS says 60% chance for us tonight and 50% tomorrow, so we're hoping.

 

[bindian]

Well, we needed rain and got it. Now I have a large tree that is dead and dropping limbs everywhere. It could fall and take out my workshop and is leaning serious that way. The recently buried barn elelctrical goes within 15 feet of this tree. The electrical was buried last summer. Now, it is a quagmire and yesterday tried to swallow the Big RED Beast when I was getting into position to dig it up and push it over "where" I wanted it to go. I noticed the front tires going down and tried to back up, but the right rear tire was right over the soft ground of the trench. This trench was dug 24 inches wide and about 3 feet deep. I got "delayed". The BRB got herself out, after I threw some good lumber and timbers under the right rear tire. I kept the weight off the fronts with the loader bucket and powered back in 7th gear and plenty of RPMs. Right after, I thought.....................I should have took photos!
So now I wait for dryer weather to take that tree out, while praying it will break off branches and not the trunk!
hugs, Brandi

 

[jinman]

So now I wait for dryer weather to take that tree out, while praying it will break off branches and not the trunk!
hugs, Brandi

Brandi is there anyway or anything you could tie the tree off to so it would be supported or swing away from your workshop if it fell? I too have several small trees I need to remove, but none are endangering anything more than my well house. I don't think the tree would hurt the well house structure, but it might scrape off some shingles. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that it holds until you can get it down. Ground as wet as you describe doesn't give much support to already dead/dying trees. Don't feel bad about not getting photos of your tractor. If I took pictures everytime I got close to being stuck, I'd have a whole album of my "escape-ades."

 

[Western]

Listening to the local weathermen and looking at the US drought monitor, you can see a small stripe of "white" now over Dallas/Ft Worth, that extends to the NE. So as far as for Agriculture and Grasslands we are at normal. Since some area lakes, primarily ones that supply Cities such as Dallas are still "low" , Dallas is still implementing water restrictions. BUT yet on the news, The city of Dallas is considering selling like 16 million gals, I think that was a daily figure.:confused2:

Much of Texas still is in agricultural/ecological nightmare.
Here as decent Drought map that is a current observation and other interesting tools.

US Drought Monitor