Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[farmgirl19]

OK, I saw Lou on another thread, so didn't have to ask about him. We're still talking beer, by the cases, so I am sure it is him! :laughing:

 

[Lou66]

I was posting and the electricity went off.. had to wait on the generator to kick on,, I'm the only one on the block with lights.. well air conditioning.. as I look out of my window on the second story,, I see my neighbors coming over.. well going to be along night.. anyway as I was saying all is well on the southern front.. the north wind hit here around five pm.. it drop the temperature by two degrees,, 93 to 91 thank goodness for cold front.:laughing:. Lou

 

[bindian]

Anyone who is close enough to smell Texas is safe to post in this thread. Heck! Pacerron posts here and he's nowhere near Texas. I think he has a subliminal wish that he was a Texan though.

Farmgirl, maybe everyone was out enjoying the cool weather and northerly breeze. This morning was the first time I haven't broken a sweat in the garden in several weeks.:thumbsup: Besides, Brandi has so many irons in the fire that I don't know how she finds any time to post here at all. That girl doesn't let the dust settle very much. She's always going and doing neat stuff.

Your right Jim. My zero turn mower needs a left drive motor/transmission. My friend and dealer said I could have a new one for $925. I been kicking that around and kept stopping by to talk about it, while searching for a used mower for parts. He has so much business, he found a mower that never was picked up after a left drive motor/transmission R&R that had been lost in their storage lot for over 9 months. So he had a left drive motor/transmission the whole time and didn't know it. We talked it over and he said I could have it for $800, if I removed it myself. That really helped him recoup some costs, as the bill was $1400.

So yesterday morning I went down to the dealer and he moved the mower onto a lift with a forklift. I told him I had my knee pads because I thought I would work on the floor and that a lift would spoil me. Well, that lift just spoiled me about working on the floor. These lifts will lift a car or pickup. Now I wanna lift to stand up and work under on my mower. Or change tranny filters on the Big RED Beast!

Next weekend, I travel to Austin with my shop tools and tool box and help my SIL replace the upper and lower ball joints on my daughter's Ram 1500. A fun time for sure.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

I wish you would come do some of my stuff here too, bindian! I have a few gullies and ditches to fret over!

Gullies??? Jim and I both know what to do with gullies.:thumbsup: I'd dam up my gully, but it handles way too much watershed for my resources.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Western]

I actually got almost 2/10ths today. well yesterday by the time y'all are on TBN, Had a house full of nieces and much needed yard and garden work to get done. Sure messes up a schedule when you have to jump to daytime hours like the other weird folks! Now back to night hours to work before the 4th!! Oh Joy!!

 

[farmgirl19]

The important question Western, is did you salvage the garden?

 

[farmgirl19]

67* right now. It is wonderful to have the doors and windows open! Calling for 63* tonight, and 60* tomorrow night. Good sleeping weather, with windows open! My only problem, I have one "neighbor" across the way, that thinks they have to shoot off fireworks every July 4 and New Year's. They must keep the Firework stands in business, because he started last night, and I know will continue through Sunday. I worry about a grass fire, because we are once again, dry. Been hogging everything I can to try to decrease the risk. Now, I wonder how he'd feel if I shot off the 12 ga, loaded with bird shot, in his direction, every time he set off a bottle rocket, or Roman candle? Little pellets raining down, might make my point. :confused3:

 

[farmgirl19]

Beautiful morning, to go with the nice temps!

 

[jinman]

64 F here this morning. It's been a long time since I saw that cool morning temperature. I gotta get into the garden to make use of the cool. Later today, my grandson and I'll be going to buy fireworks. I don't shoot them off until the 4th, but I make sure everyone knows I'm celebrating then. I have maybe two or three other neighbors who do the same, so we share each other's shows.

Dennis, I'm happy that you got your 2/10" of rain. I got nothing, but at least two of us here posted that they got some rain. If I can't have rain, the cool is the next best thing.

 

[Western]

FG19, Garden will be "iffy"! I may get 20% of the corn, still getting allot of squash and zucchini though. I didnt find 1? zuc covered in squash bugs, so I must have missed some eggs:mur: I was going to spray Spinosad, but opted for my propane torch Actually work super too!, they cant do much getting around with no legs!! tomatoes are hanging on and have quite a view still growing.
I'm thinking they where watered, but not in the fashion they needed. I am looking into going "Jim style" and load up on soak-er hoses. (something easy for those who dont want to stand in the garden all day and maintain the the water:laughing
May actually end up with melons too:thumbsup:

Jim, I was surprised too, I thought the girls had had another water hose fight when I saw the deck was soaking wet! Since my daughter is out of nursing school for 2 weeks, I will be lucky to get a full days sleep, but maybe I can gt her into the "gardening frenzy":laughing: I doubt it and will be happy whatever she does since so far she is #1 in her class:thumbsup:

 

[farmgirl19]

jinman; Fireworks wouldn't be so bad, if they didn't last a week. I will still be getting up at 3:30 each morning, so does cause some lost sleep, when they don't quit until midnight. Also, they are stting on 1-2 acre lots and shoot the fireworks towards the pastures. Horses, and cattle don't enjoy it either. Maybe you have enough land, with your fireworks sharing neighbors, that there is a nice buffer.

Western; Good to hear that you could salvage that much of the garden. And congrats on having a daughter doing so well in school!

 

[NativeSon]

jinman; Fireworks wouldn't be so bad, if they didn't last a week. I will still be getting up at 3:30 each morning, so does cause some lost sleep, when they don't quit until midnight. Also, they are stting on 1-2 acre lots and shoot the fireworks towards the pastures. Horses, and cattle don't enjoy it either. Maybe you have enough land, with your fireworks sharing neighbors, that there is a nice buffer.

QUOTE]


My problem with fireworks is my dogs go nuts when the fireworks begin. They are misserable the entire time. It's always so dry this time of year the fire threat scares me. I've got up the next day and found a slew of burnt up bottle rockets out in the front yard from the neighbors kids next door.

Charlie

 

[farmgirl19]

My problem with fireworks is my dogs go nuts when the fireworks begin. They are misserable the entire time. It's always so dry this time of year the fire threat scares me. I've got up the next day and found a slew of burnt up bottle rockets out in the front yard from the neighbors kids next door.

Charlie

Doesn't bother my dogs, as a rule. They are used to dog show noise and other things. I hear ya on the fire danger though. I have been brush hogging like crazy, hoping to eliminate any dead grass or weeds that could serve to ignite. I have about 10-12 hours to go, to finish completely, including the sides of the lane I live on. At least temps are not bad. I can get an hour or so in after work, each evening.

I too usually find "spent" bottle rockets, and other items in my pastures, and near the house, and am sure my closest neighbors find them too. As dry as we've been here, it is likely just a matter of time.

 

[houstonscott]

Record low this morning for this date old record 65, 60 this morning. Tomorrow is suppose to be 59 beating the all time record low for July in central Texas. Where is the media interest? I guess they only care about high temps. That high pressure that sat on us all summer in 2011 is sitting on western states now.

HS

 

[jinman]

It was a glorious 58 F this morning in Sunset. That's gotta be a record. We slept with the AC off and the windows open last night. Even the frogs in my pond were singing loudly to celebrate the cool temperatures.

Yesterday, I picked beans and my wife helped me pick blackeyes. We got a 5-gal bucket of blackeyes. My grandson picked over a gallon of cherry tomatoes and then we picked big tomatoes. All our window knick-knacks are big tomatoes. The refrigerator is full too, even after giving loads of tomatoes to our neighbors. These are cellphone photos with horrible lighting, but I think you can get the idea.





We drove to a place near Wichita Falls yesterday to buy fireworks for the 4th. The prices easily paid for the drive. Their prices seemed to be a 3rd to half off from other places around Bowie. They don't sell premium Black Cat fireworks, but their fireworks are new and the sales staff is extremely knowledgeable. I came into their place with a list I'd made from their brochure and my salesman kept thanking me for making his job so easy. He said he loves people with lists.

BTW: Traditional bottle rockets have been outlawed in Texas for a long time (at least two years). That's the small and medium sized rockets that caused a lot of burns on kid's hands and fires because people did stupid things with them. Now, they do still have the big rockets on long sticks, but even those seem to be falling out of favor. If I had stuff falling on me from my neighbors, I'd be upset too. I shoot fireworks over water in a very safe area. I used to have big parties with 45 to 50 people, but I've quit doing that because it's too hard on my wife and me. We now just have family and fireworks with 10 people or less. We don't shoot onto anyone else's property and we come back and completely clean up the morning of the 5th. Being responsible and reasonable with fireworks will keep them around for a long time. Otherwise, they may be banned completely.

 

[Western]

57.3* Yesterday morning when I got in. :thumbsup: Nieces driving me crazy!

Got up in time this afternoon (actually I was woke up!) To see what the wife calls our new "grand kids"! The older does had these 2, the smaller, younger doe had one that is smaller but wouldn't come out in the open. This is in the back yard. Surprisingly they are really on the corn right now, sometime this week if I get some time, I will get some deer pellets too!

Weather tonight is also nice!!

 

[Larro Darro]

I guess I need to go to Texas to cool off. Here in NW Florida 70 is about as low as it gets. That is right at sunrise. But the rain is keeping the highs in the low 80's. I had to turn the soaker hoses to my garden off earlier this week. My jalapenos were getting so big they were not very hot.
It is raining again right now. Wish we could send a little of it west.
As far as fireworks on the 4th go, my 85 year old Mama is my closest neighbor. Other than her shooting at the deer when they get in the pea patch, there isn't much in the way of fireworks here on the Larro Ranchero.

 

[NativeSon]

It was a glorious 58 F this morning in Sunset. That's gotta be a record. We slept with the AC off and the windows open last night. Even the frogs in my pond were singing loudly to celebrate the cool temperatures.

Yesterday, I picked beans and my wife helped me pick blackeyes. We got a 5-gal bucket of blackeyes. My grandson picked over a gallon of cherry tomatoes and then we picked big tomatoes. All our window knick-knacks are big tomatoes. The refrigerator is full too, even after giving loads of tomatoes to our neighbors. These are cellphone photos with horrible lighting, but I think you can get the idea.

View attachment 325555

View attachment 325556

We drove to a place near Wichita Falls yesterday to buy fireworks for the 4th. The prices easily paid for the drive. Their prices seemed to be a 3rd to half off from other places around Bowie. They don't sell premium Black Cat fireworks, but their fireworks are new and the sales staff is extremely knowledgeable. I came into their place with a list I'd made from their brochure and my salesman kept thanking me for making his job so easy. He said he loves people with lists.

BTW: Traditional bottle rockets have been outlawed in Texas for a long time (at least two years). That's the small and medium sized rockets that caused a lot of burns on kid's hands and fires because people did stupid things with them. Now, they do still have the big rockets on long sticks, but even those seem to be falling out of favor. If I had stuff falling on me from my neighbors, I'd be upset too. I shoot fireworks over water in a very safe area. I used to have big parties with 45 to 50 people, but I've quit doing that because it's too hard on my wife and me. We now just have family and fireworks with 10 people or less. We don't shoot onto anyone else's property and we come back and completely clean up the morning of the 5th. Being responsible and reasonable with fireworks will keep them around for a long time. Otherwise, they may be banned completely.

Jinman, we'd all like you for a neighbor........some of us aren't that lucky. Everybody have a Safe 4th and enjoy time with you family.

Charlie

 

[jinman]

Thanks Charlie. I think if we could get all the TBNers from TX into one development, we'd have a winner. Maybe our own version of Robson Ranch, but with 10-20 ac tracts.

It's 57 F here this morning. Two days in July like this is not just a record, it's unbelievable. I got the blades on my rotary cutter sharpened and mowed a couple of acres yesterday afternoon. It was dusty, but not hot at all.

I know everyone is tired of seeing my tomato pictures, so I won't post any more, but I've got one refrigerator full of them and another half-bushel sitting out ripening. They will be ready to put into the refrigerator today, and I'll pick more cherry tomatoes this morning. I'm going to send all I can home with my daughter tomorrow and then on the 5th, it's gonna be salsa and spaghetti sauce time here. I noticed yesterday that my onions are starting to dry and the tops fall over, so I'll have to pull and dry onions soon too. It's a very pleasant problem, but my garden harvest is huge and continuous it seems. At least my bell peppers and banana peppers don't grow as fast as the other veggies. I get several days between picking on them. I have one giant ****** melon that is just starting to show a tinge of yellow mixed with the bright green of its skin. Life is indeed good.:thumbsup:

Dennis: Is this the first time you've had so many deer? I have some trained rosebush eaters I'll send you.

 

[houstonscott]

Coolest morning, 58, ever measured in July, in central Texas.


HS