Bread Mixer

Low this morning of 42 - high of only 64. Max wind gust this morning of 36mph....Average wind speed from 9 to 5 was 15mph with a max gust of 30mph. Needless to say it was windy all day. Haven't set an alarm clock for years now....yet one went off at 5:05AM. WIND! From 5 to 6AM we had gusts that made it hard to get back to sleep. Max speed was 36mph. The winds died down by 6 and I was able to get back to sleep till 7:45. Waiting for the wind to subside so you can get back to sleep was sort of like waiting for aspirin to take effect when you have a headache.
Hit the GrubShack for one last breakfast sandwich before Betty begins her Sun-Mon off. She told me that Ben and wife had come in for breakfast and they got surprised my the winds this morning at their house in the sky (they came in last night). No damage but lots of stuff blowing around. Toilet paper seems to react very well to wind. After the breeze this morning it was time to remove my now shredded sun screen on the west side of the porch. All it has been doing lately is flap in the wind, providing little shade and lots of noise.

Popped another loaf of bread in the solar oven ( this time with bacon, beer, onions, and CHEESE! ) then shot down to Study Butte to buy some cheap cigarettes. Ran over to H2OtoGo to check in with my friend Carolyn. Got directions to her house so I can come out tomorrow to check out their garden plan.

Pulled the bread out of the oven and cut off half to take over to Ben the Builder. He has been busy all day sealing up parts of his house and installing a door. His wife Vanessa spent the day mortaring a rock column for a future table. Since Ben gave me the idea for beer bread in the first place - it was only fitting that I bring him a chunk of my latest incarnation. He brought out a cement mixer for his job that he has graciously allowed me to use. That should make quick work of the concrete I need to pour for the container foundations....and perhaps a bulk batch of bread dough?

The Final Four

Low overnight was 41 and the high today was 96. Began the early morning with the first longhorn arrival for breakfast. This one is named Angelina. She usually shows up before the others but keeps her distance. Another productive work day identical to Wednesday. Container #4 delivery exactly the same as #3. Shot another video but it looks just like the last one so no need to post it. The trucker had just enough room to pull the truck through, squeezing between my house and the fire pit - inching by the shower out my new driveway path. I rewarded him with a chunk of Field Lab Solar Oven Bread for another job well done. Chuck came by to watch the offload and nudge the container a bit with his Kubota ATV. Once it was close to the mark, he took off back east to the busy side of town. Only took 2 hours today to fine tune the position and set 'er up on blocks. Spent most of the rest of the day cleaning up the grounds and spent at least a couple of hours just admiring my two new 5000lb additions to the Field Lab and dreaming about the next step. Now that the final 4 are in position, I can finally get to work on the greenhouse courtyard. Got a lot to do before the HOT summer days arrive.

Press update: My Marfa Public Radio interview to air on Monday, March 2nd....10AM and 6:30PM central time...no promises at this point.

the meth lab

Saving up my energy for tomorrows container delivery. Prepped and baked another loaf of bread in the solar oven this morning. Was entertaining 22 longhorns at the end of my driveway and Beatrice at the house when some neighbors stopped by on their way out sightseeing SW of me. Gave the obligatory tour then they were off to the outback. The bread came out of the oven and some chicken went in. Had a low of 41 this morning and only hit 98 today - probably would have topped the 100 mark again but we had gusty winds all afternoon.

Cleared the area for tomorrows "drop" and made a new driveway to accommodate the trucker. He has to pull up right between my house and the fire pit to unload the next container. Once that is done, the only way out is through the new path I cut today. Chopped out most of the brush but transplanted three ephedra plants for Betty. This stuff is growing all over the south west desert and I seem to have a lot of it on my property. Betty gave me a great book on medicinal herbs and wild foods. Seems the ephedra plant when used wisely is good for a number of things such as fever and coughing, decreases tobacco cravings, aids in weight loss, and helps promote menstruation. And guess what? It just so happens to be the principal ingredient in methamphetamine. Leave it to the white man to figure out an addictive abuse of a wondrous medicinal herb discovered by Indians long ago.

Shipping Container Drop

Low of 42 - High of 100 today. Had one of those perfect - all goes according to plan - Field Lab days! Got an early morning call that my shipping container was on the way. Prepped the area for my container delivery then went for a late breakfast at the Grub Shack. Came back home and entertained some longhorns for a bit. Spotted my container making its way down my dusty road at 12:30. The off-load went smooth as silk....loud/violent silk that is. Beatrice was there to oversee the operation. The Drop on YouTube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhojsgS9h2Y

Basked in the glory of the arrival of my newest shipping container for a bit then headed over to Chuck's to pick up some rigging to tweak the container position. Took about 3 hours to tug the 5000+ load into alignment and jack it up onto blocks to level it out. Finished up and decided I was due for a shower. The water temp was a bit on the high side so I drained off 5 gallons at HOT water into a bucket and added 5 gallons of cold water. The shower was just right at 108 degrees.

Late Shopping Run

At the suggestion of my friend Ronald....I will be posting the high and low temperatures of the day here at the Field Lab. He pointed out that since I record them for the National Weather Service every day - I might as well put 'em here. Low 43 High 101 (our first pass into the triple digits for 2009)

Painfully slow getting going this morning. Had 24 longhorns in for breakfast then I ran them off. Headed down to Study Butte to do a load of laundry and buy 10 gallons of expensive gas. Chatted with a couple of neighbors at the Grub Shack on the way home.

Got the laundry hung to dry and headed out on the go kart to check some of the desert junk yards just north of me. I was in search of something substantial to set my containers on when they arrive and also some glass for my friend Julie's solar oven....no go on both counts but fun to go lookin'. I often wonder why it is that folks that have abandoned their properties out here seem to always leave behind lots of vehicles and parts of vehicles. It's really a shame that some folks litter this beautiful landscape with so much crap.

Called the container folks in Ft. Stockton to let them know I'm ready for my containers anytime. Hopefully the first one will be on its way tomorrow. Decided late in the day to make an Alpine run for some pressure treated posts to lay out for my containers to drop on. Will have to do some position tweaking as the drop will not be as precise as the crane that placed the first two. While in town I stocked up on some more food items at my favorite grocery store - the Food Basket. Also filled a 5 gallon jug with some "refreshing,crisp, great tasting water". Who'd a thought that someday folks would buy water from machines?

There is a brand new website in the area that is sure to have lots of news and info about SW Texas. It was set up by my new buddy, Andrew Suber - son of my old buddy and neighbor, Craig Suber. Take a look at what's goin' on in our little pocket of paradise ... http://westtexasweekly.com/

The Short List

1. fed some longhorns, chased them off

2. made more bread

3. watched a 20' container get offloaded for a neighbor

4. brought the trucker out to see where mine need to placed

5. gave a Field Lab tour to Grub Shack Betty

6. gave a Field Lab tour to the Baja Rat

7. dropped off some Field Lab Bread to my crusty old neighbor, Kenneth

8. dinner with "the rat" at the Starlight

9. done

Bread, Batteries, and Bovines

Started off the day prepping for another dutch oven loaf of my best bread so far. Nothing like grilling up bacon and onions in the cool morning desert air. Got everything ready to go and dropped it in the solar oven at 11AM. Had 20+ longhorns in attendance most of the day. Trying to dissuade all but Beatrice to be allowed up by the house. Problem is she gets it that she is allowed but the rest haven't quite gotten the message that they aren't. Keep having to chase them away.

A couple of guys stopped by as I was leading the herd away from my house with some feed. One of them has a place south of me and turned out to be the brilliant painter and illustrator and also just happens to be the papercrete king of Alpine. Tom Curry http://www.tomcurrystudio.com/ I had heard about him when I first got here and now I finally met him. Next I had Aunts Kathy and Nancy come out this way to go rock hunting along the roads. Aunt Nancy is going to bring out some zucchini and squash her next trip out to experiment with in my solar oven (I love zucchini bread). They arrived just in time to get a chance to hand feed Beatrice. They were both very brave although no one has yet taken me up on my offer of $100 for the first person to jump on a longhorns back so I can get a quick picture before they are

bucked off.

The loaf of bread was done at 1:40PM and I took it out to cool. Cut it and wrapped the two halves and went on a delivery run....one to Julie at the Ranch Supply Store and one to Chuck. Chuck has to share this half with Kathy and Nancy...He ate a third of it right away so he doesn't get any more. Ran over to Betty's to install the new battery house. I think her dogs were jealous. Finished off the afternoon setting blocks for the approximate location of my new containers. I set upright blocks to make sure I wouln't drive over them. The guy I bought mine from is coming out to deliver one for a neighbor and I want to bring him out here to check the logistics of placing mine when they come. Ended the day just like I started it - grilling more bacon and onions for tomorrow's loaf of my new specialty Field Lab bread. I might just keep this one for myself...

Smog...SW Texas Style

We had another wind event today....not nearly as bad "gust for gust" as the last one...but just as much dust. Could barely make out Agua Fria mountain through the dusty haze. Kind of killed the morning but at least it gave me an excuse for the short ride to the Grub Shack for breakfast. According to my instruments, the max wind speed today was 26.4mph and the average from 9AM to 6PM was 13.3mph. Chilly too....a high of only 64 today.

Took a ride down to Study Butte to visit my friend Carolyn at H2OtoGo. She is going into the gardening business as well and I wanted to check out the goods....lots of potting soil, seeds, and red worms. She may become the worm queen of Terlingua if it catches on. The little wigglers are prolific producers of progeny and while gorging themselves on kitchen scraps - return the favor with many times their weight in excellent compost. The wind calmed just a bit in the afternoon so I got out to start clearing around my shipping containers - prepping for the delivery of my second two containers. Seems they are magnets for stuff to accumulate around - sort of like any horizontal surface inside my hut. Trying hard to shuffle my stuff around while avoiding looking like the typical Terlingua house/junkyard. While doing the clearing, also worked into the schedule a visit from Ronald and then 7 longhorns. Had clear skies from 2 to 5 so I threw my second game hen in the solar oven. Winds have calmed tonight and looking forward to an even calmer tomorrow.

Just realized that it was exactly 2 years ago today that I made my first trip down to this area. That first drive down HWY 118, all I could think was "who the hell would want to live out here?"

What a difference 2 years makes.

Betty's Battery Box

Placed the solar oven in the early morning sun to start the pre heating. Tried another beer bread recipe that didn't quite make the grade. Not even photo worthy. While the duds were in the oven I took a drive over at the request of the blog king, Ara...to check on his oasis as he is still on the road. He got word of our little wind storm and asked me to go take a peak. All was well as far as I could tell. He left his propane fridge on - locked inside his trailer - but the tank ran out of gas long ago....hope he didn't have any butter milk or uncooked chicken in there. While I was on his road, I drove to the end to check another friends place. Haven't heard from him in awhile and don't know if he has been out since the storm. Everything seemed to be in place there too - including this pair of tidy whiteys hanging on the close line.
After having thought about the design for a couple of days - I assembled a new battery box for my friend Betty...owner of the Grub Shack and my breakfast sandwich maker. Not much to look at - but just wait till you see what it is replacing. So much for Friday.

What to do on a sunny day.

Field Lab Solar Oven Beer,Bacon, and Onion Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups self rising flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 cup cooked bacon, shredded

1 cup grilled sweet onions, chopped

1 12oz can of Keystone Light Beer, room temperature

Wait for a clear day. Place solar oven in the sun. Lightly grease inside of cast iron dutch oven, put the lid on and set in solar oven. Pre-heat to 250 degrees for at least 45 minutes. Fry up a 12 oz. package of bacon (crispy) - set aside on paper towel to cool. Pour off all but 4 tablespoons bacon fat and chop 1/2 of a large sweet onion into the pan. Saute onions to golden brown. Remove onions from pan and blot with paper towels to absorb some of the moisture and set aside. Add flour and sugar into a large lightly oiled plastic mixing bowl and thoroughly mix. Shred bacon and add to dry ingredients along with the grilled onions ( approximately one cup each ). Mix well. Open the can of room temperature beer and pour it in. Stir batter with a wooden spoon until liquid is absorbed. Take mixture out of the bowl and very lightly kneed the dough adding just enough flour to form a ball that isn't sticky. Remove the cast iron dutch oven from the solar oven. Place slightly flattened dough ball in heated dutch oven, put the lid back on and place back into the solar oven. Keep the solar oven pointed at the sun and bake at 275 - 300 degrees for 2 hours. Serve hot out of the oven or let cool on rack for eatin' later.

The Puzzle

Today's 250 mile round trip journey to Ft. Stockton was an expensive success. Took Chuck along for the ride and got a free lunch which eased some of the financial burden of the day. I managed to pick up the final two big/heavy pieces of the Field Lab Puzzle. Bought my final two shipping containers to be delivered out here late next week or early the following week. Price including delivery is less than what I paid for the first two almost a year ago so I feel pretty good about that. I'm passing on the travel trailer plan "B" and back to plan "A" for the greenhouse building. The two new containers will become a guest house and an office/electronics workshop. Once they arrive I should be swamped with enough to keep me busy till the hot summer rolls in. Good thing is I will be unloading half the stuff from the two storage containers I have filled to the gills to supplement the interiors of the new ones I just purchased. That should leave plenty of room in all four containers. While in Ft. Stockton, we also stopped by what is probably the smallest Walmart in the US for some stuff we both needed. Loaded up on food for me and snacks for Chucks dogs and my longhorn buddies in Alpine. Beautiful sunny warm day all day. Doesn't feel so bad spending money on a nice weather day. .

UPDATE my interview bumped once again.....to next Tuesday!

UPDATED UPDATE: bumped twice today....I'm assured it will be March 1st now. No promises.

Which one of these is not like the others...

All afternoon yesterday, turbine #3 seemed to be slightly out of whack and vibrating at low wind speeds. Didn't get a break in the breeze all day in order to lower it down to investigate the problem. So this morning I notice first thing that something was amiss on the wind farm. The cotter pin holding the hub on must have broken and the blades spun the hub off. Found the hub with blades right next to the turbine - 4 of 6 blades damaged as well as a bent hub. Lowered the turbine and removed the blades from the hub. Hope to get it repaired and back up in about a week. The turbine will be resting comfortably in the down position till then.

Made an appointment to check out some shipping containers in Ft. Stockton tomorrow. Will do my major shopping expedition in Alpine on the way home. Filled the afternoon and two loads in my truck tank with water from my friend Charley's place. He has two 3000 gallon tanks holding about 4500 gallons of rainwater that's just sitting there. A much quicker trip than going down to Terlingua and it's free water. ( thanks Charley!) In two trips, I transferred a total of 200 gallons back home - split between my two 3000 gallon water tanks. That's 835 pounds in each tank now - outta hold them in place if we get another wind storm before I can get them filled with Field Lab rainwater. Here are some purdy flowers I saw at Charley's....springtime in February.

Wednesday Morning Update: The Field Lab on NPR - Thursday, Feb 19th. 10-11AM and 6-7PM Central Time. http://www.marfapublicradio.org/

Had a bad accident today...

The Monday I was looking forward to threw me for a loop. This morning started off gloomy and we ended up with very little sun all day. Contemplated a run to Alpine to kill the off weather day. Was all prepared for a shopping trip and stopped by to check in with my new land owner buddy, Aaron. He just spent his first night out on his new desert empire in his camper. All the same things that went through my head when I first got here must be clouding his brain right about now.

The sun peeked out a little and I decided that I really didn't need to head up to Alpine today so I came back to the Lab. That's when the accident happened. I ended up falling down memory lane for the rest of the day. I made the mistake of looking in one of the boxes I have in storage. Its was filled with photos from my early NYC days. Here are two photos from the archives - me assisting my friend Doug on a photo shoot in Greece....and a shot of the two 15 year old German girls we met on the trip (they looked even better from the front). Having trouble tonight figuring out how I got from there to here.

House'O'Matic

Oops....didn't expect my little science experiment from yesterday to cause such a fuss. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/15/texas.sky.debris/index.html That being said - otherwise, today was a typical Field Lab Sunday. Laundry. Solar baked cornbread. Human visitors at the Field Lab. Longhorn visitors at the Field Lab (had to chase this group away twice). And one last visit to Ben's House'O'Matic before he heads home - to record the final photo of his effort over the last five days. Now just waiting for good ol' Monday morning to roll around and the opportunities it will provide.

To the Stars

I have been rather consumed lately about the recent collision of the American and Russian satellites. Although my last mission to retrieve the lost tool bag from an ISS mission last year failed, I decided to use the same technology to venture again into the deep dark. Using all the same resources from my last attempt (new this trip: an Oreck car vac, modified for deep space) - and a new rocket, I am attempting to venture into the great beyond once again - in hopes of cleaning up some of the space debris left by the collision. Just doing my part to help clear the atmosphere. Living green sometimes just isn't enough for me. Any bits and pieces I retrieve will be available on Ebay if this mission succeeds. Happy Valentines Day!

FYI....the Marfa Public Radio broadcast of my interview has been bumped to Thursday, Feruary 19th.

BenDayThree

Got back into gear today. While the next big project is still waiting to begin - the trick is to find all the other little things that need attention but keep getting put off. Mental Note: There should never be the excuse that there is nothing to do as there is so much yet to do here at the Field Lab. The big inspiration of the day was helping Ben for 2 hours this morning shuttling OSB from the ground to the rafters. He danced around up there like it was no big deal. After my assistance - he spent the rest of the day nailing it all down for good and doing some child proofing for the "house in the sky". As for those who have questioned Ben's decision to build up on "stilts", all I can say is the feeling you get from the landscape being 10 ft. up is amazing and well worth his design effort. Kind of like the first time as a kid you see the world from a tree house.

After lifting 20 sheets of OSB up to Ben's roof, I was too energized to just sit the rest of the day. Got my other 2 wind turbines back in business and moved my water tanks back into place. I tried just pushing them but I couldn't muster the same horse power as the winds that pushed them off their pads. Had a quick revelation and put the go kart to work for a change. I think that's called mixing business with pleasure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e408qxAS3hU

Yeah, It's all about Ben....again

Didn't get much done to day but I did learn that cinder blocks make good scratching posts. There seems to be a real lull at the Field Lab this week. I hope it is only because I plan on getting the green house project underway next week. Maybe I just need a brief break before the big push. Today: 1. Re-bladed turbine one and tilted it back into working position 2. Did NOT move my water tanks back into place 3. Dropped off some welding tips to Ben who has borrowed my welder 4. Gave a tour to 3 locals I met a couple of weeks ago 5. Checked Betty's wind turbine that had problems after the wind storm - all that was wrong was a cord had gotten tangled up in the rotor shaft of the blades 6. Fed my fab four longhorns and hung out with them.

The only saving grace of the day was #7. Checked Ben's progress at 5;30PM and he kicked ass again on day 2 of his project. It always makes me feel good to see something HAPPENING out here quickly - especially when it is a house springing out of the desert that I know will be completed, not halfway built and then abandoned like so many of the dwellings out here.

Ben the Builder

Took 2 hours to police the grounds today. Somewhere out in the desert is a roll of toilet paper yet to be found. Cleaning up was just about all I could muster today. The Brewster County Tax Assessors office is due to come out today or tomorrow, so I stuck around and kind of waited for them. They are coming at my request as I have filed for a homestead exemption. They were a no show today. Will work on getting the water tanks back into position tomorrow.

Since I didn't accomplish much at home, I took a drive over to check out a newbie here named Ben - my new builder hero. What's not to like about a guy who can do it all himself, has a plan and executes it in a timely manor, and doesn't mind having his picture on my blog. He built the platform last year in about a week and just got out here and framed these walls in one day. Does my heart good to see such precise effort - especially out here.

WIND!!

Another beautiful dead calm morning at the Field Lab. Like yesterday, I began with watching the moon set just at sunrise . As I had been warned by Weather.com, I knew this nice/still morning would be short lived. Spent an hour and a half lowering 3 of my wind turbines and removing their blades. I would rather test just one turbine in high winds.

The McCoys delivery arrived at 1:00PM. We had 22 longhorns in the yard watching my materials get off-loaded. It was just starting to get breezy. I had a late lunch at the Grub Shack and got back home at 2:30 - just in time for major wind and a dust storm. It was a little bit scary out here for awhile. Just after sunset, the winds died out. My instruments showed a max speed of 46.9 mph with an average wind speed throughout the afternoon of 25 mph. My lone test turbine survived the gales ( but made some unearthly noises )and needless to say, the battery bank is fully charged. The group of very good friends I have fallen in with here checked in with one another throughout the storm to make sure everyone was ok.

My two "empty" 3000 gallon water tanks moved a couple of feet - Note to Self: Put some water in them! No real damage here but I will have to take most of tomorrow morning to clean up debris that resulted from my recyclables getting loose.

Got this email from Tom Michael at KRTS Marfa Public Radio late this afternoon.... "John, KRTS is off-the-air due to high winds... we may not be airing our TALK AT TEN if we're not up again tomorrow morning.. fyi." My interview might be postponed - but better tune in or log on tomorrow just in case!!

a whole lot o' poopin' goin' on

Got up in time to watch the full moon set this morning...a great way to start the day. After last evening's wind storm it was dead calm all night long. Morning chores were really glamorous here at the Field Lab. Collected 2 wheel barrow loads of longhorn dung from around the yard. The big cows leave nice concise piles that are easy to scoop up in one go, but the calves like to drop lots of little pellets all over the place - they look like large junior mints. Worked on another compost bin for longhorn dung only - I don't want to mix the DNA from my humanure compost (just in case a home cloning kit comes out on the market anytime soon). Cleared a spot for my next delivery due tomorrow from McCoys. Called the shipping container guys in Ft. Stockton and it looks promising. Will head up there Thurs or Fri to hopefully pick one out. Ended the day with a nice hot shower. In my never ending quest to provide insite into life at the Field Lab - here is another nice blast of color from tonight's sunset. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO_18raXemk

Tuesday morning Update: LOCAL RADIO INTERVIEWS
The weekday talk show on KRTS 93.5 FM is "TALK AT TEN,” live at 10 AM and replayed at 6:30 PM.UPCOMING GUESTS: Wednesday, February 11: John Wells, Field Lab, Terlingua, on sustainable living. Hear it online at www.marfapublicradio.org

Wind but no rain

Started off the day preoccupied with a 50% chance of rain by night fall. As usual, any chance of rain seems to "cloud" my mind all day. Installed my new plumbing line off the SHWH to provide me with a faucet at waist level. Holding my dinner dishes up to the shower head wasn't really working for me. Also installed my digital thermometer sensor to give me a reading on the water temperature. In the photo - the top temp is the ambient air temp and the bottom one is the water temp. Cooked a Cornish game hen in the solar oven today - gifted it to Chuck and Kathy for part of there normal freezer to microwave dinner meal. I don't have much room to talk as most of my meals still come out of a can.

Good sunny/warm/breezy day all day. Beatrice, Guillermo, and Clive were here from about 8AM till 5PM. Pretty funny to watch a big ol' longhorn get sleepy. I got quite a lot of dung to shovel up from the visits I've had over the last week or so. At around 6:45PM, 20 more longhorns showed up for a snack just as the sky was getting dark and I was preparing for rain. I lured them to the end of my driveway with half a bale of alfalfa and some range feed. Ermengard came back to the house a little later but got spooked by the high winds and took off like a bat out of hell. We had good gusty conditions tonight but just a spit of rain. My wind turbines were getting a workout with gusts of 35 - 40 mph....they were all making noises I hadn't heard yet. Seems to be calming down out there now at 8:30. Back to another sunny day tomorrow.

Aoudad Hunters

This photo from the afternoon - Beatrice being hand fed. I'm more afraid to hand a dog biscuit to Chuck's dog Hanna than I am sticking my fingers this close to Beatrice's choppers. Had a successful trip to Alpine today. Stocked up on food for me, range feed for my longhorn buddies, and more plumbing bits to rig a faucet from my SHWH for worshing dishes. Prepped the parts for this new addition to my quality of life this afternoon. Also ordered another 180 cinder blocks, 20 bags of concrete, and some 3/8" re bar just for fun. Getting ready to start the big construction project of the spring - the greenhouse building. Even got a good lead on some shipping containers out of Ft. Stockton. As usual, things seem to keep coming together. The tricky part out here is making things happen.

A neighbor/friend that I met last year is out this weekend on his meager 460 acres just SW of me. His buddy bagged an Aoudad this trip. This is the real life version of World of Warcraft. Now I'm not quite up to hunting yet myself...but as far as father/son bonding goes - camping and hunting beats the hell out of sitting around the house watching TV or playing computer games all weekend.

Gusty winds out of the east tonight - my mini wind farm is screaming away out there. 50% chance of a thunderstorm tomorrow night......yippeeeee!

Plant Rescue

After last night's dinner rush at the Longhorn Cafe, things calmed down but had guests lingering in the yard until long after sunset. Only had 5 here for breakfast this morning. Took a cue from my longhorn buddies and went out to breakfast myself.
Planning another supply run to Alpine tomorrow so I have been compiling the list off and on all day to make the most of the trip. Only other task on the agenda was to rescue some baby agaves from an "abandoned dream" about two miles away from me. Just a shell of a home made trailed left but a nice healthy (but thirsty) agave with some sprouts nearby. In return for taking her young, I gave the mother plant (pictured above) 5 gallons of water. Hopefully, the transplants will take to the Field Lab. Also did quite a bit of exploring during my plant rescue outing. Sorry to all you folks across the world still shivering with winter - we had a high of 90 today.

Beatrice and Guillermo came back for dinner with another young bull calf I have named Clive. Beatrice finally took range feed right out of my hand tonight. Kind of makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I'm pretty easy to please these days.