Holy Crassipes!

The Terlingua Creek Catseyes are blooming!  65,80,43,0,B

pootea

Record hot day today.  Trying a little experiment with my compost.  Each day when I water it, I am adding 3 gallons of tea made from extra longhorn dung that has soaked for 4 hours - moist poo on top and poo water to soak down.  It rained inside my Jiffy seed starter gizmo today - looks like I could use a big plastic lid over TFL.  Cut the header beams for the NS doorways today.  Topped off the day with a top 10 sunset.  75,86,44,0,W

farm'n

Post office run this morning.  Only 50 postcard sets left - get 'em while you can.  I need to clear these out so from now until they are gone - you get 2 sets for the price of one.  Checked the trail NE of me today - still no sign of Benita.  Topped off the compost bin then started my first bunch of JD seeds. ..beets, royal burgundy beans, summer squash, quinoa, red winter kale, lemon cucumber, bush beans, chile pepper, black beauty squash, broccoli.  Started processing some tomato seeds from the heirloom plants that Dr. Deb gave me last year.
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/seedsave/2002084456024410.html
Also took some old squishy remnants (isn't this how it works in nature?) and stuck 'em in some dirt in the bucket where their mother grew.  ...almost forgot - did a 2 year renewal on my NRA memberhip this afternoon. (worth more than a vote in the next election)   64,76,42,0,B

2 Dons...

Two male burros came in to keep Mr. Floppy company today.  Had two visits from Dons as well.  My buddy Don Carr from Telingua and land neighbor Donna Lu from NM.

Built up and almost filled a new compost bin - with layers of old and new cow manure, green hay, and wet cardboard.  Gave the pile a good overall watering.  Hiked another trail for Benita this morning - still no sign but had to make sure the canyon was clear - next big rain and it all washes away..  Found other signs of past life.  65,73,41,0,C

saturday night special

55,67,31,0,B

still no sign...

Did a little more work on the greenhouse then checked another trail - still no sign.

Thanks for all the nice messages about Benita.  It was a very fortunate life event to have the experience of bonding with her the way I did.  Just like my good ol' dog Goldie ( who I adopted when she was 11 ) Benita was a retiree that I took on to provide a good quality of life in the final years.  I feel really good about that. 

This is the last photo I took of Benita...licking Mao who gave birth to Minimoo just days later.
50,66,40,0,W

Benita

Finished up 11 "pieces" of siding today - and did the "fun" screws inside along the north edge.

I made an announcement on Benita's facebook page today.  I'm pretty sure that she has gone off to the last roundup in the sky.  She has been gone now for 9 days.  I tracked her on Sunday in the direction she went the last time she left TFL, but didn't find anything.  Went by Dick Cain's today to tell him to be on the lookout.  He said I certainly bought her some extra good years as old as she was.  I still have some trails to check.  At this point, I reckon she's out there not far from home - at peace after a long/good life.  66,81,47,0,W

Chinese air...

Cut'n'screwed more siding up on the south side today.  Noticed something interesting when I started on the SE container.  I'm drilling pilot holes into the top edge of each container - into a piece of square tubing that was welded up and sealed when the containers where manufactured.  The first hole today and I heard air rush out once I punched through.  That container was manufactured in Shanghai China in April of 1999.  That was some old Chinese air I just let loose in Texas. 60,78,39,0,B

a day in alpine

Stocked up once again....made a run to Johnson Feed for some huge feed tubs they sell for 6 bucks - got 10 this trip to be recycled into planters for the greenhouse.  Grabbed some potting mix at Alco on sale to use in various blends with my own soil and compost mixes to get some plants started soon.  Hoping to ween myself from the grocery store at some point this year.  There are two food stores in Alpine...both called Porters Thriftway.  The one I shop at used to be called the Food Basket - some locals called it the Food Casket.  Gassed up at Stripes then hit Subway - a half step up the food chain from MacDonald's. 

My buddy Greg Hillje sent me these images he did of the greenhouse, experimenting with Google Sketchup for the first time.  Nice job - something about a computer rendering makes this look "official".
58,76,31,0,C

Austin Bike Zoo

Visitors - Marty,Joe, John, Michael...all bearing gifts.

More metal up on the NE container.

http://austinbikezoo.org/blog/

Dinner at the Starlight.  54,73,30,0,B

FLS

58,69,29,0,B

a guy and a dog...

Finished screwing up metal on the SE end of the greenhouse.

My buddy Guy Hodges from Midland/Odessa came out for a visit with his dog, Daisy. 

We got some shootin in.

Started some metal on the long north edge to cap off the day.  Them thar roof perlins "just happened" to line up just right.  Had a late rain event last night. 51,68,44, .19",B

Check this out from a fellow contributor to the Tiny Homes book.
http://small-scale.net/yearofmud/

yucca bloom?

Someone sent me an interesting image on a chunk of wood...postmarked Phoenix, AZ but no return address or note.  Been thinking about using a "me and Benita" silhouette for a new tshirt design and I really like elements of this mystery image - let me know who you are.

Got some more metal siding up on the NE end of the greenhouse.  Due to wind - only got 4 sheets up.  Spotted an anomaly coming home from the mailboxes...a really tall yucca in full bloom about 1/2 mile east of TFL.  Kinda early for out here and pretty rare considering our drought conditions.  There must be a really good water source under that plant.49,60,46,0,B

checking the canyon...

Sort of a day off.   Went down south to visit with CB, GR and the JP.  Chance of rain tonight and tomorrow night so I picked up a few things.   Home in plenty of time for a long hike through the dry canyon.  Found a couple of things blooming down there.  Got a light misting this evening - just in time for a rainbow...perhaps more on the way tonight and tomorrow night to help the blooms.

Special thanks to my new friend Mel for posting this link to the Texas Country Reporter piece today.  It brought in a bunch of new folks who are checking out the blog.
http://www.coolestone.com/media/3400/Life-Off-The-Grid/?fb_comment_id=fbc_10150541986145778_20595140_10150543116600778#f1d491266bf6af5   54,70,47, .10",B     Note: morning after update - had high winds and rain from 11PM to midnight - total accumulation was a tenth of an inch.