Maverick kitty

Snowflake's new fashion

Not much rain

She may not look fast but when she took off like a shot yesterday in the rainstorm, and popped through the fence and we had to chase her across three counties before she was cornered in a thicket of brush and poison ivy, we decided to call her Pistol.

Volunteer watermelon

EVIL hornworm

Updated 9/23/2009: Did some research on this worm and found out that it is a Ceratomia hageni , also known as Hagen's Sphinx or Osage Orange Sphinx. It turns into that really neat moth that flies around like a hummingbird. Couldn't afford to keep these guys around though, because a single one would ravage an entire tomato plant in a day.

I brought her home and she eagerly drank a bottle of milk, and then I packed her back up into a large dog crate and took her to the vet for a checkup. She had a good size scratch under her right front shouldler that I was a little worried about. The vet said she looked great and not to do a thing with the scratch because it was healing nicely. Even better, for a very reasonable sum, the vet is going to board her and the other two bottle calves while we are out of town. Now I don't have to worry about having to ask my sister to bottle feed them. The vet said she ws 2-3 weeks old. That means I will need to take her in for bangs and shots in mid November. I'll have to watch to see if she is polled or will need to be dehorned.

On my way to Muenster this morning to pick up a meat order, I stopped in Sherman to fill the truck full of diesel. A guy pulled up next to me with a 20ft something gooseneck, so of course I had to indulge my curiousity. In this huge trailer he just had one little calf, said it was an orphan and he was taking it to the sale. Since it was a heifer and a hereford, (Paul's favorite), I asked what he was hoping to make at the sale and told him I'd like to buy her. We pulled over in the Walmart parking lot and he roped up three of her legs and put her in the back seat for me. Since she was secured, she didn't make a mess in my truck (whew). Happy 22nd Anniversary Paul!

Jessie and I painting the new chicken coop.

The Buffies approve of their new digs. We lost one the other night, probably due to old age. We are down to two of them, two white bantam hens, six blacks of mixed aracauna heritage and the four marans. I am looking into getting 25 cornish crosses this September to be pastured and processed. In the next two weeks I should have postings of building a hoop house and adding electric net fencing to pasture these chickens.

New chicken pen. Unfortunately we didnt test the low pressure water cups and we have leaks, so tomorrow we get to tear that apart and try again.

Seed starting on the front porch.

Bad blowout yesterday afternoon. Violent, slow moving storms and a quarter inch of rain. Need sturdier hoop house. Next time I will build a wood box and use steel pipe or electrical conduit instead of cattle panels...they are top floppy and difficult to maneuver around - not to mention expensive. Fortunately none of the plants were too badly damaged, just lost a few bean plants when the very back panel flipped.

My all time favorite tomato. Added two of these which makes 19 total tomato plants. Looks like the grower was Nortex in Wylie.

Put in four new tomato plants today. Found them at Redentas at Skillman and Live Oak in Dallas. They had a very good selection of herbs.

Close up of bind weed.

Bind weed is taking over the world.

Jessie's Contender beans are doing pretty well.