Getting Ready for the Road

The rest of June and the first half of July went by in a blur.  

Vacation Bible School at First Lakeview Church was a joy.  

On the last night, we were treated to a brief shower and this lovely rainbow.

Then, we had time at the farm getting everything ready to get along without us until November. We were happy to welcome B8’s new bull calf.  She hid him out near the house for several days while she grazed with the rest of the cattle.  We like to think she knew he would be safe from coyotes only 50 yards or so from the house.

He was up and about in a few days, hanging out with his brothers.

The game camera revealed that our protein feeder is much appreciated.  The does are slim once again, now that they have birthed their fawns.  The bucks were sporting budding new sets of horns.

We celebrated the Fourth of July in Cranfills Gap at the Micro Farm with Chicago-style hot dogs "dragged through the garden."  

We joined our hosts, Cousins Kathy and Eric Vanderbeck, their son and daughter-in-law, Sunny and Tisha, and Cousin Kelly.

We were all dressed for the occasion, but Cousin Kathy's "crown" took the prize.

Back at the farm, Allan and Jef joined us for a walk and collected plant species for identification.

Allan identified a couple of wildflower species I wasn’t familiar with.  This is the American basket-flower.

And this tiny one is called frog fruit.

We also spotted one of the Mississippi kites that have nested near our lower pond for the last couple of years.

On one of our walks, I had a chance to photograph this handsome dragonfly.  I'm not sure of the species, but it was very cooperative, holding still while I took photos from several angles.

Kota and Rue had a good time at the farm, even though we are all missing Colt.  The girls wore their t-shirts and collected too many beggar’s lice to count…not all of them on their shirts, unfortunately.  Each day I spent at least an hour de-burring them.

But we couldn’t have gotten off on time without seeing the end of a two-plus-month project.  Earlier in the spring, we began to give our place in Volente a face-lift.  Getting the house painted turned into a matter of hurry up and wait.  Each time we scheduled the painters, it rained, and rained and rained.  Sometimes it was only a light sprinkle, but enough to make painting a no-go.  But, just three days before D-day, it was finally done!  The crew finished hanging the gutters just before a driving rainstorm arrived.

Now, the house and outbuildings now have fresh paint; the wood privacy fences have been power-washed and painted, and we have new gutters to fill the 10,000 gallon rainwater collection tank!