# Went to Shiner today...



## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

I was working around the house when Dad called me suddenly about 2:45... Mom had gone out on the porch to put the trash out and fell... she fell against the door and Dad couldn't even get outside to help her, so he called me to come help get her up since she can't get up off the floor without help anymore. Dad can barely walk and is handicapped now with post-polio syndrome, and can't get her up. Mom can still get around, but due to her age and weight cannot get up off the floor if she falls. I told him I was an hour and a half away, but he told me to "get here as quick as you can" so I headed out. Haven't been up to the farm in Shiner for a couple weeks since we've had company (Indiana inlaws and neice's family) the past couple weeks and we're past needing to feed cows now.

Got up there about 4:20 and good thing I'm still fairly strong-- had to pick Mom up from a sitting position flat on her butt on the porch-- about a 350 pound dead lift... my back will probably be talking to me about it tomorrow... LOL At least she wasn't hurt, other than figuring her shoulder will be badly bruised and probably stiff and sore tomorrow. Chatted awhile and they bought me supper.

Boy, what a difference a couple of weeks make! My brother and I were up there pushing down dead trees we poisoned last year into burn piles and burning the brush, and we piled a big load of scrap steel, junk, and burned out barb wire we rolled into "turds" with the loader bucket (5500 lbs worth!) onto the trailer that I brought back and sold for scrap... It had greened up good then but everything was still short.

Now a couple weeks later, the farm has greened up beautifully and the bluebonnets, winecups, little crimson flowers (I dunno what else to call them), Indian paintbrushes, and even white-flowered nettles are all in full bloom-- the clover is bolting (blooming, seeding out, whatever) and the ryegrass and rescuegrass is tall and starting to produce seed... cows are fat and happy. The ponds are full... well, the big pond is about 2-3 inches below the overflow pipes, and the little pond is about 80% full I'd say... the rain guage down by the pond had about 5 inches in it, but I haven't dumped it in maybe a month...

The first picture is a panorama I took with my cell phone of the big pond, between two trees up the hill from the pond. The left side is facing nearly due south and the right side of the picture is nearly due north...









The second picture is a panorama taken from the top of the bank overlooking the little pond, with the left side looking north and the right side looking south. The bluebonnets just are covering the farm, with lots of grass poking out... wonderful to see!









I drove to town to get our supper and I took some pics along the way... Third pic is the neighbors place to the south-- his entire eastern half of his farm is just SOLID bluebonnets!









Fourth pic was about halfway to town-- the pasture on the south side of the road was a solid field of red Indian paintbrushes...









Fifth pic is the other side of the road to the north, directly across the road from the last pic-- it's a solid field of blue, covered with bluebonnets... neat contrast when you're driving along the road!









Sixth pic is just outside town on Hilltop Road-- herd of happy goats and chickens grazing together... we don't have goats, but my SIL in Indiana does, and I enjoy seeing the kids in the spring...









Last pic is another panorama, this time from the old folk's porch I built them last year, on the handicapped ramp up to it anyway... the left side is looking west, the right side looking due east. Unfortunately the pics never seem to capture the true rolling hills and the wonderful view-- it always looks SO flat... but the farm does have a 200 foot elevation difference from the NE corner to the SW corner and two main hills and two main valleys at least 100 feet or so different in elevation...









I'm glad spring has sprung... and I'm glad we've been getting rain! I passed a 1770 Deere 12 row stack-fold planter on my way up to Shiner today, saw LOTS of planters rolling (everything here is already a couple weeks late, at least-- corn is just now going into the ground because it's been so wet, and basically it's time to plant cotton! Heck even Kingsville had some flooded out fields we saw last week with the inlaws, with water standing and drowned corn, and most of it wasn't even planted yet!) Also saw the rice guys working feverishly-- passed a couple big gang drills being filled up, lots of tractors disking and doing dirt work (leveling, pushing up flood irrigation berms, etc.) and saw a big new Deere air seeder being filled from one of those 2000 lb bulk seed rice bags on a front end loader... had a cropduster fly over too (probably seeding rice or spraying, wasn't close enough to tell which... Supposed to be a 40% chance of rain tomorrow and more Sunday, and we're about to the point that if the corn doesn't get into the ground soon, it'll be too late to plant-- too hot for it to pollinate when it silks!

Anyway, Enjoy! Hope yall that are still snowbound or just starting to see the end of winter enjoy the pics!

Later! OL JR


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

Beautiful!


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

Very pretty scenery. Just wondering, do the bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush cause problems in pasture, hay, etc.? Around here the colorful (other than green) things get a dose of herbicide.

Shelia


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

RockyHill said:


> Very pretty scenery. Just wondering, do the bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush cause problems in pasture, hay, etc.? Around here the colorful (other than green) things get a dose of herbicide.
> 
> Shelia


Well, of course if you want to maximize production, then yeah you'd be hitting that stuff with herbicides...

We have "other priorities" than strictly maximizing production however...

Later! OL JR


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

Good deal!

Shelia


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## Thorim (Jan 19, 2015)

Awesome pic's JR thanks for sharing


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Thorim said:


> Awesome pic's JR thanks for sharing


Yer welcome...

Later! OL JR


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## bensbales (Jul 18, 2011)

Looks like you have your own little slice of heaven Mr strawwalker,

regards Ben


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

bensbales said:


> Looks like you have your own little slice of heaven Mr strawwalker,
> 
> regards Ben


Thanks...

Well, technically, my folks do... I'm just the labor/caretaker... 

We're actually above normal (according to my "FarmLogs" app on the phone) for rainfall both here in Needville and at Shiner (100 miles west) this year... Good to see, too... While the rainy weather has been a bit tiresome, it IS preferable to the alternative... drought is NEVER fun!

About the only benefit with cattle in drought is, you CAN cull and load some up and haul them to the sale barn-- may take a bath price-wise, but at least it's something-- when you have crops, all you can do is sit there and watch them burn up...

Later! OL JR


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