(Mar 31) Wait a minute, Mr Postman

Spent the afternoon out here today. There were supposed to be thunderstorms moving in late in the afternoon so we didn't bring anything for a meal. Should have, the weather was PERFECT! Mid 60s and a light breeze. Not a cloud in the sky! They messed this forecast up. Oh well! We had a very relaxing afternoon. The foliage is really coming back to life. We had numerous Cardinals and doves hanging out at the camp today. We brought out a couple of new bird feeders and spent a while filling all of them up. We also brought out a bird bath. Just a 2' ceramic dish but deep enough to hold a couple of gallons of water. That should last the week between trips. Also got a mailbox installed at the road side. Don't suspect we will get anything but route junk but at least the paramedics can find us if I chop something off with a chain saw. :) Planted a Rosemary bush I got on clearance at HD for $3. Looked plenty healthy to me. I think it will be happy here.

Was bound to happen sooner or later. We had gone back to the property to measure for a security chain and got the truck stuck. I am going to have to remember that the day after a rain is not the time to be driving off of the road. Walked back to the camp and got a shovel and we were out in about 10 minutes. No, I did not want my picture taken! :)

Glad it rained yesterday. Made pounding this in a bit easier.

Added a couple of new feeders. So far, they've been emptying 2 every week. We'll see how they do with 4.

Sure hoping the ceramic holds up to the freezes. Should give them plenty to play in 'til we get back next week.

New bird feeder. Maybe the layers of Sunflower and grain will keep them all coming back for more.

Rosemary. I'll bet this is 3 feet across by next winter.

(Mar 27) X marks the spot

Brought some stakes and rope to mark off placement of the cabin. Originally 16x20 with a 8' porch on the front and a 10' deck on the back. After messing with it for a while, I think we settled on a 12' deck on the back. We're pretty set on the front edge of the porch so we will need to extend the deck back from where it is now. May go ahead and build the deck first. This would give us enough room to camp on and get up off of the ground as we move into the rainy season. We have 3-4 live trees to remove to clear this area. We will also probably set all of the piers at one time to ensure all are level. Estimate cost of the 12'x20' deck will be ~$1000. Need to work up a diagram for placement of the piers and beams. Hoping to get money to electric company next month to get started on estimate for running power lines to building site. Need ~$250 for this. While clearing some leaves on prospective bldg site, I uncovered a mound of sand that had been dug up. Looked like a gopher mound. I started raking it down smooth and hit something hard that moved. It was a turtle! About 3" front to back. I cleared the sand off of him and took a few pics. Covered him back up and staked the spot so we wouldn't step on him. Too cute! He should be waking up pretty soon. Supposed to be in the 70s this week and the 80s next. Also looks like we could get rain 3 or 4 days over the next week. That will be nice. We planted a couple of Southern Wood ferns by the driveway. We'll need to hold off on planting anything much more exotic until we have a steady water source. Talked to the owner of Hooten Landscape in Emory. Great looking plants and trees! Really nice guy. He asked if we had slept on the property yet. Told him we had, one night. He asked if we had heard something like a woman screaming in the middle of the night. Now I was curious. Without prompting, he goes on to tell us of reports of a mountain lion in the area. Said we would know if we heard it. Told us the game warden had admitted it's presence. I am now considering carrying my pistol while on the property for a while. Wouldn't be a bad idea with snakes waking up for the warmer weather also. I've been working on informing Kim as to the difference in good snakes and the poisonous ones. So far, no signs of any yet.

Small turtle buried up over winter.

Southern Wood Fern. Going to start planing these throughout the property. Drought and freeze tolerant. What else can you ask for in North Texas.

(Mar 25) Groundwork

Didn't make it out this weekend. Rainy on Sat, cold and windy on Sun. Talked to the appraisal district today. Confirmed our new tax liability for 2013 will be set when statements come out in April. Found out they value storage sheds at about $8 per foot. That puts a 100sf shed at $16/year in tax liability. I talked to the district clerk's office also and confirmed that we do not need a building permit or any inspections. We are responsible for our own building issues as long as construction is outside of an existing city limit. Also talked to environmental speciaist for district. He said that we would not be required to have a septic system. That a composting toilet would be acceptable. WooHoo! We can build whatever we like, however we like!

Proposed building site for cabin.

(Mar 16) Spring is here

YEA! Spent our first night at Point! Weather was perfect. Highs in the upper 70s. Came out late Saturday afternoon after a window tinting job in Arlington. Ate at the Chinese Wok in Wills Point. It was OK. Dishes big enough to share in the future. Got to the land about 5:30 and set up the tent. Started a fire in the chiminea. Went to Emory to get some groceries and ice. Brought back hummus, flat bread and wine. Sat talking 'til 10:00 o'clock or so. Dragged the mattress out in front of the fire and enjoyed the stars and the glow of the fire. Wonderful feeling! Woke up in the middle of the night and decided to move back to the tent. It was getting a little chilly, about 60° and breezy. Woke up about 8:00 and got some breakfast started. Bacon and scrambled eggs, mango, orange juice. We cleaned up and got started clearing land to put the cabin on. Several dead trees to deal with. Chopped up a few with the chainsaw but the blade is really dull. Will replace next week. Haven't touched it since we were working on the land at Lake Whitney. Need to see if they can sharpen it or if it's beyond improvement. Broke for lunch around noon. Cooked pork steaks with sautéed zucchini and bell pepper. To die for. I don't know if it's the work, being outdoors or what, but meals are so good when you're camping. This was exceptional. We took a walk around the perimeter of the property for about an hour after lunch, trimming poison ivy and low lying branches as we went. Confirmed that the plants I have been suspecting were poison ivy truly are. Leaves are starting to poke out on all of the plants. Verified that the vines and plants I was seeing throughout the winter were the 3 leaved poison ivy. Ugggh! 12 acres, covered in the stuff. I've got lots of work cut out for me over the next 3-4 years. I think I can have it controlled by then though. Going to get a backpack sprayer by Spring's end. Then I'll be dangerous! Need to mix some food color with the roundup to see where I've sprayed. Was really excited to see that almost all of the trees that are standing are alive. There were a handful towards the back of the property that were dead but most were alive and starting to bloom out. Cannot wait to see what it all looks like in it's full glory next month. Really scary buying property in the winter. Not quite sure what you're going to get. Now that we've started burning large quantities of wood, it's also clear that we have a huge task ahead of us to clean up the property. Saw a couple of termite nests and a small scorpion as we were dealing with some downed trees. Really pushes me towards using metal to build the cabin! We have settled on 16'x20' for the size with a covered porch on the front and a deck on the back. The porch for hot and rainy days. The deck for cool days and clear nights. We're going to face the front of the cabin towards the drive, about SW. That will put the rear/deck facing NE. Kim want to see the front of the cabin as we drive up each day. :) I suspect most of our nights will be on the back deck anyway. That will shield our view from any neighbors and their infernal street lights. Never ceases to amaze me that people want to get away from the city but they insist on bringing the light pollution with them. Guess they're just insecure. Truly wish we had internet service out there. I would set up an IP camera on the bird feeders. There was a Cardinal couple at the site all weekend. Both bird feeders were empty when we arrived. The 5 lbs of sunflower seed left on the ground from the fire on our last visit was almost gone too. I poured out some new bird seed just on the other side of the camp and it didn't take long for the Cardinals to find it. At one point the male was taunting me by landing in a tree about 10 feet away. Of course I had just put the camera away 2 minutes before. Need to identify the cute little blue and white bird with the tuft on it's head. VERY noisy singer. :) They like eating out of the feeders while the Cardinals are ground feeders. We left most of the tools there this time along with the camp stove. I'll be really sad if any of it gets stolen. Really hope the neighborhood is safe! Now that we know where we are going to have our cabin, we can call and get an estimate for service installation from the electric company.

Grilled pork steak and veggies.

(Mar 2) Just a work day

Came out to work today about 1:30. Stayed til dark clearing and burning brush in the new tank. It's working out nicely. Leaves are starting to come out on many of the trees and shrubs. It's really looking like Spring. Can't wait 'til we can spend some real time out here. Some day . . . .

Burning brush and enjoying the warming weather

(Feb 24) Burn, Baby, Burn

Came back with Riley and the girls today. Andrea brought a friend to spend the day with. (Lets just say that was a disaster and leave it at that! Nuf said!) We decided to fire up the new burn tub, our 4' wide round water trough. I fashioned a wire screen as a topper and we loaded it up with logs and brush. Soon after we lit it we had a roaring fire. Wow! I had about 8 - 4' logs plus loose timber packed in. We had failed to appreciate that the 1000° fire would light the leaves on the ground around the giant fire pit. I quickly raked the debris away as we realized the enormous burning power. No more chopping branches into 8" pieces so they would fit in the chiminea. We would be burning entire branches by the dozens. 50 years of neglected woods had left a lot of downed trees. Yes, we would keep much of it for heating fuel but there was lots to deal with. I'm not one of those that wants the land cleared. Hell, I don't even want to rake the leaves if I don't have to. I just want to clear the debris and fallen branches so it doesn't look like the aftermath of a storm all of the time. We reloaded the pit several times and finally let it burn down to a pile of embers about 2' deep. Realizing it would be a long time before these all burned out we decided to stop feeding it. Even after the flames had died down, you couldn't sit any closer than about 10' away. Kim brushed her shoe against the pit at one point when repositioning the screen and watched the front bumper of her shoe melt away. Eventually, when the bottom has burned out of this trough, we could use this as a burn "ring" to get rid of tree stumps that are in the way. The wife has seen plans for some of the really large ones. Hollow them out and use them as planters or use them as small café tables in the woods. But face it, most of them have to go. Put the ring around them, build an inferno for 2-3 days (attended burn) and move on to the next. Better than paying $100 each for stump removal or putting up with them in the way for years.

We also learned several good lessons today. Embers burn a long time and should not be underestimated, and walkie-talkies are more reliable than cell phones. Kim had decided to empty out the ashes from lunch the day before in the chiminea. Problem was they were put in a paper sack and set on a pile of leaves. Yes, I know, sounds ridiculous now but that's the way it happened. It had been long enough to cook and finish hamburgers for lunch. Delicious, I must add. We decided to take a walk through to the back of the property. Sabrina was asleep so we left her lounging an a chair.  As we were returning to camp from our walk, we heard Sabrina yelling for help. As I ran closer I could see her running back and forth out to the path and waving for me to come. I see a tower of smoke near the camp table as I near. I grabbed the rake as I ran by and found a burning ring of about 12' at the edge of our camp. There had been some embers in the sack of ashes from earlier that morning.  They eventually burned through and ignited the sack and a pile of leaves spreading fairly quickly. A felled tree nearby was also burning but had acted as a stop for one side of a live tree. Sabrina had awakened to the smell of smoke and the fire already going but was unsure how to stop it. She worked at it a bit with a shovel but the soil was not very loose and she didn't have much luck. She tried calling me but my phone was in the truck charging. She tried calling Kim but we were out of cell coverage. The fire got our brand new camp table we had bought that morning, a bag of bird seed and a couple of tools. I worked for about 30 min making sure we had contained all the burning material into a central pile and putting out the log. We realized how close to disaster we had come and we worked on a plan for future ventures. (1) Don't put anything from the chiminea in a paperbag (duh!) being extra careful with ashes and such! (2) Keep a large pump spray with water available along with numerous gallon jugs. (3) Showing the kids how to deal with fires. Rakes work better that day than shovels. (4) No fires on windy days. This was pretty calm by any measure but it was a good wake up call.

Firing up the new burn trough

(Feb 23) Mi Compadre, Jorge

My dear friend Jorge has found out that he has cancer, a very large tumor pressing outward in his abdomen. It has broken 3 of his ribs so far. He has finally made arrangements to get treatment at an out of state facility. He'll be leaving next week and I wanted him to see the property. We took him out to dinner last night and on the spur of the moment we decided that he needed to come with us to spend the day in the woods. We also brought my girls and Riley. Jorge kept making jokes about the sheer volume of supplies I was packing for a day trip, asking if we were really coming back home that night. We stopped in Terrell and bought a 160 gallon water trough to use as a burn barrel. He kept hinting that I needed to buy more Cokes but I didn't catch on until later when I found the bottle of rum that he had stashed in our supplies. I will just trust on blind faith next time he suggests it. We had taken down a wind damaged awning at the house last week. I salvaged some poles and canvas and we designed a small tent from it. We decided to take it to Point to use as an outhouse. We had packed it as well as the kids bikes. After we set up the new latrine, with no roof mind you, we settled in to relax the rest of the day with Jorge. We cooked some steaks on the chiminea and enjoyed a few rum and cokes. After that we enjoyed some rum. :) He was in a lot of pain from the near 3 hour truck ride from his house to the property so we didn't get much in exploring done. I just wanted him to have a day of his own and he said he was now in heaven. He told us over and over how special the day was and how much he enjoyed being here. We all laughed as he showed us where he would put the sign for the Merrett & Mendez Ranch. Told us that "this" would be a good spot for his nuevo casa but that we could still have a little piece of land back in a corner for a cabin. We didn't laugh anymore when he teared up and asked me if I would let him be buried here if his cancer treatment failed. That way he could be here every morning to say hello to us. One way or another, I promised him he would find a home here - either in retirement with his lovely Maria or eternally as a monument in the woods. Via con Dios mi amigo! We wait for your return.

Spending the day with Jorge for his Baptism in 2008

Jorge with Sabrina - Christmas 2010

Jorge and I spend the day at Cowboy's Stadium to watch Mexico v. Brazil in soccer.

Jorge at Andrea's Birthday party

Kim, Jorge and I in Fort Worth