We're Still SIx Weeks Away From 'Last Frost'

And I'm really getting itchy to get in the garden (flower & vegetable). Aaron and I have already put in a sprinkler system for the veggie garden. Through the Master Gardeners group I found that I can get free mulch (tree clippings) from the electric company trimming of trees along power lines. They dropped off a huge pile last week and that needs to be spread around. I can fill up the back of my Ranger with compost from a company in Big Sandy (20-25 miles down the road) for $42. That will happen Monday latest. So the process now is getting beds, soil, etc. ready for later. (The Master Gardener classes are adding to the to-do list - for here as well as volunteer projects, one happening later today.) Even now though, in my "greenhouse" we have this very nice blossom. It's a Kalanchoe Blossfeldiana and it's from a plant Glynda got at Nanny's funeral. (I'm keeping more info about our gardening on another blog I've created mainly for keeping records and photos for us. There is a link to this in the list to the right.)

Another Genealogical Bit of Information!

We've had this picture for many years. It was drawn by my grandfather Charles Walmsley Flanders. The picture was framed and recently the glass was broken. In taking the glass off, we found that the picture was dated as well as signed. He drew this in March, 1907 - 102 years ago and he would have been thirteen at that time - looking much like he does in the picture below. (Reminder of the double-click for the larger picture.) The composition is familiar to me and, I think, not because I've seen this all my life but because it's probably a copy of another sketch or painting.

(Here's the name and date from the lower left corner of the picture.)

The Hobbit movie

We just finished watching "The Lord of the Rings" again. Aaron hadn't seen it before and we've got that condition remedied now. Of course that brought to mind the Hobbit movie that's been discussed for several years now. Here's the latest I can find - the information is from this month:

"It's now official: The Lord of the Rings screenwriting team of Peter Jackson (pictured), Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens will join The Hobbit director Guillermo del Toro to pen the screenplay for the two planned Hobbit movies. Sources tell EW.com that the scribes' deals are all complete and they have already begun writing. (With shooting scheduled to begin Fall 2009, at the earliest, in New Zealand, the quartet better get busy!) The Hobbit will center on Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins, and his initial discovery of the immensely-powerful ring. New Line and MGM plan to release the two films Christmas 2011 and Christmas 2012".

An additional page says that "Supposedly, according to Jackson and company, The Hobbit, itself, will be one movie, ending with the battle of five armies. The second movie will fill up the space between the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and probably introduce, or flesh out the story of some of the LOTR's principal characters, like Legolas, Aragorn, Gimili, etc., and touch on Sauron's rise to power, after his imprisonment, and escape in the Hobbit."

So it looks like about 35 months before we see the movie! Just like the others, it will be worth the wait and, just like the others, we plan to see them on opening days with Donna. She just doesn't know that yet.

OMG - Two consecutive "cat" posts!

I've taken over the nook for a few months to start some seeds and cuttings. The black across the top of this picture is the top of a flourescent light fixture (it's actually white). Pancho loves lying in the sun in the nook anyway but he really likes the light for the same reason the plants do - it's on sixteen hours a day. Just to the right you can see an empty seed tray barely hanging on. Pancho moved it to make his place. He spends a lot of time here now and in a day or two I'll need to fill up that empty seed tray and he and I will have to have a serious discussion.

Leona

Isn't she sweeeet! We've often had an outside feral cat here through the years. They came. They went. But right now we have four. First one that showed up was "Spats", named so because, although he's black, the tops of his feet are white. Then came "Bob", named for the condition of his tail - although the bobbed tail looks like it came from an accident - not a particularly pretty thing. Then came "Leo". His name was suggested because of his big cat markings but maybe it should have been "Tiger"? Last came one that has markings a lot like Pancho. Because of that, Aaron named him "PJ" - short for "Pancho Junior".

So where did Leona come from? It was a reconsideration of the probable sex of Leo. She's the one that's becoming tame - waiting to be fed breakfast when I feed the birds in the morning. She's also learning that she's safe even when we're on the deck and that coming when she hears us can be a good thing that leads to food. The picture was taken this afternoon when Aaron and I were sitting on the deck enjoying the weather.

(Any resemblence of this post to any of my sibling is purely coincidental and should be ignored. There should be no future references of this post within two paragraphs of any word that refers to my sister!)

Adam Methuselah Soloman Samson Washington Lafeyette Ator

Bambi was wondering what the "S.S.W.L." in the previous post on Ator names stood for. I really had no hope of finding that out but a "cut and paste" search on Google turned up one hit - and that one hit did explain it!

"Notes for Adam Methuselah S.S.W.L. ATOR:Complete name: Adam Methuselah Soloman Samson Washington Lafeyette Ator Adam signed his name, "A. M. S. S. W. L. Ator"His father said that A. M. S. S. W. L. "Is the largest boy Ihave raised . . . He is very antic, very stout"

Some More Genealogy - This Time - The Ators

Suzie gave me a name this morning that got me past a roadblock on Meree's side of the family and I've been working on that most of the day. If you're like me you always thought that Herb's middle name "Quick" was a little unusual. The Ators (who have been in the Mineral Wells area since the mid-1800's) have a lot of unusual names in the family. Here, for grins, are some of the best ones (year is the birth year):

1812 - MATHIAS DOUT ATOR
1839 - WARTHADEUS ATOR
1842 - PHARAOH THOMAS ATOR
1849 - GENERAL JOHN ZACHARY TAYLOR ATOR
1851 - OREGON ATOR
1858 - PARROTT ATOR
1859 - PRINCE ATOR
1860 - TENNESSEE WILSON ATOR
1864 - TEXAS ATOR
1868 - NAPOLEON BONAPART ATOR
1870 - MARYLAND E. ATOR
1872 - CALIFORNIA ATOR
1874 - SUSANA MEXICO ATOR
1876 - ARIZONA ATOR
1887 - ADAM METHUSELAH S.S.W.L. ATOR
1889 - SULAR DEXTER ATOR
1891 - SULAR HINDMAN ATOR
1895 - JUST PAT ATOR
1898 - KLONDIKE D. ATOR

Back to "school"

This is an active group of people! At the Texas Master Gardeners Conference last year they were awarded three state prizes (a first, second & third for "medium size" county groups) one for their newsletter, one for a project that got kids involved in a landscaping project at the city park and I belive the third was for the Earthkind Rose Trial Garden in Mineola - only the second trial garden in the state. The county agent is responsible for the organization of the group and he tells us that the Wood county group is well known thoughout the state and beyond. There are between 50 and 60 members plus 20 in the class I'm in. I'll be attending a total of 50 hours in class and will be working 50 hours on Wood County Master Gardeners projects scattered throughout Wood county by the end of April. Upon completion of that, I'll receive the designation of Texas Certified Master Gardener. (Additional classes and volunteer hours will be required after that to maintain the certification.) I'm really enjoying it! But there's a lot to learn!

Here's a link to the website. You might want to look at the links on the Wildscape Garden-Mineola Nature Preserve, the Earthkind Rose Trial, and the Arboretum & Botanical Garden of Quitman. The Earthkind Rose Trial project will be over this year but the other two are major ongoing projects.

I've seen evidence before . . .

. . . trees down with the telltale stump. etc, but have never seen a live beaver in our pond. The water is high right now after the rains of the last few days and it's within 5-6 inches from the top of the pier. On a walk this morning I stepped onto the pier, heard a splash below me, and waves started radiating out. Then a little trail of bubbles. After a few minutes of watching and waiting I'd about given up on discovering what it was when I heard a snorting sound across the pond. The beaver was swimming back and forth and blowing bubbles as it swam - back and forth and getting closer to me all the time. I didn't have the camera (that's the second time I've had to say that recently) so I went back to the house to get it, went back to the pond, stomped onto the pier trying to recreate the whole scenario again. It worked! Got a couple dozen shots.

Finished!

The "Orange Trail" is much longer than the other trails - about a half mile or a 20-30 minute walk and it goes much deeper into the property. These are areas that I seldom go into because they are overgrown and it's easy to lose your way. I had to work in short sections and mark the path with flags when I was making it to be sure I ended up in the right place. It crosses the creek in two places, fording it once and using a bridge for the last one. Having made the shorter trails, this one just became the thing to do - and it's a very enjoyable, close-to-nature walk. It has several areas with different characteristics and I know we're going to walk in this direction often.

(There's still a little bridge repair work to do.)

The Trails

Today is one of those cold and rainy days when there's not a lot to do and, having awakened this morning with a need to see this for myself, I've taken the time to put together a little map of the trails. I wanted to see how they would look and how they related to the size of the property. I've cropped this to just a bit larger than our property boundaries. The heavy dark yellow at the top is the drive to the house. The blue line across the center is the creek. Each trail is depicted in it's own color - the Green Trail, the White Trail, the Yellow Trail, and the new Orange Trail.

Winter Bird Feeding

I'll go ahead and post another bird feeding photo - this one of our new setup with the three feeders together. The tube feeder at the top has the nyjer seed in it and it's for the goldfinches. The white hanging feeder has the sunflower seeds in it. It closes when something heavy gets on the perch. Almost all of the birds like the sunflower seeds. Most of them also like the safflower seeds that are in the wooden platform feeder. The squirrels don't like the safflower and using them has been successful in keeping Morris out of that feeder. He's tried hard to get to the seeds in the other two feeders but has finally given up. I put another mix in another feeder. It does have some sunflower in it and Morris gets his little bit out of that one snd then he's gone for the day. The picture posted has about 12-15 birds in it. There were more around outside of the camera lens area. Twenty or so is common and we often have a lot more. There are 5-6 ground feeder species that don't go to the feeders but come around frequently.

Watch for future posts about other subjects - like the "Orange Trail":)

Great Blue Heron

This guy landed in the field between our house and the Reyes house as I was on my way back from the mailbox. He stayed there as I walked by him and into the house to retrieve the camera. He was a willing subject until I crossed his line and got too close.

Advanced Studies in Bird Feeding

Or at least one step beyond 101. I've been reading a book about bird feeding and it's a lot more involved than I thought. Mike and Missy gave us the bird feeeder we have on the corner of the deck so I just bought a couple types of bird seed and we throw that in there and watch the birds. Fortunately it was the right type for most of the birds we see here. But there are special feeders and special seeds to attract particular birds. The easiest for us was to try a tube feeder with nyjer seed to attract goldfinches. It worked!! We've got four feeders now plus a suet feeder and we've got four kinds of seeds. We put the sunflower seeds in a squirrel proof feeder and use safflower seeds in the platform feeder and that cuts down the expense of feeding bird seed to squirrels. In the cold of winter, the birds appreciate the diet supplement and we've always got a bunch of them.

There is Always Always Always Something to be Thankful For

So says the wall hanging in Beverly & Alex's dining room and, of course, it is true. Here, in no particular order, are some of the 2008 things I'm thankful for:

1. Retirement
2. The timely selling of the condo
3. Our unmortgaged house and it's character
4. 401k out of the market
5. My camera, PC, & Picasa
6. Time
7. Birds in our backyard
8. The yard & garden to work in
9. The tools it takes to do so
10. The trails to walk down
11. Netflix
12. Our big screen TV
13. Quitman library
14. Ancestory.com
15. The internet and the answer to everything I want to know
16. The maturing of East Texas (restaurants, coffee shops, etc.)
17. Xander & Blake
18. Justin's graduation from the fire academy, his election to Captain of the class, and his new job
19. Magen's graduation with honors from NTCC and her passing of the state certification exam
20. Aaron's graduation from International College of Bible Theology (2 years of study) and his pending homecoming
21. Judge Jill
22. The Patriot Guard Riders
23. The USMC Honor Guard
24. In East Texas you have to mention electricity which you learn to appreciate when you don't have it.
25. And family!