I took this picture after 10:15 PM

It's just a great illustration of what a digital camera is trying to do to normalize the exposure. It's about a 26 second exposure. There's a bright moon out so that created the shadow - but it IS night! It's foggy and that was the reason for trying to take the picture but the camera just wanted enough light to create a normal exposure and it took seconds rather than a fraction of a second! The eye was not seeing any color - just grays, dark grays, and darker grays!

The woods have been full of birds recently

and also around the house. Many Robins and Northern Flickers, some Bluebirds and seasonal Cedar Waxwings and Juncos. I've also seen more woodpeckers than usual - several kinds - and many of our normal neighbors like Cardinals and Chickadees.

New pulley for the zip line - Updated Post!

It has ball bearings instead of bushings - to go faster! Note the warning! The way I read it it says "This pulley has ball bearings and it's gonna go faster, you'll run into the tree and that's not good for your health! (I also see on the instructions for this that our older pulley with "self-lubricating" bushings needs to be lubricated regularly with a silicone lubricant. I guess I'm missing something there.)

Now all we need is one more harness and we can double the throughput!

OK - The pulley has been tested and it is BLAZING FAST!! So much so we came close to an injury situation. People are going too fast at the bottom to be able to stop. Daniel tested it! (See his comments on FaceBook.) Alex says "I didn't think it would make that much difference!"

Now we have to work on the line itself to solve the opposite problem - how to slow it down.

Our Fifteen Minutes of Snow

One is the Treehouse from around the east bridge. The other isn't.

The Reyes Christmas Tree

Daniel did this and it's a very impressive tree! He's been working with Mark and learning technique but it seems to me that he's showing some talent that's in a few other family members too.

It's getting closer - (to finished)

Thanks to Alex for the cross design!

Jacob

One of the challenges in genealogy research

This is a copy of the transcription record of the 1920 census record for my uncle Charlie. He's listed as Charley Blanders - not Charlie Flanders. Granny is Jarlie O. Blanders - not Verlie, and mom is Ida M. Blanders, not Ida N. Flanders. You could go a long time without ever finding this record!

On the other hand, the genealogical things that are available on line now are truly amazing - as is the software that handles them! I wasn't even looking for the record above - the program found it and suggested it.

Winnsboro

We keep getting amazed at this little town!

We went to Quitman this evening - "Friends of the Arboretum" and Chamber of Commerce mixer at the old historic Stinson House in the park. I'm getting acquainted with a lot of the folks through the master gardeners (where I'm V.P. for next year). But point being, we were out and decided to drive to Winnsboro for a latte at a little place that we like to go, "Art & Expresso".

As usual when we got to town it was hard to find a parking place (Thurs, Fri, & Sats). Then, as we were walking up to the coffee shop we could see that there was some live entertainment tonight. It's a little coffee shop - could seat maybe 16-18 people max. But there was entertainment. In this case four girls ages 9 to 19 I believe. They were dressed like school girls form the 50's - no, like "church" girls from the 50's. And, we found out, there music is a ministry. But the songs tonight were old traditional Christmas carols and music from the 50's but not pop music. And they were very good!! They also have a band with their two older brothers - The Great Interference! Listen to them. We just stumbled across them in a tiny coffee shop in Winnsboro..

Alex and Daniel worked on the chapel today

. . . and this is pretty much the way the chapel will look for the wedding on Saturday - except, of course, for Glynda's decorations. There's still quite a bit of work to do. We could not put on the green tin roof because I didn't buy enough boards to go under it - so there's still a hole in the roof. And I didn't buy enough siding so the back gable is not yet done - plus some other things that I wasn't even hoping to get done. But overall I'm really happy with what we've accomplished and I'm happy with the design!

Wildernest Chapel

It's moving along pretty well! Unlike the original plan to take it slow and easy, we're rushing to get it usable by next weekend so Aaron and Amber can get married there. We'll have something but there won't be any effort to finish it - just get it "usable"! Doing it with hammer and nails and cutting the wood at the shop before taking it down in my little trailer.

Thanksgiving

Just a quick post. More later. We counted 25 folks that are usually at Thanksgiving that weren't here this year. If they had all been there, the count would have been (drum roll) 81! Yep, even with all the no shows we still had 56 folks having a good time - especially at the Treehouse / Zip Line!!! (I took 245 pictures. Will
get them edited, cut down and distributed soon.)

Pre-Thanksgiving

As it turns out, a number of folks that are usually at Thanksgiving have other commitments this year. Seven of them stopped by the house today and we all had a good visit with the zip line! Pat and Brian are here with us this week too. Riders on the zip line were Justin, Greg, Ren (twice), Caroline (twice), Brian, Pat, Karla, Jill, and Daniel and Justin did the "Superman" routine. )The blog only lets me put five pictures on a post.)

Deja vu!

One of my daughters sent me a newspaper clipping with the note "I thought you'd enjoy this". It WAS interesting reading and I did enjoy it! But it occurs to me that there's only been one other person in my life that's sent me newspaper clippings.
(Thanks BBD)

More Treehouse work today

We finished the rails on the steps and put a facing (cedar log slats) on the Crow's Nest. Two successful projects that added a lot to the appearance.

Thanksgiving day weather forecast - mostly sunny, high in the lower 60's!!

First look - Thanksgiving Day weather forecast

and temperature somewhere about 56-60 degrees! I can live with that! (caveat - this is from a ten days out forecast!)

Daniel has been busy today!

He came over this morning and suggested the cedar fence in the front of the house - then cut down the trees and built it - and then put out the Thanksgiving decorations!
Thanks Daniel!

Daniel on the zip line!!

East Texas Autumn Color

The picture was taken in Mineola.

Better!

OK - This one is better but still not right!

I cleared out the two trees (we're gonna use one of them on the rails) but the picture's still not right - can't see enough of the Treehouse itself. I guess I'm gonna have to take a step ladder down there and take the picture from the top of that!

Yesterday's Treehouse work

Some stain on the inside, some stain on the outside. (There are four outside walls and three of them still look the same. I'll do one more and then shame Alex and Daniel into doing the two that require working off the ladder.) Need some input on the door. It can stay as is or it can be painted - can't be stained. The other picture is the picture I want to take again after clearing out a tree and some brush.

(Deanna - Do you see what's hanging on the wall? I think Daniel wants to get us in the next one!)

More on our Wildflower Meadow

One of the tasks I've taken on at the Wildscape at the Nature Preserve is keeping weeds off the (crushed granite) walkways. The other day when I was there I noticed a bunch of bluebonnets coming up in the walkways from seed that was dropped as we were cleaning the old plants out a few months ago. So I went out today and harvested some of those and transplanted them to the meadow. At the same time I picked some seed heads from four other types of plants and at this stage I don't even know what some of them are as nothing is left except the seeds. I'll plant this mix tomorrow. (There were lots of butterflys at the Wildscape today!)

I started to buy some Indian Paintbrush seeds from the Wildflower Center in Austin last week but did not because they were charging almost $12 to ship a $5 pack of seeds - about $18. I did a little more internet shopping and found another Austin company where I was able to get two $5 pack of seeds shipped to me at the same total cost - $18. When I received the seeds I discovered that they were actually from a grower in OK. I found their website and the exact same seesd were $2. I bought four packages and, with shipping and no tax, paid $12. If the Wildflower Center had not been so totally ridiculous on their shipping charge I would have never found the better place. And it really disappoints me that this greed is interferring with the mission of the center. Sorry Lady Bird!!

Glynda and I also spent a little time in the Treehouse this afternoon enjoying the weather, a glass of wine, and some Neil Young.

Fall is the time to plant wildflowers

The top of the hill on the Orange Trail near the bench is a natural wildflower area. There's most always something blooming there. I'm trying to supplement that with plantings from other parts of the property and adding a few others. It looks like I've got a good start on bluebonnets from seeds I was given at the Wildscape. I'm also buying some Indian Paintbrush and Blanketflower seeds. I'll plant a few Coneflowers from seeds I've gathered from flowers we grew this year and have also transplanted a few Lantanas. All of these are Texas plants that are native to East Texas. The planning and planting of these is a mini-project in the middle of the other things we have going now.

One less tree

We've had a tree by our "Springy Chair Garden" that's been slowly dieing on us. It was finally time to have it taken down and the guys were here this morning to do it. He took it down the hard but safer way - a bit at a time. We also had another tree topped off and will probably have it taken down later. This is the picture where the air is full of chips from the chain saw. It's scary - but very impressive - to watch these guys work!

Morning photo

I went into the kitchen this morning to fix breakfast and the sun was shining in on a bowl of grapefruits that Glynda bought yesterday. Knowing that sun like this doesn't last long I hurried back to get the camera and, even then, the effect had lessened by the time I got back back. I did get a couple shots but it was in shade in less than a minute. It's not as good as the shot I missed but I still like the picture!

Wendi's little one - Lynlee

We did a bunch of pictures of Wendi's little one. Lynlee is two months old now. Here are a couple where I tried and idea from Brenna.

Beverly's birthday dinner at the Treehouse

We had our first meal at the Treehouse this evening. It was Bev's birthday dinner and was a very enjoyable evening. We had the portable CD player so we had music, tiki-lights, and Glynda fixed a nice meal that included spaghetti, fresh home-made bread, wine, a pie, and coffee. Bev, Alex, Daniel, Mary, Glynda, and myself in attendance. I think special evening like this deserve a listing in the guest register??

Hand Rails on the Crow's Nest

Along with a chair for enjoying the view and the experience! Daniel moved the flag because we have a new 'highest point' on the structure!

Base of the chapel is finished

Crow's Nest or Zip Line Platform

I posted these pictures on Facebook but will put them here too. We've planned for some time now to build a platform for the zip line. It runs from the Treehouse so the platform could be the same thing as the "Crow's Nest" that we talked about early on as we were planning the Treehouse. It finally got done today. Alex, Daniel, and I started it this morning and finished this afternoon. Logistically, the hardest part of it was getting a tree that was almost 30ft tall cut down and transported a good hundred yards and then getting it lifted into place between two big limbs. We were feeling like Egyptian slaves working on the pyramids! (Actually we're not quite through with it - we still need to put up hand rails.)