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.)

Family Heirloom Quilt

The Mineola League of the Arts is having a quilt show this week and I decided to enter our family heirloom quilt. The quilt was quilted by Granny in the 1960'-70's. The top was pieced by an ancestor over 100 years before. They set up a nice little exhibit for it including the history of the quilt and our copy of the book Texas Quilts that features our quilt. They were very happy to be able to show the quilt. Granny would be proud!

The show is much bigger than I expected. The league occupies an old elementary school and they had the main room (I suppose it was the cafeteria) as well as most of the classrooms filled with quilts.