Found Them

I think I found out what was feeding on my tomato blooms and my cilantro.  Snails!  Yes, pretty sure, there was one crawling around on my one cilantro plant and one on one of the tomato plants.  They are gone but I will keep an eye out for the slimy critters.  I have little to no knowledge of snails and what they eat.  But the evidence was condemning.  No, no picture of the actual miscreants but they were this type.  The shell was whiter than this one.

When I 'googled' snails I had no idea there were so many.  The ones I had are pretty common here and we see them all the time every where.  I'm glad we don't have those other monsters I saw.

There were many many more, more than I have wanted to know about.

If you know how to keep these out of a garden please, let me know.

Happy Trails

What the.....

I am trying to be completely organic with my garden.  This means No pesticides to keep the pests from enjoying the fruit of my labors.  My garden guru has told me that since he went entirely organic, he has less of a pest problem than he had previously.  The only thing he uses is liquid seaweed sprayed on the plants.

As it so happens I noticed that my tomato plants were missing most of the blooms they had sprouted. 

Not sure you can see it, top left quadrant.

Cut right off, could have done better with scissors.  I had spayed once when I noticed my cilantro/parsley had some chewing done to them.  Not good, not good at all.  Will try spraying more often, maybe everyday.  Then maybe a visit with my guru to see what he has to say.  Unfortunately my new air rifle I got for pests won't help one bit for this.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Spring time in the Texas Hill Country is just spectacular.  What with the annual display of natures grandeur with the multitude of wild flowers that populate the State.  

The Texas Star part of the Bluebonnet

 

There is even a program to seed the more traveled roadways i.e. interstates with native wild flower seeds that entice visitors from other regions to travel here. 

I have only one minor complaint about this time of year.  Our Oak Trees.  I love them, but for about a month or more they are a major PITA.  Early Spring is the time they lose their leaves, not Fall.  They are never completely denuded.  New growth starts immediately.  These leaves are everywhere.  They aren't as easy to pick up as other leaves as they lay very flat.  You can never get everyone of them up.  Then there is the pollen.  Oh the pollen.  My black truck takes on an iridescent yellow green glow for about two weeks.  Then the tassels start to fall.  

Depending on the type Oak you have, you can have a couple inches of tassels on the ground.  We don't have those kind but we have a quite a bit.  They stick to Buster, especially the long hair on his paws.  Did I tell you he is an 'inside' dog most of the time.  Yeah, it's a mess, when he forgets to wipe his paws.

Happy Trails.

Hill Country Trip

Monday we hit the road for a few hours.  It is the peak of the Bluebonnet season here in Texas.  It's just one of those 'Texas' things.  You will see whole families on the side of the road looking and taking pictures. 

You will also see 'city folks' do some incredibly dumb things because they are so focused on the scenery.  You always have to watch for suddenly slowing traffic or totally stopped in the middle of the road, for no apparent reason.  People walking casually along taking pictures with not a care in the world, in the middle of the road.  Not to mention the trespassing.  I don't think the city folk understand how serious it is to trespass out in the sticks.  But hey wait, there are some Bluebonnets I need to walk in over that fence.

These are a few of my photos of the day.  Since it was a bit overcast I took the liberty of doing some HDR to these to bring out the colors.  Tried to make them as natural as I could but I still get a little overboard on it a bit.  Be sure and click on each to get the FULL size, it's worth it.

 

The last one is my back yard, can you see my lone Bluebonnet under the windmill?

Happy Trails

Unusual Easter Weekend Plan

For the first time in FOREVER we had NO plans for Easter.  For the last 20-30 years almost exclusively we have had plans with the extended family and some friends to spend the day at my Aunt and Uncles out in the country.  It was always lots of food and hunting Easter eggs.  A great time to catch up with the cousins we see only once a year or so.

My Aunt and Uncle are no longer able or willing to deal with all the work that involves having an event with so many folks.  Can't say I blame them at all.  Last year was the first year for that.  So we made alternate plans.  This year?  Not so much.  There are several factors that have played into this.  One, the date just snuck up on us.  We have had a few distractions that caused that.  The main one being that Kim was to start at the new resort Saturday.  Gearing up for that has occupied the thoughts enough to throw things out of whack.  (We needed that to be really successful.) We assumed the kids (oldest and his family) would spend it at his in-laws like last year.  Oops, you know what they say about assumptions.  However, with the all the time/work Kim had to put in on Saturday at two resorts, there was no way she would have been able to do an Easter event at our house.  It just wasn't going to happen.

As it turns out Kim didn't get home till after 9 PM.  She did well at both resorts and was very busy.  She was bushed when she finally made it home.  I am very proud of how hard she works. 

The youngest son, Wesley, came over for lunch.  I had smoked some ribs and threw a few things together for sides and it turned out pretty well for no real planning.  We also got to catch up with him and all the developments with his company and it's scheduled launch.  If you care to, go by and give him a look see over at Guardian Knights.  The oldest son and his family came by later.  As it turned out, the day was better than we expected not to mention the entire weekend.  Sometimes no plans are the best plans.

Happy Trails

Figured it out

Finally got some time alone to try to get my new air rifle figured out.  Since I shoot in my own yard I like to wait until most everyone is at work so I don't alarm them.  If they see this rifle it might concern them a bit.  It doesn't look like any normal air rifle. 

 

Since it is pretty powerful too it has a bit of a report to go along with it's looks.  Better to be discreet than have a concerned neighbor calling the sheriff on the nut shooting everything in the neighborhood.

If you remember I was having a difficult time aiming that thing with the scope.  As it turns out, the mounting rings are a bit more finicky than I noticed the first time.  Once I got that figured out it was just a matter of taking enough time to get the scope zeroed.  It was way off when I started due to the mounts but also the X-hairs were pretty far off also.

Since I was shooting at only about 17 yards it took quite a few clicks as opposed to say 100 yards.  Each click was a 1/4" @ 100.  So I was at about 1/16 or less at the distance I was shooting.

I feel much better about this rifle now that I got that scope figured out than I did the first day.  At that time I was pretty bummed.  Now I just am itching at the chance to see one of the pesky tree rats in or near my garden.   

I will get some high end precision pellets of different types to see if that improves my aim even more.  Did you know they even make hollow point pellets?  Then there are alloy ones that increase the speed by as much as 200 fps as opposed to the lead.

Fun Times.

Groceries

If you do any of the grocery shopping for your household you are aware, if not at least shocked, by the high cost.  It seems that it has risen more than considerably over the last couple years.  I'm sure a lot of that cost is justified due to the cost of fuel during that time.  At nearly 4$ per gallon that is understandable.  However, there was a spell several years earlier where the cost of fuel went to that extreme and it didn't seem to affect the grocery prices as much as it has this time around.  I think it has to do with the length of time the fuel prices have been high and other costs of doing business going up.  Until recently the fuel prices have been too high for too long and someone has to pay the price.  And that someone is staring right back at you from the mirror.  I blame the occupier of the WH and his failed energy policy for this mess.  Actually he thinks it's not a failure, this is exactly what he wants, higher fuel prices.  It is part of his 'agenda' of change.

The thing is, the prices of fuel down here are as low as anytime since 2005 and have been that way for several months.  But are we seeing any relief in prices of anything else?  I would think some of the first things to lower their prices are perishable items that need to replaced frequently, such as meat/beef and vegetables (groceries).  It ain't happening though, not in my neck of the woods at least.  I just wonder if any of those prices are ever going back down.  In fact just this last week there is evidence of higher grocery prices than the last time we went.

It's a real PITA to do our large monthly shopping for just the wife and I and have a bill that is more than twice what it was when we had hungry sons living with us.  Yes, it has been years since they lived here but that doesn't make me feel any better at all.  It's just  too expensive to eat, but my stomach ain't listening.

Happy Trails.

April

A busy month for my doctors.  I have four scheduled appointments in April starting this Friday.  It wasn't planned that way it just sort of happened.  My prostate surgery had the effect of getting my regular appointments thrown all out of whack.  I usually get an annual physical every February.  This is done in order to keep my diabetes meds on schedule.  Since they put me on a new med last Sept. that schedule also got screwed up. 

I have to see my Urologist along with a lab visit the first week.  Then the Ophthalmologist for diabetes eye check up.  Then it's over to the regular dental check up/cleaning and finally the Primary Care doc.  If everything goes OK, which I have no indication it won't I should be good to go for another 6 months.  

I have a strong curiosity on the blood work the Urologist will be looking at.  The PSA numbers should be a big fat '0'.  I only have my imagination of what would be next if it isn't.  I am not going there at this time.  I see no need to buy trouble that I don't need.  We'll just wait and see when it happens and not worry about a thing.  But I will be glad when this month is over, and it hasn't even started yet.

Just in case you haven't done it, fellas, get that Prostate checked, especially that PSA part.

Happy Trails