777 Blanton Hill Road

Grayson County had 75,000 head of beef cattle in January 2009.

Six of them were under our oak tree.

"In branding terminology, a leaning letter or character is "tumbling." In the horizontal position it is "lazy." Short curved strokes or wings added at the top make a "Flying T." The addition of short bars at the bottom of a symbol makes it "walking." Changing angular lines into curves makes a brand "running." Half-circles, quarter-circles, and triangles were frequently used in late-nineteenth-century brands. An open triangle was a "rafter." If a letter rested in a quarter-circle it was "rocking." There were "bars," "stripes," "rails," and "slashes" that differed only in length and angle. When a straight line connected characters, a "chain" was made."
from Handbook of Texas Online

2008-12-29 04:58:00 Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tami_sutcliffe_portfolio/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tami_sutcliffe_portfolio/

Mary Jordan created this landscape for us:

The plans for the steel building are finally underway. Lots to do and thnk about, but what a pleasure when everything will finally be in place!

"The stars at night/Are big and bright/Deep in the heart of Texas."

Texas Pepper Vine


New wooden gate

The sunflower is one of only four major crops of global importance native to the United States (blueberry, cranberry, and pecan are the other three). Leaving the stubble and residues of harvested sunflowers on the surface in the late fall and over the winter allow ample time for birds to find the field and clean up a much of the seed.



The Eastern pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis), also known as the Common pondhawk, is a dragonfly of the family Libellulidae, native to the eastern two-thirds of the United States. The species is distinguished in that the female is bright green and the adult male is nearly entirely blue.

The Ranch

"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then -- to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting." from "The Once and Future King" by T.H. White



Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)

Male red-bellied woodpeckers are medium sized birds that have red caps and hind necks, black and white barred backs and tails. Their belly feathers are off white with a reddish tinge. Females are similar to males but lack the red hind neck. Red-bellied woodpeckers are found in eastern Texas and U.S.

Red-bellied and other woodpeckers are important nest providers for many other species. The holes they excavate in dead trees, poles, and fence posts are used by bluebirds, wrens, chickadees, and titmice to name just a few. Woodpeckers sometimes use telephone poles in the place of dead trees.

Courtship between red-bellies includes mutual tapping and v-shaped flights. Most red-bellies remain year round. In urban areas their nests are often taken over by starlings after they have finished building them. They excavate a new nest hole each time they renest during the season.

It takes only 7 to 10 days for a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers to carve a home in a dead tree. Red-bellied woodpeckers will occasionally use bird houses. These woodpeckers have been known to store food in hollow trees. Their diet consists of insects, nuts, fruits, and berries. You can attract red-bellied woodpeckers to bird feeders by providing them with peanuts.

The woodpecker's bill is a multi-use tool for food gathering and even more unusual, to get their courtship message out. Male woodpeckers do not sing well, so they use their heads, literally. In the spring, woodpeckers are especially attracted to any sound that resonates, including aluminum shed roofs and even the hoods of cars, much to the annoyance of their human owners.

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"I DWELL in a lonely house I know /That vanished many a summer ago,/And left no trace but the cellar walls,/And a cellar in which the daylight falls,/And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow./ Over ruined fences the grape-vines shield/The woods come back to the mowing field;/The orchard tree has grown one copse/Of new wood and old where the woodpecker chops;/The footpath down to the well is healed./It is under the small, dim, summer star./I know not who these mute folk are/Who share the unlit place with me—/Those stones out under the low-limbed tree/Doubtless bear names that the mosses mar." - Robert Frost, 1915.