Westward - Ho! Cool water for hot days.

No, this is not Die Weide - we took a trip west to the Llano River west of Llano for some kayaking, swimming, and fly-fishing. A nice way to beat the 100 Degree heat wave.




This is a catfish caught on a white and yellow wooley booger fly I tied. I caught it at a point just before where the river rejoined itself around an island. I cast the fly next to a stone in the river, let it sink, then gave it a twitch or two then let it set, then bam! Fish on! Catfish can fight!














Another fish on. Feisty little bream.

Critters on Die Weide

Penny Puppy Ears
Originally uploaded by johntestsgo

Sunday we encountered our first snake on Die Weide. Inge and Melissa were clearing brush from under a copse of trees when Inge saw the snake right in front of her. Melissa and I saw it too. It was rapidly departing down a hole when I saw it and I only saw the last half or less of it. It had horizontal black and red stripes. The red was in two shades of dull red and the black was dull too. Coral snakes have red, yellow, and black stripes and are brightly colored so the snake we saw wasn't a coral snake. I looked online and the closest I could find was a non-poisonous corn snake. It was about as thick as my big toe.

As you can see from the picture, Penny, our Chocolate Lab puppy gets the run of the land. She doesn't run much though. We also saw Longhorn cattle that our southern neighbors graze on their land. There weren't as many birds as usual - perhaps they were subdued by the heat too.

Century Daze - Temps that is..

Another visit to Die Weide today. Forecast temperature 103 F (39 C) in Austin. I don't know if it reached 100 F at Die Weide, but it sure felt like it. Today Inge and I headed out to the North fenceline to begin clearing. We got there late - 9 a.m. and it was past 10 a.m. by the time we unloaded and I mowed around the Picnic Pecan so it was brutally hot by fence clearing time.

We started in chopping brambles and had several yards of easy going before we hit a thick patch that surrounded a deceased Mesquite Tree. Mesquite trees don't normally grow very tall or thick. Before this one had died though, it had a tree trunk bigger around than my waist. It still wasn't tall but it was thick. I've noticed that there are about 8 to 10 of these dead, but very thick mesquite trees on the property in the pasture area. I think someone poisoned them because several years ago Mesquite trees were considered pests to be eradicated. As a woodworker this makes me sad because Mesquite wood is exceptionally hard and has beautiful figure. I would love to craft Mesquite into extremely beautiful wood items. Interestingly, when I cut a limb from the tree, I found that it still had very sound wood inside - a statement about the hardness and durability of Mesquite. I hope I can salvage some Mesquite from the property - even if only for pens and bowls turned on the lathe.

We bramble-hacked an hour before the heat took its toll and forced our surrender. We joined Melissa under the Picnic Pecan and sat and rested in the shady breeze. To me it was very comfortable - yes it was hot, but the shade and breeze made it pleasant to me. We enjoyed sandwiches and fruit for lunch, and lots of water to drink. By 1 p.m. though the ladies had reached their heat tolerance and we packed up and headed home. I found it odd that I was comfortable under the shady breeze, but really noticed how hot it was once I fired up the truck's air conditioning.

Stalking Rabbits with Camera - of knowing and seeing.

This weekend I traveled alone to the land to explore - no real work planned. One thing I know from neighbors is that rabbits exist on Die Weide. Not only that, when I walk around the pasture and the many brush-pasture edges, I see signs of rabbits - droppings and paths and such. But to date, I've not seen a rabbit.

I arrived about an hour after sunrise, a bit late for rabbits, I know. Then I set out around the pasture at a very slow pace with my Digital Rebel XTi in hand. Three, four steps, and pause and look around. I know, from my farm living days, that I should look for the little black eyes. But I've not seen one yet. I wonder how long it will take for me to reconnect with nature in such a way that I see what I know to be there? What I know is that I will see my rabbits eventually. Then I will replace the camera with a 22lr will re-acquaint myself with Hasenpfeffer. Yum!

Closure - Official ownership established

Yesterday the mailbox delivered up a package of signed and sealed documents attesting to our ownership of 10 acres (described in attached metes and bounds).

And now the real work begins! An orchard is slated for next spring with a shed whose roof will be used to harvest water to irrigate the orchard. A cabin for weekend stays is slated for the 3-5 year time frame. Otherwise, a lot of brush busting and bramble removal is in the future.

Accidental Birding

One last post for the day. After all the work, I took my folding chair and set it in the shade of a runt oak and with my 10x binoculars set up to see what I could see. Eastern Cardinals abound on the land and their beautiful song echoes from side to side as the males compete for attention. I'm used to seeing flashes of red as they flit by.

Today however, I saw a new shade of red, tinging to orange. A new bird! The orange was so unusual and he kindly alighted on a treetop where I could observe him with the binoculars. Longish beak, round head with a crown flowing back to nape splashed in brilliant red-orange. I could only see his head and white face and long beak, but nothing more of his body except a hint of gray or brown through the leaves. When he flew off I was surprised that he was pretty large and my initial impression was that it was the size and shape of a woodpecker - but I've never seen one with that much color before.

So when I got home I googled Central Texas bird identification and found to my surprise that I had spotted the Red-bellied Woodpecker. I've never been into birding, but it sure was a joy to see a bird I've never seen before. According to the range maps, this area is about as far west as they get so it was a special treat!

Good Neighbors and Measuring Lay of Land

IMG_9776
Originally uploaded by johntestsgo

Even better than the picnic pecan is our neighbors. The first day I visited the land I dropped by the neighbor's house and asked them about water, electric and what they knew of the history of the land. They were as friendly as Texas! And ever since we make it a habit to drop by and say hi. They even invited us to a BarBQ with even more neighbors in attendance. I can't wait to put on a brisket feast in return. (More future plans...) Anyway, the photo is of our neighbor shredding about 1/2 acre in the South East corner where we will be planting the orchard.

After shredding and in addition to chopping vines from a copse of trees, I made the first measurements of the slope from the planned water harvesting tank to the orchard. The land slopes away in all directions from the SE corner. We will build a water harvesting shed with a 1700 gallon tank which will service the orchard of a dozen trees with some left over for some garden use. I needed to know if the slope is sufficient to generate enough head for drip irrigation without the need of a pump.

With a 50" board, a level and a tape measure I took measurements of rise over run every 10 paces from the point I staked out as the likely water tank outlet. The average was 4.75":50" which gives about a 9.4% slope. I sketched this out and calculated that we have a 4' 8" drop at 50' which is about where the 1st row would be. The tank will be elevated on a pad which would give almost a 6' head which results in 2.7 psi at the first row. This is a bit low for drip irrigation where the recommended minimum pressure is between 15-30 psi. It looks like I might need to investigate a pump for the system too.