Monday, April 20, 2009

Fresh out of the oven...

Low of 43 - High of 89...another picture perfect day. Same longhorn group in for breakfast early this morning. Walked them out to the end of the driveway for their range feed. They all came back to the house as I was getting to work on the east footing forms. A couple of the cows went crazy and went running off to meet up with the new mom, Carmen. She came strolling in with a brand new calf wobbling after her. Interesting to watch the reaction of the other longhorns to a new calf. Beatrice was bellowing. I named the new calf Bulmer after my dad's middle name. This little guy is really new as mom still had some afterbirth hanging out of her.

The day shot by quickly as I finished up the forms. Made a trip to the mailbox and found some prickly pear cactus starting to bloom. At 4PM I commenced to grounds keeping. Bagged up all my recyclables and trash and stored it away till the next trip to Alpine. Cleared all the horizontal surfaces in my life and ended it all with a nice hot (wind free) shower. Saw Carmen and Bulmer off in the distance alone together late this afternoon, so I drove out to deliver a snack to the new mom. Solar cooked dinner on the veranda for me and all is well - as usual.

6 comments:

Ben in Texas said...

When that cactus finishes it's bloom, take the Tuna fruit off with a pair of kitchen pinches, and burn the burrs off and smash it into juicy pulp.. get enough and you got the base for a nice refreshing drink

Lanetta said...

It's great that Carmen trusts you to bring her newborn up so quickly. Watching herds interact is a relaxing sight, unless they're fighting, of course! I don't know if open-range Longhorns "baby sit" other's calves, but ours do quite often.

I thoroughly enjoy keeping up with your adventure. Oh, by the way, I love how you made your shower door! Keep safe and keep writing!

MsBelinda said...

I just love how you name the longhorns. Since Bulmer got to know you on his first day of life, I think he will soon take a shine to you.

You mention that you take your trash into Alpine, do you have to pay to take it to the landfill?

Good luck with your interview tomorrow.

Mr_Brown said...

Sounds like a great day at The Lab. I'm very interested to see how your greenhouse/storage/guest house/office/shower building is going to shape up.

Allen Hare said...

I was thinking that you said earlier that one of the doors to the greenhouse would be wide enough to allow driving the pick-up inside. It's hard to tell from the angle of the photos if that is possible. As a former form builder, I find your forms to be excellent. Looking forward to the finished product.

Flag Discounter said...

Allen,

I believe John said that the entrance facing the house (between the two green containers) has an 8 foot opening and the others have only 4 foot openings.