New projects

We escaped the last wave of severe cold (18 degrees was the low we recorded here) with all our pipes in tact, and my little vegetable seedlings have quite a few miles logged, as they've been hauled from window to window, or to the back porch if the weather was above 40 even briefly. Steve used some timbers we had around to make a raised bed at the back and after filling with some good compost we're ready to put in some plants. . .  as soon as we can be sure the cold isn't coming back. The peas that were already up when the cold hit survived quite well, covering them every night helped I think, though peas are known for being pretty cold resistant. I also covered the little trees I had planted about two weeks before the cold wave. The magnolia still looks good, and it's all leafed out, but we can't tell about the red bud or crepe myrtle until later as they are completely dormant.

I did make a nice discovery while digging the holes for the trees.
This seemingly normal rock, when turned over, revealed a nice scallop shell fossil. It's about 4 inches across, and considering the edges are missing, it must have been a really large scallop!

Hill Country is layer upon layer of limestone, so fossils are to be expected, but this is the first one we've found in the yard.

Now that we can come out of hibernation we are starting on the bigger outdoor projects. Removing the deck and replacing the skirting are high on the list. We got started on the deck yesterday, lifting the boards with the tractor and then finishing the removal of each with crowbars. Another couple of days and we should be finished with the destruction, then the construction of the skirting and new deck can begin.

Another project is a new cabinet for the RV. We had installed a bookcase cabinet a couple of years ago and really like the way that worked out, so we decided to do a bit more customizing and are adding a cabinet to hold the computer printer and a few other items that we had been storing on a table. This should be a lot more efficient and convenient. 
When the projects are finished we'll post before and after photos.

Out of hibernation - at last!

Happy Valentine's Day! The sun is finally out, and the cold front is (we hope) gone for the year! In fact, we'll have weather up into the 70's today!

We celebrated Valentine's day early, with a night out at the Rascal Flatts concert, on one of the coldest iciest nights of the winter. When we arrived the parking lot was circled with 11 large trucks, all displaying the Rascal Flatts group photo.

It's amazing the amount of equipment and people it takes to put on productions like that. There were also several other large trucks and motorhomes. Like a small city on the move!

It was great fun, as they put on a good show, and had two other great acts with them - Luke Bryan and Chris Young - as warm up acts. The Cedar Park      is a nice place for a concert, not too big, and the lighting effects the bands used were very effective for this size facility. 


 They're good at predicting the weather here, so we left home early enough to get to the venue before the snow started, but coming home was another story. Drivers here are unfamiliar with icy roads and there were cars all over the place. Off ramps were closed, as well as sections of the freeway in some places. With the icy roads and all the wrecks it only took us twice as long as usual to get home, so we didn't get home until around 2 AM - that's late for us old folks!

The next morning we woke up to a real winter wonderland. Not much to get excited about if you live where it snows regularly, but folks in these parts don't quite know what to make of it. Schools and many businesses were closed and towing companies and body shops undoubtedly did a booming business.
Within a day all was melted off and things went back to normal.

All the critters are starting to move around as it warms up. While closing the blinds at dusk yesterday Steve noticed a small fox checking out the ground under one of the bird feeders. He'd clearly been here before, as we watched him confidently make the rounds of the compost heap and other feeders, then trot off into the deep woods.
This morning the hackberry tree out in front was filled with a flock of small birds with yellow tummies (we haven't identified them yet), readily gobbling up all the little "berries" from the branches. All the cardinals are out staking out their territory, and I do believe it's Spring! The weather man says he expects one more freeze, so we'll see.

January update

It's 43 degrees and cloudy, but with the 15-20 mph gusts, wind chill brings it down to the low 30's. Brrrrrrrr   We can't complain too much, considering the storms the rest of the county has suffered with. Still, we are chalking this up as pretty much a lost month. Between the frigid weather keeping us indoors more than we would like and a bout of nasty head colds we've done few of the "to do" list items.

Birdwatching was about as much activity as we could muster during the worst of the virus. The cardinals have been so puffed up due to the cold that they look twice their size, and we have apparently been adopted by a flock of pyrrhuluxia. They look like a cardinal, but are primarily gray with a red topknot. They are a cousin of cardinals, and seem to have similar habits. They love our overgrown, brushy areas of the yard (good excuse not to clear them out!), and in the afternoon light the gray trees that have shed their leaves for the winter provide a perfect showcase for the bright red cardinals and the red splashed pyrrhuluxia. Yes, the name is a mouthful.... some people just call them "gray cardinals". I finally got the large capacity squirrel-proof feeder repaired and mounted a couple of days ago. When I came into the house I said to Steve "let's see how long it takes for the birds to start using it", because they are always cautious about new feeders. A few minutes later he pointed out the window, the feeder was already covered with birds! Whether they are familiar with that type of feeder from a neighbor's yard or just that hungry I don't know, but as the feeder holds 3 pounds of seed it does save me some time and effort having to refill when it's cold and they are feeding heavily.

Sometimes necessity will get you up and moving when you don't feel like it - an exploratory visit to the underside of the house, just to look things over and plan a future project, revealed a leak we didn't know about, and some thoroughly saturated insulation. Steve's been keeping busy with that, and as we have a low of 20 expected tonight he had to move fast! 

Hopefully the weather will stabilize after this cold front passes and we can get started on the new deck and some other outdoor projects. We miss being on the road, but I have to admit that in this cold weather we'd probably begin to get cabin fever if we were in the RV.  There doesn't seem to be a state in the country that has escaped the cold this winter, so there's no way to get away from it. It's a good time to plan our next trip however and the dining table is covered with maps as we do just that!