Porch Project

With the beautiful spring weather we've had lately we've really been enjoying the new covered porch, (see the album for construction photos) even though it isn't totally finished yet.

 We have done a little bit of work toward finishing the porch, Steve got the siding up and installed the welded wire in the "dog window" (a space we left so they could see the yard from the porch) but none of the staining or other finishes have been done yet.

I had visions of a bit of faux gaining on the siding where the house forms the fourth side - it really annoyed me that it was a flat color and didn't match all the cedar - so we fixed it!! My sisters were here visiting for a few days and it seemed like a good time to take advantage of their artistic talents.

Before

The Three Musketeers, and their blank canvas

In progress

Each of us painted "gain" and knot holes with a different color

We thought we made a pretty good match to the cedar beams

Steve attaching the cedar window trim

If you're into faux finishes, here are a few more shots of the project.
We still need to apply finish to the cedar trim as well as the rest of the floor, ceiling and siding. . . .  but we're making progress!

Don't worry, they didn't work all the time they were here! We also had a good time touring San Antonio and the Bob Bullock state museum. The bluebonnets were at peak bloom too, so they had a good sampling of the local offerings.

A Wolf Named Journey

While browsing the local newspaper during a recent visit with friends in Oregon I came across an update on the travels of a very famous gray wolf. First, a little background for those who haven't kept up with the efforts to re-introduce gray wolves into the Oregon wilderness.

The male wolf known as “OR7” was born in northeastern Oregon in spring 2009. He weighed approximately 90 pounds when collared with a radio transmitter by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in February 2011. He is designated "OR7" because he was the seventh wolf radio-collared in Oregon. The collar transmits location information to satellites daily and is expected to continue to function until at least 2013. In an attempt to draw attention to the success of efforts to reestablish the wolf population, Oregon Wild sponsored a kids art and naming contest. On January 4, 2012 OR7 got a new name - "Journey." (More background info here and here)

In the Fall of 2011 "Journey", the now two-year old wolf from the Imnaha Pack in Northeast Oregon, made history. After an epic journey across Oregon and into California, including time spent in the Sky Lakes Wilderness area south of Crater Lake, Journey became the first confirmed wolf west of the Cascades since 1947. You can visit the Oregon Wild website for photos, maps, and other resources related to the Wolf Recovery program.

Biologists suggest Journey is traveling in hopes of finding a mate. I hope he does, though chances are slim in the area he visited in California. Wolves really have a bad rep with lots of folks, possibly due to their size and yes, they do occasionally kill livestock, so they aren't too popular with ranchers and farmers. The links above include a lot of information, primarily in support of the wolf, and as I'm not a rancher or farmer I can't begin to speak on their views, but the controversy over wolves and the restoration project did remind me of a story my Aunt Roberta used to tell. This is from her writings about her early years in South Dakota.


In the early 1920's, in the far south east corner of South Dakota, our parents developed acreage that had been homestead land, turned back to the government when the owner never “ proved up” on it as the law required for ownership. The nearest school was a little more than 3 miles away, and the way there was mostly level except for a couple of gullies. I walked to school and no distractions except watching out for rattlesnakes. A lone wolf often traveled one of the ridges along the deepest gully. I had father’s assurance that the wolf would mind his own business and I was to keep on walking my usual route. We got along very well and it was a bit like having silent company on the long walk.

Kenai relaxing in the Portland zoo

Aunt Roberta was probably in 3rd grade at the time, and one can certainly understand a bit of trepidation where a wolf is concerned, but instead of fearing the wolf she learned to view it as a companion. What a fantastic memory, one that undoubtedly colored my aunt's appreciation for wildlife for the rest of her 93 years.  Few of us will ever have that kind of opportunity - actually there's little chance of ever seeing a wolf in person considering their small numbers. For that reason I was grateful my Oregon hostess suggested a trip to the Portland zoo, where we did get to see a wolf trio in residence there. Cheyenne, Yazhi, and Kenai lounged comfortably in the rain while we shivered in our coats and mittens. (A little about each of them here on the Wolf Quest game page) Now I have a face for Aunt Roberta's shadowy traveling companion.

Trimmin' Trees

This post is not about traveling or tourism or anything other than living in the Texas Hill Country - so if you're not interested you can move on and check back later for other news.

We learned soon after moving here that when President G.W. Bush said he was "taking a vacation" at his ranch in TX to "cut brush" he was telling the truth. Every afternoon when we retire to the porch for he afternoon cold one and admire the landscape we discuss what should be cut down. The stuff can grow a foot overnight, I swear!

The difficulty in accomplishing our discussed intentions regarding the pruning is the fact that most of the material to be "cut down" lies several feet above the ground ( 20, 30, or more) and being 60+ each in accumulated years we are sensible enough to know we don't belong that far above Terra firma. SO, we finally hired a crew to come in and do the needed thinning and pruning.

I guess you could say we were "inspired" by the horrible fires last summer. We had a lot of brush and several Texas cedars (which are really juniper) that needed to be gone, due to their proximity to buildings. The crew knew exactly what they were doing and not only removed the most dangerous of the trees, but did a marvelous job of cleaning up the live oak and the mesquite that we chose to keep. In the photo to the left the red arrow points down and to the right to one of the crew, in a yellow vest. He started there and worked his way UP the tree.

We are generally DYIers, but there's no way we could have done the the job they did, much less in one day!!

There were multiple fires going during the day, as burning was decided upon as the best way to dispose of the trimmings. Steve just had to participate in all the fun of course, so he fired up the tractor and helped move trimmings to the burn piles so the crew could dispose of everything by quitting time. I think they appreciated the help as they had hauled some pretty heavy stumps by hand earlier in the day.

Another huge fire burned at the back of the shop, near the RV port. In spite of assurances that there would be no problem, we finally decided to pull the RV out to avoid any heat damage to the side. 

 We had the last of the embers glowing well past dark, but everything was well contained so no worries.

The finished landscape is much more open, and much less of a fire hazard! We still have more fine tuning to do, but the upper story is good for now, and we have enough open space to allow new plantings to take hold and get some much needed sunlight.

We're aiming for privacy screening, food for wildlife, and evergreen if possible. Not much to ask is it? Any recommendations? Send 'em our way!