Whatcha Up To???

[w_r_ranch]

Watered the garden & the hanging baskets.

Went to the 'LUCIES Project' monthly garage sale & gave them some stuff to sell & 10 bags of dog food that we bought last week to help them out. LUCIES actually stands for 'Local Unity For Canines In Emergency Situation'. They gave us a nice tour of the shelter & introduced all the residents.

 

[Mr_Yan]

I rented a pickup today and got some mulch.

Four heaping bed loads from a GMC Sierra 1500.

Yesterday we replaced a dead rose-of-sharon hibiscus with a North Star Cherry tree. This was purchased by my co-worker and sat in the pot for two seasons at his house as he couldn't figure out where to put it. Guess I take in unwanted trees now. The hibiscus stump removal was not a trivial task and I broke a shovel handle in the process. I hate fiberglass tool handles.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Cut the grass & the roads (getting ready to spray them). I finished just in time as it started raining again...

Made bread.

Refilled the hummingbird feeders again... there's a swarm of them thirsty lil' things, LOL!!!

 

[RLwhaler]

Picked up some additional groceries this morning.

Hung Mrs. Ranch's new towel racks/rings/toilet paper holders... the woman's a slave driver, LOL!!!

Cleaned & refilled the hummingbird feeders & then hung 2 more. There is a herd of them this spring...

Clean & refilled the wasp traps.

I had a hot date with the Birthday girl of 21 years Friday.
Saturday morning, Re-did all of her mints garden (6 Jack Daniels barrels) With help from all of my "little monkey"
We decided to bake our favorite pies ( W R Ranch) recipe.Didn't have any dewberries so we replaced it with blackberries.
Thing are progressing...girls did it on their own.I can see turkey dinner and hams in the near future without us lifting a finger! LOL!
Thanks Sam!

 

[w_r_ranch]

Most Excellent!!! And Blue Bell too!!! Tell the young ladies that I gave them each 2 'Thumbs Up'!!!

Dewberries should be ripe soon, I'll check them here in the next couple of days.

 

[RLwhaler]

Most Excellent!!! And Blue Bell too!!! Tell the young ladies that I gave them each 2 'Thumbs Up'!!!

Dewberries should be ripe soon, I'll check them here in the next couple of days.

Yes Sir!

 

[w_r_ranch]

What a day... we lost power sometime during the night because I remember waking up a few times & not seeing the glow of the nightlights in the hallway. Mrs. Ranch called the power company at 0650 hrs. & they said they were unaware... how can you be unaware when everyone has those satellite meters??? It wasn't restore until about 1000 hrs.

Cleaned all the onions & put them in the bread trays for further curing.

Pulled two-thirds of the potatoes. I'll finish them tomorrow.

Smoked a sirloin steak for supper. It was accompanied by baked potatoes, garlic bread & some glazed carrots (the carrots could have used a little more brown sugar).

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[Mr_Yan]

@w_r_ranch Those smart meters are going in around here and the idiots are yelling about it. I kind of want to wear a foil hat when walking past their houses but my wife said that wouldn't be nice. Reading about them here and most of the features (automatic outage and hourly usage reporting) won't be turned on for years.

 

[w_r_ranch]

We've had the smart meters for a few years now. Personally I like them as I don't have to remember to read the old fashioned one & then call it in to them so they could send me a bill.

 

[wolffman]

What a day... we lost power sometime during the night because I remember waking up a few times & not seeing the glow of the nightlights in the hallway. Mrs. Ranch called the power company at 0650 hrs. & they said they were unaware... how can you be unaware when everyone has those satellite meters??? It wasn't restore until about 1000 hrs.

Cleaned all the onions & put them in the bread trays for further curing.

Pulled two-thirds of the potatoes. I'll finish them tomorrow.

Smoked a sirloin steak for supper. It was accompanied by baked potatoes, garlic bread & some glazed carrots (the carrots could have used a little more brown sugar).

View attachment 2311​

Do you recall when you planted potatoes?

 

[w_r_ranch]

Do you recall when you planted potatoes?

Feb 26th. I would have liked to left them in until the end of the month but with more rain coming (6 days, starting on Thursday), I figured it's better to be safe than sorry... We ended up with 3 meat tubs worth from that single row. No lunkers, but they're pretty uniform in size. Not my best harvest, but not bad either... considering this came from 9 lbs of seed potato.

I need to sort through them & set aside the smaller ones that I'll use in the fall garden.

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[w_r_ranch]

Pulled the buckboard bacon out of the cure & washed them off. They're now soaking in fresh water (I'll drain them & replace the water again tonight before I go to bed) for 24 hrs. Then they'll be ready to prep for smoking, probably on Thursday.

Finish harvesting the potatoes.

Tied up the tomato plants again.

Treated all the fire ant mounds in the lawn & flowerbeds again, this time with 'Orthene' (50% Acephate).

Refilled 4 of the 6 hummingbird feeders.

 

[wolffman]

Feb 26th. I would have liked to left them in until the end of the month but with more rain starting on Thursday, I figured it's better to be safe than sorry... We ended up with 3 meat tubs worth from that single row. No lunkers, but they're pretty uniform in size. I need to sort through them & set aside the ones that I'll use in the fall garden.

Yeah, I planted right around that date. But, I had to replant much of the crop and that didn't happen until Mar 19th. I'm hoping those late one's come on. They have good foliage but very few potatoes so far. I'll have to push those well into June I guess.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Big lightning storm last night... thankfully we only got 0.16" of rain... More coming today.

Made a loaf of sandwich bread & a loaf of cinnamon/raisin bread (for Mrs. Ranch).

Attended the funeral of a good friend & hunting buddy. RIP Sonny.

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[w_r_ranch]

Tied up the buckboard bacon with butcher's string to keep them tight & then rolled them in black pepper. They will rest uncovered in the refrigerator for 24 hrs to start drying. I'll smoke them tomorrow over straight apple wood coals at 225 degrees for 4 hrs.

Fed the cattle & move them to the front pasture.

Sorted the potatoes & put them in the bread trays to cure. The 90 that I will use for the fall garden are set aside in the guest house.

Did some weeding in the garden...

 

[Mr_Yan]

Harning off plants still and waiting for a planting window. Saturday to Sunday low is forecast to be 35 F.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Anyone here in south central Texas interested in a Linux computer, monitor & keyboard (free to good home)??? Although it's an older Dell it is fully functional & it is kept updated. Palemoon & Firefox browsers, Thunderbird email, games, etc. Perfect for kids/grandkids. Let me know.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Started smoking the buckboard bacon this morning. Had to do it in 2 batches, so it took all day. I'll slice tomorrow.

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While I was smoking the meat, I just sat on the porch, drinking margaritas & watched the various birds. There's a female blue heron that shows up every afternoon & today I watched her catch about a 24" snake for her supper. I was inspired by her, so I got my rifle. I got 2 more confirmed kills, LOL!!! Turtles got to eat too!!!

Got a pot of pinto beans soaking for tomorrow & brought up some potatoes so Mrs. Ranch can make some of her delicious potato salad.

Continue weeding the garden.

Refilled the hummingbird feeders.

 

[wolffman]

An inch of rain last night from a surprise thunderstorm. Garden probably needed it.

 

[w_r_ranch]

We were suppose to get that inch as well, but it missed us & we didn't get a drop. We still have a wet forecast for 8 out of the next 10 days...

 

[w_r_ranch]

Made the pot of pinto beans.

Sliced/vacuum packed the buckboard bacon.

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[Mr_Yan]

Started at about 7 AM and 40 F. Just finished and took a shower now 4:40 PM.

Mowed around the church gardens (rider, push, and trimmer) got back at 10 AM
Planted some ferns my neighbor gave me
Removed the concrete edging to my peach tree garden
Finished mulching
Cleaned out a scrap lumber pile that has been sitting next to the back fence along the alley where our trash cans since before 2007
Laid paver blocks where the wood pile was

I still need to mow and trim my yard

 

[w_r_ranch]

Yesterday it started raining about 1730 hrs & we ended up with 2.46". There's more coming, starting mid-morning...

Made Italian bread.

 

[Mike]

Planted a few cone flowers and spread some rock around in the flower bed in the back yard over the weekend.

 

[w_r_ranch]

We received another 0.31" last night... 8 out of the next 10 days are forecast to be wet here.