G is for Gargoyles ~ ABC Wednesday

Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Flagstaff, Arizona

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ABC Wednesday

Sunflower

Molting Cardinals

Last week the cardinals at our bird feeders just seemed to be melting it was so hot.

This week they are molting.

 

And what a motley crew they are!

Caravans ~ A Reading Adventure

I've been doing more reading than usual this summer, what with my proofreading work being extremely slow and with the Texas heat being extremely hot.  I decided I wanted to go back in time and read some of the novels I somehow managed to miss in earlier times of my life.  Currently my book of choice is "Caravans" by James A. Michener, first published in 1963.  At a mere 336 pages, it is almost a short story compared to other Michener epics such as Hawaii, Centennial, or Chesapeake.  The story is about a young State Department employee stationed in Kabul at the US Embassy in 1946 who is given the task of searching for a young woman from Pennsylvania who ran away and married an Afghani citizens and now who seems to have disappeared behind the chaderi and the mystique of this ancient land.  Although the 16 years between the story date and the publication date brought much change to Afghanistan, including paved roads, airports and  tourism, and schools, I had friends in the 1970s who were in the Peace Corps in Kabul and their stories upon their return were no different than the stories Michener relates in mid-1940s Afghanistan. Then came the Russian invasion and the wars that our country has been involved in, so it is no longer a place where many of us would feel comfortable visiting, even if it was allowed.

But this post was originally intended to be about the physical book, not the story and certainly not a critique or a review (I leave such things to my daughter who is much more gifted in that area than I).  I wasn't even sure I would find a book this old in the Nacogdoches Public Library but they did have one copy on the shelf.

As I opened the book I discovered the spine was broken and the cloth binding was in shreds.  I even wondered should I take this book home with me.  I discussed it with the librarian and I assured her I would be very gentle with it if she would promise that if I hand delivered it back to the front desk rather than throwing it in the return book bin that she would see to it that it was properly repaired.

She put a notice inside the front jacket with the instruction to mend.  Even though Nacogdoches PL does electronically scan books that are borrowed, they still use the "return due date" slip on the flyleaf.  I rather like that.  I can see at a glance when I need to return it.  Reviewing this slip tells me that I'm only the 20th person in the last 20 years to check out Caravans.

Even the back flyleaf includes the pocket with the original machine-stamped due date card and the previous slip to the one in the front.  Isn't that quaint!

What books have you read that you've enjoyed during this long hot summer?

F is for Fuller's Feed Store ~ ABC Wednesday

Fuller's Feed Store

Hemphill, Texas

The local feed store is an important part of rural America.  

This picture was shot on a Sunday when the store was closed; 

that's why the various items are stacked in front of the doors.

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ABC WEDNESDAY

Lone Star

The five-pointed lone star is probably the most popular symbol in Texas.

This Little Piggy Went To ...

... New Zealand!

How would you like to have a herd of these animals roaming around on your property?  A few weeks ago I posted a picture of the damage done to our roadside by feral hogs, and many of you have written asking if we ever caught them.  The answer is no, but they are still in our bottom land and our lessor sees them and their destruction daily.

Shortly after the hogs paid us a visit, this sign showed up on the corner of our property.  Little did I know that our neighbor, a young single mother, is now buying and selling feral hogs under a program to help rid Texas of these destructive animals.

Feral hogs are mostly domestic pigs that have gone wild, with some European wild boars that have escaped from exotic game ranches thrown into the mix.  Some experts say we have Christopher Columbus and Hernando de Soto and other early Spanish explorers to thank for bringing hogs to the New World in the fourteen and fifteen hundreds.  That's when they started taking over the countryside.  Seems like we had an immigration problem even then!  

Feral hogs resemble domestic hogs, but they are leaner and meaner and well adapted to surviving in the wild.  They are extremely intelligent.

Because their reproduction rate is unbelievably high (in just five years, two hogs can produce 44,000 offspring), controlling the population of these aggressive and unruly beasts is crucial to mitigate damages to private property and wildlife habitat as well as the physical danger to animals and humans. Male boars can weigh over 300 pounds and have razor sharp tusks.  The current estimate on wild hogs in the US is 6 million, and Texas has approximately 2 million of that number.  The next highest populated state is Florida, with an estimated 500,000 pigs.  They range through 35 states in this country and have invaded Canada.  These are not the same type of hog as the javelinas found in Mexico and the Southwestern United States.  They are much bigger! (Everything grows big in Texas, you know.)

My neighbor tells me that the hogs she buys and sells under a government program now in effect ships many of them to foreign countries, including New Zealand, where they are slaughtered for their meat.  Evidently it is  no different than the pork you buy in your grocery store, although I think in the US the FDA prohibits the sale of the meat.  I do understand that some shelters and soup kitchens in Texas buy hog meat to feed homeless and needy families and I know that locals often slaughter the hogs they kill.  It is legal in Texas for a property owner to kill hogs on their land, and hog hunting contests are quite popular here, with bounties ranging up to $10,000.  There are actually dogs being bred as hog-hunters.  I'll be looking for that breed on AKC in the next few years!  I'm sure that this is a controversial subject among animal-rights groups.  This is a photo blog, and I don't intend to get involved in political discussions, so I'm not going to go into that subject and will just  let you all have your own personal opinions on that subject.

What Does It All Mean?

It all started with bright orange paint on one side of the road.

(Usually this time of the year our roadsides are lush and green.

What you see here is a result of the big Texas drought.)

Then signs started appearing.

It looks like there may be some digging going on.

What does it all mean?

Machinery appeared, as well as bright orange barrels.

Crews of men in yellow vests and hard hats were seen up and down our country road.

Then the men started digging

Under driveways

Including ours.

They piled up dirt

and surrounded the holes with orange reflective webbing.

Then they smoothed it out.

What does it all mean?

And then one day a flatbed truck dropped off a big spool of cable

and left it in the right-of way of our property alongside the road,

right where I needed to mow!

We keep the roadside of our property mowed and clean, unlike many others.

Or rather nowadays I keep the roadside mowed and clean!

A crew chief came by and I told him I really needed to mow in the next few days.

He promised me to have the spool moved by the next day.

Good on his word, the spool got moved down the road to the adjacent owner's property

within a couple of hours.

And what does it all mean?

HIGH-SPEED INTERNET!!!!

Maybe in as soon as 60 days!!!!

Part of the federal stimulus money to Texas is being used to bring the rural areas of the state

from the dirt roads to the interstate highways of the WORLDWIDE WEB!

It may be a while before I benefit from this. 

I still have 16 months left on my satellite internet contract!

Optimism

The sign is not the only thing that speaks of the unrelenting drought we're experiencing here all over the state of Texas.  The fire truck is likely on its way to a wildfire.  There were several reported in Nacogdoches County yesterday (the day this picture was taken).  And you will notice the brown tree in the center of the photograph.  Many of the trees are so stressed that they are going into dormancy in a effort to preserve moisture.  It's the worst drought the state has experienced in over 60 years!  Our neighbor to the east, Louisiana, has had lots of rainfall but it dries up before it comes across the border.  My fear is that when hurricane season gets fully underway we will experience the opposite - flooding and heavy rains.  Many were evacuated from this area in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina and much damage was experienced that same year from Hurricane Rita.  Three years later Ike practically wiped Galveston off the map again.

Many of you expressed your sympathy over what you perceived to be the "loss" of our big oak tree reported in yesterday's post.  The tree is still standing; it's just minus about 30 percent of its former size.  The tree man who came is reluctant to climb it, because of the brittleness, to do any trimming.  There is still a possibility that more of it may break off.  I'm a little concerned because my bedroom is pretty close to some very large limbs, but life goes on and I can't live in fear of what may happen.  My mom and I have decided, however, that we are going to start deep watering the tree to help stave off as much stress as possible.  With the damage from the fracture yesterday it may die anyway.  Just keep praying for rain.  There is none forecast in the near future!

E is for Exasperated ~ ABC Wednesday

Yesterday I started thinking about what photo I wanted to use for this week's ABC Wednesday, the letter E.  I had decided to use a picture of Elvis, who was King before Michael Jackson and who almost, I'm sure, everyone worldwide recognizes.  But upon opening the front door this morning right after daybreak to begin cutting down a trailing rose bush that has gotten so big it has thorns the size of claws, this is the scene that greeted me.

Now you understand why I was exasperated!  A huge oak tree, probably at least a hundred years old, had managed to split right down the middle during the night and about 25 percent of it decided to fall down and go boom ~ and it went boom on Truck, my dear friend whom I love, the one who takes me away from the drudgery of ordinary life into the adventuresome world of road trips and jaunts around the Piney Woods of East Texas.  You can imagine how my heart was instantly in my throat wondering if Truck had been mortally wounded.  As I rushed to his aid (I now realize that until this very moment I didn't even know Truck had a gender!  It doesn't really matter) I was equally distressed when I got a side view.

From the driver's side Truck was barely visible, heightening my exasperation and excitement.

As I made my way around the mess toward the back of Truck's mangled body (or so I feared) I was relieved to discover that most of the damage was confined to the hood area, but I knew not what injuries Truck might be suffering internally.

The passenger side afforded a better view although there was a large limb laying on Truck's hood.  I quickly called the neighbor who leases our pastures for help.  He just happened to be in our bottom (nothing to be concerned about; that just means the area of our property down at the bottom of the hill by the Attoyac Bayou) with his tractor mowing, so in about 10 minutes he managed to jump off the tractor, into his truck and come up the hill to where Truck was stranded.  I climbed in Truck and started the ignition.  It fired immediately and I breathed a sign of relief.  Our friend lifted the limb as much as he could and told me that once I began moving to gun the engine because more of the tree might come down when I backed away.  And I told him to run like H __ LL because I didn't want that tree to fall on him.  After moving Truck out of harm's way, the old tree groaned and creaked a couple more times and that was it.

You will be happy to know that Truck did in fact survive but will be in the hospital for a few days.  He has a bent hood with lots of scratches, damage to the grille and front bumper, and both front fenders are dented.  Luckily he is covered by health insurance (although his policy is called comprehensive).  He will be going in for a thorough checkup on Thursday and we'll find out then when the transplants will arrive for his new organs.  After rescuing Truck from all those big ugly scary limbs, I started thinking about that family of squirrels who live in that oak tree and how frightened they must have been when disaster struck.  I'll bet they're more exasperated than I am!  Oh, by the way, a gentleman who came to clear up the debris says he has seen lots of mighty oaks fall recently due to our extreme drought here in Texas.  He said trees have become so dry and brittle that these massive splits are becoming frequent.  We are just lucky that this monster didn't fall on our house or I might not be writing this post!

In the meantime, here's the picture of Elvis that got moved to the sidelines because of this drama.

I don't know if you call this a statue or what, but it is a likeness of Elvis that resides in the old Liberty Theater in Jerome, Arizona.  The Liberty, which is in the process of restoration, has many items of movie memorabilia.  Read the sign for a bit of info.

Update:  After posting I just heard on the news that today (Tuesday, August 16) is the 34th anniversary of Elvis' death.

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ABC Wednesday

Leapfrog

Photographed at Tlaquepaque, Sedona, Arizona

Did you ever play leapfrog when you were a kid?

Do kids still play leapfrog today?

Happy Farmer

One Saturday when I visited the Nacogdoches Farmers Market, I noticed this happy farmer manning a table of wonderful looking jams, jellies, relishes, and honey.  He is dressed in typical East Texas farmer attire, denim bib overalls (complete with pen, pencil, and a notepad in the bib) and a cowboy straw hat.

21/100 Dogs ~ Farm Dog

Unknown name

Unknown breed

Spotted:  Playing with a couple of ponies in a pasture

D is for Donkeys ~ ABC Wednesday

I have fallen in love with donkeys and I want one (or three) soooo much! 

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ABC Wednesday

Art in the Chicken Coop

One of my neighbors who raises chicken has this antique metal picture hanging as a decoration in her chicken coop area.  I think it's a reminder to the hens of what is expected of them.

Lufkin Mural ~ Brookshire Brothers

The story of Brookshire Brothers groceries is depicted in this mural in downtown Lufkin, Texas, along with several other murals, some of which have been featured on this blog.  The grocery chain was started in Lufkin in 1921 and by 1928 there were 33 stores in East Texas.  In 1991 Brookshires built one of the first gasoline stations to be located in the parking lot of a grocery store.  Today the company is 100 percent employee-owned (5,600 employees) with 70 stores throughout East Texas which engage in a healthy competition with such national chains as Wal-Mart and Kroger.

Have You Ever Seen a Blue-Eyed Goat?

Blue-Eyed Pygmy Goat

Vintage Building/Modern Colors

Downtown Flagstaff, Arizona

July 2011

I'm not sure the architect of this building envisioned 

that 100 years later it would be painted with a mauve and purple door.

Let Me See You Shake Your Tail Feather

C is for Cattle and Cattle Egrets ~ ABC Wednesday

On any farm or ranch in East Texas where you will find cattle, you will also find cattle egrets, particularly during the summer months when insects are at their peak populations.  Members of the heron family, these egrets are popular birds with cattle ranchers for their perceived role as a biocontrol of cattle parasites such as ticks and flies.  Our drought has brought hordes of grasshoppers this season and by looking closely you should be able to see a delicious catch in the beaks of two of the pictured birds.  And by the way, the young bull calf is from the Charolais breed.

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ABC WEDNESDAY

Keeping Us Clean

Found:  San Augustine, Texas