Twisted

I'm often amazed at the many signs of wildlife I come across on 5 little acres in Wimberley. Or in many cases, wild death is what I find. My friend Mark spotted this new evidence of life's fragility during a short walk down to the creek last week. This headless snake skeleton is all twisted, as if the snake died in some agony. It looks like it was very recently picked clean, probably by vultures. See that little fluffy group of blue-grey fur or feathers in the lower right-hand part of the frame? I'm guessing that is Vulture down, left there after a fight between two of them over the carcass. As for what happened to the head of the snake, I see two possibilities: 1- Whatever killed the snake ate the head. 2- One of the vultures took the prize back to their sweet little buzzard babies. Yummy.

Walking on Air

My buddy Mark took this photo from an angle that makes me look like I'm walking the plank, or standing on nothing at all. I'm actually standing on a sliding plywood contraption that we rigged to install ceiling insulation in the 20' tall stairwell area. We shot horizontal rails to the right and left walls first, then placed a plywood platform on top of the rails so we could slide it along as I installed the insulation. Our invention actually worked, and it will stay up for the drywall installation later. This was one of the more fun parts of the insulation effort; it is repetitive, sweaty, tedious work that I'm anxious to get completed and move on to something else!

A man and his dog

A friend David visited recently with his dog Connor, a wonderful (if more than a little hyper) example of man's best friend. It was great to see him racing around the property, exploring and enjoying being outdoors faster than any of us. Connor, that is; David just walked around like a normal human.

Connor had one of those hi-tech collar zappers which let him know that he'd better not stray too far from Papa, or face a corrective dose of electrical current. For anyone who objects to such devices, I must say that it definitely kept Connor away from the road, close to David, and alive for another visit someday. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking that there are a good many humans who might benefit from such a device around there necks. I'm thinking especially of those people with the hands-free cell phones, walking obliviously around airports and other public areas, demonstrating just how obnoxious they can be. If only their cell phones included electric collars which anyone could activate...

But I digress. Luckily, I have a place like Wimberley where I can go to escape all those little annoyances. I'm not ready to escape civilization entirely and live a Walden's Pond type of existence, but I think Connor has the right idea: get outside whenever you can, enjoy it fully, and plop down and relax when you are good and worn out.

Rocks for Sale, Dirt Cheap

The good news is that the new aerobic septic system is installed and working. The bad news: since the system's tank is BIG and is buried underground, an even bigger hole was needed. Even worse, as witnessed by my earlier ranting about Wimberley soil conditions, the hole had to be made in near-solid rock. I'm now the proud owner of a huge pile of boulder debris which was chiseled out by big, noisy machines. I've been staring at the pile for awhile now, waiting for some inspiration about what to do with it. Not sure that the rocks are suitable for a decent looking landscape wall, or anything else for that matter, but I hate to just have them hauled away. So, if anyone is in the market, you can come and get'm. Half price.