Mad Cow Disease

Vanessa and I spent lots of time sowing buffalo grass seeds and raking them into some new topsoil. Even carefully protected them with special roll-out straw mats to keep them moist. See how happy we look in the first two photos?

But a couple of things happened shortly after this undertaking:

1- It actually rained. Lots of rain, which made the grass seeds very happy. For a short time.

2- We had an attack of the Mad cows, Bad cows, wish we never Had cows. They were just passing through on their way to our neighbor's nice tall fields of grass, since ours all burned away in our little brush fire incident a few months ago. But gee, they did some damage in a short time. So our pretty little seeded area now looks a bit, uh, cratered. Just amazing how deep a 1,000 pound cow can sink it's hooves into fresh, wet topsoil.

Helping Hand

My daughter Vanessa visited Wimberley last weekend and helped out. The thing is, she doesn't really understand how much she helped. While she was feeling bad about not getting lots of work done because her back was ailing, I was thinking how great it was to have her there. Helping me. Helping me see how far she's come. Helping me remember how quick and clever she is. Bringing back memories of her helping me out when she was two years old, taking screwdrivers from my toolbox and placing them in various slots in my old project car.

The few hundred miles that separate us most of each year don't keep us from staying in touch, but that's not the same as spending time together. Time playing dominoes, going for walks, and eating out. And even getting some work done in our spare time.

Hi Lo

I was tickled when I saw this photo Ann took recently. While I was busy installing drywall on the master bath ceiling, she was busy documenting my allegedly questionable practice of standing on an up-side down trash can to do some of the work. Figuring that the best defense is truly a good offense, I'm publishing it now before she can spread it herself. I'll also point out that this was not just any trash can, but one made by Rubbermaid. Sturdier than my little 2' stepladder any day. Which is not saying a lot...

So the second photo shows what I was concentrating on- the "Hi" part of the Hi Lo equation. Perfect imbed depth for the drywall screws, in this case near the bathroom exhaust fan. PID is touchy to achieve, but sweet when accomplished (at least in my geeky brain). Deep enough to allow cover by drywall mud, shallow enough to avoid breaking the drywall paper. I'm pretty PIDiful, huh?