Cowa-Bummer, Dude

Foreground: Root ball remnants of one of five lovely vines Ernie and Mary Ann gave me for Christmas. My idea was they were going to grow up the west wall of the house to shade it from the brutal setting sun.

Background: You can just make out the hole in the rocks where the plant used to be buried.

Out of photo: Cow tracks all over the place

Conclusion: Cows can't blame the CHICKENS for this one. They ate the leaves off all the plants and when they got down to the nubs they pulled a couple of them up completely for good measure. These plants were even touted as deer proof, but unfortunately the cows seemed to take that as a challenge. I did stick the root balls back in the ground but I'm not too optimistic or their long term prospects... the cows come-a-call'n to our home every few months.

Let's Think About Spring

Now that very cold weather has infected Texas, focusing on spring seems like a really good idea. So I'm picturing all the lovely wildflowers which will be blooming in our Wimberley backyard in a few months. Some of them planted by us. (By the way, should they really be called wildflowers when they come from store-bought seeds?)

Ann is pictured standing proudly by our latest efforts to help mother nature out a bit with the blooming flower thing. We had just spread a few thousand wildflower seeds and covered them with this straw mat which controls erosion and helps keep the seeds moist. Today the young seedlings are probably covered in some icy snow, but I'm thinking about the dramatic blooms which we'll be enjoying in April, just 56 days from now.