Garaged

The roofers are still finishing up their work on the garage, but I'm already thrilled to be parking in it.  After nearly eleven years of parking in the sun (and even occasional rain) at the property, it feels nothing less than decadent. 

And the value of having my own little man-cave shop where I can make noise and dust without trashing the main house?  Priceless.

Dirty Fun

Stacey, Braden, and Kara visited us last weekend.  I love it that the kids think of Wimberley as the house itself- when we are in town  and they get tired they say "we want to go back to Wimberley".  There is lots of new fun for city kids to discover, but I think the most popular entertainment was this pile of crushed granite I had just had delivered to create some more parking spaces off the street.  They would race to the top and then back down endlessly.  And after going inside for a break they would soon ask to go back to play again in the "big pile of dirt".  What a joy it is to give them such fun and lasting memories!

A Better Look at our Turkeys

Wild turkeys have been hanging around our place more and more frequently, and we now see a fowl of about seven of them just about every day.  These shy birds have previously been just about impossible to photograph well.  But now thanks to bird seed scraps from our six bird feeders, and a pretty cool long Canon lens, I've finally managed to get some decent photos of them.  These two are males; obvious from their red white and blue head coloring and iridescent feathers.  One fun factoid: Their beards, which are present on all males, are also present on about 15 percent of females.  Shows there is nothing wrong with mother nature giving male characteristics to some females.  And visa versa.  And not just for turkeys.  Read that, certain presidential candidates!