We haven’t seen the sun up here in the Texas Panhandle since Friday.

It has rained “cats and dogs” steadily for 4 days!  This is so unreal for here.  We are definitely not in a drought.  Last I heard, 2 nights ago, Amarillo had a 3 inch surplus of rain. 

We’ve had an early and WONDERFUL fall!  Mild temperatures, fantastic fall flowers and the foliage is starting to turn.

Now it’s cold!  For 2 days, it didn’t get out of the 40’s for daytime high temperatures.  That’s crazy in mid-October. Locals are saying that this winter’s going to be very wet, that we’ll be getting lots of snow.  Bring it on, baby!!!  I love the snow!

Snow is great…as long as it’s followed by sunshine!

The sun is shining warmly today and we’ll finally be getting out of the house!  YAY!!!

Mike is off from work today so we are spending time together as a family. Though we don’t have any *big* plans for the 4th, I’m sure we’ll find plenty to keep us busy.

Wishing everyone a fantastic Independence Day! Enjoy the good food, family, friends and fireworks!

I picked up our Silkie trio this morning!  Felicity wanted to name them. Their names (from top to bottom in this photo) are: Becky, Bonnie and Benny.

I’ve never been around Silkies before, but the make the neatest noises. Becky is the largest and is covered in her new soft feathers, though they are still on the thin side.  Bonnie and Benny have skin showing (yes, their skin is black) but they are feathering in nicely.

As soon as I put them in their coop, they started scratching around. They haven’t even explored their entire coop yet, they have been busy in the back part, which is the coop.  The front 2/3 is the run.  We sill have to put the lattice top on the run.  Can’t leave it open because of hawks.  We will finish that up this weekend.

Here’s the almost finished coop we built. We decided, since bantams are small, to keep it short, and make a combination coop/tractor.  It has all the luxuries of a regular coop, with the ease of movement of a chicken tractor.

We created a track on the front of the coop end, so in winter, we can slide a “wall” with a door cutout over the front, to keep it warmer in the coop.  The roof portion over the back of the coop is on hinges and opens for ease of collecting eggs.  The top lattice will work much the same way over the run.

The windows will be finished with wood around them and will have attached shutters that will open and close, depending on the needs and weather. The nest boxes are along this back wall.

One more shot of the Silkies!

They are quite adorable and sweet!  Bonnie will fall asleep in your lap while she’s being petted!

We have another coop like this to build and then we will be getting our Old English Game Creles from a friend of ours.  This should happen within a week to a week and a half!

Have a great Saturday!

We’re just loving living in the country!

When we moved to our present location in April, the place didn’t have A/C. Well, last summer wasn’t too bad, so I figured we’d do fine just using the “swamp cooler” aka evaporative cooler.

WRONG-O!!!  We have had excessive heat already this summer.  In our house, on Monday, with 2 fans, and the swamp cooler on full blast, it was 86 in here!

Our landlord had mentioned when we moved in he was considering installing central A/C here eventually.  Well, Mike called him last week and told him that the kids and I were just about dying here during the day and asked if he would do something to cool us down.

Our landlord gave us an option. Window units or central A/C, but central would raise our rent $50/month. NOPE! Not happening.  So, needless to say, we opted for window units.

Two window units were installed this morning and OMG what a difference.  I just may live until we move in a couple of months.

Oh how I love air conditioning!

Aside from the flat, flat (did I say flat?) landscape that surrounds us here on our 6 acres, there are many things we love to watch out our back door.

 

Sunsets to die for!

Adorable Prairie Dogs!  Last count was 16!!  They are cute and adorable, but really tear up the terrain.  There are little hills all over the place.  They have gotten so used to us that they are moving their hills closer and closer to the fenced in portion of our back yard.  It’s so fun, especially in the morning, to hear them chittering and chatting amongst themselves.

Let me tell you!!! The Jack Rabbits here are HUGE!  They must weigh an easy 15 pounds full grown.  Now, those ears.  Nothing can describe those tremendous ears those rabbits have to carry around on their heads.  They must be 6-7 inches long!  The rabbits are also getting used to us being here and come closer and closer to the fenced portion of the back yard.  Last count was, I think, 7-8 grown ups and a couple of babies.

Even though we don’t plan to stay here past the end of our lease in October, we do enjoy the “scenery” out our back door.

 

The wind here in the Texas Panhandle has been EXTREME this spring and so far this summer. Even the locals are in awe, it’s been so bad.

 Now, add to that, extreme heat…OMG it’s absolutely CRAZY!

Right now, at 4:30pm, it’s 103 degrees, 7% humidity and sustained winds in the upper 30 mph range, with gusts around 50mph.

EXTREME WEATHER, I tell you. EXTREME WEATHER.

WHEN WILL IT END!!!???

Today, since Mike was off from work, we decided to do something fun! We took a trip to Palo Duro Canyon.  It is only about a 30 minute drive from our house, so was something nice to do for the afternoon.

Palo Duro Canyon is called the “Grand Canyon of Texas” and rightfully so. It’s gorgeous!  We visited 2 years ago when we first moved here, but it was late in the summer, (a very hot, dry summer) and everything in the canyon was brown. We’ve had a few rainy days lately, so things are “greening up” nicely lately.

The kids were glad to get out for the day. Gregory just loves to “go”!

Margo, my poodle, we adopted through rescue nearly two years ago.  She’s very scared of men, but put her in a car, and you’d never know it! She spends most of her time riding nuzzled up next to Mike!

Felicity doesn’t remember our trip to the Canyon, so it was a new adventure for her today.

More gorgeous rock formations while in the bottom of the canyon.

This formation is called the Lighthouse and there is a hiking trail up to it. The trail is over 5 miles round trip, so needless to say, we haven’t been up to the Lighthouse yet.

Wild Turkey! After this guy saw me attempting to take his mug shot, he started running away and I just knew I missed the shot! To my surprise, I didn’t!

Prickly Pear Cactus are EVERYWHERE!

This handsome fellow was hanging out in the rocks outside of the gift shop. He’s a lizard, but I’ve never seen a lizard like him before.

After we returned from our drive, we all decided to just relax and take it easy for the rest of the evening.  We actually watched TV!!  We never have time to sit and watch TV, much less for 3 hours!!

Hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday weekend!

Felicity loves reading the book series by John R. Erickson,
The Original Adventures #1 (Hank the Cowdog)  She started the series about a year ago.

Well, last night, Mr. Erickson was at our Barnes and Noble store signing his newest release, #52!  It was the first day it was on sale, and only at OUR Barnes and Noble. It was also his first signing for that volume.

Sorry for the poor quality photo. I didn’t even think to take my camera, so I had to take the photo using my cell phone.

We waited in line 1 hour, and as we left, I noticed the line behind us was still another hour or so long!  We had a great time!

Around these parts, there are many feed yards for cattle. Feed yards are where cattle go to be fed and “fattened up” before slaughter.  There are LOTS of cows in a very small confined place. I HATE them. We’ve driven by a couple and it is just awful to see animals in such circumstances.  Don’t get me wrong, I eat beef, but to see cows like that, it just isn’t right. UGH. I won’t get on the soapbox of humane or not. Just won’t go there. At least not right now.

Anyway. Also around these parts, especially when it’s rained, our outdoor air has a special aroma.  The locals call it “the smell of money”. Blech….it just plain stinks!  Can’t open the windows or doors without the stinch of cow manure coming into your house.  Everyone told us we’d “get used to it”. Well THEY WERE WRONG.  We have never gotten used to walking outsite on a beautiful morning to get slapped in the face with that awful smell.

Yet another thing about Amarillo we will be glad to leave behind.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be glad to see rain.  But up here in the Texas Panhandle…we need rain BADLY!

 Today, it has been cold, gray and RAINY!

Supposed to be more rain tonight and tomorrow!!

Glorious rain!

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