Things are looking up

It may be dreadfully hot here in Rockport, but the sunflowers are starting to bloom and we've got quite a few on the property that are much taller than Marsha. This scrawny one is at the front of our drive. About two steps behind Marsha, just beside the sunflower is a fire ant nest. Can you guess how we know that?

See our pecan trees off in the distance?

Our first Christmas

This has to be a picture of Marsha and my first Christmas together. I can't remember where this was taken. Our apartment? That's my Fender in the background. Mom is laughing at me and Ralph, my brother is trying to keep up. So that is what I looked like when I was young, Edouard.

Miss the stuff you like looking at

7 and a half acres is a bunch of grass to mow. That poor John Deere yard tractor is really over matched.

My philosophy is miss the stuff you like looking at. It's a good philosophy ... as far as it goes. Things work out just dandy when I miss the indian blankets. The problems occure when I don't really know what I'm missing. Take for example the field thistles I let grow. These are 2 foot monsters that spread their thorny lower leaves in two foot circles while sending up their attractive purple flowers. Unfortunately they can take over a field and render it useless save for thistle growing. I relented and mowed them over.

Of coures we must remember that Rockport is mesquite country and just a week or 10 days of "missing" a mesquite sapling will inflict serious pain to your tires or fingers.

I'm still missing, but now I'm being selective in what I miss. Mexican hats, brown-eyed susans, and silver-leaved sunflowers - in. Field thistles, mesquite volunteers, and poison ivy - out!