NQ99HQ

Today was an interesting day.  At the invitation of some friends, we joined them at their farm for a bit of Christmas good time.  There were about 30 people at this party---maybe get-together would be a bit more descriptive---and we knew only 3 or 4 of the total.  We got to talk to a number of interesting people, young and old, not sure of rich and poor. The family that invited us have doing this get-together for many many years--like 40 or so; and it is one of those deals that seems to be handed down from generation to generation.  The second generation was in charge, but the third generation was certainly in attendance and acting all the part of apprentices.  So, you can see where it is going. There was the host and hostess who own the Farm, there were their children and their friends.  There were friends who run other businesses in the area, and on and on.  No one was dull and lacking an opinion on local politics and the direction things are heade...

No more mice in the attic for the last month. What did it?  Many steps taken, but the one that may have done it was to block all the weep holes in the stonework of the outside walls.  The next best step was to block all the access to the attic of the garage, because once in the garage attic it was anyones guess as to the route through the breezeway attic and into the house. Plus, we probably ended entry and then had to trap about three mice that had taken up permanent residence in the attic, getting their food from the stored stuff they brought in, plus the water from the air conditioning traps that are open and hold water.

You know the old saying about the signal for the end of the opera.  It's when the fat lady comes onstage to sing. You can bet then that it is the end of the opera.  Well, regarding mus musculus, maybe the fat lady (lady mouse that is) has sung. Every possible hole into the attic is now closed, and glue traps placed at strategic locations to prevent mice from even getting into the garage, where they might know of a hole into the attic of the garage.  Thats critical, because once the mice get into the garage attic, there is some uncertainty about access through the breezeway attic into the house attic-----since all those possible routes are difficult to find and close off. To guard against the possibility of a colony living in the attic, their only possible water supply---the drain traps on the air conditioning equipment has been surrounded by glue traps.  Impractical to keep their food away from them as I am sure they have it stored in various places in the attic....

Lockhart is only 30 miles to the east.  Its an old town in central Texas and is quite modest in its definition of a good time.  This trip was to visit young artists' work on the theme of Day of the Dead, see what craft booths have to offer, and to renew some memories of earlier visits. It did not take us long to remember a place for good breakfast tacos.  All kinds, but egg and potato is our favorite.  And only $1.25 each, so lunch was very economical.  We had lunch of breakfast tacos a few years back and today was just as good.  Reyna's is the place to go to. There wasn't very much to see in the craft booths and the only vegetable seller was Clem who had a whole variety of canned vegetables and jellies---plus some fresh vegetables.  We bought a patty pan squash, and some other squash from him.  Clem is an enterprising farmer who seems to do all the preserving by himself----although he said his wife put the labels on the jars. We stumbled ont...

We have this great program every Wednesday at the library.  Its the "dialogue series" put on by the Philosophy Department of TSU.    Its a regular class at the University, held every weekday on the campus, but once a week they meet at the Library in an effort to engage the local community. Those in attendance were mostly students from the college; of the thirty or so attendees, perhaps 7 of us were mere citizens, albeit older citizens.  The younger people always hold back until they size up the older people in the group--today was no exception. Last week the subject was:  Democracy-Are We Ready for It? The two pages on the link are a good place to start, so please read this as it sets a good stage for the comments which are to follow. Democracy Handout The group wrestled with a number of aspects of democracy, but most came down to the government not really representing people---well, at least "not me"---was a common theme. That degenerated into ...

The world has been busy at the production of "stuff"---too busy in fact. This is taught to us everyday for those of us who are trying to divest ourselves of our "stuff", which has been collected over many years and now has to go---not sure to where, but has to go. Of course, all of this is too good to junk, but not good enough for a high end auction.  In between are the large number of other outlets like donation to charity, yard sale, gifting, etc. But, the question always arises:  What is this thing worth?  The answer is important to most, because if this "thing" is worth a lot, its a candidate for selling.  If not, then its a giveaway or charitable donation. The reality is that most of what is treasured is worth very little, all do to the phenomenon of over production. Like, who needs another cookbook?  As a case in point, we assisted yesterday with the semiannual FOL book sale. On the front door, the first day of the sale we posted the sign:  ALL ...

The mice reminded me of this it ain't over til its over bit, in fact, I swear I heard one of them say this when they thought I was not listening. At any rate, mice in the attic again, AND, to make matters even worse, one has found, or has made a hole from the attic into the house.   Without even an "eek", it was observed running down the hallway toward the kitchen.  The broom brigade was brought out, but mus was nowhere to be found. It must have gone into the closet, and we won't even go in there. Well, the next morning it was in the trap. So, now glue traps in the house at key locations so we can narrow down where it might have gotten from the attic into the house---presuming there is another one. Not able to let the question of where it got in, we tore the books out of the bookcase  looking for a gnawhole, but found none. Why the bookcase?  well, we heard scratching noise in the wall behind the bookcase and so presumed it was desparate and was chewing thro...

We are thinking that Mus Musculus has finally met its match.  For the last 4 years we have trapped these buggers in the attic of the house, encouraged feral cats, protected the snakes (other than rattlesnakes), called for reinforcements from the coyotes, but to little avail. This new house is insulated on the underside of the metal roof, so that makes the ceiling sheetrock bare of insulation.  In earlier construction methods, insulation laid directly on the ceiling sheetrock.  Mice are always in the attics of houses---its good for winter quarters and provides good places to store food.  Only problem is, with a bare ceiling, mice running on the ceiling sheetrock make quite a noise.  But,  they must go back outside to get water---how often they need to go for water is unknown to us. Well, we did the usual of plugging every hole larger than a wooden pencil through which they might crawl to get access to the attic.  I theorize they can detect a hole that...

Over the last 25 years, the people of Serbin, Texas have held their Wendish Festival. Its always in late September, or early October in this small area of Serbin.  Its hard to say if it is in the town of Serbin, because the town bounds are not very apparent.  However, Serbin is just southwest of Giddings in central Texas. In the festival of this year, we went first to the serving line for the "noon meal"--not lunch but noon meal.  It was $8 this year, perhaps up a dollar from previous years, but nonetheless, a good bargain.  It was serve yourself, with sausage, sauerkraut, green beans, noodles, peaches, and pickles.  The desserts cost $.50 and the tea was included with the meal.  It was good, and decidedly German.  During lunch, there was music, it was a mixture of German and Czech. After lunch, it was our usual trip to the craft house where they demonstrate the decoration of easter eggs, by two processes, etching and waxing.  We bought two eggs...

It seems that the news travels so fast these days that some news people are reporting the news before it happens. Take for example the effects of global warming.  The hurricane experts had said that with great certainty that the frequency and severity of hurricanes would increase due to global warming.  Fortunately this "news" has not yet occurred in 2014.  Here it is one week past Labor Day, the point of maximum hurricane frequency, and there has not been even one hurricane this year---only a couple puny tropical depressions, those even stretched to be glorified with a name.

Having been observing nature for some 65 years, this week turned up two new observations--at least new to us. First, one of those rather large spiders had caught a small songbird in its web and was busy devouring it.  The spider was one of those we commonly call a banana spider, but an investigation shows that it is not correct to call it a banana spider. (even common names can be wrong!)  These spiders are common in the Texas gulf coast, less common in central Texas.  Their web is a giveaway to their identity----it always has a zigzag stitch in the center.  The spiders name is an argiope---one of three varieties, this one probably Bruennich's Argiope.  Well that's one for the book. Second, a road runner was on the back porch ravenously devouring a small songbird.  At first, I surmised it was the one from the spiders web, but no it was another bird.  I have always known that road runners were carnivorous, but not to the extent of hunting small birds....

Making cookie cutters and using a ammonium carbonate instead of sodium carbonate goes back at least 60 years, and in fact probably much more than that.  Better said, making cookies with this recipe has not occurred, at least in our family, in the last 60 years.  Making cookie cutters for Christmastime cookies and then making these cookies with a very big event. Here's a story that goes back those 60 years. Takes  some time, its two pages, big file. Now to the end of the story.  D found a lady who was a cookie cutter collector, gave the cookie cutters to her, along with the story, now the cookie cutters are in the permanent collection in the Cookie Cutter Museum in Joplin, Missouri, along with the story you just read. Cool, huh?

At NQ99HQ, one will find that we jump around from one topic to another.  That should make it interesting and it does archive our most valuable stories. Upcoming is Bud's Great Western Trip.  It is a recount as best we can piece together of  my dad's trip "out west" in 1929 with two of his buddies. There will even be some photos. You can now find that trip on nq99hq.wordpress.com. Also in the lineup will  be a story on the handmaking of cookie cutters and great holiday cookies made from these cutters. Check back.

Here at NQ99HQ we see a lot of songbirds---too many species to mention right here, so I will stick with wildlife sightings which are more unusual.  So far this year, unusual sightings have been a gray fox and her cubs, a western diamond back rattlesnake, two coveys of quail, a fair number of red-tailed hawks and owls and a few deer.  Feral hogs and coyotes are around, but we don't see much of them because they are night runners.  One should take note of the quail as this is the second year we have had nesting bob-white quail.  They have not nested in this area for some time until last year. It has been dry here for the last few years, which helps to keep the fireants down in the ground and it is known that fireants are a big problem for ground nesting birds. So, on to the fox. The gray fox showed up with her two pups just about dusk, and just at the time that the wrens were getting their fledglings out of the nest.  I thought the coincidence of the two event...

Whoa... Long time no post, so we had best get with it. In the last 5  (has it been that long?) years, the mooooove has been completed, a larger area fenced off around the place so the longhorns are no longer looking in the front windows---they are a curious lot. Its taken a few years to get all things ironed out with regard to this newly constructed home.  Nothing fancy, but surely solidly built to last forever. Collecting rainwater is the way to go in dry, central Texas.  In this rural area, one has to either drill a water well (950 feet down into the Trinity Aquifer) or collect rainwater.  There are no other choices.  NQ99HQ depends on rainwater entirely.  Here, with no planted lawn and minimal gardens, the rainwater storage of some 22000 gallons is sufficient. One inch of rain yields about 3000 gallons.  The most significant problem is watching collected rainwater overflow the tank to the ground.  Here is a good article on the ins and outs o...