NQ99HQ

County fairs are receding as the rural land gets chewed up into subdivisions and commercial property. But, county fairs still exist and we found one in Guadalupe County, Texas where the county seat is Seguin and much of the land is agricultural--mostly for ranching as only a few crops are grown there at this time. This county fair ran for three days a week or so ago, and so we decided to check it out as we always like to see farm animals and especially like to see the work of young people doing 4-H work. Sheep and goat judging was going on when we arrived so we first took in the sheep judging, but quickly moved over to the goat judging as it looked more interesting. The owners of the show animals must have their animal under control and with goats, apparently grabbing them by the head is one way to do it.  Then they have to have trained their animal to stand erect and with their back legs stretched out so that the judge can assess the muscles in the back. It must take some a...

We received about 3/8ths inch of rain last night with the arrival of the cold front, the second of this fall.  The first one, about two weeks ago, was dry. Normally a diary entry on the subject of rain doesn't get initiated because rain is not that noteworthy.  But here, this summer, it is noteworthy since this rainfall last night is more rain in one storm than we have  received since May, five months ago. Drought is not uncommon here, as evidenced by the struggle that oak and elm trees have to get established, but the  mesquite, ashe juniper and prickly pear cactus seem to have no problem getting a foothold.  Lots of change occurs as one moves west past the 100th meridian.  But this drought, right here at this place, is far worse that the major drought of 2011 or 2005.  Rain storms that cross Texas are normally rather small cells and move in different directions depending on the time of the year.  It is possible that with this pattern of rain, ...

The big store now seems to be Amazon.  But, interestingly enough, Jeff Bezos made a statement that he believes Amazon (as we know it today I might add) will not be here twenty years from now.  As most know it, Amazon consists of itself as an online store plus a huge aggregate of smaller online stores and brick and mortar stores.  So when you buy from Amazon, you might have your goods provided by some small store--and if you are a price shopper, it will be from the lowest price offering.  This is a rather straightforward business model, made possible only by the internet and its connectivity.  There were others who appeared to have thought of this model before Amazon, as some companies offered to sell you anything you want---they would get it for you.  Amazon, however drove through to the finish line to develop the system.  The others, who envisioned this business model, never followed through with the implementation. Now that Amazon is successful with...

The Aermotor windmill is probably the oldest iconic windmill In the United States today. We bought one that was very old at a seller's booth at the Round Top antique market. This was back in the late 1900s. So that makes it 20 years ago or so. We first erected this windmill In Fulshear in the backyard. We had to get Architectural Control Committee approval to do this. Because some of our neighbors may have some bad experiences with a neighboring windmill, we had to assure them that we would not let the brake slide and provide that nasty shrieking noise.  Other than that, there was no objection to looking at a windmill.  W e erected the windmill in Fulshear.  It was quite a chore for us as we had no idea where all the parts fit together and how they were arranged.  For example, we learned that the sail wheel with its struts is built with the same concept as a bicycle wheel with its spokes.  After much head scratching and consulting the internet we had it to ...

In the early days when transportation horsepower was limited to the number of horses pulling a wagon, we find that the route from some Point A to another Point B did not always follow the route of the  shortest distance.  This observation is true for  hilly country.  Wagon routes found the route of least effort, but maybe more distance, while modern highways found the shortest distance, using more effort.  Better wheels and bigger engines on transport vehicles made all this change occur. So, this begs the question of how wagon routes were chosen to get from a Point A to a Point B in hilly country before the car, the train. First off, wagon drivers did not want to pull up a hill only to give it back again by going down the other side of a hill.  In fact, going downhill was often a chore because wagons did not have adequate brakes and so the wagon would tend to run up on the horses.  As an aside, one old trick was to chain a log to the wagon at the top...

Every year we buy large quantities of black oil sunflower seeds for the birds.  We do the same for the deer with sweet feed and corn. Then, there is the matter of water for all of them.   We are in the middle of a 5 month drought and with two bird baths and a large stock water trough,  up to 20 gallons of water each day are hosed into these vessels. The bird baths need an extra step of attention, as the raccoons visit the water, and as coons normally do, they must get into the water and mess it up badly.  The bird baths require cleaning often. So, because of the drought, primarily, this has turned into a daily work and resource ritual. In years past, we have had serious droughts in the summer and have done the same thing.  Then, there is the time in the winter where it seems as if the food for wildlife is scarce, so we feed then as well. But, we are always reminding ourselves that these are wild creatures and they have existed for a long time and without our h...

We stopped for coffee this afternoon at the Exxon convenience store in Wimberley.  This is a busy store because their gasoline prices match the non branded stations in town, they are open 24 hours a day, and they have a very complete convenience store including hot lunches served to your liking.  Plus, they have tables for sitting and relaxing.   In the past it is in this sort of environment that we have encountered the most interesting people.  Sometimes we initiate the conversation, sometimes they do; not predictable at all. As I was paying for our two coffees at one of two registers, there was a man of about 60 years of age buying his lunch at the other register.  Holy cow, what a thick accent; unmistakably Australian.  He was such a stir with his "mate" this and "mate" that it caused the lady who was taking my payment to have one ear cocked towards him at the other register and still paying attention to our transaction.  I said to her "I am bettin...