Texas Fall/Winter thread!

[bindian]

Dang! looks like you could have just dropped your bait in that road!!

Some of you really made out with the water:thumbsup: I think we got more than I had guessed just by looking at all the flooded fields around here.

Brandie, what has all this rain done to you pond color? Last photo I remember it looked almost like you dyed it.

Dennis,
I do dye it with Aqua-Blue. It needs more dye right now, to fight algae. No current photos. Right now it is colored kind of an aqua-olive drab green.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Western]

Dennis,
I do dye it with Aqua-Blue. It needs more dye right now, to fight algae. No current photos. Right now it is colored kind of an aqua-olive drab green.
hugs, Brandi

OK, that's what I thought. Sounds like now it's about the right color to soak hunting clothes in With our Caleche' up here, not sure how dye would work, a bit of wind and they get muddy on the edge.

BTW, On our local news this evening. Green "slime" was coming out of a storm drain, had the Dallas Hazmat, the Feds and every one else out, turned out a local Hospital used a gallon of green dye in a chiller system looking for leaks!!

 

[pacerron]

Dennis,
I do dye it with Aqua-Blue. It needs more dye right now, to fight algae. No current photos. Right now it is colored kind of an aqua-olive drab green.
hugs, Brandi

Have you broadcast your pick-up load of bentonite clay yet?

 

[bindian]

Have you broadcast your pick-up load of bentonite clay yet?

Ron,
I have been meaning to get my pond thread up to date, but have been busy with a diverter valve for the grapple.
Yes, I put out 17 forty pound bags. It slowed the seep up at the bulkhead. I need to have it overflowing when I am off, so I can do it at "high tide". When I spread it out, the water level was down where that seep stopped.
hugs, Brandi

 

[jinman]

Ron,
I have been meaning to get my pond thread up to date, but have been busy with a diverter valve for the grapple.
Yes, I put out 17 forty pound bags. It slowed the seep up at the bulkhead. I need to have it overflowing when I am off, so I can do it at "high tide". When I spread it out, the water level was down where that seep stopped.
hugs, Brandi

Brandi, I sympathize with your leakage issues. On my overflow culverts, I'm putting them into native soil instead of the excavated/compacted dam. I'm lucky that both pond locations provide convenient points to install culverts. I'd be sweatin' bullets if I had to put a culvert into my dam.

 

[houstonscott]

Anyone who lost all their pond or tank water after drought restocking fish this year. We have added 10lbs of fathead minnows last month and will add another 6lbs very soon. That is about 6000 in total. 50 sunfish and 25 bass go in soon. That should get it going for this year. The tank is about .7 acres and 18' deep now. Anyone have plans to restock and what are going to do?

HS

 

[bindian]

Brandi, I sympathize with your leakage issues. On my overflow culverts, I'm putting them into native soil instead of the excavated/compacted dam. I'm lucky that both pond locations provide convenient points to install culverts. I'd be sweatin' bullets if I had to put a culvert into my dam.

Jim,
It is not leaking about my overflow culvert. I just got home from seeing Sara Evens at Rodeo Austin with my Daughter and her Boyfriend. The pond had been seeping water around the bulkhead down to down about 10-11 inches BELOW overflow. Right now it is about 6 inches down BELOW overflow and not seepage that I can see. So it seems the Bentonite Clay is working.
Oh yeah.........FYI...........Bentonite Clay is the main ingredient in cat litter.
hugs, Brandi

 

[ronjhall]

Not much to report down here in the valley. Cloudy mornings with light dew. Changing to partly sunny with winds in the upper 20s. Ground is turning to dust again. But the rains in January and February have made every thing very green. Grass/weeds have had to be cut every 2 weeks. Not what I came down here to do. Hope this good weather continues until we leave next month.

 

[jinman]

Oh yeah.........FYI...........Bentonite Clay is the main ingredient in cat litter.
hugs, Brandi

So, if I see you pouring kitty litter into your pond, it's not for the catfish litter box, eh?:laughing:

 

[EddieWalker]

I've been on vacation for a week, so I'm not sure when it rained. My rain gauge has excactly 2 inches in it and my small pond is just about full.

Forecast is for rain Mon, Tue, Wed and HEAVY rain on Thursday!!!!

Eddie

 

[bindian]

So, if I see you pouring kitty litter into your pond, it's not for the catfish litter box, eh?:laughing:

I don't think the catfish care for the "scented" kitty litter.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Western]

Isn't kitty litter the same thing in most oil absorbing stuff, like for driveways ect tra? what I've heard anyway. If thats the case a fella could get at least uses outa one bag. Once for the "kitty" then on the oil, then in to pond. Maybe not in that order:laughing:

 

[jinman]

Surprise! You just thought this thread was gone. It's fall again in Texas, even if it doesn't feel like it. The weatherman promises that by this weekend, we'll feel some all-day temps below 60 F. I'm ready for some cooler-wetter days; although, I'd just as well save the snow until next February.

I've been tilling up my garden spot to prepare it for winter. It was so dry before our last rain event that tilling raised a dust cloud. I couldn't till all the weeds/grass up next to my peppers because my wife had watered the day before and kinda overdid it. Then, it rained and it's just dry enough in there to be able to walk. The first picture below shows the row of peppers and two rows of asparagus behind them. The asparagus is as tall as the 8' t-posts and you can't tell there are two rows since it is so thick. Our kitties love to go in there between rows and play. I'm looking forward to having a bumper crop of fresh spears next spring.:licking:

I also picked sweet peppers and got a mop-bucket full. Today, is pickle making day at the Inman house.

 

[blueriver]

Nice peppers and I believe alot of us are ready for cooler wetter days. The weekend looks to be that way. Our garden was on the down side this year ... too many other things going on.

 

[pacerron]

Surprise! You just thought this thread was gone. It's fall again in Texas, even if it doesn't feel like it. The weatherman promises that by this weekend, we'll feel some all-day temps below 60 F. I'm ready for some cooler-wetter days; although, I'd just as well save the snow until next February.

I've been tilling up my garden spot to prepare it for winter. It was so dry before our last rain event that tilling raised a dust cloud. I couldn't till all the weeds/grass up next to my peppers because my wife had watered the day before and kinda overdid it. Then, it rained and it's just dry enough in there to be able to walk. The first picture below shows the row of peppers and two rows of asparagus behind them. The asparagus is as tall as the 8' t-posts and you can't tell there are two rows since it is so thick. Our kitties love to go in there between rows and play. I'm looking forward to having a bumper crop of fresh spears next spring.:licking:

I also picked sweet peppers and got a mop-bucket full. Today, is pickle making day at the Inman house.

We were wondering the other day if you folks had enough time to put in a second garden of cold crops before freeze would take them out. I guess the answer is NO.
Garden is done here. We have had some frost. We still have 3 card tables of green tomatoes getting ripe that were picked before the frost. There are still some bell and banana peppers down there but the 2nd fridge is so full of veggies and apples that we don't have any more room.
The deer net fence kept the deer out all season and the wife thinks it is great. We rolled it up on the plastic pipe gate pole the other day and it will spend the winter in the basement away from the UV rays and freezing rain and snow.
Trees started turning early this year because of no rain all summer. It rained about 1.5 inches a couple weeks ago and a few showers since. It is strange to see
colored leaves on the trees and green fields at the same time.
Here is a shot I took about a week ago. A lot of the leaves are falling now so it will look like gloomy winter soon.

I hope it doesn't show up twice. I wrote the message in quick reply but pictures can only be embedded that way, it appears. So then I changed to Advanced and got the attachment paperclip. I see a lot of duplicate messages anymore and wonder if this is what is causing it?
Ron

 

[Bird]

Jim, I just finished mowing, edging, and trimming our yard and one next door, so now I'm ready for the cool, wet weather that's forecast for this weekend.

We had a garage sale last weekend and got rid of everything except the 3 most expensive items; my Olhausen pool table, my golf bag and clubs, and my recumbent exercise bike.:laughing: So I guess we're about ready for Winter.

For those who didn't know it, the State Fair of Texas started last Friday and it's kind of traditional to have some hot, dry weather, and some cold, wet weather during the Fair.

Ron, we always planted turnips in the Fall and sometimes another radish crop. That's a pretty picture of the tree colors. Old friends (former next door neighbors) who now live in Kansas City, said they just got home after a 2 week trip up into the New England area and said it was beautiful.

 

[jinman]

Bird, I need to mow my grass very badly and will probably do that tomorrow morning before the front blows through. If we get another rain storm before I mow, I'll have to use the rotary cutter instead of the mower.

I haven't been to the State Fair in many years, but I love going there. It's worth the trip just to walk through the livestock barns and all the displays like the food and fiber building. I could eat my weight in corny dogs too. I'm not the least bit interested in any of their yearly gimmick foods, but a fresh cooked corny dog is really high on my list. Unfortunately, this year my legs have given me fits. I know why; it's my weight. I've been on a strict diet for 9 weeks now and the weight is falling off. At the same time, my legs are making remarkable improvements. By next year, I hope to be skippin' down the fairgrounds with a smile on my face. I know my grandson would have a ball there too. He'd go crazy in the automobile building and the midway.

Ron, I've never had real luck with a fall garden. Normally, it's so hot here into September that I wouldn't dare put in another crop after struggling for months just to keep stuff alive. I have had some really good luck with turnips, radishes, and early spring peas, but by fall, I'm ready for a rest. One of these days when I get "a round tuit," I'll have a greenhouse and grow some goodies all year round. There's lots of projects in line to be done ahead of the greenhouse. I'm thrilled that deer fence worked so well for you. I really don't know of a better solution to that problem.

Oops, I forgot to say that we put up 10 pints and 2 quarts of pickled peppers today. I'll wait a week and give them a try to see how I did. Last year wasn't so great, but I hope I've learned a few tricks I didn't know then.

 

[pacerron]

Oops, I forgot to say that we put up 10 pints and 2 quarts of pickled peppers today. I'll wait a week and give them a try to see how I did. Last year wasn't so great, but I hope I've learned a few tricks I didn't know then.

If you figure out how to make them so they are crisp ( not mushy) let us know. The boiling hot water bath must be the musher. The commercial ones must be done real quick.We just buy our hot pickled peppers in gallon jugs now, about 3 a year.
Eat em on about everything but eggs:licking:
During the garden season we stuff them with a sausage, cream cheese, and grated parmesian and bake in the oven.
Another favorite is filling halves sliced long ways with cream cheese, cheddar cheese, wrapping with a strip of bacon and rolling in
brown sugar with chile powder in it.
Not good for your strict diet though.

 

[Bird]

Jim, I went to the Fair every year for many, many years but not in the last 20 years, until last year. Last year, Margaret's sister was here from West Virginia and we took her to the Fair. And she's getting here again the 16th of this month, so maybe we'll go the 18th of this year; nothing sure yet. But I'm staying tired and probably have the same problem you have; too heavy. I'm not on any particular diet, but just trying to cut back a bit on the quantity that I eat.

In my pre-teen years, I had a great deal of interest in the livestock and the Midway rides. Then in my teen years and early 20s, I had a great deal of interest in the Automobile Building. That used to be the first time you'd see next years cars, but now they're already at the dealers and I'm not going to buy one anyway, so I'm afraid the Fair doesn't have nearly as much interest for me as it used to.

 

[NativeSon]

We went to the Fair Friday. It was opening day, but there was still a large crowd. The Corny Dogs are still the best and my youngest Grandson (4) had his first Corny Dog and he's hooked for life. We had a really great time, but about 4 hours at the Fair and I'm done.

Charlie