Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[Kyle_in_Tex]

The Lord is watching over me. Here's why I know.

This morning after leaving the tax office, I was about an hour and a half behind my normal leave time. I was taking the back road (known by the locals as the "hemorrhoid highway" around the north side of Lake Somerville. The road has a few rolling hills, up and downs and I came over a hill and saw a truck turned diagonally across the road. The fellow ran towards me shaking his arms to stop so I pulled up and asked him what's the matter? He yelled "The bridge is out up ahead", some big truck must've punched a big hole in it. I said "does the county know about it?" and he said yes and that they had just arrived at the far side and were putting up barricades. I told him Thank you, thank you, thank you and that he was saving lives today. The bridge is a small one that technically is wide enough for two cars, but because they put it at a sharp bend in the road, it is only safe for 1 car at a time. I drove off on a detour road and thanked the good Lord many times.

 

[Western]

Kyle, the way they charge me, I doubt any of the appraisers here go to church!!!:laughing: Good you got it resolved though, maybe you can apply for the loss of hay, or some kind of AG loss???

 

[texasjohn]

If he failed the test, he was asleep or can't do math or has memory problems...it takes some money and time to take the test, but it is not particularly difficult.

Of course I've never taken that class and test, so I don't know how tough it is. I had figured it wouldn't be too tough, but a neighbor down in Navarro County took the class and then failed the test.

 

[texasjohn]

Reclaim is exceptionally specific for mesquite. I have sprayed a mesquite bush burried in a tangle of green briar, hackberry, other stuff. ONLY the mesquite was affected, nothing else, including grass on ground was bothered. I have seen zero evidence of collateral damage with either product. I can see very slight damage in the immediate vicinity, on occasion from the diesel oil that is in the mix...and always that is in exactly the same area which is covered by the blue dye I use. Grass is slightly yellowed for short while, continues growth. I see no down slope runoff effect nor any pond effect...and all my area drains into ponds.

What about Reclaim and Remedy with runoff that goes into ponds/steams? For example, I just bought and used some nutgrass killer called Sedge Ender and it says it is very poisonous for fish in ponds. I won't use it anywhere near one of my ponds. The good news is it works very well.

 

[texasjohn]

Kyle, I think that the ag acreage will be what it always has been. 70℅ fields is more than many ag areas. Grazing for livestock is also a valid ag use.

 

[jinman]

Lucky me! I got enough rain last night to wet my deck solid. No puddles, just a wet deck. My grandson and I took a Kawasaki Mule ride when he got home from school yesterday. I don't know when I've ever seen our lake as low as it is now.

On the fun side, my grandson showed his ability to be sharp-eyed and spot things. He saw this little fellow below beside the road, so we went back and he caught it. It's about 2' long. We kept it overnight, but I made him let it go this morning before going to school.

 

[txdon]

TexasJohn, thanks for all the information. I was walking the field yesterday evening and decided that if I put about 16hrs on the BH I can finish the project. I really like sticking to my original plan (20 years now) of staying organic. I just got behind in my yearly 1 day of digging after my heart attack and paver drive and now the project seems overwhelming - but it is not. I just have to get-er-done. When I told my wife my time estimate she laughed. HMMM - she is usually right. If the estimate is way off I'll reevaluate. Thanks.

Next, I'll have to figure out a way to smooth the hog damaged field so I can drive the golf cart on it.

I just saw a commercial on TV about a Tweet Pee. It's used on baby diapers to activate and tweet the Mom's phone when the diaper is wet. I can use it as a rain tweet when I'm not here to immediately celebrate the long due rain! (If it ever comes).

 

[txdon]

Kyle I also found the TAX office to be receptive to my ideas. They put the size of my house (while being built) larger than the blue print. They came back out and measured from the inside of the rock ledge instead of the outside, it made a big difference.

 

[Western]

Light drizzle!:thumbsup:

If your around Brownwood, your dancing now!! pretty nice storms on radar down South

 

[jinman]

Well, the rain dots have again connected on my deck and it looks like it is still increasing in intensity.:thumbsup: I was in the garden putting up a trellis net and decided I should call it quits before I got soaked. I've never used this netting before, but I saw it online and bought one 5' x 30' net for around $13.50. I think that is way overpriced and found the same netting on a roll of 365' from Memphis Net and Twine for less than 1/2 the price per running foot. I ordered a roll and plan to put it on both sides of my tomatoes starting bout 2' above the ground. The net I bought was 3-1/2' tall instead of 5', so it will fit nicely on 6' t-posts and my 6' bamboo while leaving a gap at the bottom to till and water without the hassle of cages. I'll use line between the nets where required for support across the row. Here's a photo of the trellis net on one row of sweet peas. I drove PVC pipe into the ground and just dropped in the bamboo poles. It worked great.