Waiting for materials and help.

Since we are building with recycled materials there are times when we are ready to start the next project we have not connected with our supplier to get started. We do always have other things to do, so this month was finishing the gate so it too was at an eight foot height. Since we went to so much trouble to have an eight foot fence we did not want the deer to just hop over the 4 foot gate and be trapped INSIDE our property.
We used 1/2 inch metal tubing , cut to 8 foot lengths and wired it to each vertical bar on the gate. We then took 3/8 inch(#3) rebar , cut to the width of the gate and wired them to the upright tubes. This was the framework that we attached 4 foot woven wire fencing to the original gate. This way the small animals will be prevented from coming in and the deer will not jump the 8 foot high fence.

I would suggest only using woven wire ,even though it is more expensive, not welded wire fencing because the welds on the welded wire come apart so easily and cannot be easily fixed, if at all.

The welcome rain has arrived and the plant and animal life is rejoicing

We even have these mushrooms that are appearing everywhere !

We found this sleeping elf at "The Great Outdoors Nursery " in Austin, TX . We have been very happy with their wide selection of garden items. I just really like this arrangement in our closet/guestroom with an antique lamp from our Grandmother.

Here are the 3 month old baby peafowl, we are not able to tell the difference between the males and the females yet, but the supplier assures us we will within the month.

This is our oldest peacock, he is about 15 months old, don't you just love that color blue!

Here are the teenagers (4 months old)

They are the same bred as the older male and there is a distinct difference between the male and female. The girls are lighter, the boys have dark barring on their feathers with a green color showing up on the nape of their necks.




We happened to see this baby copperhead snake cross the path up by the garden. See how the pattern is very distinct, orange and black bands, they are very poisonous. This is the first one we have seen since working the land.

Usually the Copperheads don’t bite. However, if you grasp one or get very close to one it will and can bite you. A bite will be used as a last defense against you. The Copperhead was responsible for approximately 37 percent of venomous snake bites in the US in 2001 (Lavonas E.J. et al., 2004)1

The venom is toxic and a bite from a Copperhead Snake is extremely painful, requires immediate medical treatment, but is very, very seldom fatal. Its one of the least venomous snakes of the venomous snakes in the USA
It may however cause serious damage to your tissue and leave scars. Also there’s always a risk of a secondary infection caused by bacteria from the snakes mouth parts.For this reason there’s no point in trying to handle these snakes unless you have some formal training handling's snakes.

It wasn't until we have chickens and pigeons did we see the chicken snake AKA Rat snake. Texas Rat Snakes are an ill-tempered snake if encountered in the wild,and will readily defend themselves. This usually involves coiling up, raising the head, striking out repeatedly at anything that gets too close and vibrating the tail. This vibrating of the tail often causes them to be mistaken for a rattlesnake; however, they do not have rattles on the tail and are NOT rattlesnakes. They are not venous and will eat rodents, we have only killed the ones that enter the coop and eat the eggs.

We do have other good snakes which we completely leave alone, like the black snake that dashes away as fast as he can.