Neighbor's Cottage...

Our neighbors, Dr. Clemence and wife "Dusty" are building a ranch home across the road form the ranch. It looks like it should be comfortable. I think I was the one who said....."No, I don't want to be a doctor, I want to raise cattle". Ha!

Tom Poth's Ranch Cabin going up...

I visited today with cousin Tom Poth. I got to see his cabin he is constructing on his ranch. It is really neat as you can see by looking at the attached pictures. The blocks are made of concrete and styrofome. They are 4'x16"x10" and after stacked are filled with concrete in the voids with horrizontal rebar laying between each course. The middle space will be screened in and the fartherest 1/3 will be covered but open. I think you will agree he has some great ideas here.

Wildlife Water Supply

Water is critical for all wildlife. The more water you have the more wildlife. With recent rains the grass is green and growing again. The rainfall wasn't enough to run much water and thus the ponds continue to shrink. I thinks our next best chance will come in the form of some kind of tropical disturbance from the Gulf of Mexico.

As you can see, I am getting good at posting two of the same pictures.

Road Trip to Cotulla

Klint and Angela Graf suggested to Sam and Dianne Syring and us all go to Cotulla to Pepper's Steakhouse for an evening out. We all had a great time visiting and left stuffed. The food was great.

Crossing paths...

While out yesterday I walked over to see if this snake was a "rattler" or not. It wasn't, I think it is a Bullsnake.

Heading for cover...

I had whisteled this quail out of cover but wasn't quick enough to get him faceing me so I banged this picture and got him heading back into the brush.

"Klint" and his buddy...........................deer

The deer on the right is "Klint". He is with his buddy who is another deer of Sam's that has yet to be named.
I was walking down a fenceline to take pictures of a snake that was crossing when Sam called to me and had me look to my right. Just then these two stepped out.
Last year when this deer was rubbing his "velvet" off his antlers he got into some round bale twine and had it all tangeled and caught up in his antlers. Well, the more he rubbed his antlers on the brush the more the twine frayed and made him look like he had an "Afro". He was some sight. He finally got rid of it but while it was tangeled most of the other deer wanted nothing to do with him.
Give us some suggestions for nameing this deer.
What is that smell?.........

Ferdinand

"Ferdinand" is now three years old. He is pictured here with his running budy. I took these pictures yesterday, the fourth of July. His buddy doesn't have a name yet. Sam Syring named Ferdinand one day when we drove up on him eating in some flowers in the same area I took these pictures. That first year we always saw him at the protein feeders eating away. I remember telling Sam that we would see just how much difference the feed would make in his antler development. His antlers have alot more growing to do this year so aparently the feed is doing what it is suppose to do. He has eight points now but looking at the ends of his main beams he will probably put on more points. Last year he had twelve points as a two year old.

Pier 39 in San Francisco

Hard to say which is more beautiful.
Fresh fruit market on the lower deck.
Marina...
A view back towards the city.
Pretty flowers everywhere...

San Francisco

A view back at the city from pier 39.
Watching the fog roll in. Somewhere in the distant is the Golden Gate Bridge.

At the corner of Powell and Market streets. In the bottom of the picture is the turntable where the streetcars are manually turned around to head back up the hill on Powell Street.
A view up Powell St. toward the bay.
The Westin St. Francis hotel where we stayed. The history of this building is that it has stood through two major earthquakes. The first included the historical San Francisco fire.
Sandra found the "heart" that Tony Bennett left in San Francisco. It is located in Union Square.

A Little Gaming

Sandra getting a bear hug for good luck.
A view from the top at Stateline Nevada across the south end of Lake Tahoe.
A peek inside of the Casino at formerly Caesars now Montbeu.
Sandra pictured in the room thinking of all that testing stuff she is escaping.

Lake Tahoe

Here is a view of the lake from the eitghteenth floor of Harrah's.
Another view.............
The paddlewheeler we cruised the lake at sunset and had dinner.
A view from the opposite side of the lake.
The rich had vacation homes built in the early nineteen hundereds.
A tea room on an island that went with the previous mansion.
This is a zoom view of snow that remains on the top of the surrounding mountains.