Busy as Bees

We kept busy during these rainy days by servicing the heavy equipment.  The dozer was in need of a lot of service.  The Crawler Dozer, the Four-Wheel Drive Loader, Skid Steer, the Hydraulic Excavator, several ATV's all cleaned up and ready to roll as soon as the weather allows.  We also cleaned out several other vehicles.

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I have been crocheting this afghan for a little something different to do in my spare time...it is finished now except for the border.

I hopped  in the tracking truck to go travel the route checking up on the prairie chickens.

There is a wheel inside the truck that turns the antenna as you are moving down the road.

When we did telemetry with the bobcats, we actually stood on the truck with a hand held antenna while stopped.  With this one, you stay inside the truck.

I'm turning the antenna as I listen for the sound of number 4607.

The earphones are a great help.

The numbers of each chicken are put into the receiver, and when it is located, you record the place and time.

Then we took a little trip to the Valley to spend some time with the grandchildren, son and daughter-in-law.

A little tennis in the driveway...Lindsey stepping in to hit a backhand with follow through...eye on that ball.

Time out while we check out another critter.

Joaquin actually held it as I convinced him it would not BITE.

Gosh, they are growing up so fast!!!

We also have to have time for the trampoline. I laugh so much doing this activity.

Our son is the Zone Biologist for South Texas and these two grand darlins' belong to him.


We are now back home (Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR) and ready to see what next week holds for us.

Until next time...

Last Weeks Work

As we were heading out to put up a few more boundary signs on the north side of the refuge, we happened upon this large herd of deer. There were 21 in all, the largest deer herd we have seen. No bucks!!!

We were given the task of building 4 bunk beds as we have people coming in to help with invasive species.  

Here, Karen and I are painting them after Wallace sands out the rough edges.  

Then the guys had to try them out. The mattresses were purchased at the local Wal-Mart.  (That's Danny in the background). They passed inspection.

They were placed in a mobile home on the property that has 7' ceilings...we had to make sure there was plenty of head room.

The paint was a mixture of about 5 different colors that were left overs.  They turned out nicely.

As some of you know, our weather has been cold and rainy!!!

Our work was inside jobs with the next thing being servicing heavy equipment.

This is Darrell, our supervisor, who you might recognize in our blogs from last season. Because of the weather, we have not gotten out in the field yet...but we are getting ready. We have fields to plow, and seeds to plant...just a few of our projects for the year.

The beds are finished and in place.  There are 3 bedrooms with existing beds, so 2 of the rooms have an extra bed.  This one got placed in the living area.

What do you think?



And that was part of what we got accomplished last week.

Until next time...