About Victoria
Some of you may have noticed in recent posts that there is an absence of any reference to my daughter, Victoria. Well, the reason for that is that she has banished me from her life. It began a couple years ago when she ‘unfriended’ me on FaceBook because she didn’t want her friends to see my posts. At that time and since then she has been completely indoctrinated into and consumed by the woke, social justice cult. In October she sent me a very mean, nasty message, where she called me a host of unflattering names, and said she was done with ‘me and my ilk.’ She severed communications with me at the same time. I told her that I will always love her and that I will always be her father; however she seems to have no interest in a relationship with me. So that is where we have left it.
We have been praying for her, and we ask that you keep us and her in your prayers also.
Let me tell you a secret about a father's love,
A secret that my daddy said was just between us.
Daddies don't just love their children every now and then.
It's a love without end, amen, it's a love without end, amen.
(written by Aaron Barker; recorded by George Straight)
Rainwater Catchment System
Larry constructed a rainwater catchment system to store water primarily for gardening; but also available in case of emergency need if our community water system fails. It catches rainwater off of one side of the house (gutters), through an air-gap leaf/debris filter, fills a 330 gallon IBC tote from the bottom. We got the tote from a tank company in Houston for about 1/3 the price of a new tote locally. The tote frame is used and the bottle is new. Here is a quick video of the ‘system’.
Sue has been working on establishing a vegetable garden. The soil here is: very fine sand for about 18 inches with soft clay below for several feet. Even weed don’t grow very well – except for those nasty sand burs! She picked up some stock tanks to convert to raised beds. Now we just need to fill them up (rock on the bottom) with some good fertile topsoil.
Workshop
We have finally saved enough money to build a workshop for Larry. Well, not exactly build, but order one. We are getting a wood frame dutch barn style building, 12′ X 24″. It will go beside the house along the fence line, with a 10′ side yard setback providing vehicle access to the back yard if / when needed. Larry is very excited to finally get a workshop that is not the garage. It is being constructed by a local company, Sturdi-bilt, and is scheduled for delivery and setup in April.
Rolling Pines Fire
In January we were surprised by a wildfire that threatened our home and neighborhood. The Rolling Pines Fire started from a ‘controlled’ burn in the Bastrop State Park, quickly escaped control, burned out of the park boundaries, eventually consuming over 800 acres within about 36 hours. It burned to within a mile of our home. The neighborhood next to ours was mandatorily evacuated. Since we wanted to utilize our travel trailer in the event we were ordered to evacuate, we went ahead and loaded up our belongings and boogied. We stayed on night in a friends back yard in Elgin, TX, and came home the next day to find no problems with our place or with our neighbors. Our evacuation was unnecessary; however it was good practice.
They fight fire differently here in rural Central Texas from what I was used to for almost 40 years in California. Not badly, just differently. Available resources are different, experience / expertise levels are different, Fire Weather is radically different. Maybe some day I will write something about the differences that I see.
Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup
Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup
Last year we travelled through Sweetwater, Texas on one of our annual summer treks. When we checked in to the city RV park in Sweetwater we discovered that we had just missed the annual Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup. So this year we have arranged to be there for the roundup weekend (March 11, 12, & 13).
We don’t really know what to expect, other than a fun filled weekend, and, of course rattlesnakes. Stay tuned for our After Action Report!
Ham Radio Operators
For those amateur radio operators out there:
1) Larry has tickets to the Dayton Hamvention – first time ever! Anyone going to be there, let’s rendezvous — he has tickets to the entire event, May 20, 21, & 22.
2) ARRL Field Day 2022 — June 25 & 26. It’s fast approaching and will be here before you know it. What are your plans?
3) Ukraine war situation: Larry found a couple WebSDR sites where you can listen real-time to communications; military, amateur, and commercial:
a) University of Twente
b) R2AJI (Russia)
It helps if you speak Russian or Ukrainian; however you can also pick up English language broadcasts and communications occasionally.
Larry & Sue's Texas Adventures 