The Lawn Ranger and His Field of Dreams

It seems to me that all I have done this summer is mow! With the recent rains, which we are very thankful for, the grass has really been growing. Not only do I take care of our yard, but I also have a lot of mowing and shredding to do at the orchard. Also, last year, the local Park Board needed someone with some knowledge of athletic fields to help them establish four new fields at the new park. Someone probably said, "Get Danny. He's retired and he knows about growing grass." So, I have been the official Forest Gump of the park for the past couple of years. I'm on a mower so much that when my children send birthday or Father's Day cards, the cards all have something to do with mowing. Jordan sent me a card about the Lawn Ranger, and that is about the truth.
The fields, 2 baseball fields, 1 softball field and 1 football/soccer field are all seeded in a hybrid bermudagrass called Princess 77. It has really grown well and we are in our second year of play on them. We are lucky to have this facility in our community.


The Lawn Ranger and his horse John Deere!

A view of some of the fields. In the background are two old bridges that once crossed the Leon River and are being "recycled" at the park and will become a part of the walking-biking trail.

What A Difference A Day Makes

Like many of you, we have been suffering through the summer with hot temperatures and no rain. But, thanks to God and Edouard, all of that changed yesterday. God does answer prayers, sometimes in a big way. During the night on August 6, sometime around 2:00 a.m. the rain started and when it was all finished we had received almost 6 inches here at the house. It was a lot of rain, but even more came at the orchard. We got around 9 inches there! There was an advertisement in this weeks Hamilton paper that simply said "Pray For Rain" and it worked. We are very thankful for this blessing. We hope that if you were not in the rain path this time, that you will receive what you need soon.


This isn't a very good picture, but the water was almost over the bridge on the little creek behind our house.


By the end of the day, the water was down, but flowing swiftly.


The Leon River overflow was up over this 5 wire fence.


The Leon River crested yesterday. Muddy, but still beautiful!


This reminded me of Colorado, but it is a little low water crossing near the house.


Today, everything looks peaceful and quiet.

The Jersey Boys Come To Dallas

Beverly has always liked music. Her taste varies from country to gospel to the music of the 50's and 60's. Of course her all time favorite was Elvis and I have to admit, I like his sound, too. She, in her younger days, was a collector of 45's and has a collection of over 300. For any younger readers, 45's came along before the use of tape and certainly before CD's. I say all of that to lead up to our recent trip to Dallas to see the hit Broadway musical Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It has been playing in New York since 2005 to full houses and just started on a national tour and the first stop was in Dallas at the Fair Park Music Hall. So, I surprised Beverly for her birthday and got tickets.

The show was awesome! These guys can sing--maybe better than Frankie himself! It was a great show and we really enjoyed hearing all of the songs as they told the story of this group of four blue-collar boys from the rough area of New Jersey. It is authentic, down to the language which can be a little much at times, but overall the show was very much worth seeing. It has been a dream of ours to see this show and we didn't even have to go to New York to see it. If you get a chance, and like this kind of music, check out their website at http://jerseyboysinfo.com/Broadway/ and listen to some of their music.

Presley Nicole Long At 4 Months

Hard to believe that Presley is already 4 months old! Jennifer and Beverly took her for her 4 month checkup in Waco yesterday. She is doing great, right on target for all of those little things that they start doing about this time. She weighed in at a hefty 11 pounds, 7.4 ounces. The pediatrician, Dr. Orr, said she is going to be one of those that we will all envy because she will be able to eat all she wants and not gain much. I wish I had that problem!!

She changes every day it seems. She is really holding her head up, laughs, coos, puts her hands in her mouth and holds things. Before long, she will be walking---oh, no! What can we say, she is precious!

Surprise Visit From Denver

Jeremy and his wife Annie blessed us with a visit recently. They have lived in Denver for about a year now, so you would think we wouldn't get to see them that often. But, it's crazy, that during the last year we have probably got to spend more time with them than when they were living in Houston. First, we helped move them last July, when it was 100 degrees there, I might add; then they were here for Jordan's wedding in August; then Beverly and I visited them in September when we went jeeping in Ouray, then we saw them at Christmas, so we have been fortunate to see them as often as we have. Beverly, Jennifer, Taylor, Presley and I picked them up at the airport in Austin. We were driving into the airport just as their plane landed and we sat and watched them taxi to the terminal!

Beverly, Jennifer and Presley met them as they arrived. This was their first time to meet Miss Presley! Her first time to be in an airport, too! Note the Colorado luggage. Back packs are the norm there, especially for camping and hiking folks like Jeremy and Annie!

On our way out of Austin we stopped for a relaxing dinner at Pappadeaux's. We caught up on all the latest family news and ate some good seafood.





We left Austin only to get stuck in a huge traffic backup and finally got home about 12:30 a.m. We spent the next few days with family and even attended a family reunion in Abilene where we got to see Jordan and Ashley and all of the work they have been doing on their new home and yard. Later in the week we took Jeremy and Annie back to The Hollows on Lake Travis where Annie's family was vacationing. We enjoyed a nice lunch and a good visit with Annie's parents, three sisters and little niece. They are now back in Denver where he is an architect. He is working for a firm that is designing an addition to the airport in San Jose, California.

I'm Just a Nut Case

We had a great meal for the Field Day, fried catfish and all the trimmings. Beverly needs a hat like this woman's to wear in the orchard.

This is part of the organic orchard management treatment. Compost and mulch are being used to improve the soil structure around the trees.

Taylor likes to "help" his PawPaw in the orchard. We are thankful for this irrigation well that allows us to supply needed water, especially this summer.

We have a micro-mister under each tree to deliver irrigation water and any other nutrients that can be applied in the water. Late in the day, driving close to these can give you a cooling shower.

Sometimes the rows of trees can be confusing. You can end up going the wrong way at times!
This is where it all begins. Hopefully this cluster of pecans will make it through the summer and into the harvester this fall!!

When you have been so long in updating your blog, sometimes there are too many choices on what to post. Such it is with us. So, in the interest of time, I've decided to update you on one of the more recent and continuing stories, that of our venture into the pecan business. As you may or may not know, we have leased an irrigated pecan orchard this year and we have been busy with it taking care of the spraying, mowing, irrigating and most recently hosting an Organic Pecan Management Field Day.

Our orchard contains both an organically grown section and a conventionally grown section. The organic part has been been under research by the USDA since 2002 so this field day highlighted the result of the various treatments over the years. We had over 125 people attend and I saw people from Colorado, Arkansas, Missouri and other locations. We had a catered fish fry that was delicious and we had plenty for everyone there and a few flies and fire ants as well.

I leased this orchard from Sonny, a former Extension client of mine. I worked occasionally for Sonny after I retired from being a County Agent and as it became apparent that his health was not going to allow him to do this much longer, he asked me if I was interested in leasing an orchard. I was, but then suddenly Sonny's health took a turn for the worse and he passed away in March. So, now instead of being able to learn from the master, I am having to learn a few things by trial and error. Thankfully I had 30 years of experience in advising people about growing pecans, but it is different when they are your own. I hope Sonny is looking down and liking what he sees.

The orchard is a beautiful place to work and visit. There is something very peaceful about rows of trees with lush green canopies, especially when the irrigation is on and you drive by the trees and get a cold shower of fresh well water. Beverly and I like to go late in the day and drive the Gator through the orchard and check the crop. This year we have a light to moderate crop on most varieties but we are excited about the prospect of the harvest. If any readers want some quality pecans this fall, leave a comment and we will save you some. After all, who doesn't like a pecan pie?

So, when people say, "You're nuts", they're right!

Our Little Aggie

Today, April 21 is an important day to all Aggies. Today is known as Aggie Muster, a date set aside each year for Aggies to meet together, no matter where they are, to honor those Aggies that have passed away during the last year. The first muster was June 26, 1883 and later it evolved into a celebration of Texas Independence on San Jacinto Day, April 26. "Muster is the most solemn and sacred of all Aggie traditions, but it is a time of joy and happy remembrance. Those who have gone before us are those whose lives have touched ours. May we do the same for those who come after us. May we expect no less of our selves." Dr. E. Dean Gage '68.

Two of our children, Jennifer, class of '99, and Jeremy, class of '02, graduated from A&M. (Jordan, like his dad, chose to go to Tarleton, a part of the A&M System, as well) Jennifer was the true Aggie, loved every minute and every tradition (still has every Aggie T-shirt she got while there, and there are a lot of them) and has been active in Muster here. Tonight she was in charge of the local Muster ceremony. Therefore, we got to keep little Miss Presley! Taylor and his dad had T-ball practice. Jennifer brought Presley over dressed in her Aggie attire, and she looked really cute. Jennifer is set on her children being Aggies, too. Time will tell. There are lots of good schools out there but since I worked for the A&M system for 30 years and we have spent lots of money at the school, we hope they want to be Aggies, too. Gig 'em!