Dirty Rats!!!!

11:30 – Just came in from discing. The ground is already bone dry and even the barrels placed under to roof eaves are pretty much empty, just barely wet and most of that is evaporated away. So the rain we got was just a light sprinkle, enough to hear but not enough to get things wet. That’s disappointing. One of these days we will have good water and then it won’t matter if it rains or not, at least not as much. Till then it’s a hope and a prayer we live on.





I disced this space up as well. Had spent an hour with the hoe going after the weeds and only got ten percent of it done. It was all plowed up in preparation for me to install drip irrigation tape and then to plant corn but as I attended other areas of the farm weeds grew up pretty tall. So I figure I’ll just disc it all up and replow the furrows. It doesn’t plow as well when the ground is so dry because the sand just slides back into the furrows. I want to make deep furrows so I can lay the drip tape deep enough that I don’t have to worry about cutting it as I work the land later.



One of the things I forgot to do yesterday, after planting five rows of seeds, was to put the seed packets back into the protective boxes I keep them in. The boxes then go into the fridge, despite the fact that the fridge no longer cools, because at least there the rats can’t get to them. The seeds would keep well if the fridge cooled but it stopped doing that shortly after we brought it home. Anyway, this picture shows where about ten packets of seeds were laying on the ground. There are none now but you can clearly see the footprints of the rats that stole them. Dirty thieving rats, always taking what doesn’t belong to them. It’s my fault for letting my guard down and forgetting to put the seeds away. They were all seeds I had picked out of the many dozens of seeds we have to plant so that wasn’t good. I talked to an oil guy yesterday and explained what some people had wanted to do regarding mineral rights and he thought as much of that as I think of the rats who took our seed. Our seeds are a future that can be obtained with much work and dedication. The potential of mineral rights hold the same promise and would provide the means to make something out of this farm. Those who desired to take them would have robbed us of our future in order to enrich themselves. God’s hand will rest on them. This I know and think it already has been resting on them for a couple of years now, but they seem blind to it.


The mammoth sunflowers are blooming. They didn’t do well along most of the ridge where I planted them but these few seemed to survive ok. Most of them are small or didn’t make it at all. Caterpillars did a ton of damage to them till I got the back pack sprayer out and sprayed them. That was the last time the sprayer worked. I know I want to be organic but the organic pesticides cost a ton of money and money we don’t have a lot of so I used some Sevin that we had bought a couple or three years ago. That did the trick and saved what’s left. As always, I do the best I can with what I’ve got.


The tractor is a tremendous blessing, allowing me to do in minutes what otherwise would take days. Unfortunately it’s developed a leak on what I presume to be the fuel pump. It’s been leaking for a while but is getting steadily worse so that’s not good. Sure wish I knew more about diesels and stuff. I’ll have to look it up online and hope it’s something that can easily, and cheaply, be rebuilt. I’ll see if there are kits for it. I can rebuild a carburetor and lots of other stuff so as long as I can find instructions I would be ok. Meantime I worry about it. Leaking fuel is not good period and a potential fire hazard for sure. The tractor leaks all kinds of fluids but that’s to be expected considering how old it is. I have to fill the radiator with water every time I run it and there is a hydraulic fluid leak that leaves a puddle everywhere I park it. But the tractor still runs and thus is the most valuable tool I have so I must take care of it.

As I disced the field I noticed a bright spot of red in the midst of weeds that grow around a mesquite tree I haven’t pulled out of the ground yet. So I had to go check it out and see what wonder of nature was there. It’s this beautiful flower. I’ll have to send the picture to Burr at the Sibley Center so he can tell me what it is. I love all this wonder we find on the farm. There is always something new we see.

I suppose I should fix something to eat. Didn’t eat yesterday till Cherie came home with chicken. I normally fix us some eggs for breakfast but didn’t do that yesterday and this morning Cherie was running late. I’ve been having real bad headaches in the middle of every night lately. This is something new and we wonder what might be the cause. It generally wakes me up around two to four o’clock in the morning and with it come dreams. The dreams aren’t bad dreams but in the dream I always have a headache. Last night I dreamed we were buying pre fabricated homes for $14,400 dollars each. Bought two, one for the farm and another for our “summer” house. Hey, it’s a dream, doesn’t have to make sense, but indicates that I’m not sleeping restfully.

(Click to enlarge)