A couple of weeks ago I made a trip to Golden Curls Ranch outside Dallas in Kaufman, Texas. The BLM’s [federal Bureau of Land Management] website put me onto Angie’s place, as I have come to call it. Angie Gaines is a horse-lover whose enthusiasm and affection for her equine family – especially curly mustangs – is contagious. Oh, I almost
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As you can read in the piece Drat That Dirt, I have been relentlessly trying to grow things in amended black gumbo soil. So far, no luck. But recent developments from soil nutrient tests are pushing me into another reality (more about that shortly, in another article). Meanwhile, my agricultural bent has been channeled by Nature; or serendipity, you might
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My gasoline can is old. After many years of filling and refilling all sorts of stuff have collected at the bottom: crunchy wings of bees; carcasses of adventurous spiders; plain old dirt; dried leaves, etc. The time arrived to clean it. How to do that with about one gallon of vintage fuel remaining was the issue. Options aside, I made
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An admission of confusion begins this episode. Fuzzy and family are toads not frogs, but not “true frogs.” Please keep reading [*] and perhaps by the end of this piece you will have made up your own mind. To continue……… So, I’ve been concerned: Fuzzy and the Mrs. hasn’t been seen in a couple of weeks. Their dugout looks deserted. But
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I have a nagging question on my mind: how smart are these creatures that live amongst me (or better said, that I live with)? Can a frog in the wild be taught by us to do something, anything? A bird? A snake? What about human intervention modifying a spider’s intentions? Around nine p.m. many evenings, I open my door to
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Was that a line in a John Wayne or Clint Eastwood western? Or is it a leftover from a boy’s imagination? Whatever the origin, recently that epithet immediately came to mind. When a first glance brought something yellow into view, I asked myself, “Is that really a snake?” Sure enough it was. At about three feet long and one inch
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Gingerly turning over newly-found old papers, photographs and assorted documents, surprise: Mom had artistic talent. The loosely bound faded green “Clippings” book that surfaced this past weekend gave that away. Mom saved the collection during WW II, when our mother was single and in her late teens to early twenties. But at the back of the volume, past the war
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I mean fix as in repair. Almost nothing is anymore, it’s simply thrown away. But, true to myself, I’ve dug in my heels and resolved to fix things that are broken. No more mindlessly adding them to the landfill. That’s not only to be considerate to the environment, but I miss the satisfaction of, “I DID IT,” with my own
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As promised, here is the second and final part of the presentation for 4th of July, 2014. This slide show is both captioned and has music. Teaser: Wait until you see the pooch. LOL. Hope to see y’all at next year’s Round Top parade. In the meantime please visit desktodirt.com often for original good reads and visual presentations. Thanks
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Each year Round Top – with neighboring towns and cities – puts on an extensive country parade: an impressive number of horse and riders, vintage cars, fire trucks, tractors and floats make the morning of the Fourth something special. Local politicians and businesses take part in the fun. It is a Fayette County tradition. The main Henkel Square and roads
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