Category Archives: Mini-Rancho

Grandfather trees

Posted on October 11, 2019 | Comments Off on Grandfather trees

Two of them, just down the slope into the canyon from the mini-rancho’s back porch, must be twelve feet around and reach a hundred feet high. Usually they have a very calming influence on the surrounding terrain, as trees of any size have a calming effect on people.

Right now they’re swaying in a forty mile an hour breeze. Results of a cold front that came in early this morning and dropped the temperature from yesterday’s high of ninety-four degrees to just above forty. It’s the sudden changes that get you in Texas.

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Posted in Mini-Rancho, Texana, Weather/Climate

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More leaks

Posted on October 9, 2019 | Comments Off on More leaks

Plumber due back this morning to fix three minor leaks in work he had thought completed. Maybe the faucet fixtures are bad. He said they were old but worked and didn’t leak. Now they may, unless it’s something else.

Meanwhile I have to get back on Bugmaster. They sent me a guy who knew nothing about exterminating scorpions in condominium apartments. Only exterminating them in single family homes. No help there.

UPDATE:  Plumber never showed up, and the contractor hasn’t explained. Bugmaster guy studying up, promises to call.

MORE:  Plumber showed up with his wife and she fixed the leak! Still awaiting the education of Bugmaster.

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Posted in Mini-Rancho

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Remodeling blues

Posted on October 3, 2019 | Comments Off on Remodeling blues

Had new marble bathroom countertops and porcelin sinks installed but installation revealed six cut-off valve defects with resulting leaks. After a night of the pan/bowl brigade, we have a plumber coming this morning to repair everything and connect the sinks. Gimme them remodeling blues.

UPDATE: Plumber capped off the valves so they no longer leak but can’t get to us to repair and connect until tomorrow. Remodeling blues, indeed.

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Posted in Barbara Ellen, Mini-Rancho

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Updating

Posted on September 30, 2019 | Comments Off on Updating

Our new electric range is supposed to come today, and at least one painter to do the bathrooms in “cheerful yellow,” a Sherwin-Williams color. And the marble/porcelain sinks installed on Wednesday.

Now we’re trying to decide whether to paint the hallway light purple and the dining room light blue, or the other way around. But at least the appliances will be done with the stove.

Then it’s on to replace the water heater, which could be a bear as the building codes have changed since the old one was installed in the 1980s. Hard to believe it’s that ancient, but out-of-sight (ensconced in a closet) out-of-mind. And nowhere else to put it despite changed measurements with the building codes.

UPDATE:  The range came and is installed, but the painters aren’t coming until Thursday. After the counter tops and sinks go in Wednesday.

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Posted in History, Mini-Rancho

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The curious case of the robins

Posted on September 26, 2019 | Comments Off on The curious case of the robins

Barbara Ellen first noticed the robins in the trees in the canyon off the porch at the mini-rancho. Two of them at first, then three, then four, then six. American Robins.

They usually aren’t found here in Central Texas until winter when they flee the cold in points north. And they do it in roaming flocks, hence the six we’re now seeing daily. But in November, not September. Why are they here so early and in the midst of a prolonged heat wave and bad drought? No wild berries to eat now, which constitute 60 percent of their diet.

Bar speculates that their early arrival means we’re in for an early and prolonged winter. Maybe. But first we’re likely to have a flood. Droughts hereabouts usually end that way.

UPDATE:  Turns out there are wild berries in the vicinity. I spied them out with my trusty binoculars. So the robins ain’t starving while they’re here.

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Posted in Barbara Ellen, Birds Watching, Mini-Rancho

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Moving on…

Posted on September 25, 2019 | Comments Off on Moving on…

…to marble bathroom counter tops and drop-in porcelain sinks. Which includes getting rid of the wall mirrors above the existing fiberglass tops and sinks. When that’s done, in a week or so, we’ll start painting the bathrooms sunshine yellow and hanging six-panel natural pine doors.

So far at the mini-rancho we’ve replaced the microwave, the dishwasher, the electric range, the AC system, and tiled the bathroom floors. Future work includes a new hot water heater to head off a potential flood from an old, leaking one. We bought the place “as-is” for a slight savings and it’s slowly becoming “as-was”.

On Friday we finally close on the sale of Rancho Roly Poly and get back some of the money we’ve spent. And say goodbye to the house we shared with Mrs Charm for twelve years and where Mr. Boy grew up.

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Posted in Mini-Rancho, Mr. Boy, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly

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Kissing Wrens

Posted on September 23, 2019 | Comments Off on Kissing Wrens

Mrs. Charm has been sending us lots of interesting birds, but especially wrens, which we used to call our wren buddies. They are the king of all birds.

The other day at Rancho Roly Poly, where I went to run the irrigation system to keep the lawn green in case our buyer bailed before closing and we had to start selling all over again, I hung a new bird feeder.

I asked Mrs. Charm to send a wren to inaugurate the feeder. Then the doorbell rang and I went to answer it. I looked back over my shoulder at the feeder outside and saw a wren perched on it chowing down.

That was cool but what’s even cooler are the wrens Bar saw a day or so afterwards on our porch at the mini-rancho. These wrens were standing on the cushion of the chair I usually sit in, which was odd enough. But these two were going at it like we sometimes see cardinals do. Kissing. By rubbing the tops of their longish beaks together. Ah, love, ain’t it grand.

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Posted in Barbara Ellen, Birds Watching, Mini-Rancho, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly

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