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w_r_ranch

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South Central Texas
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Made a pot of Lima beans & turned it into succotash.

Plan & did drawings for a filler piece for the back of the wicker table (Mrs Ranch had me rearrange the back porch furniture). Hopefully this will discourage Dieter from jumping over the glass-topped table section. Now I can start cutting the wood.
 

w_r_ranch

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Did the weekly shopping.

Cut the lumber got the trame & the cedar facing boards for my back porch project, them assembled it. I still have to trim it out & paint it, but that wasn't going to happen today. The humidity was bad & I was drench just from doing what I did.

Shot a sow pig that was next to our high fence. I was unable to pick off her babies...
 
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w_r_ranch

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Started raining again here just about daybreak, 1.34" thus far...

Made stuffed jalapenos to go with ou supper.

Made a carrot cake for our neighbors. On the way home, I saw the lil' pigs from yesterday & was able to get 1 of them (4 more to go).

Installed the lower parts kit into one of my projects. Also installed the buffer tube & brace. We are now ready to start the upper when all the parts arrive.
 
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w_r_ranch

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Drizzling here again. Another 0.56" thus far...

Made bread.

Made a chocolate cake with vanilla icing for our dessert tonight.

Something big wrecked the redbird feeders. Whatever it is, it is heavy enough & able to jump over 6' to grab the feeders (breaking the plastic tabs that hold the bottom on). I cleaned & epoxied the feeders back together, then set up a game camera to find out what I'm dealing with. I also set a trap to see if I get lucky in the meantime. I'm guessing it is a big coon....
 
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w_r_ranch

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Still raining here, we've received 1.34" since midnight...

The trap was tripped but nothing in it. I looked at the images from the game camera & saw that I'm dealing with 3 big coons that showed up at 0330 hrs. Even got a shot of one standing on the water tub, reaching up over the varmint barrier to climb the pole. They don't know it yet, but they are all going to die.

Applied 2 coats of clear acrylic to the redbird feeders to renew the color.

Finally got around to replacing the sensor on the tractor & the blown fuses. That was it!!! It runs again!!!
 
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w_r_ranch

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Still raining, 0.49" thus far. I'm already dreading having to cut the grass.

Made bread.

Took the truck in for it's yearly inspection. While I was out, I stopped to pickup a couple of cedar 1X2s for my back porch project... Holy crap, they were $8.99 each. That is beyond ridiculous!!!

Cut the 1X2s for the trim & got it installed. I have 3 more sections to cut for wrapping the sides & top whenever it stops raining.
 
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w_r_ranch

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Chalked the back porch project, so it's ready for paint.

Cut the grass in the yard, around the barn & along the roads. It was as bad as I expected.
 

w_r_ranch

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Did the weekly shopping.

Harvested some green onions, cilantro, bell peppers & jalapenos from the garden.

Seasoned up some beef fajita meat that I'll grill for supper tonight.

Made a pot of pinto beans & will make ranch rice later to go with them.

Mrs. Ranch said she has a taste for pound cake... so I made her one. Prepped strawberries & pureed them into a sauce to pour on top at serving time, along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

It started raining again, just after I finished grilling the meat... another 0.97".
 
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w_r_ranch

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Received another 0.14" of rain since midnight...

Raised the 'bait cup' up in the trap in the hope that the coons will have to step on the trigger to reach it. Also staked 2 corners with rebar so they can't tip it over to spill the bait & then push the trap off of the food. There's nothing smarter than old coons... except for a determined coon hater that's married to a bird lover.

Did a mechanical drawing for the counterweight for my wood project, then gave it to my neighbor for fabrication.

Harvested basil & prepped it for dehydrating.
 
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w_r_ranch

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Started painting my wood project.

The basil I put in the dehydrator yesterday is done, so I got another batch going,
 
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w_r_ranch

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Went to the cemetery to lowered the flag at 0600hrs. Then I made a 2nd trip to raise it back up at 1700 hrs.

Made bread.

Finished painting my wood project.

Ground the dehydrated basil & bottled it for later use.

Spent time troubleshooting my computer & found that I got a bad kernel update. Backed out of it to one that works & them did the monthly backup.

Forecast is now showing rain for the next 10 days...
 
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w_r_ranch

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It's raining again this morning, 0.22" thus far.

Last night before bed, when I let Dieter out to do his business, I saw a shadow of a coon down at the bird feeders... I got her with a .300 magnum. 1 down, 2 to go. There's no such thing as overkill...

Cleaned & refilled the hummingbird feeders.

Harvested 2 more big bowls of basil & prepped it for dehydrating.
 
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Titus Bass

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429
Location
Wild Peach
Planting Zone
9A
I got a big smart coon I am going to have to change tactics with. He will not go into a live trap. It has figured out how to open the latch on my cat feeder. It is normally coon proof. Going to get a dog proof trap ang try that out.........
 

w_r_ranch

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Last night I finally received the S.S. barrel for my most recent AR project, so I finished building the upper receiver this morning.

This morning I disposed of another female coon. Unfortunately this wasn't one of the remaining 2 big ones, but I'll take what I can get. Cleaned & rest the trap, we're hoping for another one tonight.

Harvested tomatoes.

Harvested more basil. Then got it prepped & in the dehydrator.
 
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w_r_ranch

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South Central Texas
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Made bread.

Ground the dehydrated basil from the last 2 days & bottled it for later use.

Made a spice cake for our dessert.

Processed the tomatoes from yesterday into spaghetti sauce.

Mated up the upper & lower receivers of my most recent build, then mounted the green laser. The Sightmark M-Spec reflex sight should arrive tomorrow.
M-Spec.jpg
Rained 0.60", starting in the late afternoon...
 
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w_r_ranch

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Splashed another big boar coon under the bird feeders this morning (1 big one to go). Buzzards will be eating well again today.

Did the weekly shopping.

Mounted & boresighted the M-Spec sight on the pistol build. As soon as it dries up here, I'll sight it in!!!
 
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Titus Bass

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429
Location
Wild Peach
Planting Zone
9A
Got #11 last night. Big boar coon. Caught him with the DPT. Used marshmallows for bait.......didn't want to catch my cat......
 

Titus Bass

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Messages
429
Location
Wild Peach
Planting Zone
9A
Made bread.

Ground the dehydrated basil from the last 2 days & bottled it for later use.

Made a spice cake for our dessert.

Processed the tomatoes from yesterday into spaghetti sauce.

Mated up the upper & lower receivers of my most recent build, then mounted the green laser. The Sightmark M-Spec reflex sight should arrive tomorrow.
Let me know how you like that sight.....
 

RLwhaler

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488
Location
Cypress,Texas
Planting Zone
8b
My oldest daughter just took her MCAT and is heading to Duke's University Med School.Just like her momma.

High school girl ( In the glasses) aka " drama queen" is heading to TCU ( Texas Christian University) Pre-Med program. We almost died when Emory and Princeton gave her a scholarship as well. She took TCU instead. These girls knew where and when they are going since they were in the 5th grade. We will miss them terribly !

168465073_1416192015392878_5026716808219368912_n.jpg

166102178_455650299015931_5593698136241277390_n (1).jpg
 
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w_r_ranch

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Location
South Central Texas
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8b
No coon this morning the buzzards are disappointed...

Dieter & I prepped an eye-of-round that we'll smoke for his treats.

Finally got around to putting the new license sticker on the truck.

Cleaned the weather station to remove the spider silk from the rain gauge.
 

Titus Bass

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Messages
429
Location
Wild Peach
Planting Zone
9A
My oldest daughter just took her MCAT and is heading to Duke's University Med School.Just like her momma.

High school girl ( In the glasses) aka " drama queen" is heading to TCU ( Texas Christian University) Pre-Med program. We almost died when Emory and Princeton gave her a scholarship as well. She took TCU instead. These girls knew where and when they are going since they were in the 5th grade. We will miss them terribly !

Congratulations to all........What lovely young ladies.......
 

w_r_ranch

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Location
South Central Texas
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8b
No coon this morning, the buzzards are disappointed again...

Made bread.

Received my counterweight for the back porch project yesterday, so I attached it & applied the final coat of paint. When it's dry, I'll move it into place.

Cleaned/sanitized the potato curing trays as it is time to start harvesting them.

Cleaned the picnic tables down at the party barn.

Cleaned the bird feeding station in preperation for painting it. Also clean the water tub & refilled it.

Harvested green peppers, tomatoes & cucumbers, then took some down to share with our younger neighbors.
 
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