Rancho Reid

For those of you who don't know, my wife and I purchased a four acre plot on which we plan to build a house in a few years - a "few" being anywhere from 2 to 5 depending on Son-The-Younger's ability to get a college scholarship. Discussing the love and care of four acres hardly puts this blog in the league of Pioneer Woman, but I also don't have that much time to keep a blog anyway.


So, what possible care could there be of this little plot? I mean, it looks pretty boring and empty, right? Looks like a lot of grass, mainly. A little pond.

Of course, that picture is after it has been mowed. This is what it looks like before it has been mowed. In Texas, if you don't plan anything, you just get Johnson Grass. Lots and lots of very tall Johnson Grass. If I ever discover a use for this junk, I will be a multi-bazillionaire. I'm not sure it is possible to kill Johnson Grass. Maybe you could with a blow torch.

But I digress. With that much tall grass on the lot, it must, of course, be mowed. And how does one mow such a lot?

With a tractor, of course! There is a small snag, though: I don't own a tractor. I have to have a friend come over and mow for me. Quite a friend, eh? This also involves some finagling of schedules and promises of help with his property, but it is a fair trade.

It also involves quite a bit of work. I mean, driving a tractor in and of itself isn't hard, but there is other prep work that has to be done. Like taking a good old string lawn trimmer to various spots on the lot and trimming around certain objects. And then there is the transport of the tractor to and from the lot, which is a process all its own. I don't have pictures, but I will tell you that my friend's trailor and truck are JUST big enough to haul the tractor. JUST.

So, now the land has been mowed and looks sorta nice (for a bit). What do we do now that is so difficult? Why, put in irrigation and plant trees! How fun!

First Post - Haleakala

OK, so this is my first blog post and I'm starting with a hiking trip in Maui. Not very grumpy or curmudgeonly, but what the heck. My wife was off on a snorkeling trip and since I get violently motion sick, I decided to do some hiking in Haleakala National Park.

I did a rather long 10.2 mile round-trip hike that had over 2500 feet of elevation change and by the time I got back (the walking-up part being at the end), I was completely wiped out. However, before my near-collapse from exhaustion, I did manage to snap a few pics.

This first one is of the trail...



This is looking back on part of the trail on my way back in.



The clouds started to roll in and I walked part of the way back in a rather dense fog.



I took significantly more pictures than this, but the area is so vast and open that there is no sense of scale associated with them, alas.

I did manage to revive enough to get down to the beach with the rest of the group to see this sunset, which was the best one we saw all week.



And, since I'm not above stealing ideas, I took this pic of the life guard shack. Matt had the idea to take it an Lisa suggested where to stand to get the light behind the palm tree.



So, there it is. Lisa has much more to say and many more pictures, but I at least wanted to say something about my little adventure.