Texas Tree Upkeep

We have 8 Water Oaks around our house. Last month a tree trimming company that has been caring for these trees for years spent a day trimming the trees, removing the mistletoe and cleaning up all the trimmings which they fed into a chipper to make mulch. By trimming the trees, more sunlight gets through and we actually have grass growing under a few of the trees where there was none. They had a "cherry picker lift" on a truck, they lifted a worker up into the tree and the fellows climbed around in the trees doing their work. If you click on the picture it will be larger and you'll be able to see the guy in the tree. 

Honey From the Rock

Rusk is a pretty town 28 miles east of Palestine. The past weekend they held their Fall and Heritage Festival at the Jim Hogg City Park. This is a beautiful park that was once a state park, however, it was not cared for and fell into disrepair, so the state deeded it to the city of Rusk. They have done a great job with it. We rented booth space and set up our honey. Sales were brisk. The weather was absolutely gorgeous - we had a fun day.

Frankston Square Fair

Frankston is a town of 1200 about 24 miles north of Palestine. It is just a few miles from Lake Palestine, a huge lake. Last week they had their 32nd annual "Square Fair". It coincides with homecoming at the high school. When I was a kid growing up on Long Island, NY the volunteer fire departments each had a parade and carnival during the summer to raise money for the department. Well here in TX, some volunteer fire departments have a parade, festival and BBQ dinner and in some towns like Frankston, the school district organizes the festival. There was a parade, and then around the town square the various classes from Kindegarten through seniors in high school had a booth, most selling food items. Instead of having kids go door-to-door selling popcorn, etc. they make their money at the Fair. One lady I know worked in the seniors' booth - they sold 325 hamburgers in 4 hours. Next year we are going to rent a booth space and sell honey! Several town residents got together and gave the gazebo a fresh coat of paint for the Fair.

East Texas State Fair

In September the East Texas State Fair was held in Tyler, which is an hour north of Palestine. It was comparable to a county fair in Arizona. These 4-H cattle were being judged. It was interesting listening to the judge explain what he was looking for in a bovine. We spent about three hours at the Fair just wandering around looking at all the critters, tractors, bees, baby chicks, jams and jellies, quilts and crafts.

Davy Crockett Drugs

The building with the white front and brown awning is the "Davy Crockett Drugs" store. The next time I visit I want to tour the restored 1891 Victorian house and the 1854 Greek Revival house. I was told the weekend before Thanksgiving is the Christmas festival and there are many arts and crafts booths set up around the courthouse. Sounds like a good place to sell honey!

Downtown Crockett

Just a view of the street heading toward the Davy Crockett Forest. Though the town is old, most of the buildings were occupied, and there was no shortage of places to eat.

The Moosehead Cafe

This was a combination cafe and antiques store. While most of those around me lunched on fried catfish, I enjoyed the east Texas version of a "Ruben" sandwich. That's the way they spelled it on the menu - it had a Texas kick to it - I think they may have used hot pepper cheese instead of swiss. It was very tasty! The cafe had an old-fashioned soda fountain counter and above the counter were political bumper stickers. The first ones I've seen that said "Condi for President".

Nice day for a ride

This was a group of Harley Davidson riders who had just had lunch at the Moosehead Cafe. Crockett has a traffic circle, so as these folks were leaving they could only turn right, so to get back on their trip they had to make a circle around the courthouse. They caught everyone's attention as they drove "around" town!

Crockett, Texas

Yes, Crockett was named for Davy Crockett. With a population of 7,251, it is the county seat for Houston County (pictured above is the court house) and it is one of the oldest towns in Texas. Legend has it that Davy Crockett stopped here to camp on his way to the Alamo. Ten miles outside of town is the Davy Crockett National Forest which is the largest national forest in the state of Texas. When my brother and sister-in-law, Doug and Marni, visit, I plan on taking them down there so they can go kayaking. Doug was a big fan of Davy Crockett when he was a kid - he even had a 'coon skin cap!

Best of Show

This is a beautiful quilt. It took first place and best of show. My guess is it took quite a lot of time to make - it was pieced, appliqued, embroidered and quilted. After visiting the show (where I managed to sell a jar of honey) I set off for Crockett, TX which is 13 miles south of Grapeland.

Labor Day Weekend

Twenty miles south of our house is a very small town called Grapeland. I think the population is around 250. But they have a nice old library and in the basement was their second annual Friendship Quilt Show. Joel doesn't like looking at quilts, so I went exploring on my own. This quilt was pieced and quilted by a man. He had several other quilts in the show. This quilt did not win any ribbons, though he had done a really nice job on it.

This is serious work!

Joel is quite serious about this job. Our neighbor puts on his Ipod, has a 44 oz drink in the cup holder and mows away! One way or another the lawns get mowed and the neighborhood looks good!

Summer activity in East Texas

Joel mows about once a week. If we had had a normal amount of rain, he probably would have been doing it more often. However, it is really dry so we are watering several times a week trying to keep it from turning brown!

Yummy Acorn

Here he is enjoying his acorn. If you'd like to see some great pictures of hummingbirds and eastern AZ visit my brother's blog at http://DesertHawgs.blogspot.com

He found one!

These little guys can run very fast and they look like they are flying when they jump from the free-standing bird feeder to a near-by tree. They love the bird seed we put out for the birds. Wal-Mart sells some kind of corn for the squirrels so they stay out of the bird seed. I think I need to try it.

East Texas Wildlife

One of the many squirrels we have in our yard. Joel took these pictures about a month ago. Here the little guy is looking for an acorn!

Farmers' Market Booths

For my Kingman friends, I hope your market grows. This was such a nice place to visit. Lots of fresh veggies and fruit, jams, jellies, pickles, and even a little honey.

Farmers' Market

The Angelina County Extension Service and the Master Gardeners built a Farmers' Market in Lufkin. The Master Gardeners maintain it. They are in the process of adding more plants. The area contains this gazebo, a walking bridge and a covered bridge to drive through. There are permanent booths and this time of the year, the market is open every day.

Beekeepers

Johnny and I have joined two beekeepers associations, one out of Tyler and the other out of Lufkin. Here Johnny (in the jeans and tan shirt) is giving a presentation to some of the Lufkin group, showing them how to split a hive. After the presentation we had a great picnic with excellent Texas BBQ brisket.

Bee Boxes

While the painting crew was at my house painting, I was at Kristin and Johnny's painting bee boxes. I painted 200+ boxes before it got too hot. They are all out in the bee yards now. There are plenty more to paint once it cools off. Don't you love the color? In the 60s we had kitchen appliances that were this color green!

And finally.......

....no more pink roses on the walls. We had sliding shower doors installed in both bathrooms.

The Sewing Room

This is the center of my spare time. A quilt in progress! There is usually more room in here - in this picture I have two craft tables set up so I could spread out the quilt while I'm working on it.

The Bed and Breakfast Room

The room is ready for guests. Even have a few empty drawers in case you want to stay for a while.

Another dining room view

The Dining Room

We are so happy with the dining room! So far everyone has had positive comments about the burgandy paint. And the wreath on the wall - I won it at a lovely little shop here in Palestine during the Dogwood Festival Days.

The Breakfast Nook and Kitchen

Standing in the living room, here is what we see!

The Island

The island is now home to three of my favorite pigs! The rest of the pig collection is still packed away.

The new white sink

This picture includes the new kitchen sink. It looks so much better than the stainless steel.

After all the work

The new Formica was applied right over the old stuff and we think it looks great. It is a "granite" pattern.

A work in progress

The tiles have had their acid bath and two coats of the special paint have been applied. Then it had to dry for 24 hours. After about 3 days the finish was very hard and it looks great.

The other side of the kitchen

In this picture you can see the tiles, the old counter top and the old stainless steel sink. I'm happy to say, they are all gone.

Before and After

Once the wallpaper was off the walls, the walls were textured and painted. Then we discovered we couldn't get these tiles off the backsplash. So the painter and his crew returned and used a special process where they applied acid to the tiles and then spray painted them. The result was wonderful. Here you see the tiles before they were painted.

After counting the flowers....

peel them off the wall. As Troy peeled the paper off the breakfast area walls he realized that at some time in the past all the woodwork in this house was natural wood with wood stain and varnish. Imagine how expensive it would be to restore it all to it's former beauty!

Counting flowers on the wall......

but not for long. In a few hours they will be gone.

A few hours later......

all the wallpaper is gone and the first layer of mud has been applied. On the bottom half of the wall where you see blue in this picture, it will be a different color when we are done - maybe Classic Burgandy, maybe a dark green. I'm still trying to decide.

Now the Work Begins

That's Troy, the painter, ripping wallpaper off the dining room wall. It had to go - it was so busy you couldn't hang up a picture - they clashed!

Neighbor's Backyard

These neighbors have lived here for 34 years. I look at this beautiful sight while I'm cooking and doing dishes. Most days at least a couple of their 6 great-grandchildren (all under 5) are out there chasing a big ball or each other. Hope I haven't bored you to tears with my introductory tour. I wanted you to see why we feel so fortunate to be here in Palestine!

And more flowers....

Wonder if I can grow yellow crook neck squash, hot peppers and tomatillos in a pot?

More of My Container Gardens

My flying pig is watching over the tomatoes, the herb pot and some flowers. These are at the edge of the patio so that they get some sun.

The Union Pacific

Yes, you are looking at a locomotive engine through those trees. On the west side of the creek our property goes uphill and on the ridge are the railroad tracks. The trains roll quietly by several times a day. They don't blow the whistle, so the only noise we hear is the engine when it passes by. The other cars really don't make much noise. I love trains, so I think they are a bonus. On the other side of those tracks is a neighborhood where everyone has 5 plus acres. We can't see any houses but we can hear an occasional rooster and a mooing member of the cattle family. We've driven through that area and many of the people have horses, too.

The Creek

Today the creek has more water than this in it because it rained last night. East Texas is still having a drought. Of course, to a former Arizonan an inch of rain overnight doesn't seem like a drought. But we begin to worry when we go 5 or 6 days without any rainfall. We don't want to see the creek dry up. Our neighbor has lived in his house for 34 years and he says only twice in all that time did the creek become almost dry. And then there were the years when it overflowed its banks. One day in Feb. or March Joel went down to look at the creek and there was a blue heron in the creek bed. They are very large birds - he said it was quite a sight watching that bird fight his way through the tree branches to take off.

Beehives in the Shade of the Trees

There's four hives on a palette down there by the creek. We decided my niche in the "Honey From the Rock" bee business will be comb honey. So my bees are happily filling what's called a Ross Round - a round frame that will fit into a crystal disk. I've already had one health food store owner ask about comb honey. Often people request the comb honey - I think it is a nostalgia thing. Like me, they remember spreading the comb honey on toast and then chewing the wax like chewing gum. Yum!! I'm hoping to have a second palatte of hives soon.

The Barn and the Greenhouse

We also have a greenhouse. I'm looking forward to using it this winter. Folks around here use them to "winter" their container gardens, their hanging ferns, etc. And do notice the fence - that used to be a cream color, too. Joel painted that last month!

Our Red Barn

This is our barn. Joel painted it last week - it was a cream color. We thought a barn should be red, so now it is. Notice how thick the trees are behind the barn. There is a creek between the barn and those trees.

Container Gardening

I noticed the neighbor to the south of us had a number of nice plants in planters on her patio. There is a reason for that. With all the trees and the grass there aren't many areas to dig where there is no root system. So these 4 planters have annuals like petunias, salvia, alysum, etc. for color. They really liked the rain we got last night. In the background that's a bird house for martins and they have been busy going in and out. The white barn belongs to the neighbors.

Front Entry

The large tree on the left is an oak. The smaller tree with the red leaves is a Japanese Red Maple. I haven't identified all the plants yet, but I was pleased to see hostas coming up near the front door. I had a beautiful hosta garden in Prescott - hoping to repeat that here.

View from the Driveway

As you drive up the driveway you can't miss the azaleas - they are just about done blooming now - my dad always fed his pickle juice so I'm going to have to eat a lot of pickles to keep all of these fed!

Welcome

Yes, this is the Yellow Rose of Texas. Our home sits on 2.3 acres and there wasn't a single rose bush on the property. Those who know me well, know that I love roses, so the first thing I planted was 4 rose bushes and the first one to bloom was this yellow Peace rose. I dug up a rhubarb root from my Kingman garden and planted it the same day I planted the roses and it already has 4 stalks with more developing. So far gardening in east Texas is way more fun than in AZ.