Just how cold is it there?

That's what one of my cousins asked me today.... and my answer was "It's cold enough to make me want to pack everything up and move to Hawaii."   My cousin reminded me that no one would visit me in Hawaii. "As if they visit me here in Texas?" --- My family is not known for jumping on a plane to visit anyone who lives outside of New York.

Our temperatures have dropped into the Twilight Zone again.... freezing nights, cold days.... and every time I go into the backyard, I see the frozen azalea bushes, the shriveled-up roses, and the violets that look like cooked spinach.   When I think of all the spring and summer days when I was pulling up weeds and watering those flowerbeds, I could just scream. My gardening days are over.  When I pull up those frozen plants, I will replace them with garden ornaments..... anything that looks nice and doesn't need to be watered.

The stray cats--- the all-black one hasn't been around lately, and neither has the brown/beige cat. I guess they found someplace warm to hide and they're not coming out till the temperatures get closer to normal in the hills here.  However, the orange/white cat has been on our porch every night for the past week.  He meows his way up the stairs, meows by the back door, then he'll eat some of the dry food out there (of course I gave in and I've been leaving food for the strays).

The orange/white cat has also decided that his sleeping-spot of choice is the lounge chair on the side porch. He lays there and looks into the windows of the TV room, and our inside cat Sweet Pea sits on his cat-perch and looks out the window at the stray.  They stare at each other for hours..... the orange/white meows but Sweet Pea keeps silent.  When it got so cold the other night, I fixed up a warm cat-bed on the lounge chair, and the orange/white has claimed that also.  The lambs-wool fabric is much warmer than the padding on the lounge, so at least I know the poor cat won't freeze out there.  I don't know why he doesn't sleep in the barn, out of the wind. Or maybe he does, as the temperatures drop during the night.  So many nights of below freezing or near-freezing temperatures..... the weather gods have lost their minds.

I shouldn't complain.... Atlanta had snow this week, Savannah had ice and they were worried about all the beautiful old trees in that historic city.... and  the city of Houston closed schools and freeways when we had freezing rain earlier this week.  So I really should not complain about our cold weather..... but of course I will. I would much rather deal with the over-100 degrees of our summer days than muddle through a few cold days of stupid weather that drifts down here from up north.

One good thing about this cold weather---- I haven't heard the coyotes howling in the woods lately. At least that's something positive about the cold temperatures. (I'd still rather have warm weather.... and I'd rather be hearing the coyotes than hearing cold stray cats meowing on the back porch.)

Snow? What snow?

This weekend has been glorious.... nearly 65 degrees yesterday, and quite near 70 today.... lots of sun, nice and warm.... and the snow and ice of the other day is just a distant memory.  This weekend's weather is how all of our 'winter' weather in this part of Texas used to be....... can't imagine what has happened to get the weather gods all confused.

We drove up to College Station yesterday...... had lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant.  Very few really authentic Chinese restaurants in this part of the Hill Country, as far as we're concerned. So when we found this one, we've made it a point to keep going back so they get to know us.  When you live in New York, there's never a problem with finding good Chinese restaurants..... so we're sort of spoiled, and very picky, when it comes to Chinese food.  (However, if you want Tex-Mex restaurants, then this is the place to be..... I'll let you know if we ever get to really wanting Tex-Mex food.... but don't hold your breath.)

Today we drove to Navasota...... had lunch at Martha's Bloomers.... another of our favorite places. Pretty decor, tablecloths on the tables, cloth napkins, pretty teapots and teacups..... all the comforts of home.... even cats!   They have two cats that roam the grounds at Martha's, which sells plants and flowers, gardening supplies, gifts for nature-lovers.  The cats aren't allowed in the cafe, but they're free to roam in the store and out in the garden area.

Cats being cats, the two belonging to Martha's Bloomers have established their King-of-The-Kingdom status.  While we were there, a group of eight ladies were having their picture taken to celebrate a birthday of one of the ladies.  They were seated in a group in the gift shop, four in front, four in the back, and just as the shop's owner was about to take their photo, one of the cats pranced up in front of the four ladies in the first row and sat down....... and became part of the photograph.

Speaking of cats.... the two stray cats still come around here on a regular basis (the all-black, and the brownish beige).... and last night, the orange/white stray was on the porch (we hadn't seen him for a few weeks).  He walked up on the porch, meowed his 'hello' to anyone who would listen, and then he laid down on one of the chairs and curled up for a nap.   Sweet Pea and Gatsby were inside, heard the orange/white cat meowing, and sat by the window in the TV room to watch.  Cats watching cats...... and there never seems to be a long stretch of time when there are no stray cats on this property.

White stuff....

We fell asleep last night listening to the sound of sleet hitting the windows, and woke up this morning to about one-eighth of an inch of snow on the ground. Our joke here in this house, when we see pictures of snow in other states, is "What do you call all of that white stuff?"   No joke today..... the white stuff is right here.

The city of Houston has closed down many parts of the Gulf Freeway... when you mix ice and sleet and snow with people who aren't used to driving in winter conditions, the results are major traffic accidents.  Schools have been closed, people have been asked to stay at home if they can.  All of this makes me think of the 14 inches of snow that my cousins just got up in NY, and life went on as usual up there.

These small Hill Country towns are filled with people who have never seen snow. I'm sure the schools here are closed today, as well as many businesses.  Life goes on here as well, but in a different way.

I let Gatsby outside this morning, and he walked to the edge of the porch where some snow had accumulated and he wouldn't put his paw into it. He tried to get around the snow, but it had fallen by the steps going down to the yard.  Not to be out-done by the white stuff, Gatsby went around to the back of the porch and found that snow was blocking those steps as well.  Smart cat that he is, he walked around to the front porch.... no snow there by the steps, so that's how he got down into the yard. He navigated around the grass, staying out of the snow-covered parts, but his paws were still touching ice-cold grass and I'm sure he wasn't too happy.  Within ten minutes, Gatsby was by the back door and ready to come into the house. Last I looked, he was in his pillow-bed and very content to be an inside cat until the weather gets back to normal here.

The temperature was 70 degrees just the other day....... it went below freezing last night, and isn't going much higher than 40 today.  The television weather wizards are promising that we'll be up to nearly 70 degrees again on Sunday. I may just stay warm and cozy in the house until then.   I'm thankful today that I can just stay at home, and I'm on no one's time clock except my own.

Freezing rain...

Give me a blessed break....

Yesterday's weather was 70 degrees and sunny..... gorgeous day.  The day before was more or less the same, but not quite as warm.  Today, however.... woke up to a 45-degree morning, and that number is already dropping down towards the freezing point.

We're supposed to get freezing rain, possibly some snow, starting later on tonight. To add some madness to the mayhem, the temperatures will get below below freezing and stay there for a couple of days.  As I said.... give me a blessed break.

I've already put the heaters on in the cottage and the barn, and the water is dripping, dripping, dripping.... in the hopes that we don't have pipes freezing. (Been there, done that, don't want to do it again.)

The gas company has been here earlier this morning, filling up the tank with propane.  I always wonder about all that propane in the big tank out in the yard.  Our other house had electric heat, which you didn't have to think about..... it was just always there.  With propane heating, you have to be aware of how much you have, although the propane company has been pretty efficient in making sure we always have more than enough.

I don't see the neighbor's goats and cows in his pasture, so I'm guessing he is keeping them close his barn instead of letting them get too far from shelter.  That neighbor's dogs know how to herd the cows and goats, and it's interesting to see how the dogs gather up the livestock and get them moving in the right direction.  I'm so glad we don't have animals out in our fields. In weather like this, I'd be wanting to put blankets over them and keep them in a heated barn so they don't get a chill.

I am so ready for Summer.......

"If you need me, just whistle..."

There's an old movie with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall with that line of dialogue in it...... Bacall is walking out the door and she looks back at Bogart and says those words. I don't remember the name of the movie, but I do remember that Bogart's character was named Harry, but Bacall calls him Steve in that scene, which was the middle name of Bogart's character in that film. "Harry Steven" something-or-other.  Bogart never looked like a "Harry," and "Steve" does seem to fit him better, but then.... "Humphrey" just didn't ever seem to fit Bogart either, but somehow it worked.

But this entry isn't about Bogart and Bacall........ I was trying to fall back to sleep after the train whistle went blasting through the hills, and I just got to thinking about that old movie.

The first train went by around midnight, and that's when I woke up.  The second train blasted its horn about half an hour ago at two o'clock, and I was wide awake for that one because I never got back to sleep after the midnight whistle.

When we first moved out here, the train whistles were distant and poignant, more like a lullaby that came drifting through the woods.  After the whistle, you could hear the coyotes howling in the distance, off in the woods, and their howling seemed lonely and hopeful.

For the past year or so, the train whistles have gotten urgent, loud, and downright rude. Gone are those soft whistles that reminded you that life goes on in the country hills even in the middle of the night. Now the engineers are blasting an air-horn that sounds like the Titanic is about to hit an iceberg again.  These obnoxious blasts aren't being followed by the howls of the coyotes because those poor animals are probably running the other way, going deeper into the woods to get some peace and quiet in the middle of the night.

I'm hoping to get back to sleep.... I'm hoping that there will be no more trains, at least until the sun comes up. As that old saying goes.... Hope floats.

Don't look now....

... but there are three cows in our yard. (And we don't own livestock.)

I just happened to see our outside cat Gatsby sticking his head through the slats of the railing around the porch..... that cat was stretching his neck out as far as it could go, and I couldn't figure out why. I walked to another room in the house to get a better view of the side yard, and that's when I saw the three cows. Oh my... no wonder Gatsby was over-stretching his neck. I don't think he's ever been that close to such big animals before.

My husband and I both went outside to shoo away the cows, who were on their way to the fountain out front to take a drink.  The fountain is not exactly built for cows, nor did I want the cows trying to get up on the porch.  On the way out the door, my husband grabbed his car keys, and I got the binoculars.  I looked further up our hill and saw that our friend J's gate was wide open..... which is how the cows escaped.  After living up here for nearly five years, you get to know which cows belong to which neighbor. I don't know the names of the breeds, but I do know which color cows belong on which pastures.

I got on the phone and called J........ and spent half a minute telling her what a beautiful day it was in the neighborhood before I broke the news that her cows had gotten out. Not exactly what she wanted to hear... she's had to chase those cows before, and they're not exactly her cows.... she leases the land to the owner of those cows.

So there I went into our yard, yelling at the cows to go home.... my husband got in his car and got behind the cows to prod them in the direction of their own pasture.... and somehow we got the cows halfway up the hill before J drove down in her truck.  By then, the cows had made a sharp right instead of a slight left and they ended up on another neighbor's property.

J drove through that wide-open gate, onto that neighbor's property, and managed to get two of the cows in front of her truck, and my husband blocked the road going towards our property with his car.... and there I stood, in front of two huge cows, telling them to Go home!  Just go home!

I must be out of my mind.  After the cows walked past me, I asked my husband if they could have knocked me down.  Those cows weigh about 1200 pounds each..... you do the math.

While we were herding the third cow back to its own pasture, neighbors J & J came home and they used their car to block their own driveway so the last cow wouldn't end up on the wrong property. J got out of the car and told me "Isn't this so much fun?!"   I had to disagree. I can think of at least one thousand ways to have more fun than standing in front of an enormous cow and telling her to Go home!

The cows are back where they belong now... their gate is secure, and hopefully, they won't be getting out anytime soon.  Friend J has already called the owner of those cows, telling him to come get his livestock at his earliest convenience because she's tired of chasing down his cows with her truck.

As you might have guessed, today's adventure wasn't exactly our first rodeo.

Now this is Winter....

.... sunny and warm and right up near 70 degrees. The weather gods are once again being kind to the state of Texas.

I walked around the yard and looked at the flowerbeds this afternoon.... some of the plants look frozen in their places out there. The gardenia plant may be history, as well as some of the azaleas, and the violet plants look like cooked spinach. The freezing nights in December were not what those plants were expecting.

Last Spring, we re-mulched all the flowerbeds around the house.... they looked beautiful with the fresh mulch and new plants. However, the only reason they stayed alive throughout the blazing hot summer is because I was out there watering the plants twice a day.  I told my husband that I felt "married to the flowerbeds" last year.  Not going to happen again.  What an insult... to keep those plants alive all summer long, only to have them frozen in place in December.  Fool me once.... (as that saying goes).

This year, whatever plants that didn't make it through the frigid temperatures are not going to be replaced. I don't want to spend the coming summer months watering my heart out and trying to keep plants alive that will either have their leaves eaten by the deer at night in July and August, or get frostbitten by hard-freeze temperatures when December comes around again.

This is exactly why Texas gardeners love cactus plants...... you put them into the ground and you forget them.  No watering, no pruning, no pampering.  And cactus plants can give you beautiful blooms of pink, white, and yellow flowers.   My husband hates cactus.  I'm not exactly crazy about them either, but at least I wouldn't be out there with the garden hose twice a day all summer long.

I know this one thing for sure:  this Texas gardener is tossing in her gloves and her bags of mulch. I quit. I give up. I no longer want to grow plants and fight the summer heat only to be shot down by the winter wind. (That's a really good line for a country/western song.)

Sunny days....

.... with a little bit of rain tossed in to make sure we're paying attention.

The temperatures have gone back up to normal 'winter' numbers for Texas.... we've had high 60s and low 70s for the past couple of days, with lots of sun. Balmy, to say the least, and this weather is most welcome.

Christmas is officially over in this house.... the big tree is now out on in the pasture, on one of the brush piles. I dragged the tree there myself this morning.  My husband has been busy for days at his computer, plus it had been raining, so the tree was sitting on the lawn in front of the house. The birds were inspecting it for possible nesting, so it was just time to move that tree.  On went my country-girl boots, on went my husband's work gloves (way too big for me), and off I went into the pasture, dragging that tree behind me.

The brush pile didn't look that far away, until I had that tree dragging along the field.  I had to stop quite a few times, but I made it, and thankfully, the lower branch of the tree didn't snap off during the dragging.  I set this year's tree right next to last year's tree, which has quite a few little nests among its branches. The grass will grow up around both trees and within a couple of years, the old Christmas trees will look like a small mountain of ground and grass, happily making homes for field mice and little birds.

Gorgeous day today... windy outside, but at least it's not raining, and the temperatures aren't hovering around the freezing mark, so all is well in our little bubble out here in the hills.

Drippy, cloudy, soggy.

The weather has returned to somewhat normal, unless you're looking for the sun.  Temperatures will be up near 60 degrees today, and warmer as the week goes on here. However, with the warmth comes rain, and it's been raining since yesterday.  My husband says that the landscape looks like West Virginia.  I've only been in WV a couple of times and I guess I was lucky because the sun was shining during both of those visits.

Looking out over our property, the clouds seem to be nearly touching the pond (which is filled to the top because of the rain).  The fields are soggy and brown, with grass that is waiting for the sun to turn it green again.  Because of the recent freezing weather we had, some of the plants in the flowerbeds have shriveled up and they resemble cooked spinach.  Honestly, all that work we did in the garden last Spring has been a waste of time.... between the Summer days of 100+ degrees, and then the December days of temperatures either at or below the freezing point, the flowerbeds look as if they've never been re-planted.  I give up on Texas gardening. No wonder why people swear by cactus plants.

The two stray cats have been visiting our back porch on a regular basis.... small all-black cat, small beige-brown cat.  Most likely from the same litter because where one goes, the other follows.  I don't think Gatsby has seen much of those cats because he's been inside a lot because of the cold, and inside now because of the rain. (It didn't take Gatsby very long to decide that being an inside cat during bad weather is nicer than being a tough outside cat.)  Mickey has been in the garage for a few days, walking thru there into the coop when he wants some fresh air.  He's not too happy to be in there, but at least he's warm and dry, plus the days of quarantine have given his leg a rest... he's had some sort of sprain to his right front paw and had been limping last week.  Mickey only thinks he's a tough outside cat, but he hasn't an ounce of outside-cat sense.

My husband and I feel like Christmas was just a blur..... but at least we're feeling better.  Still coughing a little bit here and there, but nearly back to the way we were feeling before the cold/flu/whatever took over.

Impossibly stupid weather....

.... and I just have to wonder how on earth I lived up in NY for so many years... the weather there is so much colder, plus the snow and ice and sleet and slush... it's never-ending during the winter.  And here I sit, all bundled up in layers because the temperatures here are less than 40 degrees outside. I've turned into a weather wimp.

I went to Palais Royal yesterday, armed with two ten-dollar-off coupons and looking for the after-Christmas sales on warm (dare I type this) sweat-suits.  I've never worn a sweat-suit in my life, but honestly, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.  All Spring and Summer, I wear capris, mostly white ones because it's just so blasted hot here that the lighter the color, the cooler you feel. (Did I just write 'blasted hot?' I would kill for some of that blasted heat right about now.)

During the winter, the outfit of choice up here is jeans... and I don't mind wearing jeans, but denim isn't exactly the most warm and most toasty of fabrics when it's this cold.  So I thought I'd get a couple of those sweat-suits... warm and fleecy, soft and cozy... and that's just what I did yesterday.  One is bright pink, the other is leopard-print.  I hereby swear, to my Aunt Dolly and every single one of my aunts that have departed this world.... I will never, never wear either the bright pink or the leopard out in the real world. (The property here doesn't constitute the real world... this is just a tiny bubble of life that's held together by a thread of grass and air and clouds.)

My legs are finally warm.... ditto for my arms... but I'm still wearing a shawl-type of poncho over the new warm and toasty clothing.  I don't think I've felt really warm and comfortable since I got sick during Christmas week.

Impossibly stupid weather.... that belongs up north.  Once you move down south, your blood takes on the consistency of a mint julep while keeping the bright red color of Mr. Lincoln's roses.  As my husband says... we didn't sign up for this weather when we moved to Texas twenty years ago.

One more stray cat......

To add to the stray cat tally around here...... not only do we have the orange/white stray that never eats but lets us know he's on the porch by meowing for all he's worth...... but now we also have an all-black stray that looks enough like our own Mickey Kitty to be his twin brother.  And this Mickey-look-alike is one starving cat, as shown by the amount of Meow Mix he can eat in one sitting.

I had food out on the porch this morning because Mickey and Gatsby were outside. At one point this morning as I was walking up the front staircase, I saw Mickey out in the sun on the front porch and not three feet away from him was a mirror-image black cat.  Mickey watched the other cat walking on the porch, then as soon as I went out there to see who the stranger was, Mickey started to hiss and screech a little bit, in defense of either me or his porch.

I quickly put Mickey into the garage, brought Gatsby into the house, and left the food out on the porch for the black stray.  Within ten minutes, the stray was curled up by the food dish and eating every bit of Meow Mix in the bowl.  Quite unlike the orange/white stray who never eats either the Meow Mix or the Fancy Feast that I've offered him.   The orange/white doesn't appear to be starving.......... this black one is clearly thin, clearly hungry, and clearly a mirror image of Mickey.

My husband had gone into the barn this morning to turn off the electric blanket that we keep around the handle of the water pump-thing when the temperatures get down near freezing, as they did last night. (All it takes in one good solid freeze, which happened two years ago, so now we're very careful about heaters and dripping faucets and every other precaution we can take when the temperatures get un-Texas-like in December and January.)   As my husband got near to the pump-thing in the barn this morning, he said a cat darted out from near the blanket.  Now we're guessing that the stray (one or both of them) have discovered that it's warm under that blanket on these cold nights.  Heaven only knows how many stray cats have made homes for themselves in that barn since we've been here.  We've taken countless strays to the shelter in town since we've been on this property, but these latest two may be too smart to find themselves caught in a catch/release trap.

We'll see what happens...... I'll just have to be careful with Mickey.... that cat is fearless, and he doesn't have a clue how to really be an outside cat.  He's all hiss and no fight, that one.  Sweet Pea is the luckiest cat... he's inside, doesn't try to get out, knows that it's safer and cozier in the house, and (so far) he's been a very good inside cat since we found him two years ago.

Cats... cats... deliver me from stray cats.

The cat through the looking glass....

The orange/white stray cat has come back... and not only is it back, but it has been sleeping on one of the porch chairs at night, all cuddled up in a cat-blanket just as nice as you please.  I have not fed this stray cat...... but I did try a couple of week ago.  Cans of Fancy Feast, and bowls of Meow Mix.... the orange/white stray turned his nose up at all of it, so I stopped wasting the food out there.  He doesn't look as if he's starving, and chances are he has been feasting on field mice.  If that's the case, then a can of Fancy Feast isn't going to tempt him, and that goes double for Meow Mix.

The stray cat will curl himself on a cat-blanket, in a chair right in front of the windows of the TV room. On the other side of those windows, Sweet Pea and Gatsby will watch his every move from the safety of the TV room, hardly blinking for fear they'll miss something.  Sweet Pea is especially interested, twitching his whiskers and stretching his neck as far out from his body as it will go. Considering that Sweet Pea has never met anyone or anything that he hasn't liked, this doesn't surprise me.

Gatsby, however, is quite annoyed that yet another stray cat has dared to touch a paw to Gatsby-Land.  Being very male, and very territorial, Gatsby has no patience with any of the stray cats that have found their way to our porch.  After a few tentative growls and low meows, Gatsby will eventually turn into a bull and ram himself into the stay cat, after first getting a good running start from the other end of the porch.  Such actions have resulted in a few puncture wounds on the top of Gatsby's head, but he will usually hide under the porch steps or the cottage until he has cleaned away the blood.  Ever the gentleman, Gatsby doesn't like to draw attention to himself, especially when his own blood has been shed.

My husband went out on the porch last night to say hello to the orange/white stray.... and wonder of wonders, the stray let my husband pet his orange/white head.  This stray cat is particularly vocal, letting everyone in the house know when he's out on the porch with loud and very sad-sounding meows.  You would think that after not taking any food that's been offered him, he would have moved on to another house, to another porch.... and possibly find one that doesn't already have two outside cats and one inside cat?!

I have not given this orange/white cat a name...... nor do we intend to keep him........ I don't care how many field mice he has eaten, I don't care how sad his meows sound, and I don't care how cute he is.  I'm not starting off a new year with a new cat.