Screws In My Coffee

Dean the Deer Hunter is at it again. This time he may have bagged one of Santa's drivin' gears. Dean has been very successful at bringing in some winter meat this season. To some it may be easier and cheaper to go down to the local Wal-Mart and get your meat, but there is something to be said about being able to hunt for your food.

Dean is Sylvia's son. He is a nice guy and has helped make the Lone Worm Ranch a well irrigated and maintained place. Tonight he was hunting and he shot two deer. Sylvia and I were just getting to leave the ranch after spending the night. Dean had been hunting all day Saturday and was out in the evening trying to get a deer. When Sylvia and I were just about to leave we heard two shots. A short time later Dean came to the house all excited as he had just shot two deer. I offered to help him load the deer in his truck so we headed to the back woods where the deer lay. Dean was in the process of turning his Dodge 4 X 4 truck around and got stuck in the deep sandy mud. The mud was the result of about 5 inches of rain that had fallen the night before. We had to get the deer so Sylvia called for a tow truck and Dean and I went to the red barn and got the wheel barrow and headed across the 30 acre pasture to the edge of the woods. After taking pictures of Dean and the deer, we loade...

Tonight I was shredding the fields on the Lone Worm Ranch and I was in awe of the bright orange sunset. I got the tractor out to the ranch around 5 PM. I wanted to run the tractor until it got dark. I always get a peacful frame of mind when I am riding on the tractor across the fields. Tonight it was especially beautiful as I watched the big red sun slide down to the horizon. the oak trees made a nice black contrast against the flaming sky. There was no one out in the field but me, the tractor and thousands of grass hoppers and other bugs.

Yesterday I was working out in the hot humid Texas sun. I drank a lot of water while I use my DR Trimmer to continue my work of clearing brush from around the house and the Pecan Trees. I was walking with the wheel burrow and I had my reoccurring feeling that my ancestors were with me. Working the land does not feel as strange as it did when I first came to Texas to live in late 2003.

So 11-15 inches of rain has fallen in Marble Falls last night. For the past 10 days it has been raining in Central Texas. I could not shred the fields out at my ranch near Winchester Texas this weekend because the ground was soggy.

I'm the proud owner of a John Deer 530 tractor.� This tractor use to belong to my uncle Cliff, but it was given to me. Currently the tractor is located at Paig Tractor where it is being repaired.� I plan on restoring the tractor and painting it so that it looks as close to new as possible.� I will use the tractor to haul a cart around the ranch with tools to do work.

Well this was a very special Thanksgiving for me. It was a time for being thankful for a lot of things. For me it was a time of a lot of first time experiences. For one thing it was the first time that my sister and her family, my mother and my children celebrated Thanksgiving togather. It was the first time that my sister's husband and children have been to the ranch. I have not cooked a meal for a family function in a few years so I was nervous. I fried a turkey and prepared barbeque ribs and brisket. I had never prepared these dishes, but I did it with the help of my daughter Kalia and son Zak. I can not wait to smoke some meat again. The group photo has fro left to right starting with the front row, Kalia Wormley, Becca Vietze. On the second row is Zak Wormley, La Verne Wormley and Josh Vietze. On the back row is Lonnie Wormley, Deborah Vietze-Wormley, Sylvia McCormick and Peter Vietze. Yeah it was a long weekend when I had a chance to start new memories and tradition...

Here in Texas it was a hot and dry August but as school starts and September starts to roll in the rains age finally starting to flow. I rented an animated film that you may be interested in seeing. The film was written and directed by my favorite animator Hayao Miyazaki . I am sure you know his work as you have some of his films on DVD like Spirited Away. The film that I rented is Porco Rosso and it is very good. You may recognize some of the actors who do the voices like Michael Keaton. The story involves a young woman who helps Porco re-build his airplane. She has an engineering background and the plane is built by all women. The images on the card were taken by me out at the ranch. I have started to take pictures of myself by holding my camera or my phone camera away from me and just taking pictures. I was inspired to do this when I was in New York visiting my sister. I met one of her step sons who is a photographer and he was doing this with his camera. He t...

I got a disturbing phone call from my neighbor that owns the property behind the Lone Worm Ranch in Fayatte County. He told me that there was water running down Wormley Lane and it was reaching the Waxsman property to the south on the ranch. I told him to turn off the pump. So today Sylvia and I went out to the ranch to see what was up. What We found is that the pond was full. What we discovered is that there was a leak at the valve right next to the culvert that fills the pond. I dug up the area around the leak and found the place where the pipe was seperated. Once I had the valve expose I cleaned it and re-glued it. I tested the joint and then re-buried the valve. Once the leak was repaired the water that ran through the bubblers on each tree had more water pressure. There is new growth on the trees that happened after the fish emulsion and compost tea application. the trees are doing better. The August heat has parched the land here in central Texas. Today it was 105 degrees but th...

This is a Pecan tree in Bastrop This is my hand against the trunk These are pecans on the tree These are the group of trees that I want to select from.

I was getting ready to go to work one morning and stepped outside my house on the Lone Worm Ranch. When I looked east towards the forest the sun was just peaking over the trees. This I had seen many times but what was above was a huge thunder cloud that had the most beautiful lighting. I took a picture but it hardly does justice to being able to stand and look east then gradually arch your back until you are looking straight up at beautiful clouds.

Feeding cattle for the first time using the bales of hay in Cliff's barn was fun. Cliff has square bales of hay in his barn and big round bales out in the corral in the field. When the cattle heard the tractor fire up they thought Cliff was going to go out, get a big round bale out of the corral, and feed them. All of the cattle and 7 calfs came to the fence and started mooing for hay. Cliff said that he was thinking about feeding them and I offered to help. Throwing hay to cows is a simple task, but it was the first time that I had a chance to feed cows especially the one that Cliff gave me. I also got to see the calf that she had up close. All the little calves are so cute and they run around the older cattle in a frisky manner.

12/8/2003 8:58 PM I have spent my first week living on the Lone Worm Ranch. It has been a week full of discovery and challenges. Taking cold showers and going to bed with the chickens and waking up 4 hours before sunrise are just a few of the moments that have made this week interesting.