Oct. 28-31 Watching Grandkids

Sunday morning I managed to clean out the inside of my truck. I had all kinds of stuff strewn around. After that I went and mowed down at Kevin"s all the way up to the road gate.  Took a quick shower and we headed to Kristi"s. Susan and Kristi  headed to Adam"s, down near Corpus Christi. They will come back on Wednesday. I am staying in Kingwood shuttling the girls. I took Ashley to a volleyball lesson and then went to Harbor Freight . You can run  up a bill there pretty quick on a 30 minute visit. Mike Z cooked us supper and we watched a little football. Monday morning I got all the kids delivered to school. I went back to Liberty and got Susans car inspected and then on to the courthouse for tags. I then went home and mowed the yard before the next rain comes. I did a few other chores and headed back to Kingwood to pick up kids. We had leftovers for supper and I took Sammi to her softball game.  They won and we got home around 9:00pm. I was tired and ready for bed. Tuesday was basically a repeat of yesterday. I got the girl off to school Wednesday morning. Susan and Kristi are coming back today so we will head home later.   The repairs on their house are still ongoing from Harvey. Its getting closer to finished, yesterday they got the wood floors down on the stairway.  The downstairs master bathroom is about the last thing that needs finishing.

Sammi has short legs like Maggie

Maggie ignores Lexi but Lexi won"t give up

Yard all mowed

Floors are almost finished

Sammi at bat

Oct 20- A New Toy -Movimg Stands

Saturday morning I left the house at 7:00 am and headed to Bryan. Kevin bought a new Polaris 850 and I went to pick it up. He is still working in  West Virginia so I will keep it till he shows up. Its really a nice machine, It rides so smooth and has lots of power. It was so shiny  I almost hated to get it in the mud. Kyle came in Saturday night. Sunday we worked all day. We moved 1 stand with the tractor. it took awhile as it was hard to get down some narrow paths where we needed it. We also built another platform and set the new stand on it. Its a  big 4x8 box. Good for grandkids. We did manage to do a little riding before Kyle headed home. Monday morning was a very cool 47 degrees when I got up. I started out walking the woods just checking things out. I also rode down to the river. It has been dropping steady but still backed up where the creek comes in. Tomorrow I'm going to take my tractor back home and hope to mow the yard. It was raining Tuesday when I got up. I put my rain suit on and put some corn in a feeder that was empty. Got back to camp and loaded my box blade and tractor and headed home. I washed some clothes and went and voted early.  I timed it just right, walked in and went straight to vote. I tried the electronic machine for the first time, didn't like it so I will go back to a paper ballot next time. I went back to the lease Wednesday morning. It wasn't raining when I got there but started drizzling around 1:00 pm and continued all evening. This has been the wettest October I can remember in years. Susan went to Kingwood and spent the night.  Ashley turns 13 tomorrow and she is having a birthday brunch before school. It is a late arrival day for them at school. Thursday morning I went and got corn for my feeders and came back. Little John was just getting there. He was headed to meet Danny Espree in Livingston and then head to his deer lease in Crockett to do a few remodeling jobs in his cabin. I went with them . We got everything done and then stopped at the Hilltop Café in Crockett for a late lunch. It was a really good buffet and we all pigged out. I didn't get much done at my lease but tomorrows a new day. Friday got all the automatic feeders filled and just chilled . It was a gorgeous day. Saturday morning Little John and I borrowed David's trailer and went to Tractor Supply to get a 10x10 kennel for Max. Its going to work well. Easy to set up with plenty of room and I won't have to put him on a line in camp. I went and checked my game camera and moved it to another spot. I was getting a lot of daytime pictures up until about 7 days ago, now most of my pictures are at night. Headed home and will not be back until probably net Thursday.

A young buck working a scrape

Creek is still backed up

Kevin "s new 4-wheeler 

cruising around

moving a stand

Kyle painting the new stand we put up

Maggie is staying warm

river still pretty high

water is down but very boggy here

walking the creek one nice morning

this is the kennel we got

OCT 15-19 Cold Front at Mack Creek

Monday morning I loaded all my gear and headed to the lease. When I went thru Moss Hill it was 78 and sunny, by the time I got to Mack Creek it was 65 and raining.  It sure felt good. It was great to have the ole Ranger back. In between rain I checked all my feeders and picked up my game camera. I had a few nice deer pictures. Pretty much just chilled all day. Tuesday morning I went and got some corn and fertilizer. I fertilized all the rye grass plots and put some corn in some of my feeders. It mostly just drizzled off and on all day. The temperature was great with a high of about 60. It still was drizzling on and off all day on Wednesday. I finished getting some corn in feeders and put a new seat in one of my tree climbers.  Just chilled out most of the day. Thursday was our first dry day. I did a little walking in the woods and trimmed a few trails. Little John showed up and brought Danny Espree (exxon hand) with him.We had a good evening and Danny cooked some steaks. We found out that his daughter and my middle granddaughter will play on the same club volleyball team this year. I went home Friday morning. I managed to get the yard mowed and then we went to Mackenna"s last freshmen volleyball game. They won easily over Humble.  They finished the season schedule undefeated. Their only losses came in tournaments. With all the rain we have had Kristis lakehouse in Riverside was flooded.  Their house was but fine but you could only get there by boat. The house across the street caught fire and burned down. They think an electrical problem cause it.

Found some fresh scrapes

Glad to have the Ranger back

fertilizing some rye grass

just chilling

Mackenna

Neighbors boathouse at lake

House fire

Oct. 10- 14 Finally a little Cool Weather-Still Busy

I got home Tuesday morning. Susan was busy cleaning out her sewing room to make a little room for her new machine. It was still too wet to do any mowing.We went to Mackennas game in Pasadena . We came straight home after wards as I decided to  move a daybed out of Susans room. We don't use it that much and it will give her a lot more space. Wednesday morning the Bernina guy showed up at 8:15. He got the machine set up and then he and Susan practiced with it for several hours. I cleaned up the garage and made it presentable. I also did some mowing along the road and at Kevin's. I'm letting my yard dry a little bit more. Thursday morning I worked on our drain from the kitchen, I don't know why but it will plug up sometimes. My tractor is at the lease so I had to use my lawn tractor and wagon to move the power snake. I then did a little spraying for weeds hopefully for the last time this year. We went to Ashleys volleyball game Thursday night. Friday morning I was able to mow the front yard and 3/4 of the back. Friday night we went to Kennas volleyball game in Kingwood. After that game we went to Humble to watch Ashly play in a tournament, we saw their first game which they won, they played again later that night but we headed home. Saturday morning we went to Sammi"s softball game at 9:00 am. After that we went to see Ashleys two more games in their tournament. When we got home I was able to finish mowing the rest of the backyard. Sunday I  just chilled out till Kyle came. He replaced the bendix on my Ranger.  As usual we ran into a few more issues but finally it was put back together and it runs good now. Tomorrow I'm headed to the deer lease for a week. we are supposed to get our first real cold front along with more rain.

Cleaned up and rearranging

Its set up

Long Arm Quilter

So much fun

Ashley

Mackenna

Sammi

Toothless

the Bendix sits inside gear case above fly wheel 

Oct 2018 It is a Busy Time

Grandkids have kept us petty busy.  Sammi has softball games on Monday nights, Kenna has volley ball games on Tuesday and Friday nights and Ashley has volleyball games on Thursday nights. Also a few Saturday tournaments throwed in the mix. I have been able to get to Mack Creek a couple of times doing some mowing,discing, and planting rye grass. My starter went out in the Ranger, replaced the starter motor and found out its the Bendix which is located inside gear case. Now waiting on parts.  We did grandparents lunch with Sammi one day. Kristen brought Peyton and Luke over to my Moms one day. Susan went on a quilt retreat for 5 days and I babysit (bus driver) the girls during that time as Kristi went to Dallas. I got back to Mack Creek Saturday morning. Several folks at the lease.  I did a little mowing and checked my game camera. I had a few deer pictures and strangely enough they were all daylight pictures. I moved my camera to a different location .  We had a great time Saturday night just visiting  and having fun. Sunday was a slow day. I managed to sight a couple of rifles in. Everyone went home so its just me and Callahan. I had another issues with kidney stones and so I didn't do much in the evening. I finally passed my kidney stone around 3;00 am Sunday night. Slept very good after that. Monday morning I did a little tractor work till about 12:30.Came in and took a little nap. John and Judy showed up and later  Jamie brought his trailer in and we got him set up. I cooked a pot of lima beans and sausage for supper and we had a nice night. I'm going home tomorrow. Susan has a new Long Arm Quilting Machine coming in on Wednesday morning. Also my parts are arriving Friday.Hope to have Ranger back together this weekend.

Grandparents day with Sammi

Peyton School picture

Peyton and Luke at Moms

Kenna volleyball game

Ashley volleyball game

Sammi at bat 

Mackenna, Susan at Breast Cancer ceremony

Doing some planting

Holly and Maggie

John and John

just chilling

John  Holly Mike