Howdy, Everybody!
Hope this finds everybody doing well. We are. Luckily, all the family is healthy. We’re staying busying with life’s happenings, but getting things done at, and for, The SnK.
As mentioned in a prior post, we have a Non-Profit set up for The SnK, at least on the state level. The lawyer is working on the federal stage.
We are happy to announce that we have a Field Day set with NPAT, Native Prairie Association of Texas, for May 6. Not sure of the numbers that we can have, talk is 20, so we’re working on details, and will share more when we know.
The county has requested documentation on our wildlife management works over the last year, so we’re working on that.
Projects, expected and unexpected.
Recently Selena and I planned a number of projects, but as it happens often, other things had to be taken care of.
Here’s some that we planned.
The original walk through gate, in the house fence was rotting away, so we had purchased another twin size headboard to replace it with.
Selena, painted it green and I installed hinges and installed it, with her help of course.
Wanting to keep the horses from rubbing the new feeders that we put up last month, Selena, our help Alan, and I hauled horse pen panels down. Unfortunately a tractor tire didn’t cooperate, and spit one of the plugs out. That leads to another story, in a little bit.
It was rather comedic, as the panels kept sliding of the forks on the tractor, but Alan persisted and got them chained well enough to move them.
We had hoped to spend more time on tidying up some of the left over metal and such from when the tractor shed was uprooted during the last hurricane, but we ended up addressing some other items.
Unplanned Projects
The front gate has been an issue over the past few months, with us having to replace the opener. That was done last year, but recently the keypad and exit button gave out. That became a focus. No photos on that, as it wasn’t too interesting.
As mentioned earlier, one of the front tires on the tractor kept spitting a plug. I finally got is set, after Alan got some shredding done, within the house fence line.
Don’t do as we did.
The burn pile had been sitting for some time, and the ban was finally lifted, so last Wednesday, we decided to burn it. Alan shredded around the pile, and I scraped grass to expose raw soil.
I thought all was set.
So I lit the pile up, and sat ready on the running tractor.
The pile lit up quickly, and all seemed well, with the flames and smoke rising mostly upright. That lasted a little while, but as I sat watching, the wind came up a bit, and I started to worry a some.
You probably know where this is heading. We REALLY should have shredded further out, cut the grass short with the riding mower, exposed more dirt, and wet the area down.
Didn’t think to do so, as the winds seemed favorable.
So, what happened?
Shortening the story, the fire got outside the burn perimeter. Selena and I had to jump into action, me on the tractor scraping the flames into the center of the area, and Selena following up with wet blankets, swatting out small burning areas.
We finally called the Fire Department, and about 20 minutes later they came out and put out the last bit of flame that we hadn’t.
Luckily, the winds had dropped, and what there was, pushed the flames away from the property line fence.
So, we did an unplanned, controlled burn. Yeah, unplanned is correct, but controlled isn’t. We were lucky that it didn’t get any further out of hand.
We know exactly what we’re going to do in the future, and it includes better prep, and having a water rig ready.
Things could have gotten bad.
It will be interesting to see how this area comes back. I don’t remember it being included in the, actual, control burn of 2017. (Actually, a header pic popped up from the 2017 burn, this area was included, so I kind of know what to expect.)
Well, that’s enough for now. I’ll follow up with a post on sightings later, as it will be a bit lengthy too.
Until next time, Peace! Oh, and really prep if you’re going to burn on your property.
Keith, the K in The SnK.
