This isn’t a very long report, and it wasn’t a very long ride… but at least I got out for a few…

I’m at the farm, so today I did farm stuff. The first thing I did was wash my dog. Dang he sheds. I broke out the weed eater and trimmed the fence line. It was only 95 degrees. Then took the Cub Cadet for a spin and got the grass all mowed. Took the DR trimmer into the ditch and knocked all that down, then onto the Kubota with the shredder on the back to knock down all of the friggin bamboo in the lower pasture.

So after all that, I deserved a little spin.

Here's a little building down the road from the farm…



We could really use some rain…



It rained enough earlier in the year to get some grass bailed up, but if we don't get some rain, we’ll be setting out bails for the cows early... that gets expensive… and it also assumes there is hay available to buy…



Riding along I came across these two…



Look at their pasture, then look at the pasture on the other side. I decided to jump the fence and pull up a bunch of lush green grass and give them a treat…



It’s interesting around here in that it will rain like cats and dogs (I wonder where the saying “cats and dogs” came from) in some areas and won’t rain a drop 10 miles away And this can go on for months.

Look at this guy’s pasture…



Depending on the demand this season, each one of those 6’ bails could go for $35-$55. So there sits somewhere between $770 and $1,210. And, he had another pasture left to do. If he gets more rain, he may be able to bail it again this season.

Here’s another old farm house off in the distance…



Houses similar to these are scattered throughout the area. Folks still live in them and work the fields and cows like they always have.

There are several country stores around here that haven’t changed much in the last 50 years too. You can stop by any morning and find 5 or 6 old farmers drinking coffee and telling the same stories they’ve probably told hundreds of times…

Winedale is a neat little place… what’s left of it anyway…



I’ve posted a similar picture before, but I like these chimneys. You have to wonder what the house looked like that stood there many years ago. And here’s a picture of the old Winedale school…



That pretty much summed up the ride. I went back to the farm and gave the Red Devil a very very thorough and well deserved bath.

So overall I had a productive day.

Looking back, I probably should have gone to Round Top and taken some pictures of that area to share with you guys as well. Maybe I will do that tomorrow and add them to this thread. Besides, my motorcycle is all nice and shiny and will make better pictures… and it is as good as an excuse as any other to go for a ride…

July 22, 2006

Well, as promised I went to Round Top (Population 77).

The boys said they wanted to meet in Elgin for some BBQ, so Vegas said he’d meet me at the farm this morning at 1100 hours. At 1059 he arrived. We saddled up and headed to Elgin with a detour through Round Top. Here are a few pictures of the buildings in Round Top…













After we snapped the pictures, we headed to Elgin.

We passed these guys… they were haulin’...




And eventually we made it to Elgin…

DarDar was on his way to Houston to play golf; he stopped by to visit, and shortly after the rest of the boys showed up…



From left to right are Kmart, Thump, Vegas, me, Dar Dar and Dam…



After lunch, Vegas and I headed east and the rest of the boys headed west.

It didn’t take long for us to get pounded by rain, so there weren’t too many more pictures. We rode through Lexington, and Dime Box on the way back home…



We were going to keep riding, but I turned off and headed back to the farm and let Vegas continue on (I needed to get home for dinner and spend some time with the kiddos).

And even though we got pummeled by the rain on the road, it still hasn’t rained a drop here.

I’m going to go out on the porch and do a rain dance…