Around The Homefront
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Much of our lives has centered "Around The Home" throughout our marriage. Be it a small, three room apartment in our first year together, the large home we live in now after thirty-nine years of marriage, or our efforts to improve our community: we have contributed many hours of sweat and effort to make our lives fulfilling - both in the physical and emotional way. We believe in earning anything we receive, either in compensation or satisfaction, and we don't believe hand-outs are the answer. This section of the website displays some of the results of our efforts. Family and friends are a big part of our life and we are happy to share our life 'Around The Homefront'.
The Triplets |
Son Geof and his wife Belinda have the rare chance to raise triplet girls and we, as grand parents, have the enviable plesure of enjoying them then going home to rest up for the next visit. There are, of course, oodles of pictures and videos for your entertainment here. |
The Nature Trail |
I have always loved the wilderness although I have had limited opportunity to immerse myself in it. I spent a couple years in Alaska in the early sixties and thoroughly enjoyed every minute I was able to spend in its beauty. When I finally settled here in Texas, I immediately began building my personal nature trail on my 2 acre tract. It extends to the south and north on a generally butterfly wing pattern for over 1, 500 feet. Originally paved with bark and wood mulch, I replaced it with 3/4 inch limestone gravel after a hard rainy period washed all the mulch to the lower points. This sufficed for a few years until hurrican rains arrived and even washed the gravel to lower points. The trail had become the path of least resistance (pun intended). Since I took the pictures in this album, I have hauled in decomposed granite as a top cover for the gravel and created drainage sluices. This combination has kept the trail in check in the heaviest of rains. Enjoy your visit. It was a labor of love to build and enjoyable to walk in the cool mornings or breezy evenings. |
The Birds |
I have always been fascinated by birds and their apparent freedom exhibited with their flight. One of the first things I did here was install bird feeders to attract them to the property. I have had many different types of feeders and approached to the effort. In the process of my studies and volunteer work with the Cibolo Nature Center, I realized that there are three 'Must Have' elements if you want to see many different species of birds. You Must Have water, food, and habitat. To accommodate these needs, I chose to let the underbrush grow everywhere on the property it wanted to. I have a small section or two of mowed 'lawn' but most is as nature would want it. As a result, I have positively identified over 105 species of birds and unconfirmed another 10 or so on, over, or traveling through my back yard. Enjoy the experience through the images and sound here. |
The Mammals, Reptiles, and Others |
Nature has done its thing with the mammals and such as a side benefit of the bird habitat. We have our share of all these because of the way me manage the property. The more small things you create, the more larger things that will arrive. It is really a chain of life that results when you make the 'lack of effort' to keep your place pristene. It is amazing how quickly the animals love you and give you an unlimited experience of life activity. Just sitting on the deck and enjoying the sounds of nature will often result in something never seen before. Here's the animals we see often and not so often. |
The Plants |
For a few years I was co-host of the Tour Of Yards in the local area where interested person come to see what others have done to improve and promote plant varieties in their landscape. It was a rewarding exercise and I became quite interested in cataloging plants on my property. The result is a list of ove 250 species of plants I have grown or seen growing on the 2 acre plot I live on. This list contains images of the plants I have taken from time to time. All of the images are from this small plot and as I get a chance to capture those not photographed, I do...and add to the list. Enjoy your visit to the list. |
Our Home In Transition |
Out house was built in 1979 and is in need of a few upgrades and updates to bring it into the new millinium. This section of the site covers some of the efforts I have invested in this process. There's a new kitchen ceiling, a new fish pond, and other things that come along as I find the time. There is also a description of a Chimney Swift Tower I built for the chimney swifts I love so much. In the future I will add other construction projects on the property. |
Volunteer Work In Our Lives (Coming Eventually) |
Donna and I both volunteer regularly in support of a number of things in our community. This section will soon cover some of those activities. A few to come are: School, Nature, Business, City, Community volunteer activities in which we have devoted time and effort and some in which we are still involved. |