"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands........" 1 Thessalonians 4:11

Monday, February 24, 2014

Thorns, stickers, sharp stinging brush.

and cactus of every kind is a common landscape of western Texas. But sometimes, it can over grow and turn good acreage into a non tolerable land of thorns.

However, I love the Texas landscape and when diligently managed......
it can truly be a beautiful sight. Over the years, the cactus has started multiplying way too good on our property and there is now so much of it. I have been spending a bit of time each day cutting it down. I want our acreage to remain wild, but also a pleasant place for man and beast to walk around on. I am leaving some cactus and creating rock beds around them.

Some of it is so colorful

and it makes the dry prairie look alive. It is going to take me a good month or more to get a hold of this sticky situation..........but it will be worth the effort for years to come. 
Have you ever had a feeling that you are being watched??  Even way out in the middle of nowhere.......with the comfort of my dog Sophie with us.......I had that feeling...........

Sure enough............I was being watched..........
he is one of the neighbors who lives on the ranch land across from me........
oh, he does not look neighborly  at all..........

But I just had to go over to ease his concern about what I was doing......
and he is actually a great big marshmallow.........
just enjoying the landscape ..........his way. 
How about you?
What is the most problematic plant you have growing in your back yard?
I would love to hear!
Recipe Reminder

I have just posted a wonderful and colorful dessert on my cooking blog. 
Just click onto the link for the recipe!



11 comments:

lil red hen said...

Nice looking neighbor! lol
We have problems with wild blackberries, briars, and thistles; all have thorns and take over if left alone. The fruit of the blackberry makes delicious jelly and the thistle has a pretty purple flower, but I don't have anything good to say about briars.

Nancy J said...

Yummy recipe, no wonder a second slice was needed, are those red berries, or coloured tips at the end of the cactus leaves/spikes/thorns? Neighbourly,?? I'd be very glad a fence was between me and him. Cheers, Jean.

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

That recipe looks delicious. I have a can of strawberry filling. Hmmmmm.

Your neighbor's critter does not look like a marshmallow he looks formidable. I would be quaking in my shoes.

Have a great day ~ FlowerLady

P.S. I have one vine that I'd love to get rid of, the dang potato vine. One teenie, tiny potato can fall off and start another vine. They are tough and drop lots of potatoes.

peggy said...

I would keep my distance from that "marshmallow" as well as the cacti, but both are beautiful in their own way.

Connie said...

I always enjoy seeing the plants that grow there, Kathleen. It is so different from our own. Your neighbor would intimidate me! :D

Wonky Girl said...

Our land here in SE AZ is so much like yours. We have 12+ acres, half is a beautiful wide and deep un-fenced wash. It's full of grasses and large mesquite along with a few desert willow. Up on the ridge where our house sits we have mesquite, yucca and a few cacti. Then we deal with lots of stickery weed-like plants that get mowed.
Oh, the big black bull is a beauty. Our land used to be open range and cattle ran free up and down the dirt roads until people built and fenced. There was a big black Angus bull that used to hang out in the field across our lane.

Brenda Kay Ledford said...

These are beautiful photos of the cactus. I would keep my distance from the "marshmallow" also. That is a yummy recipe. My pet peeve plant is the kudzu here in Western North Carolina. It takes over everything, banks, fences, even barns. It's really hard to control.

Elaine/Muddling Through said...

My grandparents had a bull named Elmer who looked just like that. He was definitely NOT a marshmallow. We were told to stay well clear of him.

Elaine/Muddling Through said...

Oh and your cacti are really pretty. I've never seen those around here.

Hill Top Post said...

Beautiful photos of your West Texas landscape; especially love the red berries and the bull. Couldn't help noticing the scratches on his back - mesquite i guess.

Dreaming of Vintage said...

Oh look at that handsome fellow! So cute! Love that cactus too! For the love of God, I can't get butterfly bush to grow in my backyard. I'm in zone 5, sandy soil, windy with a west setting sun. Anyone have any tips?!!!