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!

My Country Kitchen

I'm not so sure about that ground hog..............

(click on photo for a better view)

This robin showed up today.............

he says that spring is on the way!

I think he's right.........

don't you??

I am posting about what I have posted on my embroidery blog..........

because for this past year, I have been planning and for this past month I have been working..........

and today, the last piece of glassware was placed on the shelf and my vintage shop is now ready and open!

 It is also serving as my embroidery studio where I can design and embroider my linens.

It is called Yesteryear and is is full of beautiful dishes and linens.

If you would like to read more and see a lot of the things in my shop just click onto the link to visit

Yesteryear Embroideries

Now that all of this work is done, I will be focusing on gardening, chicken raising and coyote watching and will post about all of that on my next post. 

The Texas Swing is really going on in my neck of the woods..........

well...............actually not this kind of swing.........

but the dance with the weather and the temperature swinging from hot to cold in just a matter of hours.

Last week, we had snow and ice..........

yesterday we had sunny weather in the 60's........

we were driving home when across the horizon, a dark blue cloud bank appeared.........

within minutes, it had completely covered us...........

when we got to our home, we were greeted by freezing wind.

This is one of my favorite creeks to take photos of when I am out and about on pics. The white you see around the trees is frozen water. This whole creek was pretty much iced over..........

surprising for this area.

In the middle of thawing out.........we got more freezing temps and froze up again.

I am sure this is nothing compared to what many of you are experiencing across the country.

So tell me.........

Are you the adventurous type and go out sledding and sliding?

Or are you content to stay inside in comfort and warmth?

I would love to hear!