Beware the porcupines

We're about to turn the calendar page to October, but it didn't feel very fall-like at the river over the weekend. Matter of fact, we all donned swimsuits and hit the water. 

 

Little did we know, but it's porcupine mating season. I bet you didn't realize it either. So they're out and about more this time of year. We don't see this in the city, but it became very apparent at the river house Saturday night when a big, waddling porcupine was in the dog yard as we let the pack out to potty around bedtime. 

Our little black female Cairn Terrier, Pepper, races out ahead of the other two to chase off anything in the yard. At our city house, all she has ever encountered is the occasional idiot raccoon or cross-eyed possum. We worry about skunks, and yet none have never ventured into the inner fence. The husband jokingly hollers, "Run, raccoon!" when he throws open the back door for their final potty break every evening. 

Going forward, we'll be checking the river house yard because Pepper became a little pincushion when she charged the porcupine, earning about a dozen quills in her snout. Thankfully, none pierced her eyes or got in her mouth. Poor baby, she was just trying to defend her home from the interloper. 

Hopefully she learned her lesson about the quilled beasts and won't go after any others she sees. Or she may be like my husband's parent's yorkiepoo Brutus who has been sprayed at least five times by skunks that have gotten into their yard. He's obviously a slow learner there, not having realized the black and white kitties are quite stinky and should be avoided.

Brew pub lunch

This weekend the husband and I were treated to a visit from our girls at the river house. We stopped in Kerrville for a bite to eat before hitting the local grocery store for Saturday football watching provisions. The husband wanted to try something new, so I googled brew pubs and this one popped up a couple blocks from HEB. I love the big old glass fronted garage style doors that open up to the courtyard area with tables, where it appears local bands probably keep the crowd entertained on weekends. The food was good - I enjoyed my deconstructed falafel salad - and the atmosphere was funky fun, so I imagine we'll add it to our list for return trips.

 

River house chapel is a wrap

Last weekend we drove to the river house to get the yard cleaned since the girls are coming for a visit this weekend. While we were there, I had the chance to enjoy my fall decor while watching some college football with the husband. 

We also brought the antique Polish priest vestments I had framed, and hung them on the walls in the chapel area. I love how the background fabric our decorator chose is such a beautiful compliment to the saltillo tile floors in that part of the house. 

Welcoming pumpkin & acorn season

I went into our local store to pick up a few things for the week and was met with this cute little pumpkin display. The warty looking blue ones are my favorite. If only it would start to feel like fall around here sooner rather than later <sigh>.

After a very dry spring and summer, I was beginning to wonder if our many oak trees on the property would put forth acorns. Thankfully for our local critters, the Lord is providing them food for the fall season. He always meets our needs if we'll just wait on His timing and loving provision.

At first I was just seeing these tiny little acorns and was concerned because it was mostly cap and no "meat". Then yesterday I realized there are still plenty of acorns on the trees that are growing to maturity. It's just a matter of time before the acorns start dropping and fulfill their purpose. We have a lot of squirrels on our 2.5 acres that need to fatten up in advance of a sparse winter. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before these rodents with lovely fuzzy tails are sitting in front of the family room windows, munching on their acorn buffet and taunting our terriers.

Then there were two

This weekend we attended the funeral of my husband's Aunt Sue. She passed away at 89 and enjoyed a nice long life. Sue was the last girl of five in the family, the closest in age to my husband's dad who was the youngest/last. I assume they stopped when their 6th child was a boy, ha-ha. She was one of several amateur historian aunts in the family. Decades ago she did much of the genealogy work to qualify for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), which is pretty cool for those into family history like my husband. 

I had to break out the Kleenex at the service when they played some Baptist standards that bring back such wonderful memories from my growing up years, including "The Old Rugged Cross" and "Because He Lives". Aunt Sue loved to sing the old hymns. The silver lining to most funerals is that you get to see lots of family members. Honestly, it's rather like a mini-reunion, especially when the local church ladies host a lunch after the services with some homebaked goodies. An unexpected gift was when the husband received a large envelope full of old pictures from that side of the family. It was a wonderful stroll down memory lane when we got home and looked through them. Now he just needs to scan them into his computer and pass them along to his parents.

The history nerd in me enjoyed checking out monuments in the family plot at this historic cemetery where Sam Houston was laid to rest. We spied the husband's grandparents, aunts and uncles who have already gone to heaven. A family of devout believers, I just know they've been having a lovely visit since Sue arrived.

My favorite picture in the envelope was the one of my husband's parents when they were teenagers in the early 1950s. 

Before the service, we went by the old family farm to see how it looks. Years ago, the surviving kids decided to sell the farm to the local university once grandma Annie (our older daughter's namesake) passed away at 96. Now a part of the Gibbs Ranch agriculture teaching and research facility at Sam Houston State, it's just empty pastureland since they tore down the old homestead. 

Deciding not to wait until another of the two remaining siblings (of the six children, my father-in-law was the baby of the family) passes away, the husband and I have decided to host a cousin's reunion at our river house this fall once the temps back off a bit. We're really looking forward to seeing everyone for a longer catch-up in more happy circumstances.

Thankful for September showers

This time of year, it's often hurricanes instead of rain showers along the Gulf Coast that impact us here in the hill country. However, the 2022 hurricane season has been incredibly quiet... which we appreciate! After enduring long months of barely negligible precipitation, it has been nice to see our parched landscape perk up from some recent rains. I'm hoping I don't lose any more plants to the heat and drought between now and the time we hit more moderate temps later this fall.

We drove up to the river house for the weekend and I spied what appeared to be a convention of buzzards. There was no carcass in sight, which was odd. Maybe they had already consumed it and were just letting it digest? It's something you seldom see, so I was intrigued enough to snap a quick pic.

We enjoyed a lazy Saturday afternoon on the river house's back porch, watching the clouds blow in while listening to distant rumbles of thunder. 

Later that evening, we piled up on the sofa to munch on a big pan of nachos I made while watching the husband's Longhorns kick off football season. As always, I'm enjoying the fall things I used for decoration, especially the foxes and squirrels. The woodland animals I scattered amongst the pumpkins really fit in at the river house.