We had a nice, cool day today with plenty of sunshine. In other words, a typical November day for NE Texas. But we have colder weather in the forecast so it’s time to close the vents around the house and cover the water faucets, just in case. Where we live slab foundations are prone to cracking so when this house was built we went with a pier and beam foundation. In good weather the vents for the crawl space stay open. When it gets cold we close the vents. I don’t think our water pipes are in any danger of freezing but the floor is warmer in winter when the vents are closed.
Our daughter had a bit of a scare today out at the farm when she spied heavy, black smoke south of the hay field. Turns out there were several cedar trees that caught fire as well as a small building behind someone’s residence 3/4 of a mile down the road that runs along the west of the property. No one was hurt, no one lost their home. All is fine. Brad was out on the rifle range 1/4 of a mile from our house but I could get him back if need be. Audrey didn’t need him at the farm so I waited til he was back to tell him what was going on.
We drove out there and saw a couple of fire trucks still at the intersection closest to where the fire had been and the road that goes past the west side of the farm was blocked off a good bit south of the property line at the crest of a hill. There was no sign of anything having been on fire but there are a lot of trees and it must have been out of sight of the road. We decided to stop at Panera to pick up food for dinner on the way home.
After dinner Brad went out to repair the chain that we use to block our drive at night. The chain was still across the drive when we left to drive out to the farm and it appeared that someone might have backed into it and broke a link where the chain wraps around a fence post. It’s repaired and back in place. No problem. We have reflectors and a No Trespassing sign attached to the chain. The driveway is quite long and sometimes people drive down it thinking it’s a road…which amazes me since we have our house number on the fence post opposite the one where the chain is attached. And we have a trash dumpster sitting just inside the fence at the road.
I worked on my Ludlow shawl a little bit while we were away from home this afternoon and ended up putting it away because my hands were aching. It’s the weather. And my age. Since my hands are bothering me I’m doing more reading. I finished “The Price of the Stars” and started the second book in the series, “Starpilot’s Grave” this afternoon. I’m also reading “Hold Texas, Hold the Nation” by Lt. Col. Allen B. West, Ret. He is a good writer and I’m enjoying the book and I’m well into the second chapter.
Rural Texas Knitter 