Do Your Know Your Watershed?

If you read this blog very often, you might know we have water issues. Our bills are outrageous. I try very hard to use as little city water as possible. I never really gave storm water much thought other than being grateful that rain fills my rain barrels. All that changed today.


I spent eight hours in a watershed stewardship workshop today. So what the heck is a watershed? Is it the shed where you keep the water? Nope. Is it the outhouse? Nope, not so much. A watershed is an area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes to the same place.

This workshops was focused on the Cedar Creek Watershed. It turns out I don't actually live in that watershed. We are in the Trinity River watershed. This is confusing as the Trinity river is part of the Ceder Creek Watershed. Confused yet?

I learned a lot. Looking at charts and maps, it seems that the biggest polluters are farming and ranching operations. Guess what the pollutants are? If you guessed sediment, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides you would be right.

I also found out that compost can be bad for our watershed. If it is washed into the rivers and eventually to lakes, the nutrients can cause algae blooms and water plant overgrowth. In order to keep that compost in my garden and not washing out into the ditch, I am going to plant ornamental grasses all along the fence above the ditch. This should be pretty and functional. I just love it when being good ecologically speaking gives me an excuse to buy more plants.

Eight hours in a classroom setting is just too long for me. I felt like my head was going to explode. They covered a ton of information. If you have an opportunity to go to a workshop or lecture of this type, take advantage of it. It will change the way you think about water.

Got to give credit to Texas Agrilife Extension for putting on such a great program.

Voice Double

I'm back.

I survived a night with three of my nephews, two monkeys, my oldest niece and a giggle of her teenage friends. There is also a snake in their house AND a cat who wants to give hickies. The youngest child is just shy of three and the oldest is the niece at `16.

There is a funny thing about me and this sister who made these nephews and that niece. We don't look anything alike, but we sound alike. I've been messing with the heads of people who know her since we were teens. She was in high school and I was in college when she met her first boyfriend. If he happened to call the house when I was home and I answered,I wouldn't tell him I wasn't B. The ruse would go on until I answered a question wrong or became hysterical with laughter. That boyfriend truly hated me.

Sister's loving husband, who took her to Boston for her big 4-0, has never ever mistaken me for her or her for me.

Last night the niece brought home that giggle friends. They couldn't see me in the kitchen, but I could hear them coming in the front door. I asked the niece a question and one of the boys said, "I thought your mom wasn't home." The niece and I explained that I am not her mom, just her aunt. This kid says, "I've got to see her." He must have been shocked. Again, we look nothing alike.

I think I might be able to play this game all the way until we are very old women.

Fun times.

And The Winners Are

And the winners of the string bags are............Monica of Gareden Faerie's Musings and Judy Low of Diggin It. Sorry I will get the links corrected tomorrow. I am at my sister's house watching about 15 billion children and teens. They have a Mac and I don't know how to copy link locations on it. Silly machine. Thank you all for the sweet comments. I will get an email out to the winners tomorrow to arrange to send the bags once they are complete.

Curmudgeon will also receive a bag because she commented before I decided to give some away.


Have a great weekend everyone.

Bag Give Away Update

I am shutting down the bag give away at midnight. Tomorrow a Monkey will pick two winners. Curmudgeon got special consideration, she commented first before I decided to give them away. We will pick two more bloggers from the comments to receive bags. (Unless you asked me not to include you) Be back tomorrow with the news.

Farmers' Market Bag Give Away

 

I've decided to make three of these string bags and give them away. I already offered one to Curmudgeon. The other two recipients will be selected by a Monkey drawing. Those of you who commented yesterday are already in. I don't mind international mail. Commenting more than once will not increase your chances. Getting your significant other to comment will.

The bags are made of crochet thread. I don't knit. I use a loom. The bags are great for shopping at farmers' markets. They are really stretchy. Don't use them for boxed things. The corners of boxes break the threads. The bags shown in the picture are not the ones I am giving away. I am making three new bags. I think I might dye them with Koolaid just for giggles. Anyway, if you want a bag, leave me a comment. I'll leave this open until Friday.

The Trouble with Shopping Bags

 

The shopping bags are taking over. It started out innocently enough. I knitted four to take to the grocery store. Then I forgot them and bought four to take to the grocery store. Then another bag was issued at the state master gardener conference. Then I won one from the lovely Anna. Then the local garden club gave me one for speaking at a meeting. Now I think they have reached sexual maturity and a procreating in the back seat of my truck.

Come back tomorrow and I will give three of the handmade bags away. The Monkeys will chose the winners.

Guest Post by Lee Powell - Cowboy Historian

In the mid 1870's there was a 15 month period that witnessed a dramatic career change for a promising young dentist. He was suffering from TB and his father, a prominent Georgia plantation owner, had sent him to Dallas because the climate here seemed suitable to his medical condition. He worked for a Dr. Seegar and he lived with the doctor in a two story house on Boll Street, now just north of Ross Ave. in down town Dallas. In order to combat the pain of TB the young dentist had become engaged in the consumption of alcoholic beverages. In Georgia he had adopted this practice after hours as a dentist in gatherings known as gentlemen's clubs. There were no gentlemen's clubs in Dallas just saloons. This young dentist was the only gentleman who frequented the saloons and therefore he became adept at using firearms. On January 1, 1875 at a saloon located on the corner of Austin and Main Street in down town Dallas the young dentist engaged in a gun fight with the bar tender, Charles Austin. It was his first gun fight; however because of his frailty due to TB all six of his shots missed. Luckily for the young dentist all six of the bar tenders shots missed as well. Because such behavior was unbecoming to his profession, the sheriff asked the young dentist to leave town. His dental career was over, but his new career opportunity would enable him to become a legend. This was the very first gun fight for Doc Holliday.

Courtesy of cowboy historian and library patron Lee Powell.