Happy Thanksgiving!

      November 19th!   
     So hard to believe that it has been over a year since we made the decision to find a place out in the country and start our own homestead. Looking back at my first little blog post on Nov. 19th , WOW!  Two small paragraphs about finding this place and putting an offer in on it and just waiting to hear something back.
     February will be our one year mark for living on the Ranch. We have come a long way from the over grown place we first saw to what it is now. This top picture is where the duck yard was at first and where my fall garden and the deer plot are now planted.

      With Thanksgiving this week I am taking a break and will be back next week with the blog.  Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving week!  We enjoyed an early Thanksgiving meal with our kids and our grand baby's this past Sunday.  It was a wonderful day.

Until next week,
The 2 Moore's Ranch

This Weeks Sunsets
                       

                                                                             

                                                            HAPPY THANKSGIVING

A Sad Week on the Ranch.

     It was a sad week on the Ranch last week.  We lost our ranch mascot Billy. While feeding and closing everyone up one night, we forgot to close the back door to the chicken coop and Billy decided he did not want to stay in an go to sleep like he was suppose too.  He went out and did a little night time running.  Unfortunately , something else was out roaming also. Our little Mascot was not alive the next morning. Billy has been buried in the outside rabbit yard.
      He had his territory that he would run in and we had even seen cottontails running out there with him also.  At night we would round him up and he would sleep in the chicken house with them.  They never bothered him and he never bothered them.  It did not take long to get him trained to know that when the door was opened in the morning it was time to go out and run around,  After a while he would be the 1st or 2nd out of the door ahead of everyone else.  At night when we would go out to feed he would usually be out in the field.  We would walk up to him and he would most of the time just start running back to the door and just hop right back in.
      

 

     Really Crazy weather we are having here in Texas.  We have had some cold mornings, but so far, no snow as of yet. I have just this past week picked the last of the cherry Tomatoes off my plants. I have 2 plates of green tomatoes sitting out waiting for them to turn red.  I had some yesterday and they were great!
     I have moved several Geraniums inside that have already starting to bloom again. I am also trying to over winter several different kinds of Mints, Lemon Balm and Citronella's. Also trying to get several willows to root and plant in pots so that we can plant them come spring

     While I was out picking up some limbs yesterday for kindling I saw that we had a few pecan on the trees so stopped and picked the ones I could find.  Cant wait until the trees get big!  While I was out picking up pecans and limbs , the cats decided to join me. Betsey climbed up the tree and Trampas was playing around on the ground below the tree.

     This weeks sunsets and sunrises.

Until Next week,
The 2 Moore's Ranch

     A few extra pictures from the week.

Two injured ducks in the rabbit barn.

Kanga looking at bird in the bird window.

Frost on the rabbit greens.

Free Ranging!

    Def. of Free Range.      A small flock of mixed free-range chickens etc. being fed outdoors. Free range denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals, for at least part of the day, can roam freely outdoors while looking for grasses and bugs, rather than being confined in an enclosure for 24 hours each day. 

     This is what we like to to do with our flock of Ducks, Chickens, Turkeys, and Guineas at least half the day if not all day long.  They have 5 acres to roam on and go where ever they want to. There is the pond we are working on for water , plus the 2 pools that are in the yard that everyone can go to for drinking water..  As you can see by the pics.  They really enjoy the running space and don't mind being with each other. The turkeys and the Guineas can be found walking the fence lines in the tall grasses..  
     We have done some research and asked people about why our neighbors across the street have killed Rattle snakes this year and we have not seen any.  They say it is because of all the birds roaming around.  If that is the case, they can roam all they want to.

     With the colder weather coming in the rodents have been looking for places to get warm.  The cats are on patrol all the time.  The other day I was walking by one of the food plots and Trampas and Betsey where pouncing around in it.  Trampas came up with a rat that he had found.  Last night Fred found one in the garden and he chased it out of the plot and Trampas was able to get it . It is not unusual to walk out and find a dead rat or mouse on the ground that one of the cats have killed.

     If you look close at the 2 pictures under here of Trampas you will see the rat that he has caught.  He is a very good kitty to have around. If he would just get them and kill them.  He likes to play with them a lot.

     Smokey will lay out in the tall grass waiting for them to run by where he is at. You never really know whee you are going to find Smoky at.  He just roams the property looking to make a kill.

     This is Pablo  the male living in the outside rabbit yard. He loves the kitties and every time one of them is out there with us he runs up to the fence to nuzzle them. Betsey and Trampas both grew up in the rabbit barn since they were about 8 weeks old.  They run and play with the buns all the time.

     The two females that are out in the yard with Pablo have been digging their holes in preparation for babies.  The hole in the bottom pic belongs to Maxine.

This weeks Sunsets.

Last light of the day behind the barn.

Until next week,
The 2 Moore's Ranch


A few extra pics from this week.

Fall at the Ranch.

Paper white blooming in the Fall.

Headed out to split some wood for the fireplace.

Added an update to the fish pond this week.A tub that had been buried in the ground. Cleaned it up. Put two holes in one side . A new water feature.