West-Wentz Wedding

Hello. Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome, and for helping to celebrate this wonderful event. This wedding marks the beginning of a great adventure. The ceremony was beautiful and I’m just so excited to welcome Judi, Zack and Savannah into our family. I thought I’d share some photos with everyone. Feel free to get in touch with me at "Mr.BrianWentz@gmail.com"

Brian Wentz





the West tribe

Alex and Zack

the happy couple, aren't they cute


thats my dad

New Residents

Ralph and I both noticed a lot of debris on the front porch and could not figure out from whence it came, until we looked UP and saw two barn swallows laboriously constructing a mud nest in a corner of the porch roof. If you're in the garage when they're working, it sounds like a buzz saw in action.

Where do birds go during the day and what do they do...aerial exercises, cavorting with other birds, gobbling up worms? The birds are usually gone from mid-morning on until nightfall when they fall peacefully asleep.

A Little Bit More of Texas

I recently had a friend visiting from VA. After doing the obligatory Alamo/River Walk, we traveled south to the King Ranch, which is larger than the state of Rhode Island. There we saw lots of Santa Gertrudis cattle, some beautiful quarterhorses, lots of mesquite and prickly pear cactus, but, unfortunately, no working cowboys.

From there we continued to Port Aransas on Mustang Island, a typical beach town. Had a great seafood dinner and heard some live country music. The next day we drove back through Corpus Christi which has a beautiful waterfront. There's a walk (similar to the malecon in Puerta Vallarta) with sculptures along the way. Our visit coincided with a Festival of Arts and we saw a performance by future flamenco dancers (average age, 8-10).

My friend also wanted to tour the LBJ ranch. It was an interesting tour; the docents came just short of referring to Johnson as "Saint LBJ," but what would you expect in Johnson City? The horns of the cattle are still branded with "LBJ." Here's a picture of the "Texas White House," as it was referred to during LBJ's term.

We also visited Wild Seed Farms, which specializes in native plants and wild flower and native grass seeds. It had a lovely gift shop with many items featuring the Texas Bluebonnets. I bought a rock there, which seems sort of ludicrous, since our yard seems to be mostly limestone from about two inches down. However, this one was carved out to serve as a planter. We sowed wild flower seeds last fall and our bluebonnets are up and blooming.

Spring is in the air

Lilli got some Painted Lady caterpillars as part of her 4-H Entomology project. The butterflies were very cooperative about emerging from their chrysalises on a day we were home to watch them. Here are two of them on the day that we released them.

Another 4-H project of hers has been very informative - in the Vegetable Gardening group, the kids got to make a "lasagna" garden bed. So with the kids help, I now have a lasagna garden, too! It was very easy to do. We used cinder blocks as a border, laid down wire mesh (to keep the gophers out), cardboard, peat moss, straw and compost. As soon as I finish the fence (to keep the deer out), Lil can plants the seedlings she's got - cabbage, lettuce and squash. I'll post pictures when we've got something growing.