"Its Genetics . . ."

Thought I was gonna write about hair color or skin color or eye color. Nope it is about our two Shumard Oak trees. Shumard's are red oak trees, that is when sawn up the wood has a red tinge to it. In the family of oaks it is a relatively fast growing oak tree. So a Live Oak it is not, Shumard's tends to shoot up.

We have two of them in the front yard planted by the landscaper for the house builder. They were about four inches in diameter and maybe 20 feet tall back in August 2002. They are now about a foot in diameter and upwards of 30 feet plus in height. They are beginning to mature. There roots are beginning to come up as with all oak trees.

But about the genetics. The tree on the left side of the yard loses its leaves first in the late fall and gains them back, first, in the early spring. The tree on the right, slightly bigger (better soil), loses its leaves at least two weeks after the other tree and puts on leaves at least two weeks after the other tree. Both trees benefit from the fertilizer spread for the lawn.

The only explanation is the genetics. While each is definitely a Shumard or Texas oak, they are not from the same parent tree. Not that it makes any difference, they are just slightly different.

In the North side yard, we had several Hackberry trees. They have been cut down. But next to one of the Hackberry stumps is a volunteer Shumard Red oak. It is already about two inches across and is over 12 feet tall. It came up from an acorn but not an acorn from our front oaks, just a acorn from somewhere in the local area.

We also have a yard full of Post Oaks out back. They are even slower growers than Live oaks and rarely reach the size of either the Shumard or the Live oaks. And they are cantankerous. If you build a dog run around one, the dog running around will kill it. We have had one on the North side yard bloom in the spring, start to put out leaves and died. Fortunately, we have one survivor over there and it has spawn a little one. That is about two and half feet tall and I can assure you it is four years old. It is in very rich area, gets lots of water, etc.. They are just slow growers.

One of our older Post oaks out back is about two feet in diameter, has been in trouble but has been treated. It seems to be doing okay. We estimate it to be at least a 100 years old. We refer to it as "old tree." It supports several bird feeds that are liberally used by the birds, squirrels and deer.

Any rate it is Spring and everything is putting out new leaves, very green and the weather is mild. The Peach trees have fruit all over them. I hope a freeze does not come along and kill all the fruit or a hale storm. We seem to get fruit once every four or five years.

Fritzs Confirmed. . .

We now have spotted no less than four Fritz in the yard, with at least two on the back patio. One of which spent the night on the wall behind the Rterge just out sided the door. He was perfectly camouflaged and held his ground.

We had youngster do that last year so I am surmising he is now an adult but still uses his same old location to over night. The wall retains a bit heat as it is in the sun most of the day until noon. So it is warm but not hot. And the Eterge provides a frame work of metal to protect him. He blends in well with the bricks.

Judie notes they are all darker this year. I think they have just not been out of the sun while hibernating and have come up to speed so to speak. We shall see as the summer goes on. Soon they will be foraging on the patio, sometimes even found sitting on the furniture so that they have a better view of their hunting turf.

Some of them are quite tolerant of us and others are skittish. The one on the wall behind the Eterge was tolerant of us. It did not move yet its eyes were open. So he felt safe behind the iron work. But we do not know if he knew we were there are not. No matter, he was present and acoounted for.

The crickets are not as yet out but the hunter is. They love crickets and will go great distances to find them. Read where they will continue to eat them if so fed. They will not stop, they will stuff themselves.

They are a welcome sight.

"Fritzii Are Back . . ."

We know Spring is here. The Fritzii are back. Fritz is the name we give to the little fence lizards that seem to abound in our yard. They are not Geckos, Chameleons or other ilk of that nature but true lizards.

They are found all down the East Coast across the South all the way over to Parker County. They are not found much further west than Parker County, their cousins are but not Fritz's. I guessing it gets to dry.

The first Fritz seen was the front yard Fritz. He likes to climb up the new screens we have. So I get good shot at his under body. He has an abbreviated tail, lost some of it somewhere.

Judie found the water hose Fritz. He lives in and around the box container that winds in the water hose out back. There is a Crepe Myrtle adjacent to the water hose container. So he ranges around in the back flower beds and his turf is limited to the lawn area so to speak.

And just awhile ago, Judie started out to yard and was halted when she found a Fritz in her yard shoes, sort low quarter water proof loafers. He was looking out toward the patio and his tail was nice an long. It was so long it stuck up while the rest of him or her was facing outward. I took a picture and will soon post it for you readers to see what we are writing about.

But better than Robins, Fritz is a harbinger of Spring since the hibernate over winter. Bugs are out, ergo Fritzii are out. Besides Robins winter here so they are really not harbingers of Spring, just winter residents.

"Wow, what a storm. . ."

Late yesterday a slow moving storm came in from the west. It took a long time to get there, slow, agonizingly slow. But it started to rain about 4 PM. If finished this AM at about 7 AM. I am sure we got about two to three inches of rain.

We had lightening and thunder all night long. And it rained and rained and rained. Just did my neighborhood walk and street gutters were still running. The ground is soaked like a sponge and is slowly releasing water into the curbs and down to the storm drains.

This will make everything green, make the grass grow and start the spring. It is way too early but what the heck, it is 84 degrees in Chicago today. Not that hot here but soon will be that temperature and more.

At least the rain will fill Weatherford Lake up, it was still short a foot and half. Perhaps they will have gained a foot more water. That is a good thing. If we get one more long soaker we will have all the reservoirs overfull. Better to have more than less but we run risk of local floods.

Last year it was fires not it is floods. The little rivers in this area are all flowing rapidly. Normally, they do get water in spring but not this much. But with two years of drought, it ain't a bad thing.

False River . . .

As we left Sunday, March 4th, it was as usual a mild day. But what was notable was that the river, the lake, was like a piece of glass. Not even the ducks were out, it was cool and kept them quite. The fishing rodeo Saturday was a one day affair, so the boaters were not out. That is getting rare now days. The lake is surrounded by "camps" some of which are lavish homes, some are ramshackle put together affairs on rented land used by weekenders, not locals.

The weekenders were not out either. It was predicted to be at freezing early AM but in reality it was around 45 to 50 degrees when we left at about 9:30 or so. So the lake stayed calm, just to airish for the boaters to be out and stirring up the place. Even the Purple Martins had not risen. So it was an idyllic scene. Once could imagine it was back in the 1700s - not. Too many camps lining the edge of the lake to take it back to pristine days.

I took a few pictures. I like to do that, once in a while I get a good one. Well once in a great while I get a good one. The camp grounds looked good and the Bill's Cypress trees standout. You can even find the place using Google Earth by those trees. I am sure if not cut back, they will last another 100 years and some one will marvel at them and wonder about them. Who planted those trees in such an orderly fashion? The answer is Wilmark "Bill" Gremillion.

We had a good time out at Angeles Plantation at the business meeting. Well it really is a Morrison family meeting. A lot of the folks showing up do not have a financial interest but they are family and are always welcome.

We stripped the beds, bringing our linen back to be washed and prepared for the next visit. We emptyed the trash, did a small amount of clean up, folded the afghans and turned off the lights. Yep, we locked up on our way out leaving the camp ready for the next family user. We drove off our usual route up through Marksville to Alexandria and on home.

Der Blog . . .

I was surprised to learn from Susan Morrison that I had readers of my blog as far away as South Carolina. At least she asked if it was my blog named False River and of course, I said, "Why yes it is." That kind of astounds me.

Then Chris Morrison, my cousin, who lives in New Roads at the old Morrison house and is its keeper so to speak, said I was referred to as an expert on Austin Chalk and Tucaloosa Marine Shale. Well I am here to say, I am decidedly not an expert, not even a Geologist but I am interested and read about it. I also contribute to the Haynesville Shale Forum and did start the thread on the Austin Chalk.

Believe me there are many others that are far more knowledgeable on Austin Chalk and the Edwards Shelf than I will ever be. But it is nice to know that the six degrees of freedom do indeed work, at least in my case.

Again the family business meeting was a great time. Great food, great hosts and good to see the family show up as they did. I hope it continues to grow and get better. We owe much thanks to Chris and Walter who are the real hosts of the affair.

I can not say enough about there stewardship. I know it is there home and heritage so to speak but they are aware it is a family asset. They just have the pleasure of being there in the fore front and do get the little and big things done for the plantation.

As corporation, maybe it will last the measure of time, at least for several generations.

The Family Meeting . . .

The family meeting came off again in New Roads. As usual we expected no one would be there and there was a nice crowd. Ann and Camille made it in, Herrise was there and surprise, so were Polly and Charlie. Herrise's children were there, well at least Ray and Byron were there.

It was nice listening to all of them. Great family get to together. Another good year and the old house is still there.

Time moves on and we are getting older. The youngsters are slowly taking over. And that is a good thing.

Off to New Roads - redux

We are off to New Roads again in the AM. Do our usual stop in Tyler for breakfast, gas in Natchitocis and on to False River. As usual we will arrive, unpack the car and then make a trip to Winn Dixie's to stock up on whatever.

We sort of plan to go to Joe's Dreyfus store. Joe Major sold out but it remains a good eatery in the local area, may not just be up to Joe's standard good enough. Daddy used to like to eat there and in fact introduced me to Joe at his original place out on 189 before it burned down.

That was a tiny place, maybe four tables and one had to wait outside in the car for a table. But the food was outstanding. He later bought the old Dreyfus General Store down the bayou from Livonia on the west bank. The Dreyfus family and store had been there for very long time. Credit to Joe, he retained the building as is and added a kitchen in the back. He provided good service and good food, but was an all cash operation for along time.

It is now open selected hours and the weekends. It belongs to another chef and he of course has added his touch to the menu. But overall the food remains good, well above the normal cafe standard and fast food specials.

Then we will be out at the plantation for the annual meeting. Never know who will show up but that is the good thing about it. And we all get refamiliar with the old place and hear the latest on whatever is going on in Pointe Coupee. Plus we always get a wonderful meal at the end of the meeting and visiting.

So a little four hundred mile drive is okay.