Calf Tuna Rowena joins the herd;
a look at flooding's aftermath

By Bebe and Sissy Fenstermaker

Good soaking rains, two cool fronts, sensational blue skies -- are we in heaven? I heard someone on the radio say that when we hit fall the light is yellower. Its direction is noticeably more southern, too. The scrub jays sail in and out of the oak trees at the back of the kitchen house giving their raucous call. The dogs want to go on walks and whirl out of the gate when we head toward the barn. It's fall for sure.
There is one pleasant change this fall; I'm not dying from ragweed fever. I cannot say exactly why but I suspect homeopathic remedies have made the difference. Usually I have to start taking something very strong in late August but on September the third, I suddenly awoke to the fact I had forgotten all about it. It was strange and delightful to realize some change has taken place. When the pollen count goes up now I march outside and breath deeply.
A special little red longhorn heifer was born here in July on our mother's birthday. We looked forward to her birth with great anticipation, not only because being an AI (artificial insemination) calf she would bring new genes into the herd. We were offered the last three vials of her sire's semen held at a semen bank. Her sire, long dead now, was collected, as they say, about 25 years ago. Semen is now stored in thin plastic tubes and kept frozen until just before it is placed into the cow. This bull's contribution came in a glass vial so old that it made the AI man whistle because he hadn't seen one in years. He was game to try and told us to borrow a microscope from our vet so, after thawing, we could see if the semen was viable. It surely was and nine months later little Tuna Rowena is the hottest thing at the Maverick Ranch! She is named after her father, Cactus King, and our mother, Rowena. (I tried La Nopalita but that was nixed due to gender incorrectness.) She looks as correct and fine as any heifer we've ever had. It is amazing to reach into the past and find a way to see an old type longhorn. The four beefmaster heifers we bought last January are in love with Tuna Rowena. We brought them in from the calf pasture a month before her birth and all the longhorns hated them and poked them so much they wouldn't go with the herd. I sort of had them on my hands here at the house all the time until that fantastic calf was born. Then everything changed. The girls were completely overwhelmed with Tuna Rowena; they simply couldn't get over her. They followed poor Mole the mother so closely that she would explode at them to move them back. Gradually, though, Mole realized she had hit a bonanza of elephantine dueñas. Now one hardly finds Tuna Rowena with her mother except at mealtime; she's with the girls. And, the girls are with the herd.

Bebe Fenstermaker

I am looking forward to the Native Plant Society of Texas' (NPSOT) annual symposium in October. This year it is being held in Fredericksburg and will highlight the Hill Country. The NPSOT chapters in the surrounding counties have been meeting with the Gillespie County chapter to plan workshops, fieldtrips, and volunteer jobs. There are always good lectures and workshops. Our old propagation group of four makes cedar garden towers. We call ourselves the Chainsaw Garden Ladies. We plan to donate one of our popular towers to the silent auction along with a double birdhouse-planter affair. Guess we're going to be a little busy this week with the chainsaw.
On a beautiful, mild September Saturday Bebe and I went on a field trip with a group from the Cibolo Nature Center, Boerne. We walked the Canyon Lake spillway and the streambed below it. What we were looking at was the aftermath of last summer's flood. At least one and a half lakefulls went over the spillway, seven feet above the lifetime prediction. It removed all the soil and vegetation on and below the spillway, causing new chasms and much destruction downstream. The Corps of Engineers in charge of the dam made special arrangements for us to walk the course guided by one of their personnel. Dr. Bill Ward, geologist, and Rufus Stephens, Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist, also led the group. Our tour was to view the damage and nature's beginning recovery but we dipped deeply into geology because we were seeing an exposed example of the Balcones Fault System (where the Hill Country begins). Pioneer plants, like sycamore trees, Roosevelt weed, cud weed, cat tails, bushy and little bluestem grasses manage to begin again in rock cracks, bits of soil, and along the stream's edges. We saw some fossils new to us, evidence of wave action, dinosaur tracks, a rudist reef, the slicken sides of the fault, and carbonized ancient plants, all within a short two-mile walk. It was incredible. We finished the trip eating lunch while looking at the Corps' bloodcurdling video of the flood.

Sissy Fenstermaker