Well, our first anniversary of sharing The Studio at Scurlock Farms with others will be next week. What a fun, enjoyable year it has been! We have met so many nice folks from around the country - from CA to FL and spots in between. Several have come from the snowy north to take in a little warmer weather in TX during the winter months.
We were having so much fun and success with The Studio, in March, 2011 I decided to do the same thing with Rocky Overlook, my parents home, or what we call "the big house". They lived in The Studio while building it and it sits across a ravine and around a curved rock walkway from The Studio. Privacy is afforded by shrubs, trees and the ravine. It is close enough for a group or family to use both houses.
Our first guests at Rocky Overlook were in late July, 2011 to a couple from San Franciso that were getting married in Georgetown. They rented both Rocky Overlook and The Studio so close family members would have a better option than staying in hotel rooms.
The bride's parents and brother were from Hong Kong and did not speak English. We very much enjoyed meeting them. Rocky Overlook was the first American home they had been in and they totally enjoyed their stay with us. It was very fascinating to watch Hym doing his exercises in the yard under the oaks or on the upper patio in back of the house.
My granddaughters were thrilled to see the comments Hym left in our Guest Book, written in Chinese! We still don't know what he said, but know it was something nice.
In October, we had two big events at Rocky Overlook and The Studio at Scurlock Farms. I volunteer for The Caring Place in Georgetown. We have a thrift store, Fabulous Finds, a vintage store, Refinds, and a boutique. All items that are donated are sold in our stores (all under one roof), and the proceeds go to help those in town and the county that are in need - clothing, food, rent, utilitis, our annual Coats for Kids,, and holiday meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
We had a fundraising event at both Rocky Overlook and The Studio called The Gathering on the Gabriel. It was a huge success and raised $10,275 for The Caring Place Building Fund. Tours of both homes were available with my sisters acting as docents - Susan grew up there and Staci was born there. A delicious buffet lunch planned and prepared by another sister, Tanya, was served on the upper patio and guests sat at tables under the oaks. A live band played beautiful music for two hours, and then we finished off with a live auction of many works of art by Chuck DeHaan, C. P. Montague, Dennis Schmidt, Sheron Thweatt, and Dalhart Windberg, several pieces of jewelry from the Lia Sophia collection, and a set of antique Haviland china.
Gary Freedman, a fantastic auctioneer from Rockwall, held the auction for us. Gary has helped raise over $3.2 million for charities in the North TX area in the past 10 years. His wife, Deborah, was his spotter, and the two of them made the auction fun for all.
The next day, a beautiful wedding was held at the farm. Sara and Alan exchanged their vows on the lower patio as the guests looked on from the upper patio. The bride's father, Kurt, had cooked bar-b-que and a buffet dinner was served on the upper patio. Guests sat under the trees with Japanese lanterns and light wrapped trees providing lighting.
Photos of both events are posted at www.ScurlockFarms.com.
November is shaping up to be a busy month for both Rocky Overlook and The Studio at Scurlock Farms. We'd love to have you visit, too!
February 7, 2011
February, 2011 Artic Front - Brrr!!
We Texans are not used to extremely cold weather and snow, but we had a good taste of it this past week. We thought the thermometer on the deck was stuck at 20 for 3 days after an arctic front blew in on Tuesday. We had guests from Wisconsin staying at the studio, and I believe they felt right at home! They really enjoyed the fireplace.
Wednesday we had about 1" of snow and it was beautiful. The snow was very dry and powdery. The three granddaughters got a snow day from school and enjoyed playing in the snow. They tried building a snowman and all they got for their efforts were cold hands! They did make snowballs and had snowball fights.
The plumbing in my Mom's house is in the attic very close to the eaves. We had left cold water dripping in the bathroom and when we checked Wednesday morning, the hot water was frozen at the sink and the shower in that bathroom. Dan spent 2 hours in the attic with a hair dryer. Some of the time was spent in the pitch black waiting on the electricity to come back on - we were experiencing rolling blackouts Ercot was doing across the state in order to keep the power on to Texas. The longest Dan spent in the dark was 15 minutes. He finally got the frozen slush in the pipes melted and we dripped BOTH faucets after that - actually more than a drip, a light flow.
Wednesday night our son called and his cold water was frozen in the kitchen sink. It sounded as if he needed a little moral support, so Dan and I went down to assist. I began using a hair dryer under the sink, but the cabinet back was solid and I didn't get any water flow. Dan and David were under the house for about 1 1/2 hours and had heated all of the pipes in the kitchen area. We finally figured it must be frozen in the wall behind the cabinet.
David used a sharp knife and cut a piece out of the cabinet, then through the Sheetrock and it didn't take but a couple of minutes to get the slush defrosted in the line so water began flowing - hooray for hair dryers!
A friend wasn't so lucky. He called his wife in a panic - water was running through the ceiling onto their brand new mattress. She called some friends from church to help him bale water and do some preliminary clean up until the insurance company could get someone to help. They had to carry the mattress outside and by the next morning, it was a huge ice block!
David is a Georgetown PD motorcycle officer. The first day, he rode the motorcycle in to work - just so he could say he'd done it. His legs, hands and feet were frozen by the time he got there and got into a car! The rest of the cold days he took the truck in then got a patrol car. I think they all stayed inside the PD except when working accidents, which there were a lot of once the snow got packed and became ice. He called us and told us to stay home, which we gladly did.
We spent about 3 days camped in front of the fireplace enjoying it.
Dallas was virtually shut down for 3 or 4 days. I really felt sorry for merchants and businesses and sports fans attempting to get into Dallas and enjoy the pre-Superbowl festivities! Thankfully Sunday was much better and the game could go on - and what a game! Of course, most of the fans were from climates that have very similar weather all of the time and they can deal with it and drive in it - they just had to worry about crazy Texans that did NOT know how to drive in it!
Wednesday we had about 1" of snow and it was beautiful. The snow was very dry and powdery. The three granddaughters got a snow day from school and enjoyed playing in the snow. They tried building a snowman and all they got for their efforts were cold hands! They did make snowballs and had snowball fights.
The plumbing in my Mom's house is in the attic very close to the eaves. We had left cold water dripping in the bathroom and when we checked Wednesday morning, the hot water was frozen at the sink and the shower in that bathroom. Dan spent 2 hours in the attic with a hair dryer. Some of the time was spent in the pitch black waiting on the electricity to come back on - we were experiencing rolling blackouts Ercot was doing across the state in order to keep the power on to Texas. The longest Dan spent in the dark was 15 minutes. He finally got the frozen slush in the pipes melted and we dripped BOTH faucets after that - actually more than a drip, a light flow.
Wednesday night our son called and his cold water was frozen in the kitchen sink. It sounded as if he needed a little moral support, so Dan and I went down to assist. I began using a hair dryer under the sink, but the cabinet back was solid and I didn't get any water flow. Dan and David were under the house for about 1 1/2 hours and had heated all of the pipes in the kitchen area. We finally figured it must be frozen in the wall behind the cabinet.
David used a sharp knife and cut a piece out of the cabinet, then through the Sheetrock and it didn't take but a couple of minutes to get the slush defrosted in the line so water began flowing - hooray for hair dryers!
A friend wasn't so lucky. He called his wife in a panic - water was running through the ceiling onto their brand new mattress. She called some friends from church to help him bale water and do some preliminary clean up until the insurance company could get someone to help. They had to carry the mattress outside and by the next morning, it was a huge ice block!
David is a Georgetown PD motorcycle officer. The first day, he rode the motorcycle in to work - just so he could say he'd done it. His legs, hands and feet were frozen by the time he got there and got into a car! The rest of the cold days he took the truck in then got a patrol car. I think they all stayed inside the PD except when working accidents, which there were a lot of once the snow got packed and became ice. He called us and told us to stay home, which we gladly did.
We spent about 3 days camped in front of the fireplace enjoying it.
Dallas was virtually shut down for 3 or 4 days. I really felt sorry for merchants and businesses and sports fans attempting to get into Dallas and enjoy the pre-Superbowl festivities! Thankfully Sunday was much better and the game could go on - and what a game! Of course, most of the fans were from climates that have very similar weather all of the time and they can deal with it and drive in it - they just had to worry about crazy Texans that did NOT know how to drive in it!
January 2, 2011
Pecan Crop 2010
The pecans have been a big disappointment over the past 3 years - through no fault of their own. First we had the extreme drought that caused the trees to have no production in 2009 and 2008. In 2010 they received some rains, but not at the right times. The trees really need a of of water in August, or the "water stage" for pecans. This allows them to grow rapidly and fill out.
We had a decent crop this year, but because it was not a bumper crop, we felt we could not justify renting the 60' boom machine we use to thrash the trees from. My sister, Susan, came and thrashed the lower limbs of several trees that had a fair amount of pecans on them, but it was really slow going doing it from the ground. The trees have grown so tall, she could reach only the lowest limbs, and 90% of the pecans were in the higher limbs.
Nature has a way of taking care of things. The birds REALLY enjoyed the pecans this year! Not the crows as you might expect, but medium sized black birds - grackles, I assume. They came by the thousands! They would feed off the ground, then fill the branches of a tree. I had seen and heard them - very noisy with that number of birds!, but I didn't really think they were large enough to eat the pecans. Then I saw them in the trees in profile with a whole pecan held in their beaks. We drove through the orchard yesterday and I saw only 3 or 4 trees with many pecans left on them. The good thing with the birds, they took the hulls and pecans off at the same time, so the trees look nice and clean.
They ate many pounds of acorns from the trees around the house this fall. I thought someone was trying to tear up the metal roof on the warehouse one day. I quit working in the yard to walk over and check. It was the same medium size black birds, hopping on the small limbs and branches, eating the clusters of acorns.
Hopefully we will have a normal weather year next year as far as rain goes, and the trees can get back into a regular routine and cycle of production. All of our freezers say we need them!
We had a decent crop this year, but because it was not a bumper crop, we felt we could not justify renting the 60' boom machine we use to thrash the trees from. My sister, Susan, came and thrashed the lower limbs of several trees that had a fair amount of pecans on them, but it was really slow going doing it from the ground. The trees have grown so tall, she could reach only the lowest limbs, and 90% of the pecans were in the higher limbs.
Nature has a way of taking care of things. The birds REALLY enjoyed the pecans this year! Not the crows as you might expect, but medium sized black birds - grackles, I assume. They came by the thousands! They would feed off the ground, then fill the branches of a tree. I had seen and heard them - very noisy with that number of birds!, but I didn't really think they were large enough to eat the pecans. Then I saw them in the trees in profile with a whole pecan held in their beaks. We drove through the orchard yesterday and I saw only 3 or 4 trees with many pecans left on them. The good thing with the birds, they took the hulls and pecans off at the same time, so the trees look nice and clean.
They ate many pounds of acorns from the trees around the house this fall. I thought someone was trying to tear up the metal roof on the warehouse one day. I quit working in the yard to walk over and check. It was the same medium size black birds, hopping on the small limbs and branches, eating the clusters of acorns.
Hopefully we will have a normal weather year next year as far as rain goes, and the trees can get back into a regular routine and cycle of production. All of our freezers say we need them!
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