PEACHES AND RACOONS

My peaches are getting ripe and yesterday a racoon family with three little coons came looking for dinner. They checked the tree with small peaches but came down and went up the tree with the large freestone peaches. I went out and yelled and a couple ran away but two stayed in the branches. I got my walking stick and started a battle. They didn't want to jump out. I hit one hard enough that he fell out and ran off. The other one took a lot of blows and wouldn't fall, so I quit and presume he came down. I had picked three bags of peaches off of that tree a week ago and it is still loaded with large peaches.

Then this morning about noon I looked out and a lower branch had broken off of the tree. It was loaded with large peaches. I got a large brown bag out and picked all the good looking peaches off the limb leaving those with little flaws for the coons. I hauled the limb out to the woods.

I then picked a bag of the small peaches that were easily pulled off. I gave them to Jeff Ramsey who is repainting my front porch. He spent the morning rebuilding a complete section of railing that was dangerous. I have really appreciated him coming to help. He does all sort of handyman work and has offered to weed-eat for me. I need to mow at the Halsell House lawn but didn't get to it today.

Nancy is walking better every day and walked up the stairs to look at the painting on the upper porch this afternoon. She will meet with her doctor Wednesday to discuss the hip replacement for the other leg. It is the one that hurts now when she walks. I will be involved with the Kiwanis District Convention in Abilene Friday and Saturday and she will have her son visiting her from Kansas this weekend.

When we were in Granbury last week we visited the Granbury Live auditorium and got the listing of the events. We ate lunch across the street at the Nutery?. That was after I took Nancy to Carswell Air Base to obtain a new military dependent ID card that she had misplaced. They took her photo and produced a plastic card that is indefinite in time and her photo looks good. I asked if I could get an ID card as a veteran and found out that you have to have 20 years service to get one. So much for my service in WWII and the Korean scrape. Of course I didn't get overseas so I don't count. And I didn't spend that many years in service. I did buy a GI bill farm as a perk. Got me started in owning West Texas land.