Jim if you ever want to come up when we get the boat running you are more than welcome. Lucy you are crazy, lol. Yes the dogs love going to the lake. I wish the video had come out better. Watching BB dive under the water to look for the ball was so funny. Batteries went dead right before she stuck her head under. I had never seen a dog swim underwater. It was so cool, lol. We are lucky to have the lakes so close. 20 minutes to Stillhouse Hollow Lake and 35 to Lake Belton.

Good morning! I am a brand new follower of the forum, and hoped to find some help in making my final landscaping selections. I have done a good bit of online research, but am finding that (a) Zone 8B is pretty broad, and (b)that practical experience is best. Will zone 9 plants grow out there? How do direct sunlight and high winds factor in? My home is on Lake Amistad between Del Rio and Comstock. The area is considered to be on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, and Sotol, Lechuguilla, Ocotillo, and Yucca all grow wild there. I will be renting my house as a vacation rental, but I live two hours away and will not be installing sprinklers. I can arrange for watering once a week if necessary. It is all DIRECT sunlight and pretty heavy winds. I have a wish list of plants...can you all please give me insight based on first-hand experience as to whether these plants will grow? Thank you in advance! Argentine Saguaro Golden Saguaro - Neobuxbaumia Polyopha Aloe Ferox Senecio Mandraliscae - Chalk Stick Aloe Barberae - Giant Aloe Tree Agave Victoriae Reginae - Queen Victoria Agave Alluaudia Procera - Madagascar Ocotillo Aeonium Zwartkop - Black Tree Aeonium Aloe Cameronii - Red Aloe Kalanchoe Luciae - Pancake Plant Agave Americana Marginata - Maguey Aloe Striata or Aloe Humillis Agave Parryi Truncata - Artichoke Agave Sedum Nussbaumerianum Sempervivium Ruffled Echeveria Spiral Aloe Thank you so much! Look forward to hearing from you!

Del Rio is right across the Texas/Mexico border at Cuidad Acuna, (Mexico) The local landscape is arid, dry, and a lot of brown, in areas. Those areas would be where the goats have been kept. We have a parcel of land just north of Del Rio, on the Devil's River. It is a beautiful river, and our land is beautiful, but it has never had a goat on it, nor a chain. It is like it was when God made it. I love it there. It will get cold at Del Rio, but not often, not on consecutive days, and not real cold. You will love Amistad Reservoir, a man-made lake, with caves decorated with caveman drawings. Hunting is big there, and that is what our land is used for. Many, many Crockett and Boone deer taken there. I love nandina, but I have been told I am weird- many times, LOL. You will see acres of Texas sage. Remember the book, "Riders of the Purple Sage"? That is it, and IT is gorgeous! Well, the book isn't about the sage, but it is gorgeous! Welcome to Texas. I hope you enjoy it here, so much so that you will wish you had got here sooner. I lived at Marquette, and it is beautiful, but Dern! it is so cold! We had to plug our car in, lest it freeze! We rode motorcycles around Lake Superior at the end of June, and the lake was still frozen! Here, heat is the biggest problem. It does get hot! Janie Here is a link that might be useful: Check out Del Rio

Lavon, when I was about 7 years old, I had a goat that pulled a cart. My father had told me about them and I got a goat, raised him, and my father made a cart for him. Of course, male goats...that haven't been neutered...do something that most people would find unpleasant. :) So when we ended up giving him to a man who had a lot of goats, and I got a horse. When I was in high school, a boyfriend gave me a Swiss Alpine...Alpine Swiss (?), named Ozark Mirandy, and I had her several years but she was killed by dogs. I had some other goats and a coyote attacked one and had to have her leg amputated. She did well on three legs, but later was also killed by dogs. I had a lot of trouble with dogs after my goats, so haven't had any goats in years, but I always enjoyed them. We had one Spanish buck though that was mean, and got in the stall with one of my horses and gored him very badly. That goat would stand in the barn and repeatedly butt his head into one of the heavy timber uprights...over and over. If he had a brain, I guess it was very addled after that.