This is our newest neighbor....

He was only a few ours old when I snapped this picture

My Purves Ancestry and Historical Landmarks

Historical Markers for Pecan Cemetery and Purves Live Oak Cemetery in Purves Texas, near Dublin.

The Pecan Cemetary in Purves Texas, traces it's history to 1880. A memorial marker for Civil War casualty Daniel Turney 1829-1864, (my ggg-grandfather) bears the oldest death date, although he is actually buried in Tyler Texas. His only child Nancy Amanda Turney and my gg-grandfather James Bruce Purves (pictured below) married in 1869, and lived in Van Zandt and later Dublin, Erath county Tx. My grandfather Lorenzo Lee was the 4th of 11 children born to them. The town of Purves Texas was named after two of his older brothers, John Isaac who founded a church in the area in 1890, and William Henry who was the town's first postmaster in 1897.

                   James Bruce Purves

          

Historical Marker at Purves Cemetery Tabernacle.

Pecan Cememtery Tabernacle

In 1884 J.W. McKenzie deeded 3.5 acres of land for church and cemetery purposes in the Purves Community. A portion of the donated land has been been used as a burial ground since 1880. The Friendship Babtist Church disbanded in 1915 after serving the area for more than 30 years.
Lumber from that church building was used to construct this tabernacle in 1922. The building is a well preserved example of a group meeting shelter.


Below is a little about the birth and boom years of the town of Purves, in Erath County Texas.

This Pileated Woodpecker Is A Regular In The Backyard

I took this video right out the patio door.

Cool DIY Hypertufa Boulders

I love this stuff! Ever heard of Hypertufa (pronounced hyper-toofa)? It's a 3 part mixture of Portland cement, peat moss, and perlite. It looks really cool, and makes long lasting garden plant containers, fake rocks and boulders, stepping stones, wonderfully whimsical garden spheres and all sorts of decorative garden accents. It looks alot like lava rock, the peat moss eventually decomposes and leaves pits, the perlite keeps it light weight. Just smooth it over a form or mold, let it properly cure (dry) and you’ll have a very durable DIY garden art treasure for years to come.
A quick google image search shows many great examples, and there's plenty of instructions already available online (search 'hyperturfa' also) On DIY shows I've seen them mix living green moss and buttermilk in a blender and just 'paint' it on the rocks.

I love these leaves. I could use my giant elephant ear leaves to make an impression.

But really I want to jump right in with a big project like the boulder below.

I have a small pump I would like to disguise and muffle the motor sound. I'm thinking this would be perfect because I could leave it open in the back for air circulation. Plant some flowers around it would look like it's always been there.

We are digging a small pond in the future, these could be used for that too. It would be fun to have a small waterfall feature in it.

I could line the edge with hypertufa rocks made to fit.

 

My "Hay Loft" Apt

Here's the front of the barn though it's partially hidden by the trees and blackberry bushes.

The loft will be a studio/guesthouse. It has a full bath and small kitchen. 

I'm learning to cut and install tile. It's far from perfect but I think it's going to come out just fine.

We couldn't have done any of this without my Dad's help. He built these cabinets for me too!