Along highway FM-730

[Doug Kerr]

Farm-to-Market Road 730 (FM-730) is a beautiful rural highway that runs north from where we live to the northern end of the county (where, for example, Carla's daughter and one of her sons both live).

We were in fact going to her daughter's house today for a birthday party for Carla, when she spotted a nice scene in a large pasture. I turned around and went back to shoot it.

I especially liked this shot:

Douglas A. Kerr: "Well, they're sort of like pages"​

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Best regards,

Doug

 

[Doug Kerr]

On the way back along the same road late in the afternoon, we spotted this gathering of buzzards in a striking dead tree:

Douglas A. Kerr: The Buzzard Tree​

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As we pulled over to shoot it, we saw the reason: a deer carcass at the roadside about 150 feet away, evidently hit by a vehicle. These guys were apparently the members of an ad hoc eating club (no, not like Sigma Nu).

We've often noted the tree, which stands out in a grove of live trees. We think it was a victim of lightning about a year ago. We often thought that it might be a nice subject, but today it was especially good.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

Farm-to-Market Road 730 (FM-730) is a beautiful rural highway that runs north from where we live to the northern end of the county (where, for example, Carla's daughter and one of her sons both live).

We were in fact going to her daughter's house today for a birthday party for Carla, when she spotted a nice scene in a large pasture. I turned around and went back to shoot it.

I especially liked this shot:

Douglas A. Kerr: "Well, they're sort of like pages"​

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Well, Doug, you just made my day!

What a wonderful farm scene. I hope you stopped and got out of the car and took more than one picture and then tipped the birds with some goodies! BTW, what are they?

Asher

 

[fahim mohammed]

Doug, it is a lovely farm scene. The position of the two cows screams ' buy one get one free '!!

Well done.

Regards.

 

[fahim mohammed]

On the way back along the same road late in the afternoon, we spotted this gathering of buzzards in a striking dead tree:

....
Best regards,

Doug

I like buzzards. For no other reason than because most don't like them. And they do clean up the mess.

You did well here. I like mysterious feeling to this image.

Regards.

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Doug, it is a lovely farm scene. The position of the two cows screams ' buy one get one free '!!

Well done.

Agreed, +1. I love the row of birds and the cattle in between. Is the one on the right a bull perchance?

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

Douglas A. Kerr: "Well, they're sort of like pages"​

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What a wonderful farm scene. I hope you stopped and got out of the car and took more than one picture. . .

Oh, yes I got out of the car and took a number of shots (some before I got out of the car as well).

Actually, as we drove up (on the opposite side of the highway), one of the cows (the bull, actually) stood up to see what was happening. Then as I got out, the other one got up as well. "Time to hit our marks", I guess.

There was a third cow in the scene as well. I'll post some more of the shots as soon as I can.

. . . and then tipped the birds with some goodies!

Well, sadly, I had no goodies!

BTW, what are they?

They are egrets of some type.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Cem,

Is the one on the right a bull perchance?

The one on our left, actually (ah, that pesky perspective!).

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Doug Kerr]

A wider view, a little earlier (as I was getting out of the car, across the highway):

Douglas A. Kerr: "Oh, no, its that guy from Paris Match"​

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A little side story. Those fences made of pipe (only a gate here and an end section) are usually painted by a guy with gloves, covered with a towel-like material, that he dips in a pail of paint and then works the pipes as if we were washing a kid's dirty arm.

Actually full pipe fences are fairly common here in the Weatherford, Texas area, and most are kept up-to-date, paint-wise. (The terrycloth glove guys do a booming business.)

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Doug Kerr]

A story behind the story

I mentioned that the pictures of the cattle were taken on "FM 730", the standard short designation for Texas Farm-to-Market Road 730.

The Farm to Market roads, and their counterparts in the western portion of the state (mostly), the Ranch to Market roads, are an interesting part of the Texas highway system. They are secondary roads built and maintained by the state under a program instituted in 1937 and fully formalized in 1949, and were originally intended to allow farmers and ranchers to bring their products to market (although interestingly enough, the first one actually designated a Farm-to Market Road, built in 1941, ran to a sawmill).

These roads today constitute over half the total road mileage of the Texas state highway system.

There are some interesting matters of notation for these roads. Although the formal names of the roads are Farm to Market Road ## or Ranch to Market Road ##, for conciseness the signs say "Farm Road" or "Ranch Road" plus the number.

Sign for Farm-to-Market Road 1957​

From Wikipedia Commons, PD​

But when these roads are referred to on guide signs (showing, for example, the distance to an upcoming junction with one of the roads), or in other formal references, their designations are presented as "F.M. 730" or "R.M. 2588"; "FM 730" is a common form in written material. And they are often spoken of orally or in informal journalism as "Farm Road 730" or "Ranch Road 2588".

In fact, there is only one state road in Texas whose entire formal name is "Ranch Road so-and-so", and that is Ranch Road 1, near the former ranch home of President Lyndon B. Johnson (in Perdenales, Texas, pronounced "pay-der-NAL-ayss").

Another interesting thing about highway notation in Texas is that, until quite recently, interstate highways were always spoken of, and mentioned on guide signs, as "IH-20", not as "I-20", as is common elsewhere. Of course this convention is certainly understandable, since the name of that road is "Interstate Highway 20". And of course, never as "the 20", as would be done in California ("his shop is somewhere over on the 405").

Best regards,

Doug

 

[StuartRae]

Hi Doug,

A wider view, a little earlier (as I was getting out of the car, across the highway)

A lovely pastoral scene, the sort of thing I grew up with although the birds would have been lapwings (peewits or green plovers).

A little side story. Those fences made of pipe (only a gate here and an end section) are usually painted by a guy with gloves, covered with a towel-like material, that he dips in a pail of paint and then works the pipes as if we were washing a kid's dirty arm.

Much more efficient than a brush.
Are the wire sections of the fence electrified?

Regards,

Stuart

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Stuart,

Are the wire sections of the fence electrified?

Not usually, although I see a few that are.

Evidently the livestock are usually content to observe their appointed boundaries!

Sometimes the wire fences use a clever design scheme (often said to have originated at the famous and gigantic King Ranch in southern Texas, but I'm not so sure). Half of the posts are metal, with the ones in between of wood (usually rough tree limbs of small diameter). That reduces the overall cost compared to using all metal posts at the same pitch.

Why not just use all wood posts? They might not collectively have the strength to prevent the fence from falling over in the face of wind (for one thing, it is hard to drive them into the ground to the same depth). In addition, his way, in the case of a grass fire ("range fire"), half the posts (the metal ones) probably survive, keeping the fence relatively functional (though enfeebled) until the destroyed posts can be replaced.

I have some pix of one of these nearby, which I'll try and locate and post.

Best regards,

Doug