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2011 Summer Interview Series | Renee Garner at Wolfie and the Sneak
I first found Renee several years ago writing at You Grow Girl when Chris and I started getting into gardening more in Florida. I think she was giving away some seeds and I was lucky enough to get some from her. I wish I could remember what they were! Anyway, from there I found her blog and then made her a contact on Flickr and subsequently the rest is history as I became an avid blog reader of hers, even if I’m not always commenting, I’m always reading! Lately she’s been busting out the garden inspiration and I thought she’d be a great addition to the interview series, plus Renee…
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Dad and Me
To celebrate Father’s Day here’s a few good photos of my dad and me! A bit blurry but coming down the aisle 9 years ago! Backpacking at Texoma a few years ago. At Saguaro National Park in Tucson. At Bahia Honda State Park in the Keys on one of Dad’s annual trip to the Keys when we lived in Florida. Just Dad when we went to Glacier for a quick evening because we both had trips that coincided with each other to that area. Another Keys trip! And a Christmas trip to Florida. See ya soon Dad! 🙂 Love ya!
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Texas Wildflowers: Saururus cernuus, Lizard’s tail
This plant is one of my favorite wetland plants. They offer beautiful texture to the marsh and smell pretty good, too! A wetland plant, they are a perennial and range to approximately 2′ in height. Lizard’s tail is native to much of the U.S. and can be found in freshwater to brackish marshes. The plant mainly spreads by rhizomes so it would be easy to divide and spread in a garden. Apparently in Connecticut and Rhode Island the plant is considered endangered! More information: +Missouri Plants information +USDA page +Wildflower.org +Connecticut Botanical Society +Pond Megastore potential place to buy it for your garden. +Water Garden.org another potential place to buy…
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Florida Trail Tales 13: Crestview to Navarre
After leaving the more congested area around Crestview we set off on a mostly quiet walk along U.S. 90. Sure there were large semi trucks driving passed but the shoulder was wide enough for us to follow and jump off when needed. The sky went from looking to clear up to getting dark again as clouds passed over continuously throughout the afternoon. Shortly outside of town, before crossing the Yellow River, we stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break and I asked the cashier if she knew of any camping areas nearby after she questioned what we were doing. After I told her about the Florida Trail and…
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McGuire Tract @ Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge
A few weekends ago Chris and I ventured out to the McGuire Tract of the Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge. It was a hot and humid day by the time we arrived so there wasn’t a lot out on the trail. We had to drive through some back roads to even reach this tract and I wondered how often it was even used. Luckily the ‘trail’, a wide grassy road of sorts, was mowed so we didn’t have to deal with itchy grasses. I’d love to explore more of this area and paddle around on the Trinity too…some day! Next time we’ll attempt it in a non-heat and buggy season.…
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2011 Summer Interview Series | Randy Lay at Recipes Randy Cooks
Randy is Kathy’s husband and I met him through the same channels I did Kathy. He cooks up a killer meal and served us several times when we were living in Florida. He’s always got interesting views to discuss and is always up for trekking to take photos with us when we’re out in the wilds of Florida. Recently he started blogging his recipes and we’ve made Penne with Italian Sausage, Fresh Tomatoes, Feta, & Herbs and can vouch for it’s awesomeness. Hope your hungry so you can try some of his recipes! First off, give us an idea of who you are, why you blog and your geographic location.…
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Florida Trail Tales 12: Nokuse Plantation to Crestview
After leaving our stealth/trespassing campsite for the night, the morning was dawning as if it was going to rain. It was spitting when we got up that morning, we ate our breakfast in a hurry, took down camp and hit the road, literally. We had a couple of miles left before we entered the woods again at the Nokuse Plantation. Immediately back in the woods we started following a stream for quite a way. It was a beautiful little creek and we noticed that the clear running water was going to be the trend for the rest of the hike. The rain continued as we weaved around the creek and…
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How to Hug a Tree.
First: Find a big tree. Yes, that is a leg you see up top. A coworker climbed it…he was daring, I was not. Second: Get up close. Wrap your arms around it. Third: Don’t forget that it might dwarf you. We found our largest tree so far, at least I think so…we’ve seen some rather large stumps that were logged, too…a Nyssa aquatica aka: water tupelo. This one was hollow and had cool air coming from the little crevice in its base. I peered inside, got a whiff of musty odor and found nothing living there. We decided it’d be a great place to camp out if the base was…
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3 Book Reviews
Back in April I wrote about three books I’d bought at the used book store. I finally finished all of them, the last one last weekend. Here’s a bit about what I thought of them. Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States by Bill Bryson: I was familiar with Bryson’s work from A Walk in the Woods but had only thumbed through his other books at the store. This one was on clearance so I nabbed it and was immediately fascinated with the book. The book begins with the initial colonization of the U.S. and how the English language was brought over from…
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Texas Wildflowers: Heliotropium curassavicum
Ah, yet another salt marsh plant! This dicot is a native to the majority of the US and several Canadian provinces. This heliotrope can handle saline and wet communities and is found around salt marshes and margins of wetlands within the interior. It flowers for quite awhile from spring to early fall, preferring mostly full sun. I can’t find a lot about the wildlife value of the plant but I imagine it attracts butterflies. It could be difficult to find in nurseries if you are trying to use it as a garden plant, so maybe starting from seed from a plant in a natural habitat might be the way to…