Snapshots from the Last Few Months

Instead of my usual ‘Life Lately’ posts I thought I’d go through and share photos I’ve taken, mostly from my phone, the last few months. I may not have been writing much here but there’s been quite a bit going on.

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Back in May I started working on removing several inches of dirt, mulch, debris, and weeds from the garden path in preparation for soil solarization. I had been out there working one afternoon on my lunch break and as I was about to leave I remembered I wanted to snap a photo of my work. After I turned around I noticed something flittering in the dirt and thought it was a bird at first, going after a worm or bug that I’d turned over. Turned out to be a bat! I have no idea where exactly it came from but we do have a small bat house on a pine tree on the east side of the garden. Whether it fell out and flew down or it fell out of another tree adjacent/above the west side of the garden, I do not know. I took some photos and videos and the bat continued its meager attempts to start flying. After that second video I went to look for a long stick so I could help it grab on and I could lift it higher onto a tree but when I returned I didn’t see the bat. Either it scurried up the tree faster than I imagined or it managed to take off from the ground, which isn’t something they usually do. It was an odd encounter!

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Mid-May brought a little flash flooding to the area. We ended up with some tornado warnings after everyone in the office had gone out to lunch to welcome a new person to the office and when we returned and went back to work for about 20 minutes, the downpour got stronger. And then we had water rushing across the parking lot and down into the creek below. Another coworker narrowly missed having his car flooded and/or flipped into the ravine area below and moved it just in time!

I was feeling particularly good about my hair and outfit this day! I don’t think it photographs very well but to me my hair was falling well and the shirt was new and well, new clothes make you feel nice usually, right?

Ignore all the junk in the carport—this deer. For those who haven’t been reading here for many years, we have four feral cats. That’s after having inherited about 15 when we moved in 2012. (TNR experience here and yes, I’m aware of the issues with feral cats.) So, with that, we feed the cats. Chris had fed the cats one morning and said that one of the deer had poked her head through the side of the carport and started helping herself to the cat food! We thought it was funny the first time or two but then she continued! I pushed the cat bowls further into the carport (they are usually behind the lawn mower and in a much easier place to sneak food) and saw that she didn’t care and tried to walk in. I scared her off before Forest and I went to work/school. Later, Chris moved them further in. I had thought maybe the situation was solved but one evening I went to feed them and saw her come around the building. She looked at me and continued to walk around and into the carport! I was at the door to the shed where we keep the food and she walked to the middle of the carport with the four cats sitting there around their bowls and I’m five feet away. After a quick look at me, she bellied up and started digging in! The audacity! I scared her off and moved the bowls further over and between a bunch of other stuff in the carport so she would really have to work for it.

My parents were here for a few days recently and my mom said our deer friend was still trying to scope the situation out but didn’t enter the carport! The last thing I need is a too friendly deer. Chris recently relocated a racoon that was becoming too friendly and I have no idea what you would do for a deer other than shoot it and I’d rather not go that route.

Chris was out of town last week in Pennsylvania so Forest and I entertained ourselves early in the week before my parents came down. On Tuesday we grabbed dinner and headed to Spring Creek Park. I’d thought maybe we’d head to Kleb Woods for a hike but Forest wanted a playground and a hike and Kleb Woods doesn’t have a playground. After Forest had his fill of playing we drove to the back of the park because I wanted to find Spring Creek and check it out. There wasn’t a direct trail but we did manage to find a clearing and climbed over some piles of debris and then down into the creek. It was rather peaceful down there and much more narrow in this section than further downstream at Burroughs Park.

After several years without getting peaches, we were able to harvest about five this year!

A photo we sent to Chris while he was away last week—my kid is a DINO FANATIC! And he’s excellent at his dino identification.

Splash pad days!

Our anniversary was on the 14th and I had only recently heard about the Van Gogh exhibit at the MFAH and knew it was on the tail-end of its exhibition. We took the day off work and went to see the exhibit! I believe I have seen one or two Van Gogh’s at the Kimble in Fort Worth but it has been so long that I do not remember. It didn’t matter, this was a fantastic exhibit! It was very crowded and you had timed entries but once you were inside the main exhibit you could stay as long as you wanted. I really loved his sketches and studies, sometimes more than his paintings. There was a lot of emotion for me, I think, as he has always been one of my favorite artists. Of course, a Dr. Who episode, Vincent and The Doctor, came to mind when I looked at his portrait and later read more about his mental health deterioration in association with a few of his paintings and you can’t help but wish you had your own TARDIS to reach through time and show him what his work would become.

I beelined it to the two O’Keefes after I saw them out of the corner of my eye in the gallery we entered after exiting the Van Gogh exhibit. Gotta get myself to Santa Fe sometime soon.

Plumeria seedlings! Our plumeria trees put on pods at the end of last summer and only finally ripened and opened in early May. A quick Google search gave me the low-down on how to sow them and now I have five seedlings out of quite a bit of seeds. I’m glad it is only five though, not sure what I would have done with 30 plumerias.

Roadkill coral snake. *sigh* Seen while—->

—>rollerblading! It had been a few months since I’d been ‘blading and I finally got a few miles in.

In addition to a cat food hungry deer, fawn season has arrived! They are adorable and so cute now but are going to really drive me nuts next year when they eat my plants.

Abelmoschus moschatus is in bloom! So happy to see it blooming again!

About half of the soil solarization work. I’m just now starting to remove the second half so when these are done in about a week I can move the plastic over to the new area. We’ll put fresh mulch down in the other area.

Zoo day with the lion!

Beach read! I’ve had this on my shelf for years now and I finally cracked it open. Randy Wayne White has several series based on, well, Florida being Florida, in the same vein as Carl Hiaasen. This one took a bit to get started but once it got rolling I was hooked and read it rather quickly. A few things annoyed me, mostly in regards to places being labeled as near each other in the book but in reality are in completely different areas. I know this was done for plot but it drove me nuts.

The beach looks lovely here but what you don’t see is just how much microplastic was in the water! I couldn’t believe it. So many tiny pieces of all sorts of plastic. It made me sick. I’ve also been on a doom and gloom kick regarding plastic and climate change recently and this didn’t help.

Three silly cousins!

And a super tired Forest about 20 minutes after everyone left! When did he get this LONG?

The very beginnings of the house painting.

These two! Leo really wishes he could go outside.

In May I managed to get some field time in, including a couple of rides on an airboat! It’s been a long time since I’ve been on one and being in the marsh brought back a lot of memories. I just needed a Publix sub to complete the day!

Just at a plant nursery and Forest had to have his photo taken with this rooster statue!

And Forest proud of his alligator/dinosaur shoes! We had seen them at Target but they didn’t have his size. After scouting another Target and finding the size he’ll need in 6-9 months I told my mom to check out her Target. She found them and mailed them to him and he was so happy!

Well, that’s a synopsis of life these days. Bits and blurs…and summer is moving right on by.