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Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillars | (Nearly) Wordless Wednesday
Over Easter weekend we went camping at McKinney Falls State Park just outside of Austin. As we were hiking along one of the trails headed back to our campsite we came across several pipevine swallowtail caterpillars walking in the grass and crossing the bike path. We searched and searched for pipevine but didn’t see any but there must have been some nearby. The caterpillars were in dangerous territory so we carried them over to a tree and out of the bike path—hopefully they managed to find more pipevine to chow!
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Greening Up In The Garden
A lot of these photos are going to be from March and early April. I’m working on taking photos now for another post later in the month. This spring feels like it has been a lot slower than in years past, though many plants that were slower to awaken last year due to freeze woke up earlier this time around. I’m still waiting on the Mexican flame vine. Only time will tell on that one. Strawberries have been abundant but the snails have been feasting on them before they ripen and thus many are already bad before we even get to them. Very disappointing this year. The plants waned a…
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High Island Birding & Marc and Eliana’s Visit
*Extremely photo heavy post—write-up at the end. Thought about making it two posts but decided against it* It’s hard to believe it has been nearly a month since Marc and Eliana came to visit on their way to Alaska. Processing the photos took far longer than I had planned and so last weekend I made a point to get them completed. I’d processed a handful for Eliana to use on social media when they were in the area but beyond that I didn’t get far. And I’m only sharing a smidgen of what I took over the three days they were in Houston. For those unfamiliar with Marc and Eliana,…
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Finally, Red Admiral Caterpillers!
It was about two years ago I stared noticing the false nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica) coming up in the garden. It grows naturally down by the pond edge and had found itself at home in the garden. Originally I began by pulling it because: weed, but eventually I came across several mentions of it being the larval host plant to the red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and decided to let it stay for a few seasons to see if I would ever get caterpillars using it. Eastern comma and question mark butterflies also use it but I have never seen them in our yard. Red admirals, though, they are plentiful! Last year…
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March 2018 Book Report
I finished a book over the weekend so I thought it worthwhile to get a March book report in. Wildflowers of Texas by Michael Eason: Finally, a wildflower book for Texas that is a bit more comprehensive than what is currently out there. Texas is such a big state with many eco regions and each side of the opposite ends, north-south and east-west are such drastic differences in habitat. I read this one via Net Galley and loved it and knew it had to go on my purchase list—so I bought it this morning and it will arrive from Amazon on Wednesday! Not only will it be valuable for us…
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Life Lately | March 2018
+In My Head Social media, internet privacy, and tech companies jacking with our brains. I’ve loved the internet since we got out first home computer sometime around 1996. Ah, good ol’ AOL chat rooms! And then later, Geocities websites, Blogger, blogs, forums, and on. I’ve met a lot of great people over the internet, some I’ve met in real life and others, just turning into good internet friends. I remember when at one point in time that last statement would make the people in your real life give you a concerned look but now it isn’t uncommon at all to meet up with people you’ve met on the internet. That…
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Sunday Brain Ramblings
Hello friends (and family!)…I’m around! I kept meaning to get some posts written last week but alas, I still have photos to edit and well, I’m barely finding time to get on top of laundry and to keep the house clean. We’ve been super busy the last few weekends and this weekend we were finally at home but I already know my to-do list will not be completed. Oh well! Our friends Marc and Eliana are on their second cross-country road trip! They did their first in 2008, which you can see here but they are posting this trip over on Facebook and Instagram if you’d like to pop over…
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Overnight on the Four Notch Loop/Lone Star Trail
Last weekend we made it happen—we got out and did our second backpacking trip with Forest. If you remember last year’s trip, well, we intended to make another trip much sooner than we did. But finally, we made it out and did another overnight with Forest. Now, Forest loves to hike and camp and any time we bring it up that we may be going camping or hiking he gets very excited and happy at the prospect. So, when camping plans go awry due to weather conditions it dampers his mood a bit. It seems like every weekend these days it appears that a chance of rain is in the…
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Late February/Early March in the Garden
So long cilantro! Milkweed seedlings #*(&$#(*& Deer! I love you Virginia creeper, but not in the garden, ok? Aristolochia fimbriata Tomatoes are now in the ground! Happy sunchokes! #(*&#$(*& Deer! Every day it is changing out there—new things sprouting and taking off by the day.
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Along the Lone Star Trail | Four Notch Section
Over the weekend we got out and stretched our legs a bit on the Lone Star Trail. Chris picked a trail head near Coldspring, NE of I-45. The drive there wasn’t too bad and I want to come back to this section to complete the loop trail here. It would make an excellent day hike or a short overnight hike with Forest. Our plans originally were to backpack over the weekend, do a short mile or two in and camp, but the weather looked sketchy for overnight Saturday/Sunday—turns out we never got that weather so I guess we could have gone. Oh well, you can only go with what the…