Last week I was out watering the plants on the potting bench when I spotted a beetle coming out of the compost pile. I had a hunch it was a horned passalus beetle and so I took a few photos and threw it into iNaturalist just to verify—I was right! I’d come across one at […]
Echinacea purpurea | Flower Friday
Every time I see coneflowers I am drawn to them. They are one of the long-standing bloomers in a garden and are tough plants and yet I cannot grow them at home unless they are inside our edible garden. You see, the deer love them, too. When we moved in to the house my mom […]
Pearl Milkweed Vine, Matelea reticulata | (Wild)Flower Friday
I’ve come to really appreciate the milkweed vine species, particularly the more common one in my area, anglepod, aka: Gonolobus suberosus. It grows freely in our yard and in the garden and even gets colonized by oleander aphids like other milkweed species do. Out in the Texas Hill Country, the pearl milkvine, Matelea reticulata, is […]
Beluga Whales | Wildlife Wednesday
Beluga whales—something that was definitely not on my agenda of things I anticipated seeing while in Alaska. Humpback whales, porpoises, sea otters, sea lions, seals, possibly orcas—those were all things that were on our radar and for the most part we came across all of them. The orcas were the only things in that list […]
Camping Forest | Forest Friday
A little fishing, a little Easter.
Zebra Longhorn Beetles (Typocerus zebra) | Wildlife Wednesday
Back in April during our camping trip to Martin Creek Lake State Park near Henderson in East Texas, we hiked one afternoon on the Old Henderson Road Loop. I had thought about doing a separate trail write-up for that portion of the park but instead I think I’ll be sharing separate portions of the flora […]
Chironomus sp. | Wildlife Wednesday
The last camping trip we had in the spring was to Martin Creek Lake State Park near Kilgore. We had stopped here once on our way home from Caddo Lake when Forest was newly 2 for a short hike, to break up the long drive back to Houston with a then potty training toddler. Kilgore […]
Who Cooks For You? Who Cooks For You All? | Wildlife Wednesday
A week ago or so Forest and I were headed out to daycare and work down the driveway and I startled one of the local barred owls out of the swamp chestnut oak. It swooped low over the car and floated onto the electric pole on the property line. I stopped and got my phone […]
Pollinator Friends | Wildlife Wednesday
Last week I took out the macro lens to get a different viewpoint on the world in the garden. I wasn’t expecting to take photos of wildlife but once out in the edible garden where the full-sun was during the lunch hour, I came across several interesting individuals who got their photos captured. First, there […]
Birds & Mule Deer at Davis Mountains State Park | Wildlife Wednesday
We encountered this group of mule deer on our way up Skyline Drive one evening. Luckily we were going slow enough that I had Chris stop so I could get a photo with the moon as the backdrop. Thankfully this deer posted perfectly for me! And then there was this set of characters at one […]
