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Evening Fog
It’s been a drizzly and rainy day here today. Grey, cloudy, dreary. At least the temperature was respectable, in the 60s. This after two nights of deep freezes, something we’re not used to getting often. The rain is appreciated. It was nearing an inch at lunch and nearing two this evening when we got home. The depression in the front yard had ponded and the creeks we cross were swollen with muddy waters. ‘Our’ pond was rushing over the spillway and had inched up along the perimeter in some areas, though hadn’t come up much in our yard at all. It is within an inch or two of the new…
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The Angry Garden
As the video says, the garden wasn’t happy with a deep freeze. I’m already looking forward to the 70* weather that is predicted at the end of the week.
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Early January at Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge
Over the weekend we wanted to get out and do something away, something that didn’t involve working on our house. I mentioned to Chris I had wanted to visit Balcones Canyonlands NWR after having seen it on the map over the last few years. It was northwest of town and not on our typical route when we visit Austin, so exploring this part of town was a nice diversion from our usual routine. We opted for the Doeskin Ranch area of the refuge as it has the most hiking trails. I’m a little disappointed there aren’tmore trails than the five-ish miles, but I bet there is opportunity for cross country…
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Reconsidering The Florida Trail As A Valuable Long Trail
This post I’ve been ruminating on for oh, probably eight months now a year now (can you tell this has been sitting in my drafts folder for awhile?). It first started out with me a little upset that a hiking blog I followed was lamenting that their hike through a section of remote wilderness ended up being on a converted rails-to-trails section of trail rather than up and over mountains as they had initially thought, therefore the trail had been flat which had equated it to being boring. And then yesterday six months ago or so, the Facebook group ‘Thru-Hiking’ reshared a photo from the Florida Trail Association and asked…
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Reviewing The Year | 2013
I debated if I was going to do a review of the year or not like I see other bloggers doing, but then I went back through my archives from January of last year and though ‘Awww, I remember that!’ and decided I was going to give a whirl. First, a short run-down of my ‘word’ from last year and then a post or three from each month that I enjoyed while reviewing my archives. Action was my word for 2013 and beyond March I think I dropped it. In fact, I was thinking my word was prolific but apparently that was my word for 2012. Sooo…I think I’m going…
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Projects, Projects, and More Projects
A house….is full of projects. I mean, they are good projects and I love my house, but sometimes it seems never ending. The lists had been compiling in my head for long enough that today I sat down and wrote out everything we still needed to finish, such as the laundry room which is 90% completed. I wrote the other day about Chris’ dock building adventure and he got a lot more accomplished today. Now we can walk out over the pond!! Looking north into the pond, towards the creek. And south towards the dam and the entrance to our neighborhood. It’s so cool! I went out and I told…
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Dock Building
Chris has been itching to rebuild the deck and extend it out over the water for a full-fledged dock since we moved in. He’s had the pieces for the base of the dock stashed under our carport for months, staining them as he could. Finally, before Christmas he put them together and waited until today to install them in the water. Next he’ll cut the boards for the top and install them, staining them afterwards. Eventually he’ll put the deck in too! Several months ago he bought two Adirondack chairs online, put them together and stained them. They look fabulous and will look even more fabulous when they are on…
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The Faces of Christmas Eve
First up was Christmas Eve at my parent’s house with my brother, sister-in-law, and the niece and nephew. I think Grayson gets it this year more than last year as is evident in the photos below. Lots of great facial expressions from those kidlets this year! Next up we’re off to Chris’ side of the family! Happy Christmas y’all! (I’m gonna have to find a way to watch Happy Christmas Miss King sometime today…dangit, it’s not on Netflix.)
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Winter Solstice
Yesterday while it wasn’t raining and the air was a perfect 75* and balmy, I took a series of short videos around the garden. I was searching for the beauty that is hiding somewhere amongst the dead and brown in the garden. It’s there, you just have to look a bit harder. Today we’re expecting rains for the solstice and a continuation of some warmth with maybe a dip down into the 50s and 60s, but nothing like it was two weeks ago. This is my kind of winter. We’re going to spend solstice doing some final Christmas shopping, and I’m going to do a little housework and then some…
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Backyard Birds | December Edition
Top two: Bluebirds, an active group in our backyard. Third: Great White Egret Four: Mockingbird, looking fat and happy. Five and Six: Turkey vulture across the street. Love watching them fly the thermals, swooping through the air. Not pictured: the loud crows, despite my best efforts to locate them…the osprey that has been hanging around the ponds lately. Oh, and the never-there-at-the-right-moment belted kingfisher that flew by as we were picking up my neighbor’s leaves to use in our compost bin.