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The Almost Winter Garden
+Oakleaf hydrangea offers beautiful foliage this time of year. +A ginger shows the damage the freeze gave to tender tropicals. +Fred has to escape the wrath of Tom. +Chris harvested some carrots. Just a bit early for them. +The bees play hide and seek, scaring us a few weeks ago into thinking the colony was dead. We had a couple of days of warmer weather and all of a sudden they were all out. Apparently they hide well in their hive. +Alyssum from seeds we sowed last spring. Some made it through the summer, a great surprise for me. +The flowering ‘maple’—aka: Abutilon has weathered the cold and decided to…
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Room for Rent | Owlets Wanted
Chris built a barred owl box out of old fence wood that came from his mom and step-dad. He built it on a whim over the last few days and we finally put it up in a tree this morning. I happened to be out on our balcony on the second floor this morning and spotted the perfect tree to put it in, an elm, so that it would face the balcony and we could easily see it from our bedroom window as well. The perch came from a branch Chris found down by the pond. It worked out perfectly I think. Now all we need is an owl to…
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The Little Things
The last few weeks I’ve mostly avoided being in the yard or garden. I think I attempted to do a little bit early in the week of Thanksgiving, but for the most part it has been cold and dreary, and too depressing to be outside. Depressing because most items are dormant or have died from the freeze. Well, I hope they didn’t die, at least. Let’s just go with dormant. If there’s anything that is abundant in the garden right now that would be the greens. Greens everywhere. With some radishes, and a carrot Chris attempted to harvest today. The carrot was still a bit early. The crazy thing is…
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9 Miles at Nails Creek State Park
Lots of photos, details at the end… Last weekend, still wanting to stretch my legs after our failed attempt on the Northeast Texas Trail, Chris and I decided to hike the Somerville Trailway starting at Nails Creek State Park out west of Brenham. Our AT friend RedHat lives that direction and we invited her to join along. I had only seen her two other times since the AT, meeting her once for dinner and then hiking with her on the Lone Star Trail for a dayhike, but that had been almost two years ago! She’s always heading back to the AT to visit her boyfriend who is a ridgerunner in…
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Thanksgiving Cactus | Schlumbergera truncata
As the basket of cactus hung from our guest bathroom shower curtain rod, it started blooming. This started late last week, and I made the note that this so-called Christmas cactus was more like a Thanksgiving cactus. I was being smart, joking about it. Little did I know there actually is a Thanksgiving cactus, a separate species from the typically known Christmas cactus….and this is it. I went out to check the tag that is still hanging on the pot and it indeed gives it as Schlumbergera truncata, though they have the common name as Christmas cactus. But my research shows that there is a difference, and they bloom off…
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(More) Canoe Explorations
We took the canoe out for another spin over the weekend. It was actually my first time on the pond. Yes, after living here for a year and a half, I still had not been on the pond. Of course now I think a spin in the pond needs to be a weekly ‘thing’. I think the only thing that ruins it for me is just how much Chinese tallow is on the pond and the little islands along the creek, upstream. It is really depressing and downright ugly. ” The stream narrows up the way and while Chris was able to get further upstream a few weekends ago, the…
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‘Diagon Radish’ + Loving Lately
+I pulled out the first daikon radish yesterday. When we planted the seeds Chris kept calling them Diagon radishes, a nod to Harry Potter. And thus, forevermore they will be Diagon radishes whenever we plant them. It was milder than a typical radish, we’ll have to cook it up in a stir-fry this week. Bookmarked lately… +What Makes a Champion Tree +Eternal Flame Falls +100 Years Since the Extinction of the Passenger Pigeon +Cauliflower Mac and Cheese…looks yummy! +AT: Bulls Bridge to 10 Mile Hill +Foothills Trail: Around Whitewater Falls +Life In the Slow Lane: Profile of a Gopher Tortoise +Pumpkin Spice Chai Tea Concentrate +Invasive vs. Aggressive: They are…
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Final Thoughts + Photos & Video from the Northeast Texas Trail (NETT)
Final Thoughts: This trail is a great concept, just not ready to be fully executed yet. To be ready for hikers and bikers alike, there needs to be some organization in regards to trail maintenance. I’d venture to say that even the width of the railbed doesn’t need to be cleared, and really hikers only need a nice singletrack. Of course the bicyclists will desire more room to ride so more clearing will be needed. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that the trail alliance is as organized as other long distance trails, yet, and either the local cities or highly motiviated locals and trail users are the only ones who keep…
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Thru Hike FAIL: Part II | The Northeast Texas Trail (NETT)
On Sunday morning, though we had spent plenty of time in the tent already over 12 hours, we struggled to want to get out of the warmth of the sleeping bags. We hopped out, packed everything up, emptied bladders, and threw down a bar or two into our stomachs. We were around 2 miles from Avery which boasted a gas station that had a cafe and we hoped to stop there for a quick breakfast. The sun was out, which was an optimism booster, and though I was feeling sore from the day before I was ready to go. At this point in time I was still feeling that we…
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Fort Leo (with Stately Samson) | Wordless Wednesday