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Thru-Hike FAIL: Part I | The Northeast Texas Trail (NETT)
Well, I debated writing this or not. I mean, it is a fail, and after all, who wants to write about their failures? Earlier this fall Chris and I decided we were going to thru-hike the Lone Star Trail. I did some research and it seemed some sections were closed because the Forest Service is being asinine and calling these sections ‘dangerous’ due to dead trees along the length of the trail. Nevermind that the rest of the forest immediately adjacent to the trail, in the forest, was open. Silly, silly, silly. We were going to hike it anyway. That us until we received our Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine…
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Canoe Explorations
Zoe and I hung out down by the pond while waiting for her dad (my brother) and Uncle Chris to get back from their canoe ride around the pond. Chris bought a canoe off of Craigslist last Friday and it was the canoe’s first spin around our pond. The pretty fall foliage behind them is the awful Chinese tallow. Its color in the fall is probably its only redeeming quality. When we first told Zoe about the canoe she wasn’t interested in going. Well, she wanted everyone, all six of us, to go in the canoe at once. She didn’t quite understand that it wasn’t really feasible and got upset…
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Sweet Potatoes Out — Onions In
You can see what Zoe thought about harvesting potatoes. Luckily she changed her tune a few potatoes in! Our harvest this year was not nearly what it was last year. I bought slips of ‘Beauregard’ and ‘Purple Passion’ and only the ‘Beauregard’ produced potatoes. It was a big failure for the ‘Purple Passion’, which unfortunately took up probably half the bed. I think my brother was in hog heaven as he assisted Chris in digging up the potatoes. A chance to garden?? Sure! See? Only about half of a five gallon bucket full. Not like last year’s harvest. Oh well. Live and learn—only ‘Beauregard’ from now on. I think Curt,…
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Zoe at Five
My niece, Zoe, is a little over 5 years old now. It is hard to believe that she’s now really just a tiny adult. Of course she’s not really an adult in knowledge and mannerisms yet, but she’s definitely beyond the baby and toddler years and has her own personality and opinions. Girl has attitude. She, her brother Grayson, and her mom and dad came down over the weekend for one of our multiple-times-of-year ‘Whitlock Weekends’. Or at least that’s what I like to call ’em, the times when my family comes down to visit, or I go up to visit them. It was a great adventure this weekend, full…
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Autumn Chill
+Plant sitting an old favorite, staghorn fern, for Chris’ dad. Not that we’re much warmer here in Houston, it is a bit better than Dallas over the winter. +Digging out the long, patterned socks is one thing to look forward to in winter. I found the patch of leaves that were the greatest around the yard—don’t mistake that we have a yard of leaves. +Twilight moon. Probably taken at only 5:30ish pm. +I did a doubletake at an oak leaf and found a gall. Love them. +Daikon radishes are growing in thick. +African blue basil prior to being chopped down and turned into pesto. Chilly temperatures here, by far not…
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Nature In The City | Burroughs Park Part II
Part I in case you missed it. After scoping out the fungus I saw a very interesting swamp area, an area that reminded me of Little Slough, substituting water elm for pop ash and pond apples. And of course no epiphytes covering the tree branches. It also reminded me of months of tromping around the Big Thicket 2.5 years ago. I’m definitely a wetland and swamp person. Ilex opaca, American holly. I love, love, love to see these plants when they become well-formed trees. Their trunks are so thick and sturdy, they look like they’d be a good tree in a landscape. After meandering through the wetland for a little…
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Bits & Pieces
Life has been full of doing other things besides hiking or outdoor adventuring lately. Mostly we’ve been working on projects around the house. Recently we started working on renovating the laundry room. I hated the floor, the walls were crap, and there was no hot water running to the washing machine. Now there’s hot water, 3/4 of a new floor, the wall painted with touchups needed, and a few other items to do such as install cabinets. We’re waiting on the cabinets to come into the store we ordered them from so that we can finish the painting and the flooring. But, the whole room already looks much better. After…
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Nature In The City | Burroughs Park Part I
It has been awhile since I’ve done any Nature In The City posts so yesterday I got outside to a local park to explore. Burroughs Park is part of the Spring Creek Greenway project and part of the larger Houston Bayou Greenways around the metropolitan area. In the spring of 2012 I visited another park further east down Spring Creek, the George Mitchelle Preserve. I took a lot of photos so I will be breaking it out into two posts, with the second post coming later this week. First off, I was surprised by the size and activity in the park when I arrived. There’s a long, winding road that…
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Quiet Evening on Barton Creek
Last week I was in Austin for a conference and on Wednesday evening I tried to capture what was left of the daylight at the end of the day for a little exploration around town. I had contemplated driving out to Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge but didn’t think I had enough time to get out there and do anything useful so I opted to head downtown to Barton Springs and Zilker Park. It was smooth sailing south down the Mo-Pac expressway until it wasn’t and then I found myself ducking off the highway and heading down the still congested Lamar Street that leads towards the west side of downtown.…
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Clematis crispa | Texas Native Plant Week
It wasn’t until we moved to Texas that I discovered the awesomeness of native clematis species. We encountered this species while working Big Thicket National Preserve two years ago and since then we’ve become enamoured with the plant, looking for them in nurseries we visit. Ours is growing well on a trellis in our garden having put on blooms multiple times this summer. The bottom photo is from a seed pod we found in the Big Thicket. In Texas the species is located in moist areas in the southeastern section of the state, while the similar appearing Clematis pitcherii is found in the central and western portion of the state…