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Along the West Trail & Dry Can Creek | Lost Maples State Natural Area
Missed a post? See these: Along the Sabinal, Hale Hollow Creek, The View, and Monkey Rock. I had thought that perhaps when we left the main area of the park and embarked on the West Trail that we would leave the crowds behind. There was a slight incline as we hiked up the trail which I thought might deter folks, and for awhile we didn’t see anyone. Then we saw one family, then another, and another until we knew this was not going to be our time for peace. Perhaps we’ve been spoiled by going to so many natural areas and not seeing a soul, or very few at least.…
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Grey Days
Yellow bird magnolia buds….these are going to be gorgeous! Winter thyme and a bunch of other seeds We had a sulphur and a moth hanging around during the cold days, not moving for a long time. Definitely alive, just chilling until it was warm enough to fly. One of the last weekends that Chris worked in Beaumont, we went to a plant nursery outside of Beaumont on Tx 105. I’ll have to dig up the name of the place, but we walked around the whole nursery wanting a lot of things but not putting anything on our list of things to buy until we walked in the main store area…
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Christmas
Christmas is so much more fun now that there are kids around. It is complete mayhem too! My nephew looks like my dad here quite a bit, particularly in the hair department (sorry dad!). Zoe loves Kylie (original name Colley, Zoe named her. Short story: Sugar and Spice are Kylie’s parents. Sugar and Spice are brother and sister. They weren’t fixed yet. They bred. Had babies. My brother and SIL didn’t need more kittens so my mom adopted Kylie after Red died in June. Mom didn’t like the name Colley so she renamed her Kylie. Kylie has a brother Nathan who is still at the other house. End story) but…
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Action(s) for 2013
Now that we have been in our house for six months I feel like I can have a clear head again. The unpacking, updating, painting, this-and-that of moving into a house is time consuming and we’ll be doing it for awhile. However, my studio is basically complete. All I need to paint is a baseboard on the wall that I did not paint white and the painting is complete. The general organization is done and I just need to buy some frames to hang some art. Hopefully I’ll be acquiring more art and creating more art to hang on the walls in the future. Since that is done, I have…
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2012 In Review
My word for 2012 was Prolific. I’d say the first half of the year was pretty good word wise but the last half went downhill, unless you count endless work on the house and yard as being prolific! I definitely find that the first half of any year is better word-wise but some years are better than others. The year I turned 28 I had a list of 28 things I wanted to do. I made my way through the list pretty well but didn’t manage to get them all done. Oh well, but the point was having something tangible, writing actual goals down instead of something general. Picking a…
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A Quick Crochet Project
I was in my studio before Christmas thinking that I really needed to make something. I pulled out some blue and grey alpaca yarn I had on hand and decided to make a scarf for my brother in law’s girlfriend. I was hoping it would turn out longer but the shorter length ended up being perfect for her to use. It was a nice to feel the yarn through my hands, turning a skein into something usable. I think I’ll be making more projects soon!
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SNOW!
In the early morning hours of Christmas morning the rain started in heavy with a bout of hail sometime in the night. It rained most of the morning and stopped sometime after noon when we went to visit my grandmother at her assisted living facility. We checked the radar and the snow line was coming closer and before we left our visit the snow had started. We didn’t expect it to accumulate but it did! All afternoon the snow fell in heavy flakes and finally when it accumulated enough Chris and I went outside to play! Our heavy winter wear was not with us so my dad let us bundle…
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The Buzz
Yesterday our beehive arrived! Yep, we’re going to delve into the world of beekeeping! A couple of weekends ago I went to a beekeeping forum at one of our local nurseries and it really set us off about getting our bees set up for the spring. We put our order in with R. Weaver Apiaries and we can pick them up in Navasota, Tx on April 13th! Chris put the hive together yesterday and will be adding a few things to make it nicer over the coming weeks, including building a stand for it. As for what else is going on around here, nothing that I can think of worth…
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The View | Lost Maples State Natural Area
After leaving campsite A the East Trail climbs steadily for maybe a quarter to a half mile before plateauing on top of the ridge (which I wouldn’t really call it a ridge, definitely let’s go with plateau…hence plateauing). The climb itself isn’t difficult, just steady, and since I am a slow hill climber and because my nose loves to run when I’m climbing a hill, I take my time. Up top we were rewarded with sweeping views in all directions. The trail itself stays level on top for maybe a mile, probably a smidge less, before descending down towards the West Trail and Can Creek. There wasn’t a whole lot…
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Pecan….Butter
A couple of months ago I was looking through my parent’s second fridge in their garage. I noticed several large ziplocs full of pecans from their yard circa 2010. Yep, time to be used. I think that was also the last time they harvested a good crop. The last few years the squirrels have hoarded the pecans for themselves. Several years ago when I started reading about the do-it-yourself food movement I found out how to make your own nut butters. It is super simple and this time around I went with the same nut I tried last time…the pecan. It isn’t a nut butter you would normally see and…