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Pumpkin Beginnings
Chris planted pumpkins seeds at my mom and dad’s house before we moved. Here’s a bit of the chronology of the first few weeks. We’re guessing they will be ready around Thanksgiving. I’ve never had luck with pumpkins in Florida, bugs got to them fast and even if they lived long enough to bloom, nothing was pollinated. I’m interested to see what kind of luck with have with these. Casper and Big Max were the seeds of choice. Anyone had luck with pumpkins? I’m interested in organic methods, too. Please share!
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Local Flavor
Last weekend we moved to our new house in far-far-far Northwest Houston. So far out we’re not even in Harris county, but we’re close enough to all of the far suburbs that it is easier to call it Houston. Except we’re in the ‘country’. There are more country-ish places out there, but this is pretty much the most country place we’ve ever lived except the hotel we stayed at in San Augustine, Tx last fall for work. *That* was country. We were out in the nearest big town to us, Tomball, checking on various things like furniture and getting the various sundry items to fill up the house so it…
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Grayson
My nephew was born on Thursday making me an aunt for the third time. Chris and I drove back to DFW for the weekend to spend time with the family and meet the latest member of the clan. He is *so* sweet! I was glad that Chris got to see him as an infant since he did not meet Zoe, our niece, until she was a year and a half. I took a zillion photos but I pulled these out quickly to post. I’ll be going through more of them this week. Low light conditions for the most part kept me at ISO 800 or 1600, though I was able…
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Texas Wildflowers | Eustoma exaltatum ssp. russellianum, Texas bluebells
This annual Texas native is not very common, though we did see the ones shown above at Tandy Hills. The subtle blue-purple flower deserves more respect than it gets, being out shown by other grand Texas natives like the bluebonnet. You may know this genus as also Lisianthus, which can be found at garden centers. Wildflower.org suggests their rarity is due to their beautiful stature and having been picked too much that they cannot reseed. In the gardening world there are many varieties and cultivars, so you’ll be able to find some variety. More information: +A really good write up on the Eustoma genus and the differences regarding the species.…
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The Folks | Then & Now
I was digging through some old photo albums the other day looking for photos for the front of some houses (another blog series I’m contemplating) and found a few old photos of my parents that I loved. On their wedding day. Mom recently went through her clothes and was going to get rid of her wedding dress. At the last minute I pulled it out of the donation pile, though I ended up leaving dad’s leisure suit in. I should’ve gotten it too. I need to get rid of my wedding dress before I have a kid who wants to take it out of the donation pile. I love this…
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Wordless Wednesday | Firestone Building Downtown Fort Worth
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Nature in the City | Cross Timbers Park
I wanted to get out for a walk a few weekends ago and the closest natural area that I knew of was Cross Timbers Park in the same park as Adventure World. For those in the North Richland Hills/Northeast Tarrant County this area you might be familiar to you. I’ve been to a few times in the past while geocaching and I think my brother might have done/helped an Eagle Scout project there. If you need a nature fix, this is a great place with some trails that let you experience it. It was much too hot for wildlife, so we didn’t see anything, not even a snake! And the…
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And so it ends…
February 12, 2010 was my last day of work in Florida. The following day we finished packing up the house and putting our collection of stuff into the POD, locked the door to the house and drove away from south Florida. Then, in my head, I thought we’d be going for our AT hike, and maybe a month or two after returning we’d be settled with jobs somewhere in Texas. Not quite. But, I’m glad it turned out how it has because we’ve been able to hike another long trail, spend time with friends and family and do some interesting field work. In fact, I’m completely glad we did everything…
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Texas Wildflowers | Campsis radicans, trumpet creeper
This beautiful vine can sometimes be mistaken for Bignonia capreoleta, or cross vine. While the similar red flowers might fool you, taking a look at the leaves will change the story as the trumpet creeper vine has pinnately compound leaves. While this is a native plant, it is also quite weedy and can be invasive. If you are looking for a space to be completely covered in vines, then I would recommend this plant. If not, you might just leave it for the woods and natural space instead. As a hummingbird attractor, this is one great plant since the red tubular flowers offer the perfect sipping device for the birds…
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Sunrise A Year Ago
I will wax poetic for years to come about August 11, 2010. A year ago if you’d asked me where I would be today I wouldn’t have had a clue. And now, looking back a year later I would have told myself to stay another week or two in Maine and slow the heck down. We had a good pace, in fact, I loved our pace, but I would’ve like to have enjoyed Maine a bit more. Then again, I wouldn’t take back our summit day, the rare Class I day with a perfect sunrise and summitting Katahdin with some of our favorite people: Cubbie, Dilly Dally and Blue Rooster….and…