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Editing isn’t bad | 30 Days of Writing
I thought about writing a Wildlife or Wildflower Wednesday post today but decided I am not invested enough in doing the little bit of research I need to write that up today. And then I thought Wordless Wednesday would be a good alternative but hey, I’m trying to write some paragraphs here these next 30 days. Even if they are short and sweet. I have finally begun one last round of edits on my Florida Trail book. It’s going a lot easier than I thought it would. I had built it up to be this hard, unbreakable thing and as I read I realize it doesn’t suck. I’ve only told…
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It’s Been A Day | 30 Days of Writing
Last night I did not envision for today: +A kid waking up with an earache at midnight and continued to sleep terribly the rest of the night. There’s been congestion for days that I was hoping we’d just wade through. +Me getting a second night of bad sleep. +Knowing earache meant a trip to the pediatrician, so planning for that at midnight. +Realizing I also needed to get my laptop to work at home. +Making plans for that after calling the pediatrician at 8am and driving to the office where in the middle of updating Chris, who is out of town, of what was going on I get an alert…
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Tendrils of Fall | 30 Days of Writing
A glimpse of fall happened this morning. Forest led the way out the door and as I stepped out behind him, pushed the key into the lock and turned it to secure the house, I felt tendrils of cool air on my legs. Not quite cool enough to grab a fleece, but the kind of morning you would spend drinking some coffee on the porch and then puttering about the yard for an hour before heat and humidity seeped into the day. It’s almost mid-September, about the time to start getting these teases. A little cool to remind you that Texas will be released from the hold of swampy moisture…
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Jones Spring at Pedernales Falls State Park
Tucked in far back along the southeastern boundary of Pedernales Falls State Park is a little spring called Jones Spring. Chris and I had been there many years ago and I wanted to visit again during our trip in July 2021. When we hiked in originally we came from the Wolf Mountain Trail near the main park road, a hefty hike in from that area. You can also park off of County Road 201 on the south side of the park, parking in the parking lot there, or we pulled over at the eastern junction of the Madrone Trail and that road where it was obvious other cars had parked…
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Best of Summer 2022
Oof, the last week or so has been busy and I’ve been solo parenting while Chris has been doing field work. It hasn’t left a lot of time for writing. But I thought I would do a Best of Summer wrap up while Forest is getting his bath tonight. Summer isn’t officially over until late September, but I think we all know June, July and August are the summer months in our heads that we care about—or the ones we cared about as kids. And the ones that rule the roost for anyone who has a kid in school. This summer breezed by quickly but there were some delights! I…
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Lunch with Beto
I’ve been a fan of Beto O’Rourke’s since his 2018 Senate run against Cancun Ted and have always had high hopes for him in our state. A couple of weeks ago our county Democratic party sent out an email saying he would be in the area and I thought it would be worth taking a few hours off in the middle of the day to drive over and see him at the event. It was part of his Drive for Texas event, and if there’s one thing Beto knows how to do, it is going around the state and getting to talk to folks in person. I texted a couple…
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Bumelia Borer, Plinthocoelium suaveolens | Wildlife Wednesday
Today’s Wednesday post is Wildlife Wednesday and a very gorgeous Bumelia Borer, Plinthocoelium suaveolens. Unfortunately our friend here was not alive, which made it a lot easier to photograph outside of our Dripping Springs AirBnB last summer. As the common name suggests, the larvae feed on the trunks and roots of bumelia species, Sideroxylon sp., the most common species in Texas being Sideroxylon lanuginosum, gum bumelia. Gum bumelia always tricks me a bit and I will initially think it is an Ilex decidua until I look closer and note my location and realize it’s a bumelia. The larvae also utilize Nyssa and Morus species, too. I’ll keep my commentary short…
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The Pond is Back in Business
August 12, 2022 August 19, 2022 4.5″ of rain on Friday and the subsequent runoff upstream has filled the pond back up! The saying goes that a flood will break a Texas drought and it looks like that’s where some of us are heading this coming week, starting with the DFW area overnight. August 12, 2022 August 19, 2022 August 12, 2022 August 19, 2022 – Lost my chance to get that tire this go around! Next drought!
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Wingstem Delights
The garden is running wild these days but one corner of the garden is a delight and that is the wingstem corner, Verbesina alternifolia. I added this plant in several years ago when I realized the deer didn’t touch its cousin frostweed and then set out to find other similar plants. I found wingstem, which in Texas is only native to a few North Texas counties. It has done really well here, though. I am working on growing out another cousin, Verbesina helianthoides, which I discovered growing at Mission Tejas State Park last spring and quickly found seeds at Prairie Moon to order. They have germinated and I hope to…
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Edwards Plateau Five-Eyes, Chamaesaracha edwardsiana | Wildflower Wednesday
In an effort to re-invigorate some of my weekly standards here, I’ll be getting back into Wildflower and Wildlife Wednesdays. Maybe a Wordless Wednesday or two throw in for good measure. I’m going to kick it off with a Wildflower Wednesday! Today’s species is Edwards Plateau Five-Eyes, Chamaesaracha edwardsiana, a new-to-me species that I found last summer at our AirBnB rental in Dripping Springs. As both the common and scientific names suggest, this is an Edwards Plateau specialty. iNaturalist shows most entries for sightings for plants around the Austin to San Antonio areas, with scattered sightings west of there. Bonap has a bit of a broader distribution, with even county…
