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Neighborhood Nature | 2
Late last week Forest and I hit up the empty lot across the street to see what kind of nature we could find. Turns out there is quite a bit going on in that little lot! Texas Vervain Verbena halei — I might have to keep an eye on this particular plant, if it doesn’t get mowed, and collect some seed to throw into the garden. Metriorrhynchomiris dislocatus — Since we’re just poking around and going slowly I’ve been trying to look for little bugs a bit more than I usually do. Texas Ragwort, Senecio ampullaceus Scaphoideus incisus – cute little leaf hopper nymph! I wouldn’t have noticed it if…
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Exploring Yakutania Point | Skagway, AK
Let’s go on a virtual hike since most of us aren’t venturing out any longer. During our brief foray into Skagway, AK we asked some of the rangers in the national park visitor center in town if there was a hiking trail nearby. We’d exhausted our patience for walking up and down the main drag in town and really needed to do something before we got back on the ship for the evening. The rangers gave us some vague directions to get to a hiking trail just past the airport and when we found this sign we knew we’d made it to the right place. Crossing the Skagway River… And…
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Life Lately | Early April 2020
I’m going to abandon my typical platform for writing these and just free write, ok? It’s been a fairly typical spring here in the greater Houston area, mild with bits of warmer days and tinges of humidity popping in here and there. Last night we received a cool front that dropped highs back down into the 60s once again and brought rain and thunderstorms along with it. And for someone who has pretty much been a homebody for the last two weeks, and in general, (exceptions have been two quick trips to the office to use my desktop up there) the rain is making me even more of a homebody.…
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Whale Watching in Favorite Channel | Juneau, AK
I had only been whale watching twice before: once in Maine after we finished the AT and the second time when Chris and I went to Seattle for our 10th anniversary trip back in 2012. Only the trip in Maine did we actually get to see whales (and puffins!). This trip I was more optimistic that we’d have luck seeing whales considering we’d seen them several days across our sail from Vancouver. Ideally we’d hoped we’d see orcas on this trip but it turns out that their numbers are actually fairly low in this area and it can be hit and miss, mostly miss, to see them while on a…
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Trout Lilies at Tandy Hills
Continuing in the theme of “OMG, that was this year?” because apparently March has turned into January and is now the longest month ever (beware, I think April is going to be double in length as well)…let’s rewind to a month that blitzed right on by—February. Ah, we were out and about, seeing family and friends, taking hikes. And now? We look fondly back at photos and miss all of that time we spent out of doors (or eating in restaurants, or not being paranoid about the grocery store. Hm, I think I need to write an updated pandemic post…) So, back to our chilly afternoon hike at Tandy Hills…
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Neighborhood Nature | 1
Considering we’ll be staying close to home for the foreseeable future I figured it would be nice to start a new theme here—Neighborhood Nature! I definitely encourage you to join along if you’d like and showcase what you see around your own neighborhood. Yesterday evening we went out for a walk and right off the bat I rescued a caterpillar crossing the road. I took a few photos of course and later when I tried to identify it on iNaturalist nothing seemed to fit. I opened my caterpillar book and still had a hard time thinking any of the potential families that I knew would fit. Then my book haphazardly…
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The Last Wildflower Walk for Awhile
It’s looking more and more like our hike at Lake Somerville State Park two weekends ago is going to be our last hike for a good while. Last weekend we had camping reservations at a state park just an hour from here on the west side of Houston but opted to cancel due to the rain forecast. It was a good decision but I was already concerned about using the bathrooms. Most state parks do a decent job of cleaning up every morning but still…you can only control the surfaces you know, right? And even up to this weekend I thought that maybe we’d get out and go somewhere less…
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Spotted Tussock Moth (Lophocampa maculata)
As we walked around Skagway and then over to Yakutania Point to go for a hike in the afternoon, we noticed a ton of these wooly bear like caterpillars. They were everywhere! I didn’t identify them until I got home a few months ago and put them into iNaturalist. A more northern and western species, the larval stage of these moths feed on “poplar and willow, but also feed on alder, basswood, birch, maple and oak.” The adults are variations of brown with some patterning like so many moths out there and their larvae are definitely the most colorful thing about them!
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Texas Spring
If there’s one thing we can count in in spring here in Texas it is that the bluebonnets and paintbrushes will continue to rise out of the soil and bloom. The sandyland bluebonnets (Lupinus subcarnosus) were the species blooming on our trip over to Lake Somerville State Park last weekend. Only a few paintbrushes (Castilleja indivisa) were seen but there were plenty of other wildflowers to gaze upon. We did find these wonderful patches of bluebonnets nearly 2 miles down the trail in an open field as it sloped towards Nails Creek. This weekend is rainy and cooler and so we’re not leaving the house to explore much. I suspect…
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Exploring Skagway, Alaska
If you are anything like me right now you are probably a bundle of nerves. My friend Eliana posted a photo the other day from some travel around Alaska—they emerged from the YK Delta and saw what was going on and had no urge to return to Florida immediately—so they took a trip to Kodiak. The photo was this beautiful sunset photo of oranges, reds, and purples and looking at the photo made me feel like things were normal. They are now heading back to Florida and all this. But since we’ll be at home all weekend I will probably work harder on editing more Alaska photos and getting blogs…