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Welcome Spring!
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed by email! Thanks for visiting!I would post a more original entry here for the spring equinox but my computer is currently on the fritz. It seemed to be working fine last Thursday and then we went camping over the weekend and when I came back and tried to log in—I was excited to try to share a not-so-great photo of my first zebra swallowtail butterfly—I found that my keyboard wanted to type double characters or the wrong characters. Some reboots, installation of updates, and finally hooking up a USB keyboard later, my keyboard is definitely fried. That…
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Hiking the Fawn Trail | South Llano River State Park
Our major hike at SLRSP was the Fawn Trail. We’d hiked a bit of this trail before the last time we were here when we’d connected it to the West Canyon Loop Trail. For the first portion of the trail it more or less follows the contour of a creek bed. Of course we took time to stop and inspect holes for potential wildlife… And there were interesting hunting blinds to inspect. Christmas Cholla, Cylindropuntia leptocaulis Our first find was this interesting antique can, a relic from the property’s ranch days. Cartilage Lichen, Ramalina celastri Slender Orange-Bush lichen, Teloschistes exilis Ruffle Lichens, Parmotrema sp. The vegetation along the creek opened…
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First Luna Moth of the Season | Wildlife Wednesday
After work on Friday evening we were all relishing the later evening light before we went in to make dinner. Chris was fishing on the dock and Forest and I had just released the last pipevine swallowtail that eclosed in the tent. Forest and I walked down to the dock where Forest threw some sticks into the water and then proceeded to walk back up on shore to find more sticks, and as I was watching him I happened to notice a giant light green object on the side of a pine tree. My eyes focused and there it was, a luna moth! So exciting! Everyone was waking up after…
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Along the South Llano River
Fishing along the river was something Chris was itching to do during our stay at South Llano River State Park. He’d fished there the last time we were here but since then there had been a massive flood back in October. Up and down the Llano River and some other adjacent riverine systems, flooding impacted the Hill Country. You can see some of the evidence in the last photo and I’ll share other photos I took from further away from the river where smaller creeks within the start park uprooted cacti and other vegetation as it flowed through the area. While Chris fished for Guadalupe bass, Forest threw rocks into…
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Bat House Update!
I did a search for posts here but I couldn’t come up with anything that talked about the big bat house Chris built about 3.5 years ago. Chris had installed some smaller bat boxes to our pine trees when we moved in and one or two sometimes later—and we have bats in most of those as well—but the big bat house was meant to house lots of bats. Anyway, I realized I had never posted any videos here of the bats leaving (or coming back) and it is really pretty cool! We *have* reached the point where you can smell them in the heat of the summer when the wind…
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Winter Ramble at Tandy Hills Natural Area
Our trip to DFW after Christmas was chilly as per usual, though certainly no tenuous drive across Tarrant county as roads were icing like last year! We had one day where Chris and I were itching to get a hike in, to feel some movement, and so we went over to Tandy Hills for a short jaunt through the park. Zoe was game to go with us so we left Forest with Grayson under the eye of my Mom so they could play together for a bit. Being as it was winter, not a lot was going on. There have been several fires there recently, not for a controlled burn,…
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Wildlife at South Llano River State Park | Wildlife Wednesday
American Snout, Libytheana carinenta We were packing up the car to leave the state park when I noticed a butterfly landing on my backpack sitting on the picnic table. It was the first day of sunshine after a couple of cloudier days and surprisingly the butterflies were out. Not many, but just enough to make me happy! I had already taken the two butterfly photos you’ll see below before I saw this one and as I went closer to inspect the butterfly, before getting my camera to take a photo, I saw the odd, pointed snout and realized it was an American snout! I’d read about these butterflies but had…
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Fort Worth Stock Show with the Family
Every since Forest was born my parents have been wanting to take Forest to the Fort Worth Stock Show as they had done in years previous with my niece and nephew. Timing wise it had never really worked out. This year was different as Chris’ mom and step-dad were having a celebration for their 20th wedding anniversary which necessitated a trip up there. Forest would be having his first sleepover with his cousins since the party was adult only, so on Saturday we spent the day over in Fort Worth going to the Stock Show! It’s been years since I’ve been to Will Rogers Coliseum where the Stock Show is…
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Life Lately | February 2019
Forest in a hunting blind at South Llano River State Park Thinking: While we were camping last weekend we had to take a road back to make it a loop to the car from the trail we were on. About 10′ off the trail into the vegetation was a large empty chip bag. I deviated off the road for a moment to pick up the back to LNT the thing and as I was stepping off the trail Forest says “Are we going bushwhacking?” Chris and I chuckled because it was so funny and he used it in the right context! I was going off the road but not with…
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Birds & Mule Deer at Davis Mountains State Park | Wildlife Wednesday
We encountered this group of mule deer on our way up Skyline Drive one evening. Luckily we were going slow enough that I had Chris stop so I could get a photo with the moon as the backdrop. Thankfully this deer posted perfectly for me! And then there was this set of characters at one of the wildlife viewing areas that Chris and Forest saw (I was back at camp–I needed some quiet time!). Lesser Goldfinch, Spinus psaltria Yellow-rumped Warbler, Setophaga coronata Townsend’s Solitaire, Myadestes townsendi–Thanks Eliana for the ID! House Finch, Haemorhous mexicanus Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis Pyrrhuloxia, Cardinalis sinuatus Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Dryobates scalaris White-winged…