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The View from Skyline Drive | Davis Mountains State Park
There are two ways to get to the main Scenic Overlook at Davis Mountains State Park: by car via Skyline Drive or by foot via the Skyline Trail. The trail itself is about 2.6 miles one way with the main overlook, I’m estimating, around halfway or just a bit more than that. We went the easy route, via truck, every evening. Most evenings we went for sunset, though there was one day, possibly the first day, where we arrived earlier and had a lot of daylight left to scope out the scenery below. The views were magnificent! The overlook was a popular place at sunset with many people bringing chairs…
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Seep Loop Trail | Davis Mountains State Park
As with the Limpia Creek Trail, this trail in the state park is on the north side of the highway. I should have mentioned in the post yesterday that you will have to get the combination to the lock to open the gate over there and check in and out of the trail at the park office when you go for your hike. This trail is not on the trail map for the park but it is on the general facility map for the park and is about 1.25 miles round trip. It is very easy going, sloping gently down to Limpia Creek where it crosses/kind of follows the creek.…
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Limpia Creek Trail | Davis Mountains State Park
As per usual, snippets of interesting information is interspersed in the photos and the main write up is at the end! Milkweed seeds blown in the wind. Cottonwoods + Blue Sky A caterpilllar in the tiger moth family—maybe a salt marsh moth? Cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus) nest Nylon Hedgehog Cactus, Echinocereus chloranthus Havard’s Century Plant, Agave havardiana Texas Brown Tarantula, Aphonopelma hentzi — not alive! I’m equal parts sad and also glad it wasn’t alive when we encountered it. Yes, still working on the giant spider phobia. Little Nipple Cactus, Mammillaria meiacantha Texas Mountain Laurel, Dermatophyllum (formerly Sophora) secundiflorum Ornate Tree Lizard, Urosaurus ornatus Tree Cholla, Cylindropuntia imbricata On the…
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The McDonald Observatory
One afternoon during our stay at Davis Mountains State Park we took a short side trip over to the
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Wildlife Wednesday | Collared Peccary aka: Javelina
After our hike at the Indian Lodge Trail we stopped by the Emory Oak Wildlife Viewing Area, a beautiful building where birders and wildlife watchers can sit inside during more inclement weather and view through the windows, or walk around to a viewing area outside. We were poking around when we noticed javelina just off the trail. At first we noticed one and then another and soon it was an entire family group hiding under the trees. We watched from the trail for a few minutes and then backtracked back to the building as several of the adults wandered to the water source to drink. These family was not skittish…
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Early Spring in the Garden | February 2019
That wonderful warm weather we had earlier this week is now gone. I had an appointment in town yesterday morning so I watched the temperature rise to 75 at 10 am and then start dropping mere blocks before I arrived to work. When I got out of the car it was 67 and by the time I left at 5pm it was 51. I was just getting used to wearing crop pants and t-shirts again! I know, in a few short weeks they will be back out for good until next October. Let’s go on a garden tour! I took these photos on Tuesday at lunch. This is a bluebonnet…
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Wildlife Wednesday | Pipevine Swallowtails & A Dead Beaver
Pipevine # 1 Pipevine # 2 Spring is, well, I think spring is starting here in southeast Texas. We started seeing signs of it the last two weeks but it is becoming even more prevalent over the last week. Over the weekend we went up to DFW and I didn’t even think that I should have left the butterfly cage open in case a pipevine eclosed. It had been since sometime in December when I had the odd one eclose and if I recall correctly, I had another one in December considering the number of open chrysalides I have. We arrived home late on Sunday evening and it didn’t occur…
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Life Lately | January 2019
Thinking: On the politics front: +An Open Letter to Howard Schultz by Jon Lovett of Crooked Media/Pod Save America/Lovett or Leave It. Unless you are a third-party (and not insane) conservative, stay out of the 2020 race. We don’t need you jacking up the election. +Any time Ted Cruz gets taken down a notch is a good day in my book. From what I understand Senator Bennett is usually mild-mannered so him going off on Ted is pretty spectacular! +I’m glad to see so many women announcing exploratory runs for president but the only two that I see so far having a chance are Senator’s Warren and Harris. And to…
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January 2019 Book Report
It’s been a bit since I’ve done one of these but the reading groove has returned and so my book reports are back! Trespassing Across America: One Man’s Epic, Never-Done-Before (and Sort of Illegal) Hike Across the Heartland by Ken Ilgunas: I’ve had this flagged to read on Hoopla Digital for a long time now and had been in the mood for an audio book one day and it sounded enticing at only around 7 or so hours. I sped it up to 1.5x and after a few minutes my brain caught up and I was able to handle the pacing change. The author has several books out that are…
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3.5 Miles on a Sunday Afternoon
*Photos are from our phones. Left the cameras at home.* It’s always hit and miss in December through February with camping plans around here. We canceled a weekend camping trip back in December and I thought we were going to make last weekend’s reservations but it became clear that it was going to be iffy as the week wore on with rain and cold front. The rain came at night in a short downpour leaving strong winds in its wake the next day. While it was sunny, it was also quite chilly. Nighttime temperatures were dipping in the 30s. And when it is only one night, packing for a family…