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Gulf Fritillary & Long Tailed Skipper | Wildlife Wednesday
At the end of September I noticed a gulf frittilary trying to eclose from its chrysalis on a stalk of ‘Ember’s Wish’ salvia. A few hours later I saw it still sitting in the same position but decided to let it be knowing that something was very wrong with it. The next morning my little friend was still stuck in its chrysalis and the wings had not unfurled more so I decided to see if I could ease it out of the chrysalis and at least let it attempt to walk so it could nectar. Its wings were not going to unfurl and were severely deformed. I debated euthanizing it…
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Life Lately | October 2018
Thinking: + via GIPHY Chris and I got our early voting in yesterday. I’m not usually an early voter, I’ve done it once or twice before. I like to go on election day but I felt it was important to get it done with just in case I couldn’t vote next Tuesday. I sure hope Beto wins. It would really be nice to send an email to my representative for once and get a response that sounds like they are listening. I don’t know why I bother with Cruz and Cornyn other than to make sure they know there are people other than them living in Texas. +Got an ocular…
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Fungus, Flora, & Fauna | Martin Dies Jr. State Park
I have a new obsession: iNaturalist. I signed up the spring of 2016 when I had my iPhone 4 but didn’t stick to using it because I didn’t enjoy trying to update sightings via the phone. I deleted the app and then kind of forgot about it until I had a conversation with someone who uses it. So, I took a new look at it but this time used the desktop interface online instead. And I’m in love! Mostly I’m trying to (slowly) backlog some photos and I’m not getting very far but I’m trying. The good thing is you can import from Flickr which is perfect because just about…
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First Camping Trip of the Season | Martin Dies Jr. State Park
Previous posts for this park: +Campsite Scenes +The Slough and Forest Trails | Martin Dies State Park +The Wildlife and Island Trails | Martin Dies State Park The first campout for the season didn’t start off quite on the right foot. Rain was predicted for at least Sunday but we ended up having a little of it on Saturday while we were setting up camp. We drove over early on Saturday morning and were making it a long weekend with Monday off. The last time we were at the park we had stayed at campsite 218 across from Gum Slough. I remember liking that little circle because there was no…
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Return of the Monarchs
It was another camping weekend. This time we drove an hour and fifteen minutes east-northeast to Lake Livingston State Park for a single overnight camping trip. Being so close to the house permits this kind of camping trip, getting up early Saturday morning and spending the weekend at the state park. Saturday was glorious, still warm but fall blooms were amped up—swamp sunflowers and goldenrods were beacons of brightness along the roadways. Fall foliage was nowhere near peak but the golden yellows of the flora made everything better. I had been reading that the main monarch migration was in southern Oklahoma late last week, making a beeline for the DFW/North…
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Return of the Orange Dogs
Back in the summer I noticed giant swallowtails laying eggs on our citrus. This was late May/early June and we were still trying to get our citrus trees to rebound from the harsh freeze last year. I still hadn’t purchased alternative host plants such as prickly ash or rue. Luckily another butterfly loving friend had host plants and was glad to take them on so when they hatched I gathered the caterpillars up and drove them to her the weekend before we left for Florida. Last week I had noticed that something had nibbled my rue, which I had bought back in August. The pot had several plants growing in…
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“No, I Don’t Want to Pose For Photos, Mom!” | Forest Friday
At least the stuffed dinosaur was cooperative!
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A Short Jaunt on the Lone Star Trail
In early September we hit up our spot in Sam Houston National Forest for our annual family photos with Forest. The photo session, as it was last year, went very quickly with many grumpy faces all around. Actually, Chris and I weren’t as grumpy as last year, just Forest. He’s been better about taking photos the last few months so I expected it to be easier this year than last. Nope, not easier. We made it quick and then moved the car a quarter mile back down the road to the intersection of the Lone Star Hiking Trail so we could do a short hike. The hike was indeed short…
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August & September 2018 Book Report
If you include the books I’ve read to Forest this year, I am well over my goal of 50 books. I have not logged all of his books into Goodreads so the total is even higher than what is listed there. Plus you have to take into account how many books I read over and over and over. We average 2-3 books a night. Without all of his books I’m definitely on the lower end of where I would want to be to have read 50 books. I’m at about 32 books. I expect I can get to 40 books, maybe 42-43 books, by the end of the year. If…
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Closing Out September
I know that I write every month (almost) that I can’t believe a month has come and gone. And truly, September breezed by. I feel like we were just having a holiday weekend in Galveston for Forest’s birthday and then bam! we’re celebrating Chris’ birthday while camping. Again, I was a bit lacking in the photography department for the garden but such is life. I wasn’t very inspired out there this month. By the hide of its hair, the Tithonia pulled through from deer browsing this year. I wasn’t sure how it would fare a few times but eventually the brugmansias hid it a bit and the deer avoided chowing.…