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Life Lately March 2019
Thinking: About politics of course. I think after the first six months of the Mueller investigation I knew that it was not going to be the linchpin to get us out of the course we’re heading in. From time to time I’d be swayed into positivity by someone about the report, or even when we’d see arrests and indictments, but I would keep tabs on what Sarah Kendzior and others who are scholars on authoritarian regimes said—and she’s always been pragmatic that the Mueller investigation would not be saving us. I highly recommend Gaslit Nation podcast. On a lighter note, I am now a super fan of Mayor Pete. That…
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The Sam Houston Statue
I was overly ambitious when I laid out my 39 Goals for 2019. Most of them are doable but I’ve not been very diligent about planning for them, which is what a lot of them need—a plan for execution. I’d printed the list out but threw it into my to-do list notebook and well, that hasn’t been unfolded. I guess I need to hang it out on my desk at home so I see it. But we finally made one of them happen, visiting the Sam Houston Statue and Visitor Center in Huntsville. It helped that we went after we were done camping at Huntsville State Park and it is…
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Early Spring Edible Garden Happenings
Right on cue, the cilantro began bolting in January/February and now blankets the back section of the garden in dainty white flowers. It is a pollinator attraction with bees, butterflies, and small flies congregating for their share of nectar. I always let the cilantro self seed so it pops up in the garden randomly as well as in the middle of the paths. Some years I move it out of the way, others, like this year, I leave it. I sowed several calendula seeds but only one plant has really thrived, putting off several branches of flowers and creating this bright yellow spot in the garden near the blackberries. I…
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Chilly Days at Stephen F. Austin State Park
Coral Berry, Symphoricarpos orbiculatus Ten petal anemone, Anemone berlandieri Forest took the following photos: In early February we made a our first camping trip since Thanksgiving. Bad weather had thwarted a couple of reservations before then and it appeared that bad weather was going to thwart this one. I know I’ve mentioned here before that it is one thing to be on a backpacking trip and having to hike all day and make progress and it is another to be camping with a kid and have to be able to entertain him while camping even if the weather is bad–I’d rather stay home and entertain a kid with all of…
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Welcome Spring!
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 and it also randomly turns on and off airplane mode. So, I’m using my computer sparingly and…
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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,…