Yesterday I spent the majority of the day moving a load of mulch and doing various gardening tidying activities. I had wanted to move this particular load of mulch back in March after we moved a different load of mulch but then everything shut down and that didn’t happen. I was getting tired of weeds […]
Zebra Swallowtail Caterpillar (Eurytides marcellus) | Wildlife Wednesday
Our trip to east Texas last weekend had us visiting the Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve and two Big Thicket National Preserve units, the Turkey Creek Unit (and the Pitcher Plant Trail) and the Hickory Creek Savannah Unit (and the Sundew Trail). I can’t recall where we saw the first zebra swallowtail adult fly by […]
A Quick Trip to Kleb Woods
Last Friday Forest and I ventured out for our first drive-thru food since this pandemic started. Chris had a field job south of town and took the opportunity of being so close to Galveston to get some fishing in after the field work was done. That meant he was not going to be home for […]
Scattered T-Storms (or) The State of Things Around Here
Big Thicket National Preserve Pitcher Plant Bog I didn’t mean to go dormant over here this week. I had another post drafted called The Depths of Despair, where I was going to quote Anne Shirley after she found out Marilla Cuthbert didn’t want an orphan girl for Green Gables. Anne’s despondent and dramatic depths of […]
Trapped by Water at Great Egret’s Ridge Day Use Area | Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge
Our last stop on this Trinity River NWR tour was only a few miles away from the Knobby Knees Trail. If you look at the map you can see how the two trails get very near each other far back towards the river. Green Anole, Anolis carolinensis A whirlpool caused by the water rushing through […]
Swamped at the Knobby Knees Day Use Area | Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge
Ruddy Dagger, Acronicta rubricoma Knobby Knees Day Use Area Trail Map After our hike at Brierwood Day Use Area we drove south to the town of Liberty where a few more day use areas were closer to civilization and had a higher liklihood of being maintained. Or, that was the thought. This trail series begins […]
Exploring the Bottomlands at the Brierwood Dayuse Area | Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge
Last weekend we trekked to the Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge to try to do some hiking. We ended up at three different refuge unit day use areas, the first one being the Brierwood Day Use Area east of the town of Cleveland. I wanted to escape a bit further from our usual haunt of […]
The Savage River Trail | Denali National Park
Continuing to flash back to last August and September, another world really. I just read a journalist’s article on flying in this pandemic and how extremely nerve-wracking it is for everyone, somewhat post apocalyptic. I’m feeling fairly certain this big trip to Alaska was our last big trip for a a good while. And my […]
Hiking a New Section of the Lone Star Trail
Two weekends ago on a warm, sunny Sunday we drove up to Sam Houston National Forest for another hike on the Lone Star Trail. We started from the Trailhead #6 parking lot on FM 1375 and found ourselves with a very full parking lot. We knew this was likely and the trail heads on FM […]
Life Lately | Early May 2020
Thinking: Basically my thoughts run from COVID-19 to regular life in almost the same thought. “OMG, we’re all going to die!”…half a second later, “Mmm, looks nice outside, I think we’ll do pool in the afternoon and I’ll crochet while Forest plays!” As someone who has been in exactly two buildings since mid-March, my own […]
