The Hermits' Rest

Analyzing my bird sightings

Yesterday I worked on adding up how many bird species I observed here at the Hermits’ Rest last month. I was happy to have seen 126 different species as the migration season drew to a close. I was wondering if there was a seasonal pattern, because I intuited that the spring and autumn migration seasons would bring in more species.

Speaking of birds, I’m not sure if this sparrow nest addendum was on purpose.

I don’t remember exactly what I did, but somehow Excel asked me if I wanted an analysis of the data. Well, yes, I did, because data analysis using spreadsheets is not one of my skill sets. I had all kinds of questions that I’d like answered, like what were the most common species, which species have been here every month, etc.

Suddenly, BOOM. a new tab opened on the spreadsheet. It had all the answers. Something had analyzed my spreadsheet. Oh no, I found a use for AI! Damn! I couldn’t not look at the results. I really wanted to know.

Right on top, there was a summary of my ranch bird data:

The sheet is a month-by-species presence matrix: an X means a bird was recorded in that month. Coverage spans Dec-23 through May-26, with 2,804 total monthly presence marks. May-25 is the richest month (129 species); Jul-24 is the quietest (60 species). 18 species appear in every month, suggesting reliable year-round residents. 30 species appear in only one month, highlighting possible migrants, one-off observations, or rare sightings.

That’s all the stuff I wanted to know! To top it all off, there were tables and charts! Look at this.

I was wrong about the seasons. Winter, with all those sparrows, has the second most sightings, after what I expected…that spring gets the most.

This one is probably my favorite. I wonder, though, how we got so many species last June, when the previous June, July, and August were so low (and this June is starting off pretty slow). What I really think is that I need another couple of years of data to see these patterns better. Here’s another graph:

These are the 18 birds we see every month, with two that occur almost every month. I am not at all surprised at the species I see here. I wasn’t sure that Eastern Bluebirds were here every month. I don’t see them every day, but I guess they are here. Okay, one final fascinating thing.

These are supposedly the birds we’ve only seen once. That’s pretty interesting, but look! There are weird spellings on the birds, which I assure you are spelled correctly on the original spreadsheet. I probably shouldn’t have asked for a red border. I wonder what a Swalver is? And I think those last two are both Virginia Rails. But it appears only once on my list. I went too far.

What are my conclusions? In summary, AI is helpful upon occasion, but AI always does weird stuff to the data. Here’s the actual data of birds that were only seen once.

American Golden-plover
American Tree Sparrow
Barn Owl
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black Capped Chickadee
Black Tern
Black-and-white Warbler
Black-necked Stilt
Boat-tailed Grackle
Canada Warbler
Caspian Tern
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Chuck-Will’s Widow
Common Raven
Crested Lark
Greater White-fronted Goose
Hooded Warbler
Indian Peafowl
Lark Bunting
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Pyrrhuloxia
Rough-winged Swallow
Semi-palmated Plover
Semi-palmated Sandpiper
Spotless Starling
Thick-billed Longspur
Tricolored Heron
Virginia Rail
Western Wood Pewee
Yellow-green Vireo

Dang, I’m ambivalent. But now I know stuff about my bird data. I am pleased about that.

I was not quite so pleased when I sleepily ventured onto the screened porch to guzzle some coffee before my 8 am standup (once again it went 30 minutes over). I went to set my coffee down and spotted a snakeskin on the arm of my chair. You know I’ve lived here a while, because all I did was ask Lee if he put it there. Nope. I set the skin on my big turtle shell where it looks quite decorative.

I guess the rat snake left the way it came in when it realized there were no birds or rodents to snack on. Ah, it’s always something!

I think I’m slowing down

One thing about teaching one’s “golden years” is that it seems to take more energy to do normal things. I find myself able to do the things I have to, but optional tasks go by the wayside.

Nails are not optional. I found this one rather wimpy. I was trying for Pride. It’s like tepid support. I’ll do better next week.

Allowing myself to simply rest more has taken mental effort. I always think I have to be doing something. Just being present can be enough, though. It’s about time I lived my values instead of just paying lip service to them!

Like Carlton, I can just bask in nature and enjoy being alive.

Next week will be busy, then there’s lots of travel coming up, so perhaps it was a good idea to conserve my strength today.

I’ll sneak in some fun, too. The ponds and puddles are lots of fun for dogs!

Tomorrow I have some interesting information to share, so get ready to learn some birding facts about the Hermits’ Rest.

I’m a wet participant in democracy

The rain gauge read 4.3 inches this morning though the pond flowed better. The creek is looking like a river, but we’ve seen worse.

It just keeps growing thanks to rain north of us.

However, in a break the nephew and I got my car to the tire place and got four new tires. I sure wish I’d brought a checkbook, because there’s a surcharge to use credit. Ugh. That ate a chunk out of my bank account. However, since one tire was dead, the time had come.

Later in the morning, I joined a good-sized group at a meet-and-greet with two candidates in the upcoming election. Both of their opponents have disappointed me in their policies that cater to billionaires and ignore their constituents’ issues about health care, water, etc.

The event featured amazing food and mimosas!

The candidates were both very impressive. They were intelligent, thoughtful, well educated, and friendly. They listened to us and did a great job answering questions. I’d forgotten that people running for office could be genuine and honest. Well, who wants to vote for people like that? Not a majority of Texans.

I liked the little American flags around the building.

Nonetheless, today’s experience was quite positive. People were genuinely excited that we could hold an event in this county.

After I came back, we fetched my car—it will be so nice to have my comfy car back.

After last week’s work, I decided to rest most of the afternoon, though Lee and I did enjoy a sunny period by swimming for a while. The water is quite pleasant. I look forward to swimming season! However, soon as I had fed the poultry, rain came back. It’s going to be a wet week!

I’m glad for some downtime.

Reasonable amount of flooding

I can at last declare I’m satisfied with the amount of rain so far this year. The crawfish pond completely filled for the first time since the winter drought. I’m sure the crawfish are annoyed that their castles are underwater, but the pond won’t dry up again so soon!

This is as full as it gets. Overflow is draining into the front pond.

We got over two inches today, which is enough to replenish all the water receptacles. But it’s not so much that it flooded our driveway. That’s only happened twice.

The rain did cause our road to flood just past our driveway. I watched three vehicles speed through the water and was glad they didn’t have accidents. My neighbor in his big truck drove at a reasonable speed, but you can see it splashed. Just a few inches of water, though.

All that herbicide the farmer sprayed this week is washing into the pond. I hope it doesn’t kill everything in the pond again.

The road flowed onto the driveway, but diverted into the arroyo. Whew. Just a little damage.

Since the water was over the main culvert under the driveway, the backup culvert kicked in. I’d say that was good planning on our part.

Main culvert flowing where the water moccasin was yesterday – the secondary flow is upper right.

The pond got pretty high, and it made very strange sounds. Eventually I figured out the sucking sounds were little whirlpools sucking water and debris down.

I enjoyed checking out the flooding, as I always do. I find the power of water so fascinating! I would think that today’s rain would have put a good amount in our rainwater collection tanks! Gotta get those gutters in first.

That’s looking at Walker’s Creek from my birding hut. Usually that view is just grass.

There may be more rain tonight. I’m looking forward to checking the gauge!

Those trees in the center are the front pond’s edge usually. It drains quickly.

One consequence of the rain and storms is that the dogs went out and got wet. Then it thundered and because Lee had gone out, they all came in to huddle by me. The wet dog smell was overwhelming!

Not Fond of 8 am Standups

It’s a good thing I only have until the end of the month on this second project I took on. I’m drowning in minutiae and endless additional requirements. I could not have actually stood up for the entire hour and ten minutes it took to get through a 30-minute standup meeting today. regrouping will occur, and I’m actually grateful the team is so invested and involved in the project.

You know you’re in desperate need of a break when the highlight of the morning is seeing the back half of a water moccasin. Do not worry; it was not close to me.

I spent most of the day technical writing. I’m doing a series of very simple web-based training and have to write a script for a fake voice to recite over everyone’s favorites, PowerPoint slides. I do try to liven them up. But I’m glad I don’t have to take them. Writing the script is the most tedious part.

The day ended well, since my son and his partner came over for a late birthday dinner. Kathleen was really kind to cook a beautiful roast, salad, and dessert brownies. We all felt spoiled! Kathleen also baked bread all day and items for a bake sale, so the house sure smelled good all day.

I ate a piece of this. It has so many raisins and is so perfectly seasoned. I hope I don’t eat too much tomorrow.

My son put together some little tables for me (he loves assembling) and I put them in the birding station. Kathleen also passed on some very cute pillows that I can put out there so we both can sit comfortably.

And yes. There’s a cover on the couch. Carlton has scratched through the seat cushion, so I covered the lovely upholstery with this overly boho drapey thing. now the room is way too Suna

Off to sleep, since my fingers can’t hit the right letters on the keyboard. But I’m just so happy to have pleasant family gatherings! And I hope tomorrow’s standup meeting is canceled.

The great outdoors? It’s great!

Today I took every possible chance I had to go outside and take a break. I was rewarded with some fun and educational sights. First thing this morning, I went out to check the rain gauge. To my delight, I spotted a pair of Great Egrets under the willow tree in the pond.

I enjoyed them for a few minutes. Then I got my binoculars out of the birding hut to see them better. I quickly realized there was also our Great Blue Heron on the shore, sitting on his favorite grass tussock.

I looked back over at the willow tree and found a third and fourth Great Egret! I wonder if they’re related?

Just as I thought I was finished I heard a familiar squawk. Yes! A third egret! One of our nesting pair of Green Egrets came over to check out the action.

That was enough for me, but when I came back to the porch, Lee spotted our loudest summer resident, a Superb Dog-day Cicada (Neotibicen superbus). These buddies sure make my bird listening difficult.

When I went out to check the mail, I stopped to look at our little mud pond by the driveway. I spotted a very busy crawfish moving mud around to build its home. I was fascinated.

Red Swamp Crayfish (***Procambarus clarkii)***

I’ve always loved these guys, which we called crawdads in Florida. They’re mud bugs in many parts of Louisiana. They eat mud and filter nutrients out of it. Fascinating crustaceans!

After work, feeding animals, and eating a yummy dinner (ironically, featuring crawfish—Kathleen did not know I’d been looking at them), we went for a walk. Kathleen made it to the dumpster with a bag of trash, but I got all fascinated by the crawfish again.

We realized there are dozens of crawfish in the little muddy pond, big ones and small ones, all busily doing whatever they do.

There was a small puddle being guarded by a larger one, who busily herded small intruders. Those claws stuck out above the water menacingly! We just stood there and laughed delightedly. We needed that.

Then we witnessed crawfish mating, which came as a surprise. It starts with the female fighting the male, then they settle down to laying eggs and fertilizing. The female will carry the eggs until they hatch out as tiny versions of the adults.

Kathleen wondered why we didn’t see any shed exoskeletons in the water. I also was curious, so I looked it up. Turns out they eat them! they recycle the nutrients and skeletal material. Uh, they also eat their poop. I think I’ll do a longer article on crawfish for the Master Naturalist blog. I’ll be sure to share the link.

That was plenty of nature fun for one day. We are definitely easy to entertain, but that’s part of our charm, our husbands would say!

I sure don’t like uncertainty

There’s so much uncertainty out in the greater society where I have absolutely no control over what happens. Because of this, I like to have a wee bit of assurance about what’s happening in my little sphere of influence.

Otherwise I’d be hiding on the porch with this beauty.

Do I realize that’s asking for a lot? Oh, yes I do! Many of my friends and neighbors don’t have the luxury of making choices, having a plan with a chance of working out, or having a say in their relationships. I’ve been there myself, which has much to do with why I treasure this phase of my life.

All I have to worry about is what color to do my nails.

Still, the past couple of days tested my ability to not freak out when unexpected events threaten my future planning. You see, I have been enjoying myself a bit these last few months. I have allowed myself to buy too many pens and stickers, many t-shirts, and eyeglasses. I did this knowing I’m putting a third of my income into a 401K, building up liquid savings, and maintaining no credit card debt. I was confident that I have another six months of income before I have to go into retirement poverty.

Yesterday my boss told me she’d gotten a call saying I wouldn’t be working with her after the end of this month. We both thought arrangements had been made with another group so I could keep going. It turned out calls were not returned, blah blah.

BUT. I only got panicky for a few minutes. After that I figured that something would work out if everyone talked to each other. Sure enough, especially as it was identified that our project would probably fail if I was not there through the end of the year, leadership did leader-like things and suddenly the contract was back to ending in December. My uncertainty is diminished. I have a plan again, at least until the next unexpected turn of events!

I’ll go off and breathe again now. I’ve done a lot of that this evening. At one point, Kathleen and I were standing on the porch reveling in the stiff wind blowing rain clouds everywhere but over our house. We both needed the freshness.

I’m so fortunate and grateful for my life, home, family, community, and work!

Book Report: The Man Who Planted Trees

I received The Man Who Planted Trees (1954), by Jean Giono, from my friend Anita, who has a way of finding whimsical gifts that are exactly what I need at the time. What a great talent. She’s gifted at gifts!

The author, Jean Giorno, was a great 20th Century French writer known for his skill at creating a mood, evoking a dreamlike spell as you read his work. This short story (more of a fable) was originally an article in Vogue magazine, but was subsequently published in book form accompanied by engravings by Michael McCurdy that help add to the fairy-tale qualities of the story. It’s been in print all these years, just waiting for people to be inspired to change the work for the better after reading it.

I don’t want to spoil the story, but look at the engravings!

The plot is simply a tale narrated by a wanderer who comes across an amazing man and visits him across many years during some hard times for France. Trees are indeed involved. But you need to read the mythical telling for yourself! Then read the introduction and afterwords (yes, there are two afterwords—longer than the story, but providing great context) to see how Jean Giorno’s tale inspired others, over the years since the book came out, to make the world a better place. Trees are powerful!

Dream on, readers! I’m going to recover from some unexpected news and be back at it tomorrow!

Friend reunion, much delayed

My friend Kathy and I have lived about an hour away from each other for a good number of years. She drives by Cameron, I drive by Waco, and we never manage to coordinate visits. She was one of the La Leche League administrators when I moved to the Austin area and she lived in Longview, but we saw each other often at conferences and such until that connection went away.

Kathy at her very cute house. She has a beautiful back yard.

I sent her a Facebook message yesterday asking to get together today, but she missed it. She asked why I hadn’t called when she saw I was in Waco. I said I messaged her! Then we finally got on track and got together! Lee and I had a nice visit with Kathy and her husband, Matt. It’s weird meeting people you’ve heard about for 30+ years. But we all had a good conversation.

Kathy gave me a book written by a former member of the Homestead Heritage group I talked about yesterday. It’s one of those books sharing all the secrets. Kathy even met the author at her book club meeting. I’m all intrigued and may have to stop my current book to read that one.

We are a colorful duo! We both haven’t changed except hair color.

Anyway, as nice as it is to keep up online, in-person hugs are better. Way better.

Before heading off to the perfectly manicured golf course suburb where Kathy now lives (for good reasons), I dragged Lee to another Waco park. Brazos Park East is on a long stretch of the river across from some pretty limestone cliffs. It’s only semi manicured (I explored another disc golf course there, unless it’s part of the same course at Cameron Park, which I saw last year). The river is beautiful away from the city, though.

It looks wild, just a mile from the city.

I enjoyed some pretty lagoons full of turtles and, from all the shells I found, crawfish. I know what the beautiful Yellow-crowned Night Heron I saw was chowing down on!

I heard over 20 bird species over the traffic noise, which isn’t bad. A Red-eyed Vireo was the star of today’s birdsong show. I enjoyed it and all its friends. There were many dragonflies out, too.

A turtle that didn’t jump off as soon as I aimed the phone at it!

After the nature and human friend time, we headed home to the familiar animals and people.

Blue-fronted dancer, at my birding station

The break was really good for me, and I think I’ll have a much more centered approach to work next week!

I discovered a Connie egg is perfect for displaying new nails.

What else is in Waco?

We’ve been to Waco a number of times before, about once a year. It’s one of the closest cities to us and is in a pretty setting. We also go to Bryan/College Station sometimes and Temple, but Temple has no very interesting spots to visit, while the other two, having large universities, feature museums and a lot of Texas-y stuff. We avoid most of the yee-haw places and still find plenty to do.

You know you’re in Waco when you see this. Like they always show the Eiffel Tower in France, the Alico building symbolizes Waco. I don’t know much about it other than it survived a hurricane.

Before you delve into your travel advice, we know all about Dr Pepper, the Texas Rangers. those down-home Gaines people, and such. We didn’t go to any Baylor museums, since I figure I’ll go there at the October Master Naturalist annual meeting. It’s right here at this hotel.

Where did we go? First we went to the Lake Waco Wetlands, since I’d really enjoyed it there on a field trip a few years ago. Back then it was lush and green and filled with aquatic plants, insects, and birds. The lake was full.

My Master Naturalist group—this was my first field trip.

This year, it looked very different.

There was no boardwalk, the lake was dry, and typical prairie plants were growing everywhere. All the systems that used to filter the water were broken. I didn’t have the heart to photograph those. So, the visit was different. Nonetheless, we enjoyed walking around. I got many plant and bird observations, including an Indigo Bunting duet.

I pondered and hypothesized about what had happened to this place. I knew it was probably in the news. Yes, back at the hotel I read that flooding two years ago took out most of the infrastructure of this fascinating natural water filtering system. Please read this excellent report from last March about the plans to rebuild it so the equipment is less vulnerable. The article also gives the history of the wetland. Worth taking a break to read.

The second place we went also has an interesting story and is a ways outside of Waco. It’s Homestead Heritage, an intentional community that has been going for 50 years. Being near Waco, one’s first thought might be, “Run! It’s a cult!” And there are spiritual aspects and they do wear simple clothing. But really it’s a community where they create and teach old ways of doing things.

Each building is a renovated old one of a different style.

There is a cafe selling farm-to-table food, a cheese place, glass blowing, pottery, a forge (real!), leather work and so on. You can even take quick classes in most of the trades. (They also have longer classes.) I met a lovely birder/water colorist who’s doing a series on Texas birds. And I loved the handmade brooms. But my favorite part was the mill.

This mill is hundreds of years old and was moved to this location.

I could have watched it slowly create flour for hours, with all its wheels, belts, and pulleys. They grow the corn and wheat in the community. I got some grits after we enjoyed some delightful lemonade. Mine was watermelon mint, and I got to watch the young woman make it by hand. Lots of watermelon squishing. The lemonade concentrate was pre-made, by them.

The woodworking area was so organized and perfect. The woodwright was sharpening a set of chisels to give his apprentice so he’d stop using his. Ha! They have some really intense woodworking classes. I know my coworker would enjoy that part of the shop area. The hand tools were fascinating.

Of course I saved the best for last and had lots of fun at the knitting, spinning, and weaving shop. There were so many huge looms making complicated patterns of cloth. A spinner patiently showed a little girl how plying worked, much to the girl’s delight. I wish I had photos of the place, but I was too busy looking.

I really enjoyed this place. It reminded me of Silver Dollar City in Branson, but with just the craft parts. it wasn’t crowded, so you could really talk to the community members. They were friendly but not in a scary way. You get a good feeling from them. I later read they are pacifists. That kind of old-fashioned Christians. Hmm. Read more about Homestead Heritage for yourself on their site. I’m glad Kathleen mentioned finding this place.

After a nap, we ate a lot of sushi at a little restaurant across the street from the hotel. I enjoyed a boba tea, too.

I went for a walk by the river and observed many unhoused people enjoying the river view. There were also plenty of invasive plant species, bits of garbage, and endless loud motorcycles and farting tiny sporty cars. I’ll stop complaining about loud pickup trucks at home. This is worse. Still, the Brazos is beautiful. I also enjoyed walking around the convention center area.