Creeks, Rivers, Streams – Page 17

Shiny and Stormy Seas

I’ve been enjoying the weather here in South Carolina. It’s hot, but “normal” hot, and things change! It’s sunny, then it rains, then it cools off, then it’s steamy. I wish I could bring my Texas friends and neighbors with me!

I had to stay inside most of the day, because I had meetings and work to do, but I certainly enjoyed looking out at the sparkling waves and cheerful blue sea and sky. I think it was the prettiest I’ve ever seen it here.

I watch hundreds of tourist helicopters fly by every day, and now that I’m here in summer, there are boats pulling parachutes, sailboats, and those planes that tow banners. But the banner plane crashed today and onlookers had to rescue the pilot and plane! Eek! I didn’t see it, but it was on the local and national news.

I did finally get to go out and enjoy the water later this afternoon. The riptide wasn’t there, so I even swam around a little, but since Lee was with me, I made it brief. He can’t do groups of people, and there were some beach goers, though nowhere near what there was Saturday. At least I got out!

After we ate dinner from our grocery shopping loot, we heard it would rain in a half hour. Sure enough, we could see it coming. I think I’m becoming obsessed with watching rain. We do have a good view!

It rained hard, and Lee thought there might have been a water spout, because people were shouting to get off the beach. It rained really hard for even longer last night. I’m glad there are lightning rods all over this building. It’s the tallest one around and we’re on the top floor!

The rods don’t show up in this, but they are right above that roof.

Hoping tomorrow gets us out of the building at some point. It would take my mind off things back home, where I have some sick and hurting folks on my mind.

Hey, It Rains on the East Coast

Yep, it’s lush, green, and moist here in coastal South Carolina. I enjoyed watching the rain and being out in it, even though it made us have to delay fun outdoor activities.

We got a bunch of groceries at a Publix, which is like a tourist attraction for me. So much lovely and fresh food! Plus we got to see large flocks of annoying birds, including grackles, crows, and Canada geese. Sorry, no grackle photos, so you’ll have to imagine groups of black and brown birds descending on patches of grass.

Our drive took us by some nice parts of Myrtle Beach, away from seedy tourist areas and run-down businesses. It looks like a lot is being done to make this a more pleasant area. There is lots of affordable housing in good condition, and that makes me happy. There are so many people working at restaurants, hotels, and attractions—and they need good housing, too.

I did get to spend some time walking on the beach in the afternoon, and Lee and I walked on the boardwalk later. I found some plants, of course. I didn’t get many beach photos because it was incredibly crowded (I heard so many languages!) and the water was scary so I had to pay attention. Those rip tides try to suck you in!

I gave myself Beach nails and that’s about it for the day. I’m still a little tired. Tomorrow will feature activities!

Another Day Exploring: Swamp Edition

Today was another day exploring the southeastern USA. We went from Valdosta, Georgia to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was supposed to be a 6-hour drive, but we quickly tired of taking the big highways and diverted ourselves to more backroads and small towns. That made the drive a lot easier for Lee, even though it was rainy much of the time.

Valdosta, Georgia, Homerville, Georgia, and Walterboro, South Carolina. Examples of small towns.

To be honest, it was good to see rain, swamps, and wetness after the dry month we’ve had back in Texas. It was cool to see steam rising from the roofs of houses after the rain.

You may have heard that I love swamps and marshlands. It’s true. And today we drove through a very wet part of the US, the Okeefenokee swamp and its environs. There were so many canals, streams, rivers, and lakes today, which of course meant lots and lots of birds.

Did I get any good photos? No, but we did see a large group of Canada geese in one town we went through, and many, many cattle egrets and other herons in the waterways. I loved it.

Sample bird. Great blue heron on the side of the road.

One town we went through, Summerville, was particularly pretty. It reminded me of High Point, NC with its endless stream of patrician homes and well-tended gardens. No photos, due to being tired.

I got pretty worn out toward the end of the ride. I probably knitted too much, which made my eyes hurt. But, we eventually made it to the South Carolina shore area with its familiar sights.

After a bit of trouble checking in (we were a day late since I just couldn’t leave until Wednesday, due to my work schedule), we were happy to arrive to our room, which is even better than last year’s room. I do wish I’d remembered to book adjoining rooms, though.

We went down to the sports bar area to eat, only to find some guys being loud and obnoxious. The server was having to be very patient with them. It turned out that my friend Sarah, who had been working downstairs, had put the obnoxious guys up to it—to see if they could get the server in the sports bar to lose her cool. It all became quite funny when we realized we all sorta knew each other. In the end, all was well. The obnoxious guy, though, he was something else. I guess we will see more of him later.

I’m looking forward to some nature stuff and grocery shopping tomorrow. I did enjoy our drive through many small towns in southern states. It reminds me how beautiful it is in the USA, and makes me want to protect it even more.

Just one drink and I get all disoriented.

Through the Woods We Go

Today’s travel day took me and Lee from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Valdosta, Georgia. Before we left, I got in a walk to a park behind the hotel, where I saw a couple of interesting plants, many non-native. I also enjoyed watching dozens of high school baseball players getting ready for a national tournament. No wonder it was loud last night.

Much of the day featured interstate highways through commercial forests. It took longer than we expected, because there was construction and a big delay due to a horrible accident where a semi truck appeared to have slid sideways a long way off the road. Not a happy start.

Occasionally I got to see some non-forests, like in Mobile and other coastal places. Mostly it was trees. Good thing I like them.

I worked much of the day, including before and after the drive, but I got a lot of knitting done, too. This little jumping spider decided to join me and hop all over my project. I sure enjoyed watching it moving its eyes and mouth and checking things out with all those legs. I think it was a paradise jumping spider (Habronattus coecatus) but I’m not sure.

The trip got more interesting when the GPS took us off the interstate near Quincy, Florida. We then embarked on a magical hour or so traveling through small towns and beautiful rural properties of north Florida and South Georgia.

We went through long stretches of road where it seemed like the trees were reaching out toward us to envelop us in green. With the draping moss, the overgrown old homesteads being taken over by immense crape myrtles, and the wooden fences…I felt like I was in one of my dreams of being home. I was so entranced in the deep woods that I forgot I had a camera. It was so Gothic. There was even mist rising from bogs. This is some beautiful country.

It’s places like this, far from my everyday world, that remind me of why the Deep South is so beloved by people from there, despite the legacy of hardship for so many, despite societal changes. It’s so peaceful, quiet, and still. It engulfs you.

And here we are in small-town civilization (Valdosta)

Tomorrow we see more of Georgia before heading through South Carolina. Some of the trip will feature back roads. But today created plenty of moody memories to get me through boring highways and lookalike suburbs.

Life Returns after Upheaval

I guess that gives me hope on US Independence Day.

I went out to the front pond, which we enlarged in the drought last year to be bigger and deeper. All the dirt that was dug up became a large berm that the horses just love. We call it their hill.

The horses and Fiona are always up on the hill eating…something, now that the heavy spring rains got things so soggy (though it’s droughting back up again).

Sometimes they eat at the base of the hill.

I decided to go out there and see what is growing on what was a big pile of dirt at the end of last summer. I knew there were seeds in the soil, as well as wind blown seeds. And I learned in Master Naturalist training about plants that thrive in disturbed soil, so it was time to check out the renewal process!

The clump of plants you see above is typical of what I found. At right are annual black-eyed Susans. They are all over the area, so I was pleased to see them. The green stuff in front is prairie tea (Croton monanthogynus) another annual whose roots are helping to stabilize the soil. All the pretty yellow flowers in the middle are the decidedly are the dreaded buffalo burs (Solanum rostratum) that will cover the horses’ manes and tails, as well as the entirety of Fiona if they don’t get mowed down. You will also see green antelope horn milkweed (Asclepias viridis). Those seeds are wind born. There’s even a small Dakota mock vervain (Glandularia bipinnatifida), the most common verbena here. It will be back. Whew, that’s a lot in one clump.

Elsewhere I found many plants had already passed their season, like the red seed plantain and the thistles. There were a few pink evening primrose that give me hope that they’ll be all over the slope soon, like they used to be. I didn’t see any bluebonnets. Maybe next year, but some upright prairie coneflowers/Mexican hats were ganging on. Their roots will help with runoff, too. It’s a plant that does like disturbed soil, like the plantain.

Other common plants that appear in disturbed soils include sand mats like matted sand mat (Euphorbia serpens) and prostrate sandman (Euphorbia prostrata) my least favorite weed. Here, they are helping cover the bare soil and help prevent more erosion. Prairie bundle flower (Desmanthus leptolobus) is another low-growing stabilizer plant.

Vines are also useful for holding the soil down. Two I saw were Texas bindweed (Convolvulus equitans), one of our wild morning glories, and balloon vine (Cardiospermum halicacabum), a pretty but non-native and invasive ground cover. These seeds are brought in from upstream. Some years they totally cover the creek banks, because they also love disturbed soil, like after a flood.

Vines I did not see but expect soon are the dewberries, tie vines (the other wild morning glory), saw greenbrier (Smilax bona-nox), and passion vine. Those take longer to get started. I could do without more of any of these, along with the mustang grapes, which I’m still snacking on. They are as bad as kudzu for covering trees and bushes.

Tree in center is covered with grapevines and greenbrier.

Anyway, nearly all the rest of the plants I saw are other opportunistic pioneers. Ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya); curly dock (Rumex crispus), a common plant in damp areas here whose seeds feed birds; willow dock (Rumex salicifolius); dove weeds (Croton lindheimeri); and Carolina bristlemallow (Modiola caroliniana), which also grows low to the ground and earlier in the year had pretty flowers. And I almost forgot two flowers, the common sunflower (Helianthus annuus) and lemon bee balm (Monarda citriadora). The latter is just about done for the year.

If you’ve slugged through this you’ll finally find out what the horses are eating. I was surprised to see no Bermuda grass, but some bunch grass I can’t ID, a gramma grass, and a brome. Natives!

One of these plants, or perhaps the long stuff none of the horses like in their pasture (not sure what it is), is making Apache have allergic reactions all over his face. He’s on Zyrtec now. 21 per day for the first week. Hope it helps. I’m grateful Tarrin knew what was going on!

And that’s enough about the hill.

Just the Highlights

Oops, it got too late for me to share much about today, but it was another fun but hot one at Fort Parker State Park.

I enjoyed watching people launching kayaks from the Navasota River boat ramp

The big thing was getting to see my favorite nightjar, the Chuck-Will’s Widow, in person. These birds are very hard to see, but it moved when I came upon it on the nearly empty trail I took today. I got photos that you can actually tell are of a bird! These guys blend in with leaf litter and are more active at night, so I lucked out. They are loud but shy, like me.

I just remembered I saw one at the ranch, sitting on a fence post. I can’t believe I forgot. So this means two sightings!

Other highlights were a sweet fawn and a lot of fun trees.

And we had a nice chat with two couples who fled Austin for a more rural life, like we did. It was fun sharing stories. More tomorrow.

Hey I’m in Mexia, Sorta

What’s Mexia (muh-hay-yuh)? It’s one town over from Groesbeck, the county seat of Limestone County, Texas, since the previous county seat it under a lake, which I’m right next to at the moment. That’s right, the middle of nowhere, Texas, just a different nowhere from where I usually am.

Actually, Lee and I are on this month’s camping trip, which is to Ft. Parker State Park. It’s very pretty and woodsy. It’s history is interesting. Ft. Parker is where some young woman was captured by Native Americans and liked it. She was not happy to be “rescued” by “civilized” people. This park is right near it, and was built, as were many Texas parks, by the CCC. What’s interesting is that the dam and buildings were built by black members of the CCC. They re-used most of the wood they cut down to build the buildings. It sounds like they had lots of fun on their off-duty times.

It’s just as hot here as it is at home, but it’s shady. We have a beautiful campsite. I was impressed that Lee got us backed in perfectly between two trees.

Of course, I could not keep myself from going on a walk. I meant to just go around the camping area, but I ended up going down a beautiful trail. I got to see where people can go kayaking and swim, too.

There was a cool floating bridge to go over, and I ended up at a pretty bird blind kind of dock, from which I could see lots of great egrets roosting. I also saw some cormorants.

While wildflower season is pretty much over, there was still much to see on the trail. Many vines and shrubs are in bloom, so if you looked carefully, you could see much beauty. You didn’t have to look hard to see all the Turk’s cap in bloom. Those red flowers are showy (and have the sweetest nectar of any plant). The trumpet vines are also blooming, so there’s no lack of color. With the heady scent of button bush all around, it was like a sultry jungle.

There was a reasonable breeze so I didn’t overheat (and it was cooling off by the time I went out). I really enjoyed the peace. It wasn’t quiet. There were at least three kinds of cicadas drowning out the few birds I heard (mostly cardinals, white-eyed vireos, wrens, and cuckoos).

This thing is a cattail toothpick grasshopper. Huh!

I’m looking forward to heading out early tomorrow for more trails. I have a cooling towel!

More Waterfalls and Flowers and DUNG BEETLES!

I did promise to finish writing up my trip to Pedernales Falls State Park. Gosh, I hope you like wildflowers and scenery and stinky insects. I had lots of energy for hiking/looking at plants, thanks to sleeping so well. Ahh. Total darkness and no barking or licking makes for great sleep.

So, once I woke up on Sunday morning, had my coffee, and analyzed bird songs (so many vireos), I took off for the other nearby trails. First, I took the Coyote Crossing trail, which led deep into a very humid woodland area and crossed a mostly dry creek that feeds into the river.

There were many interesting fungi, ferns, and vines in the moist environment. I also got to see a ladder back woodpecker. Mostly I enjoyed the deep green solitude.

Once past that trail the scenery was very different, with seemingly endless swaths of black-eyed Susans and their friends. There were lots of new flowers there, and I had one of those “Linda Jo moments” when I got practically giddy over plants. But I didn’t have a fellow Master Naturalist to exclaim to!

The next trail was the one that led to the swimming area of the river. I must admit I forgot there was a river to go to, because I was so mesmerized by the flowers. The trail went down steep steps. Every time I stopped I said to myself that THESE were the prettiest flowers I ever saw.

And there were so many butterflies that I felt like Snow White in the meadow. They were flitting all around me. It was magical!

I finally got to the river, and was happy to see it wasn’t crowded. There were just a few families wading around and playing, plus a woman with a big dog.

Mystery flower. INat thinks it’s bindweed.

Eventually I turned to go back, stopping to photograph lizards and more flowers. I let the family with the dog pass me on their way up, then encountered the dad resting halfway up. I said something about taking it slow because I was a naturalist, and we got to talking about his interest in foraging. Talking to them made me not even notice the steep climb! Finally, someone was interested in my blathering.

They left to take a bathroom break and I headed back along the road, where I found some phlox and other plants that like sand.

The family drove by and asked if I would like a ride back, and to be honest, that sounded good. So I joined them. They said they were thinking of driving to the big falls, and invited me along. I’m glad they did. It was a ways down the road.

We had a fun walk to the falls. The best part was when I saw a dung beetle rolling a ball of poop across the path. Carl (the dad) got all excited, because he didn’t know we had them in Texas. That got the two boys and the wife excited, too. She took movies and we had a grand time watching the beetles while all sorts of people passed us, probably thinking we were weird. But it was educational!

We finally made it to the overlook, and it was gorgeous. We saw a wedding party, too. We were all too tired to go down to the river, but they were going to go Monday morning. I was fine just looking down. The photos don’t do it justice, for sure.

And that’s about it for adventures. The rest of the day we sat outside a lot and went in to watch movies. I don’t know what to think about the Legion of Superheroes movie. They did stay pretty true to the characters…but it was nowhere near as good as Ant Man and the Wasp. Marvel does make a good movie.

Back Home

I was glad to get home on Monday, but sure enjoyed my wallows in nature. I needed that rejuvenation. Of course, there’s plenty of nature here. Just look at the baby birds in a nest on our back door!

Too tired to peep. A storm kept them awake.

Speaking of storms, one showed up out of the blue yesterday and dumped a ton of rain in a short time. It was full of thunder and lightning. The dogs were NOT thrilled, and since I was the only one in the house, all five indoor dogs clustered around me. Penney and Carlton were under my desk. Harvey was beside my chair. Alfred was standing on the other side of the chair panting into my face. At least Goldie just stayed on “her” couch.

Eventually, Penney wormed her way into my lap and did that unbearable wiggling and trying to squirm up to the top of my head, or inside me. I’m not sure what her intent is, but it’s hairy, hot, and whiny. Thank goodness I discovered the guys were stranded in the garage so I “had” to take them umbrellas. That allowed the dogs to distribute themselves among three people. Whew.

And oh yes, I’ve had my dose of cuteness. look at Jhayati! She’s so soft! And like my dad, she’s never met a stranger. Sara is in love. I’m pretty thrilled, too.

Nature, Nature, Nature

No big disasters struck today, other than realizing that new hotspot just won’t cut it for work, because it’s actually a not-so-hot hotspot. It gives up after about 40 minutes of a 60-minute Zoom call. Not helpful if you’re in the middle of helping someone out. So, I’ll be working from the Red House on Fannin for a while until we have another option.

Luckily butterflies distract me, like this crescent.

So, I’ll share some things that help one forget technology annoyances, like birds and plants. First, I got to see something rare for me as I was out trying to find something to give my chickens, now that their garden got mowed. I heard an unfamiliar bird call, and looked up to see two dark birds coming to the pond behind the house.

They circled a couple of times, which was quite lovely, then ended up at the shore of the pond. They were dark, but vaguely egret-like, so I got the binoculars to get a better view. While they refused to make a sound while I had the Merlin’s Bird ID app listening, the app did hint to me that it could be a green heron pair. I’ve seen them before, but not this time of year.

Look for the orange legs. That’s the bird.

Sure enough, the binoculars confirmed the identity. They are beautiful birds, even hiding in a very dark corner of a pond on a cloudy day. That started my day off right!

I had lunch outside with Lee, and heard a few songs I didn’t recognize, in addition to the incessant dickcissels and cardinals. So, I fired up Merlin Bird ID again and had it listen for a few minutes. Now I know exactly what a painted bunting sounds like! I’d probably see them if I had a bird feeder, but if I put one in the back yard, dogs would bother the birds, and if I put one on the other side of the fence, cattle would knock it down in no time. But I can hear the beautiful song of the most beautiful bird in North America!

Painted buntings are in there somewhere!

I also got a glimpse of the turkey as Goldie yelled at it (thanks, Goldie). And I spent a lot of time listening to anxious killdeer protecting their nest, which I think is over by the front pond and not at all accessible by me. I wish they would chill out. The dickcissels drowned them out, though. Over half the photos I’ve taken of those little darlings are in mid chirp. They say their name, loudly, like phoebes do. I know they’ll move on shortly, so I’m trying to enjoy them.

There are sill some pretty patches of flowers around the ranch, where the lawn mowers can’t reach. So I can enjoy being less likely to step on a snake yet enjoy floral beauty. Enjoy my series, wildflowers with iron poles. It’s romantic.

I can’t help but try to capture some of the beauty I see. It’s the same old property but decorated differently from week to week!

Admittedly, I spent a long time today listening. I think I’m in love with the birdsong identification feature in the Merlin app. I indulged myself this evening by figuring out how many different birds were behind our house (by the pond, in the back yard, and in the woods) in twenty minutes. Whoa, there sure are bunches of birds hiding around here (I did hear a mourning dove and a barred owl the app didn’t pick up – guess I have good hearing still). But check out this list!

House sparrow (duh)
Dickcissel
Cardinal
Mockingbird
Barn swallow
Cedar waxwing
Carolina chickadee
Red bellied woodpecker
European starling
Nighthawk (!)
Eastern bluebird
Purple martin
Crow
Red-winged blackbird

That’s a lot of birds, even without hearing another painted bunting or egret in the mix. What a chorus! By the way, the app doesn’t appear to acknowledge chickens. Aren’t they birds? I guess they are too domestic.

I hope my bird and flower enthusiasm were contagious. If so, download that app on your phone and try to listen where you live!

Earth Day Campout Highlights

Most of today has been great. The big highlights were predominantly nature oriented, but I also rekindled some old friendships and made some fun new friends.

After coffee by a nice campfire I went on a brisk (for me) hike on the trail that goes around Lake Georgetown. The whole trail is 26 miles long, so no, we didn’t go the whole way. The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed going up and down the limestone escarpments. I didn’t take as many photos as usual, though I found a few new plants I had to record.

We enjoyed views of the lake and all its sights and sounds. I was sad to find zebra mussel shells on the shoreline. They’re very invasive. So is the Japanese honeysuckle we saw. But a black swallowtail cheered me up.

In our way back, I remarked to Mike that we were in the perfect habitat for golden-cheeked warblers, with Ashe junipers and native oaks. I swear only three steps later, the blaring “la cucaracha” call rang out! We never spotted the bird, but it sang for quite a while. Great Earth Day experience! Here is scenery from the trail.

I was ready for a nice rest after the hike, so I hung out with Lee for a while. Then I did some chatting with new arrivals. Of course there were some campsite emergencies that we helped take care of. The afternoon culminated with a tradition campout potluck meal. Unfortunately, the original location was lost, and I offered our shelter for the food.

I didn’t realize everyone would sit next to our motorhome. It was too hard for Lee to be near people for that long, so I won’t make that error again! I made a couple other mistakes being too hospitable, but I’ve learned the hard way to keep folks away from the RV. I sure feel bad for that!

Young and old gathered. Loudly. Fun for non-hermits.

We did find the summer tanager again, which helped a little. I’m very grateful to the Merlin app that identifies bird calls, even though at first it said it was a Baltimore oriole, which got us overly excited. Away from the crowd, it got the ID right, plus we saw the bird and it was red, not orange. I ended up getting extra blurry photos of the male and a better one of the female. They are beautiful birds with a beautiful song.