Creeks, Rivers, Streams – Page 3

Small Concern, Big Happiness

I’ve enjoyed my day at Lake Bob Sandlin State Park, but before showing my endless photos, I wanted to share a concern I have. You see, starting last week I started getting significantly more hits on this blog site. Usually they stay about the same unless a pet dies or I say something controversial.

Not controversial: this view of an inlet.

I looked at the stats, and for the past week or so I’ve been getting more visitors from China than even the US. In today’s world, that concerns me. Am I being monitored because of my political spiritual stances that don’t jive with what our Corporate Overlords promote? Is my writing being mined for AI learning? (That would make me laugh, since I don’t think my informal prose will do anything helpful.)

Anyone else heard of this? Ideas?

Maybe posting red flowers is a good idea.

Now back to cheerful and bland nature stuff. This park is in a beautiful part of northeast Texas, so everywhere I went today was pleasant, even though the soundtrack of Blue Jays got a bit monotonous.

I found many plants that were new to me, and enjoyed exploring so much that when I came back to the campsite I had a weird feeling. I laughed when I realized it was happiness. I was relaxed and happy all day! That was much needed.

However, all the hiking and exploring today has me wiped out. I’m going to just share a few photos then go to bed. I’ll add bonus material for you and my new Chinese friends to enjoy tomorrow.

Buckeyes in seed pod. Yes, I know what it looks like.

Looking for Beauty and Kindness

I declared that today would be spent looking for beauty and kindness wherever I went. That started out early, since we wanted to leave for a camping weekend (at last) as early as possible.

I hit the ground running, trying to get to Tractor Supply right after they opened. Ha. The traffic gods had other plans and I got to wait a lot, which was okay—more time listening to NPR. And I did encounter kindness when the sweet worker who checked me out also loaded all my 50-pound horse and chicken food bags and the deceptively heavy salt. She said she was stronger than most of the men there.

There was much running around, sweating, and chore performance before we could leave, and Lee hurt his back hitching the Jeep to the motorhome. Yet, we survived and drove northeast for a long time, during which Lee was kind to a trucker who needed the lane we were in at a run-down gas station. The guy had a cool big rig—he was taking it to a truck show!

We managed to make it to Lake Bob Sandlin State Park before the office closed, which felt miraculous considering the amount of slow-moving vehicles and construction delays we hit. You know a car is slow if we pass it!

We changed to a more level site, so we lost our lake view, but the piney woods are also lovely, and there are plenty of birds to enjoy.

Helping Lee because his back hurt made me end up sore from crawling in the ground and floor, but that’s what good spouses do for each other!

I found lots more beauty as I walked around the camping area after we were set up. There’s even a lot of beautyberry here, which speeds up one’s search for beauty!

I did find the lake and many woodland plants, so I believe I did what I set out to.

By focusing on good stuff, small annoyances like the bedroom slide and the leveling system not working seem insignificant. I’m just gonna go look at plants and listen to birds tomorrow. Yes.

More Spontaneous Spontaneity

This morning, Lee and I awoke in Brownwood, Texas, which was not in yesterday’s non-plan. After a reasonable hotel breakfast we went less than .1 mile to the Tractor Supply in the same parking lot as us. Odd, huh.

Proof I made it home: Indian Jute from the ranch.

I got all the horse food I needed and the cashier informed me there was a bunch of chicken stuff on sale, so I got some herbal yummies to go with the grit Connie has been hinting for. How efficient!

I had been wanting to go back to the state park nearby, so Lee looked up Lake Brownwood State Park. He was directed a half mile down the road the hotel and TSC. That was not where I remembered the park to be, either unit. I kept saying we weren’t going to the right place.

The weird shape is our hotel. The nature trail starts where the road ends. Also on the map is my favorite restaurant, which we didn’t get to go to, Katana.

It wasn’t where I thought we were going, that’s true. But we were in Riverside Park, which may be the nicest city park I’ve ever been to. I ended up thanking Lee.

Even though I still had the wrong shoes on, I was able to happily walk the sidewalks that went along a pretty bayou (Pecan Bayou) and an adjacent woods. The park has a nice disc golf course, a beautiful playground and a cool meeting pavilion. It looks quite new, but is full of old trees, mostly pecan.

I enjoyed walking the paths, other than when disc golf players yelled at me. The other interesting sight was a family who brought a confused but patient palomino horse to the park and posed their children with it. Everyone had cowboy attire, the fancy kind.

Horse photos. I assume they scooped any poop.

I found many plants, including a new one for me. There were 24 bird species in total that Merlin heard, including a loud Mississippi Kite and many Lesser Goldfinches. Here are a few plants and an insect in the park (not bad for such a well mowed area).

As I finished the walk by the bayou I saw a nature trail sign. It said it was only .7 miles, so I let Lee know I was going down it.

What a gorgeous trail it was, winding along the water. While enjoying the birds, I realized my two favorite vines were everywhere, Pitcher’s leather flower and pearl milkweed. I was excited.

There was so much more to see. And the trail itself made you feel totally alone in nature. Just perfect.

I saw too many fascinating plants to share, but here are some highlights. This is probably mostly for me so I can go back and enjoy them, though I did put them all up in iNaturalist!

We headed home after this, and just enjoyed the countryside. I also enjoyed a mango-pineapple Icee. What a spontaneous indulgence.

We had a brief but intense storm with lightning while I was feeding horses, which produced thunder loud enough to scare both humans and equines. It did lead to a beautiful sunset, so I’ll share those!

Oh yes. Card of the day was 5 of Wands, which deals with conflict. I chuckled because I drew it after thinking for a few minutes about an interpersonal conflict I need to resolve. Thanks, cards.

Don’t Complain, Spontane!

I didn’t write yesterday, even though it was a good day, all in all. I felt useful at work and had a good time doing horse stuff with Vicki (other than getting stepped on by Apache when he was in a “spooky” part of his path). Walking on the paths was a great way for Vicki to practice leadership with Drew, so I’m glad we did it, even though Drew wasn’t thrilled.

Laughing because we were trying to get Drew to look cheerful.

Today I had no plans, Lee had a sore toe, and we were just blah. So, he said, “Let’s just go!” And we spontaneously went somewhere. Spontaining has a lot going for it! We drove around Texas to see what we could find.

One thing we found: free-range cattle. That’s Texas.

First we drove to Buc-ees because I really wanted one of their sandwiches for lunch. I also got over-priced watermelon but it was so good! I got a new large water holder to replace the previous one whose straw disappeared then the lid shattered in one of my more-frequent “accidents.” I’m pleased.

Then we meandered our way through the dangerous roads between Temple and Copperas Cove, Texas. You are inevitably passed on all sides by small, audibly-enhanced sporty vehicles driven by young people with very neat haircuts. Those would be folks starting their military careers at Fort Cavazos who have purchased their dream vehicles and want to go zoom zoom. We survived and made it to our random destination, a “metaphysical shop.” There are actually TWO in the area, down from three.

My souvenir was a cutting of a fascinating pothos plant with curly leaves. The shop owner has a jungle in the back of the store.

This store has all kinds of fascinating stuff in it, like dead things in jars, homemade spell candles, and what I think were some homemade oils. This was not one of those goofy crystal stores. They are serious and have some interesting classes one could take. I liked their tarot candles, so I got one for me and a Hermit for Lee. Lee gave me a VERY nice Bridget goddess statue to go with my collection. This makes me sound very woo woo. I assure you, I’m just out here sending Lovingkindness.

After chatting about dogs, horses, and plants with the proprietor, we headed for our next destination, which we picked at random. Mostly we enjoyed the drive through rolling hills and (recently flooded) river valleys. We ended up in Lampassas. We tried to go to a nature park, but it was closed. That was a theme for the day, thanks to the floods on July 4.

My big discovery in Lampassas was a huge factory that makes Ajinomoto. That’s MSG. I always thought it came from Japan. I stayed clear due to my sensitivity.

We saw a sign for Colorado Bend State Park, so we decided to go there and check it off our list. It’s a good thing, since it turns out our RV would have no place to go there.

Flood-damaged bridge to get to the park. Had to drive very slowly.

Much of the park was closed, but I did get to go on a little trail walk in a meadow with Ashe Juniper trees and lots of silver bluestem. I was hampered by my footwear choice of shiny sandals, but remember, I didn’t know where I was going earlier today.

The weird thing about my walk was the eerie lack of birds. For most of the time there was one persistent Field Sparrow, who sang very well, it all alone. At the end I finally heard a Bobwhite Quail, a Cardinal, and a Red-winged Blackbird.

We then drove to the camping area, which was the only riverside area you could get to, and there were normal birds there in usual numbers. Whew. I’ve never been so relieved to hear wrens, titmice, and buntings.

We left the park and for no good reason drove to San Saba, another typical town of the region. I enjoy the town squares and small shops you find. The big business here is pecans. Some of the pecan businesses have beautiful buildings. Of course, a pecan plantation is also lovely. Wish I had a photo.

The nearest place we could find to get a free hotel on our Hilton points was in Brownwood, so off we went through more scenic byways until we suddenly were there, not the way we came here last time when camping. The best thing about this Home2 Suites is that it’s next door to a Tractor Supply store, where I need to go to replenish horse food.

It’s almost like we planned the day!

A good day needs no plan when you can spontane.

Tomorrow we get those supplies then see if this is the town with the amazing Japanese restaurant that used to be Pizza Hut. If so, that will be lunch before hitting a different bunch of Texas cow-towns on the way home.

Crude map of trip. We live due east of Temple 40 miles or so.

Tarot card of the day

Yesterday I drew the 6 of swords, which is about having a supportive community. I drew it right after chatting with my supportive Friday morning friends. I forgot to take a picture.

I didn’t draw a card today, but was impressed to see that the woman in the metaphysical shop was doing a good business with readings. Interesting!

Repost: You Know They’re Here, but They Are Hard to See

This is not Déjà vu.

I’m sharing what I wrote up this morning on the Master Naturalist chapter blog. I think you’ll enjoy it, too.

Posted on July 21, 2025by Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall

Those of us in and around Milam County, Texas know there are more native mammals out in our area besides deer, cottontails, raccoons, opossums, and armadillos. But many aren’t easy to spot. I’ve never seen a porcupine, for example, but I know they’re out there. Occasionally we will spot coyotes, bobcats, or (very rarely) mountain lions. The most fun mammals we look for, though, are beavers and river otters.

A likely sighting site, Walker’s Creek bridge on County Road 140, featuring: flood debris.

This morning I was doing my daily walk to the bridge and back, dreading the inevitable scattering of annoyed vultures (today both Black and Turkey) who have been patiently working on what appeared to be a deceased Holstein steer, which must have come a long way, since we have no Holstein cattle nearby. Cow mercifully not shown.

Sure enough, I scared the giant birds off. Then I noticed a head larger than that of a turtle or snake in the creek. Ooh! A mammal! I was instantly ready to snap a photo, figuring it would see me and exit.

Sure enough, something brown and wet was exiting. Was it a beaver or an otter? I was ready to verify by checking its tail.

Yay! It was a river otter! How fortunate I was to see this water mammal! I’ve seen two swimming together here a few years ago, and one crossing our field after a big rain. That was very cute.

I didn’t take too many more photos, because I was enjoying the moment. But I was very happy to finally document one on iNaturalist!

River otters are also called common otters (Lontra canadensis). As their scientific name suggests, they are found all over North America, except for a swath of territory in the center of the country.

They love to eat fish, crayfish, and turtles, but will also eat other small animals. They aren’t a danger unless you own a fish farm, which would lead to happy otters. River otters also love to play, which makes them very popular in zoos.

I’m glad we still have some otters here in Milam County, because they’re a sign of healthy waterways. I guess Walker’s Creek is pretty good other than pooping and dying cattle.

I’m still looking for a beaver, though I’ve seen evidence at a fellow Master Naturalist’s property nearby.

Bonus observations:

I saw a Northern Cardinal eating away at the berries of a nettle-leaf noseburn vine. more fell to the ground than went in.
Yesterday I was swimming when I saw a small bird bathing in the shallow “beach” end of our pool. I figure it was a House Sparrow, but her breast was yellowish. Then she shook her wings. She was a Painted Bunting! I’d never seen one at the pool before!
Also yesterday I heard a Summer Tanager, and something chirped back. It was the female, for once not hiding. I’m always impressed with myself if I can ID a female bird of a species with drab females.

Nettleleaf noseburn *Tragia urticifolia –* photo by Sue Ann Kendall

Female Painted Bunting Passerina ciris – photo by Lloyd Davis

Female Summer Tanager *Piranga Rubra* – photo by Don Danko

Tarot Card of the Day

Today I drew a great card for the topic of this blog, the Child of Air (page of Swords). It’s about having the enthusiasm of a curious child who is in awe of nature and the world around them. In the Gaian deck, she is entranced by butterflies, an air allusion.

I bet she’d have been as excited as I was about encountering an otter in the wild!

Thankful for Diversion

It’s a good thing my new consulting position cropped up. Getting immersed in creating quality documentation this week has been very helpful in keeping me from dwelling on how the natural disasters keep coming more and more often.

I’ve been able to concentrate so hard on enjoying my work that time seems to speed by. I’m really feeling like a part of the team, plus my input is solicited and seems appreciated. I’ll enjoy this as long as it lasts!

I think you can tell that all the vegetation was sparkling this morning. Cheerful.

I do want to be there to listen to folks who need to talk through their sadness and feelings, though, and I feel more able to empathize and provide support (and receive it) having given my mind a break.

Our creek spilled its banks overnight, though we’ve not had as much rain as most areas nearby.

We’re in for a lot of weird nature stuff, I’m afraid. It does serve as a reminder to live well and love hard. Speaking of love, here’s a salute to my many friends working right now to kick some medical challenges away from their lives. Your healing vibes are on their way!

Penney wanted to tell you that Lee strung lights in the porch.

Tough Times Together

I’m just not able to say much right now. The loss of lives and livelihoods near me in Texas is heart wrenching and has affected nearly everyone I know directly or indirectly. The whole state is in shock, because the campers and other visitors were from all over the state. It’s really too hard to talk about right now.

This is Alfred informing me that the weather is bad.

I’m grateful for the first responders and trained volunteers from our county and nearby who went to help with flooding that wasn’t on the news, but was still bad. It always impresses me how these highly trained folks just go wherever they’re needed, even to other states or countries. They’re needed with so much bad weather here and in North Carolina, not to mention the fires in the Navajo Nation.

Here we just had a reasonable amount of rain, though lightning hit a tree near the horse pasture. Horses are ok. I immersed myself in work today, which was helpful. I guess I’m also grateful for having a good challenge to occupy my mind.

I’m also grateful for pets, even skittish ones.

Take care of yourselves. Hugs to all of you dealing with challenges. I haven’t forgotten you. We are in this together.

Rainy Rainy Floody Floody

Gee whiz. Last night 8.5” of rain fell at the Hermits’ Rest. That’s the second most since we’ve been keeping records (2011). It was wet this morning.

It’s rare for water to flow over our driveway, which is the dam that created the front pond. It did last night, though, and much of our road base washed away.

This is worse than it looks. The ruts are deep.

The pond got the highest I’ve ever seen it, but with the water flowing quickly through our big culvert, it quickly lowered once rain stopped.

At left you can see how high the water got. The little trees in the water show the normal “full” line.

I walked down the road to see how Walker’s Creek looked. I’m used to it being out of its banks, but it was way over the road and there was a large dead tree in the middle of the bridge. That’s some strong water.

Looking at the fence on the right you can see how much higher the water was!

I talked to the guys who put the sign out. They said they’d move the tree when the water receded, but we think the neighbor down the road did it.

I thought about all the birds and turtles and hoped they were okay. I knew the frogs were happy, because I could hear at least four kinds.

The creek is usually at the far tree line.

I’m always fascinated by how the water drains from the property next to ours down an arroyo, to be joined by runoff from the cultivated field across the road, which becomes our mighty stream that joins the creek eventually.

Our back pond also has runoff feeding into it. When it’s full, the water goes to the pond behind our woods, then helps flood the floodplain field. No wonder it looks like we live on a lake when it rains a lot. All this drainage will start after receiving two inches of rain. Eight inches creates huge masses of water heading along until it reaches the Little River, which is also joined by Big Elm and Little Elm Creek. I’m guessing all their water has made the Brazos River pretty impressive right now.

Here you can see Walker’s Creek, which goes by my house. Above it is Pond Creek, which is a different watershed. Our creek is joined by Terry Branch just before going into Big Elm Creek. The creek that joins Big Elm is Little Elm. Big Elm joins the Brazos quite a ways east of this map.

It was interesting that the talk at tonight’s Master Naturalist meeting was watersheds. How water flows is mysterious but it works! Soon the creeks will all be back to normal, and at some point, Walker’s Creek will go through another dry period. I hope not too soon.

Outflow from the pond. The new concrete did its job.

Ooh, in other excitement, I finally finished May on the temperature blanket. I sure was glad to receive new black yarn!

May. Mostly warm with just a few days over 95° (the wine color).

Another Post about Gratitude for Rain

You can tell I live in a semi-arid environment by how often I mention that I’m grateful for rain. Our land is so prone to drought that we always fear it will never rain again. Of course, that’s not true. Usually, we have a very dry period followed by a flood. We’re used to it.

This year we have had some dry spells, but also some nicely spaced rain episodes, just nothing huge, until last night. We had over 2.5″ of rain here yesterday, and since 2″ is usually enough to get runoff happening, that means our ponds/tanks all filled.

It also means that the creek is overflowing, which is always fun, as long as it doesn’t cover the road, which it did not. It only got to the top of the fence that keeps the cattle in. No giant logs banged into the fence, either, which means the new owners won’t have to fix it.

You can see the fence posts almost underwater.

The rain was scary, and there were tornadoes in the area. Some folks got damage, but nothing like what we see in the news in other places, so we’re lucky. One of my friends even got up to 6″ of rain over the past few days! We’ve had at least 3 in total. Now all the animals will be happy.

Something did die, though. The vultures right next to my birding chair told me, along with the large number of flies. Ick. I may have to move my chair!

I enjoyed many clean and shiny birds on my morning walk, though, which is the best bonus. I’m still seeing a Tricolored Heron here, so who needs to travel to see interesting birds?

I went into town to have lunch with a new Master Naturalist and help her get her Merlin and iNaturalist set up for ease of use. Driving around I saw lots of hail damage and trees with lost limbs. The storm was a lot worse southeast of the ranch!

Our Merlin lesson was a bust, because the birds decided to stop making noise at our Cameron renovation project, where we tried to practice. But I did give my student some hints, and we had more success with iNaturalist. A lesson that I learned (relearned) is that everyone’s cell phone and service are set up differently, which always adds to the challenge of assisting people. We had fun anyway, and found some plants we want to transplant before the old landscaping gets obliterated.

I want some of this Turk’s Cap to plant next to our woods.

Today remains sunny, though more rain is in the forecast. Other than how muddy the horse pens get, I’ll welcome all we get!

Mission Accomplished

Ha ha, mission is an appropriate word choice, since we did visit an area full of missions today.

Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga, Park Service photo.

After a highly disappointing hotel breakfast, we drove a half hour from Victoria to Goliad, Texas. It’s where lots of Texas history occurred. Just go over here and read about it, unless you are a product of Texas schools, in which case I assume you already know.

Since we were pressed for time, we looked at the beautiful old buildings briefly and then went on a short hike along the San Antonio River, which appeared to be a very old trail.

It was a great joy to investigate this new ecosystem. I found a new-to-me butterfly, the Texas Crescent. It’s so beautiful.

Even more beautiful (to me) was the new grasshopper I found, which is apparently the most distinctive grasshopper in the southern US.

The Eastern Lubber (*Romalea microptera)*

It’s so pretty. And big! They get to be up to four inches long! I was impressed and very grateful to Lee for spotting the first one.

We enjoyed the river, woods, trees, and birds. I even identified a Northern Parula before seeing the ID on Merlin. I’m learning!

There was a bird blind, but we were too late for the morning feed and only saw a male and female House Finch. The male was very colorful, though, and since I usually only hear them at home, I took it as a birding win.

We were ready to head home, but enjoyed going a different route, which ended up being a tour of different roads Lee used to take to visit his parents in the Cuero hospital. That’s where they’d go unless they had heart attacks, in which case they’d go to Victoria, where I’d already had the hospital memory lane tour. Yes, my previous visits to Victoria had been hospital or funeral visits. A wedding was our first happy reason to visit. [edit: second happy reason—we also went down to Yorktown for Chris and Kathleen’s wedding!]

All is well at home. I didn’t even lose any plants! The dogs, chickens, and horses were fine, too. Kudos to our pet sitter!

I should return to non-travel content tomorrow.