Insect Sightings – The Hermits' Rest

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!

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.

Geez. I care about my phone.

What personal belongings do you hold most dear?

Why do I hold my phone dear? It is my memory. It contains all my photos, all my communication with friends, access to my memories in the blog…and yes, I can get to all those things from my laptop. Yuck. I think I hold some bits and bytes or whatever cloud storage is made of. That’s really depressing. What else do I hold dear? Things made by my loved ones. My mom and stepmom’s art. Dad’s woodcraft stuff. Gifts they gave me. Things that tie me to them.

New thought: I’ve started letting myself write in incomplete sentences! They’ll soon be taking away my Grammar Police badge. My take is that the incomplete sentences are not as unpleasant as those two blogs I dictated and then was too woozy to properly review. Poor Sue had to endure proofreading that. I don’t pay her well enough for that! (I do not pay Sue; she’s just nice.)

Another part of the phone I love is the camera. I was at a Master Naturalist outing at my friend Carolyn’s place, which I’ve showed you before. I got some images I really liked there. I don’t need to show you all 125 species or 25 birds I recorded, but I want to share a few for those of you who always want more nature pictures.

Purple Pleatleaf (***Alophia drummondii)***

This one was new to me. It’s an evening primrose that grows five feet tall. Wow.

Four point evening primrose (***Oenothera rhombipetala)***

And here are a few more plants.

We also saw lots of animal life. There was more than I expected, especially the suspiciously friendly raccoon. But it’s harmless.

Other animal news? No one’s come looking for Benny. He’s still over here trying to hump Carlton.

What bugs me?

Quickly, since the weather’s turning icky again.

Mosquitoes. They ate what bugs me. Of course they aren’t bugs. They are insects. We are overrun with them right now thanks to the previous storm and a much smaller barn swallow population than usual. I guess our new porch miffed them by taking two prime nesting spots away.

After riding around in the pasture on Sunday looking at the grass situation, then pulling a lot of weeds yesterday, I’m covered with bites. And once I get a certain amount of Culex spit in me, the itching is unbearable. I start to feel better, then more arrive. Gonna have to use all my organic and scary repellent methods. I have few bite-free surfaces. Ugh.

I’m sure glad my honorary daughter gave birth to her chunky and adorable son safely today. That helps balance out the sad things from yesterday. I guess I was on target yesterday !

Hey, Sweetums, the babies need to be fed and I’m exhausted.

Stay safe if storms, fires, random shootings, or killer mosquitoes are after you. Remember I care, even if I don’t know you in real life. You matter.

And Carlton would lick you if you were here. But he’s hiding from thunder right now.

We all make sacrifices

What sacrifices have you made in life?

I don’t think anyone I know hasn’t made sacrifices, mainly since I’m no longer hanging around with people who think of no one but themselves. I’m also fairly sure that many sacrifices have positive outcomes. For example, the sacrifice I made to stay home with my sons when they were young ended up leading to meeting so many lifelong friends and my career path. So maybe it wasn’t a sacrifice; it was a good decision.

Maybe I sacrificed a dream to send Drew away, but we are all calmer now.

That’s the thing. Most of the “sacrifices” I’ve made no longer bother me. I honestly don’t feel like dwelling on them. One thing is I wish I had been able to travel overseas when I was younger. But the money was needed for other important things, like college educations and helping out family members. And now that we might have the means to travel to other countries, Lee won’t fly.

If I’m home, I can see when new plants bloom. Violet Ruellia has started.

Not traveling as much lets us invest in our home, though. I’m looking forward to some of the improvements we’ve been discussing, like finishing the pool house and getting the water tanks working. Admittedly, getting more grass in the horse pastures means fewer spectacular wildflowers, but I can sacrifice some of them if we can get native grasses.

We have to save some for the butterflies, like this variegated fritillary.

Everything’s really okay. We can each sacrifice something for the good of us all, at least here. Finding acceptance of how things are has truly made my life happier.

We planted the fig tree in time for more rain. I just hope the wind doesn’t break it.

Purple Martin Mania

I’m still easily tired and low on energy, but I’m glad I was able to go to see the incredible Purple Mountain colony maintained by Mike McCormick and his family near Buckholts. Not only were the birds (a type of swallow) beautiful to watch, but I enjoyed finding plenty of plants, too.

Two stunning males taking a break from insect hunting.

This huge setup of houses and a “condo” is one of the largest in the US. It’s the result of a lifetime of work. We are lucky to be nearby and that our Master Naturalist group has been friends for years.

The setting couldn’t be more beautiful, in a hilly ranch with mixed fields and woods. There are plenty of ponds to attract insects and keep the birds hydrated.

Pond, cattle, and chickens share the land with martins.

It’s a lot of work maintaining all the nest sites, but it’s a labor of love for the whole family. They’ve been responsible for many Martin housing innovations that they share with others, too. There’s a devoted group of Martin lovers throughout North America who provide homes for these birds while the raise their babies each summer who share information.

Two females in the condo, taking a break from egg incubation.

I enjoyed learning new things about these birds, which surprised me since I’ve been educated often about them. For example, larger hawks ignore them, but Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned find martins tasty. Ah, nature.

The houses and condo unit. It holds lots of birds. There are up to 2,000 pairs in good years.

I couldn’t resist the other life around the property. There were plenty of hens and roosters, plus chicks. And there were beautiful white domestic doves fluttering around (as well as Mourning, White Winged, and Inca Doves). The shed area had Barn Swallows nesting in it, so we got to watch them zooming around, too. And a pretty brave rabbit.

After I got tired of being around people, I walked on the little nature trail they’ve built since I was last there. It has very nice bathrooms, too. I had lots of fun adding 75 or so observations for iNaturalist on the trail and in the fields, when I wasn’t distracted by how beautiful the views of the countryside were.

It is a privilege to see this place again and to learn even more about these migratory birds and the environment where they spend their spring and summer, after flying in from Brazil.

Book Report: Foraging Texas

I got this book at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. I’m sure glad I did, because I thoroughly it and learned how many things right outside the house are delicious. Foraging Texas: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods, in Texas (2021), by Eric M. Knight and Stacy M. Coplin, is the most fun and sensible foraging guide I ever read.

The authors, who apparently know my friend Linda Jo, strike a great balance e between caution and curiosity as they teach about edible plants. First, they insist you read the chapter on toxic plants, some of which I could go take you to right now (very healthy poison ivy vines). I do now know my water hemlock and friends, and simply won’t eat anything growing in the water, at all. Even the yummy ones might have pollutants in them. Sigh.

The authors focus on plants that are plentiful (many, if not most, non-native) so as not to encourage folks to contribute to a species going extinct. You’re heartily encouraged to eat annoying plants like bastard cabbage (they tell you to pull it up after you harvest the flowers, which proves to me that they have met Linda Jo). That woman hates bastard cabbage.

Bastard cabbage submitted by me to iNaturalist.

For each plant there’s a map of where to find it, a thorough botanical description (there’s an index of terms), comparison with any toxic lookalikes, how to harvest, and a recipe. Some recipes are like, just eat it. Other plants seem so hard to harvest that I wonder if it’s worth it. So many stickers and prickles to remove in your prickly pear fruit (tuna) or heart-leaf nettles. I’d say I’ll pass, but those fruit are so tasty.

Prickly pear with developing fruit at top. 2024.

Very few other plants are described as tasting delicious (dewberries are!). Most are okay.

I think the fun is mostly finding edible plants around you and knowing what’s a good hiking snack.

Found these today. You can eat flowers and roots, pink evening primrose.

Today I ate plantain seeds, because there are many in the pasture right now. I’m not going to go gather a bunch to share with the family. I could sneak chickweed in a salad, though. It’s tasty.

Bracted plantain. Much prettier than the kind I ate.

I will probably keep this reference book in the RV for reference when traveling. There are more comprehensive foraging books out there, but I like that this one covers the area where I live and is enjoyable to read. Now enjoy some pasture flowers.

Moving mud around

No blog yesterday, because the day didn’t feature anything worth mentioning to the blogosphere. Today wasn’t much more exciting, since I was mostly problem solving issues of no interest to anyone other than me and a couple of coworkers. At least my mind is occupied!

Some birds are still hiding. This Green Heron thought it was invisible.

It’s been a nice couple of days full of interesting birds, like a Canada Warbler, which of course didn’t pose. We’re getting quite a variety these days.

I enjoyed a visit with this friendly Lark Sparrow. They are brave little guys.

The highlight of the day, at least for those of us in the household who do horse care, is that more work is being done around the pens (rain slowed progress down, but all the rails are back up!). I heard noises outside, and when I checked it out, the tractor was busy moving dirt from the big pile that created our tiny pond into the pens.

The dirt has smoothed out the areas than have sunken in since Kathleen bought sand to put in the pens when they were first finished. The mud from rains, especially where it dripped off the shelter roof, is very slick and no fun for horses or people.

We hope this will help drainage, but it’s been pointed out that the new dirt will just make new and different puddles. And it’s darned clay-ish in this part of the property.

Butterflies drink from the clay mud. It has minerals.

It sounds like the shelter extension will go up soon. It will have a gutter that will drain away from the pens and give the horses a much nicer shelter and a dry shaded place for grooming, hoof trimming, and veterinary stuff.

Bonus photo of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

There are even rumors of a concrete pad for bathing. I don’t know…that sounds awfully fancy! It’s fun to dream of, though. And Apache could sure use a bath!

Enjoy every dang moment

I say that because I wore my Lynda Barry shirt today, with Marlys saying “dang.”

It’s a comic for people my age and was very funny in the 20th century. Look up Lynda Barry.

But I’m here to tell you I’ve taken my own advice to enjoy every dang moment, and this had a very pleasant day with only a little remnant of The Sickness with No Name. I even got to talk to some friends today about its baffling nature. I’ve missed friends.

I’ve missed these, too. Meadow pinks. I’ll work on a better photo.

And Kathleen felt better enough to do stuff with horses and enjoy family chatting (the men call it BS-ing). We spent a lot of time dreaming up one of those gardens that catch runoff, because we will soon have giant rainwater harvesting barrels that need managing. It’s fun to dream of home improvements. I’ve always loved it.

I don’t know why, but the little depression near the driveway with frogs, crawfish and harmless water snakes doesn’t count as a decorative water feature.

The most fun part of the day was when I took a well-deserved walk at lunch. Though it was a cloudy day, the wildflowers on our roadside made it seem very bright!

Nature’s color palette is vibrant in May.

Because we started getting rain right after the poor bluebonnets and paintbrushes tried to bloom, the second wave of flowers is impressive.

I had a grand time looking at how huge the Engelmann daisies and Gaillardia are this year.

Many springs find those daisies all droopy and sad. Not this year.

Closer to my son’s house, I found the clasping coneflowers (Mexican hats, as they were called until recently) were much more robust than they’ve been in recent years. They make the roadside look like someone planned the arrangement of plants.

With a background of Dickcissels and orioles singing, I couldn’t help but feel thankful. This is why I live out here in rural America. The land and wildlife are always changing and endlessly interesting.

Grateful to be caretaker for this wild patch.

I am convinced I do better work when I can take these breaks. After lunch I churned out a big document and it met with approval. Then my boss took a framework I built and turned it into a project plan of great sophistication and utility. That was energizing to see! Living in the moment even makes work more rewarding, at least sometimes.

Yep, I’m proud of myself for plowing through the rough times. They make good days like today all the more treasured. And now, here’s the photo dump of today’s views.

A perfect flower? No, they’re all slightly irregular.

Getting a Little Jumpy

Though it’s been two whole days since anything weird happened at the ranch, I’m on high alert. Any sudden movement gets me on defense. That has included swooping Barn Swallows, a deer in a field, and an owl on a fence post suddenly turning its head.

Most of this is normal, though the owl was pretty cool.

This Black Caterpillar Hunter didn’t set me off. I thought it was interesting.

I’ve been throwing myself into work, which is useful. And coaching coworkers does keep my mind off potential threats. But the minute I’m outside I’m watching for anything amiss. I’ll get over it after a few days.

Worst, we were watching our nightly television hour, when we heard loud screams. It wasn’t our TV, or the one in the bedroom. We ran outside to see if someone was hurt, then it became clear that our coyote neighbors were closer than usual. One coyote can sound a lot like someone screaming. It got my blood pumping!

I will do some breathing exercises after I finish this.

Today’s best news is I felt well enough to go eat some Mexican food with Lee. I sure enjoyed my tacos al pastor.