Insect Sightings – Page 16 – The Hermits' Rest

I’ll Take the Motorhome or Walk

You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?

I’m getting pretty used to traveling with my own house. Once we get the towing straightened out, we can set up Seneca to leave it as a base, and go explore any area. It’s no less expensive, but it’s comfortable and fun! Who needs planes? And passenger trains no longer go most places. Not for Nature Girl here.

Today, though, I walked. With over 22,000 steps, I think I made up for yesterday, when I was stuck indoors half the day. I realize walking 8 miles is nothing to some people, but I impressed myself. And it was all through thick, clay mud, so it was tough slogging. I regret not taking a photo of my boots, which looked like clown shoes from all the mud.

Speaking of shoes, this is an elf shoe stink bug.

In fact, when I tried to recreate the walk I was supposed to go on yesterday when the storms came, I came to an abrupt stop when the next trail marker turned out to be underwater. It rained a lot.

That stick shows where the equestrian trail usually is.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the big hike I went on, even though there was only one new flower and not much bird excitement, either, just towhees.

I did see a lot of fungi, though. This seems to be a trip that emphasizes moisture-loving life.

Cooper Lake State Park does have lovely woods, though, and all the bright green new foliage made me feel appropriate in my St Patrick’s Day green! Who cares about the mud on a day with perfect weather and lots of nature?

I did a bunch of walking around other parts of the park, and it was mostly calm. But there was one part of a walk when some creature kept yelling at me. It wasn’t a bird, because Merlin didn’t register it, and it wasn’t a squirrel. I know all their sounds. It was creepy and loud, but I never saw it. Eek. So let’s look at butterflies, moths, and caterpillars instead.

That’s about it for this trip. We’ll still be here tomorrow morning, but I have a lot of work to do. If it’s quiet, I can sit outside, though. The change of scenery might inspire more creativity! If I was on a cross-country trip, I’d also probably still be working, like I do at the condos. I like to keep busy.

Rainy Rain That Is Wet

I had a fun day of hiking and birding activities planned for today. However, it rained starting around 1:30.

We brought everything in on time. Well, Lee did.

Luckily I’d gone out earlier, when the skies were blue and the temperatures perfect. I enjoyed the short nature trail nearby, which had signs by all the different types of trees. They’d be more interesting with leaves, but the spring season seems about two weeks behind Milam County.

Trees. Some exemplars are no longer there due to bad weather up here.

I found a few fun things, such as my favorite spring beauties and some excellent fungi. One thing I found I’m still not certain what type of organism it is.

I headed over to the equestrian camping area, where there were zero equestrians, to meet up with the quite fun park interpreter and a volunteer. There was supposed to be a guided hike. However, there was advance notice of the thunderstorms coming, so it got cancelled.

I did enjoy talking to the two women about working at the park and met another camper. But, I briskly walked back (making my exercise goal). Rain didn’t start until I had Seneca the motorhome in sight, so I got every minute of outdoor time I could!

It turned out that the rain and lightning slowed down around 3, so I donned my rain boots and got out the golf umbrella for a walk around the camping loop. I am not used to sitting around for long periods!

I did, however, enjoy a nice long nap! How decadent. Otherwise Lee worked on a photo album and I wrote up all my Master Naturalist notes and knitted. Of course, I ran out of a color. Sigh. The next skein of lime green is sitting on my desk at home.

Never fear, I came as prepared for crafts as I did for rain, so there’s more yarn here. While watching a movie, I started a boring yet practical little bag to hold my phone when we’re on the road. The truck chassis has no helpful pockets or holders other than a cup holder, in which I tend to put cups, of all things.

It doesn’t look like much, but it’s bright.

I’m glad it should be drier tomorrow, because we only get three TV channels here and the cell signal probably isn’t good enough to stream. I’ll go on that hike tomorrow in the mud!

Break Time

Not much happened today that was exciting, but that’s fine with me. I was able to refresh the Hermits’ Rest Red on the mailbox stand and gate posts, because it was finally calm enough outside to spray paint. I also added house numbers that are reflective, which should help 911 find us in case of emergency. I feel like we might need it at some point.

Sadly, we need a new mailbox, since after only 12 years, the hinges rusted out.

I’ll eventually repaint everything. You need to do it every few years, except for the gate, which is powder coated.

I had lots of birds to keep me company. My son drove by and asked where my shoes were, because I took them off so no red paint would get on them. Of course I got red paint on my manicure, but it blends in with the flowers.

I’ve been spending lots of time with the horses, which is nice and calm these days. I have Dusty and Mabel looking pretty good in mid-shedding season, but Apache still has lots of hair left. Today he’d apparently napped in a pile of burs. It turns out it’s harder to get them off his belly than his mane or tail. He’s back to normal in every other way. We’ve enjoyed riding and he’s enjoyed his cantering. I think it makes him feel strong and powerful.

I forgot to take a picture of the King of Canter, so here’s a mama cow.

Mostly today (other than Master Naturalist stuff) I looked at butterflies while the phone listened to birds. The first scissortail arrived, as did another hummingbird. It’s not summer yet, guys! The low today was 37°! But my face did get pink from being outside in the pleasant weather. Best time of year here.

Plus, I Met a Horseman

Today didn’t go quite as planned, but it ended up okay. After an enjoyable rainy morning chat with Kathleen about what’s going on and her plans for the immediate future, I got some work done.

Isn’t this moth beautiful? It’s apparently a blackberry looper moth.

The sun came out soon enough, so I went out and found some more newly emerging wildflowers and a very cool fungus in the woods. I love my nature breaks.

The afternoon was supposed to be spent looking at potential four-wheel drive vehicles to tow behind Seneca the Motorhome, then some grocery shopping. Indeed, much car and truck looking ensued.

Truck that is $120K new. It has a built-in cooler.

I guess we lucked out, because exactly what we wanted was at the dealership, which was a used two-door Jeep Wrangler. Best of all, it was a 2023 with, get this, 1700 miles on it. The previous owner probably didn’t want such a low-frills vehicle. But for bopping around campgrounds and exploring nearby sights while Seneca stays parked, it’s ideal.

Though small, Lee can get in it easily. That’s good, because it will have to be his daily driver until we get a farm truck or something to pull the horse trailer. The trade-in on Lee’s previous vehicle was more than the purchase price of the Jeep (and that was way off its original price), so we aren’t out anything, either.

A Suna-sized car. No weird graphics or exterior bling. Good.

And, we enjoyed talking to Mark, our salesman, who is our age and has more horses and dogs than we do! That commonality helped pass the endless car-buying hours. His paint horses were so beautiful. I got his business card. Also there was knitting. Thankfully.

We still have to get the towing hitch put on the Jeep and finish some things up, so Lee will get to talk to ole Mark more tomorrow. I tell you, I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet and comfortable the car is on the inside, compared to ones I’d ridden in before. And it’s pretty peppy. I never was a huge fan of these cars, but this one will be just great. It’s a bit rough in the suspension department, but it’s an off-road vehicle. It’s supposed to be rough.

Another thing I’ll tell you is that I do NOT plan to take the thing apart. Maybe the front roof panels, but that’s it. I’m not mechanical enough to put pieces back together correctly!

By the way, we never made it to the grocery store.

I Learn a Lot

What is the last thing you learned?

Since I fell asleep before I could blog last night, I figure I should answer a question today. If only I could remember the thing I learned at dinner tonight. I remember saying, “I didn’t know that!” But what I didn’t know has fled my brain. I guess that’s another hazard of getting up there in years.

Speaking of getting older, we broke into the tres leches birthday cake last night. Mmm.

But I learn things every day, so I’m not surprised it doesn’t all stick. This week has been particularly “full” of intense interactions at work, along with horse stuff, so there’s less room in my brain today. It’s all good and fulfilling intensity, though. By gosh a lot more people know how to use Planview Portfolios software today than last week.

If only I could train animals as well as I do people.

I’ve been concentrating so hard at work that when Kathleen came into my office to surprise me I jumped a mile. Scared the person I was in a meeting with, too. That’s concentration!

Speaking of Kathleen, we know wherever she goes, scary creatures follow. When we came home from a lovely steak dinner this evening, what appeared in the driveway? A snake. My first sighting on the year. She really seems to attract reptiles and thugs that sting.

I did get out to see some harmless plants and insects today. I get such a kick out of looking at them closely, even if the photos end up not too great.

The spring flowers have another great value: they’ve made the air smell wonderful here. Both the dewberries and the bluebonnets have delightful scents. Today was excellent because the wind was from the north. That means the smells of cow and horse poop were blowing away from me. And the tenants have stopped feeding fermented hay. Ahh.

I’ve been wondering how Drew is doing. Today Jackie was coming to Tarrin’s to do bodywork on him. I keep checking my email for her report. However, she did come here yesterday. She helped Apache deal with soreness from the last few days of hard work. His back feet weren’t moving right when he turned. She sent a video of him turning better.

A horse turning

Most interesting to me is that she also took a look at good old Dusty. He’d been looking painful lately and I wanted to be sure it wasn’t anything serious. And it wasn’t! It’s just his fused spine makes him uncomfortable sometimes. Otherwise he is in good shape and his muscles are working right. I was relieved. Plus Jackie said he was a sweet guy who tried to do everything she asked him to do. Aww.

Three Necessary Things

What are three objects you couldn’t live without?

This question intrigued me. And answering it is way more fun than talking about my anxiety attack from today. Ugh. I let something get to me today. So, hmm.

1. My glasses. I rely on my eyes so much! How could I read, write, look at birds, and knit easily without them? I’m so glad eyeglasses were invented.

I want to see things like this amazing swamp privet in the back pond area near the spring (*Forestiera acuminata*). I had no idea it was there.

2. My car. Not only is it pretty (red leather!) and zippy, but it’s my only way to get to food, friends, and non-ranch fun. I don’t want to hitch Fiona to a wagon to get supplies!

3. Knitting Needles. Weird but true. I need to knit to stay even semi-sane. I’d say I need a pair of circular size 4 US needles and I’ll be set for life. I can knit with any yarn-like stuff. String, strips of cloth, wire…whatever.

This is the progress on 2023 for my friend. The dark are isn’t very pretty from a distance.

There you have it. I am sure my answers aren’t typical!

Today, other than dealing with mental challenges, Lee and I went to Temple to look for containers to put in my “new” nonfunctional freezer that will store horse food and foil those darn mice for good. Thanks to our neighbor for painting it red just before it died. It looks good. Now we just have to work out the storage method.

Latches were added to prevent creatures from breaking in.

Lee even treated me to an early birthday lunch, which was fantastic. Seared tuna with a great salad. And I got free dessert!

Other than that, I mostly hung out with the birds and plants. That brings peace.

There is good news! Apache isn’t mad at me today. He even picked up his feet so I could take his boots off. I think he should only wear them a couple days at a time. It’s rubbing off his hair.

Favorite Flower, Least Favorite Word

If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?

I’m gonna make random readers learn about my encounter with a new favorite flower and some historical land before telling you what word I’d ban. I want to share happy things.

Anyone who’s known me a long time probably knows my favorite flower in the pansy. I love their colors and their happy faces. I had no clue that there are wild pansies in the US, since I only knew them from flats in the garden store. But there are!

Hello! I’m the American field pansy – *Viola rafinesquei*

There’s no info on it in iNaturalist, which surprised me. But it apparently grows all through the eastern US. Have you ever seen it?

I was quite entranced by these tiny mini-pansies, which I encountered in Southeastern Milam County today on a hike with friends and their sons along the old El Camino Real de Los Tejas trail, leading to the panoramic views at the top of a hill, where Native American settlements at the Ranchería Grande were located. It’s gorgeous, with 360° views of the area. (Fellow Master Naturalists own the property and with the help of volunteers will make it accessible to the public.)

I found another new plant, called smallflower fumewort (Corydalis micrantha). They were all over the field, too. It has a charming, yellow flower shaped like tubes. I never saw anything like it before!

We had three young boys with us who were very new to the concept of observing and preserving nature. One young man was very proud to have cut apart the snail shell I gave him. Another one really enjoyed hitting things with sticks to see the sounds they made. They took great glee at destroying any animal tracks they found, but we convinced them to leave the cool leaf cutter ants to their business. I think ant lions sounded scary so their holes were safe, too.

Spider wort didn’t scare anyone. I was pleased my friend found one blooming!

I hope the younger hikers learned some things, though, and it was fun listening to them and hearing how they think. I’ll have a lot more boys next week, as we take Cub Scouts along the trail. Here are some things the boys found interesting.

We adults had fun, probably more than the kids. I was happy to have a chance to hang out with my friend, her spouse, and my fellow Master Naturalist. Next week I’m on my own with no backup naturalist.

This photo shows a huge leaf cutter ant colony. Dozens of connected nests.

So, what word would I like to make go away? I find the word “libtard” especially offensive and disrespectful. It insults people with more progressive ideas by using “-tard” which is something people try not to use to refer to those who have mental disabilities. I guess the word helps me remember to do my best to avoid name calling and pejorative labels when talking about the new far, far right factions in the US.

Hurling insults is a time-honored tradition in politics, I know. That doesn’t make it any less distasteful.

I Do All the Things, Except

Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done.

I do have a to-do list. It’s my bullet journal. I get pleasure from checking off things I’ve done. Here’s a confession. There’s one thing I rarely even put on my list, because I hate doing it.

Looking at clouds during sunset rarely gets omitted.

Yes, I hate hanging my clothes back up in my closet. I have always hated this, since childhood.

There’s no reason for me to dislike it. I have a huge closet with windows and a fancy light fixture. But it piles up. Maybe admitting this will inspire me to get I. There, grab a stack of velvet hangers, and file my clothes where they belong. I should have space after recent purges. Maybe. (No, I’m not posting a photo of my closet.)

I did get many items on my to-do list done today. I dutifully attended the Master Naturalist Board retreat and took notes. It’s always good to listen to the group’s ideas and get excited about possibilities for field trips and activities. Even though I wasn’t feeling well, I got through it. (Yeah, my health has me puzzled — my joints have started hurting in my hands, and my knees and back are unhappy with me for no reason I can figure out. Plus I suddenly have ringing in my ears, which has never bothered me before. Time for a checkup I guess.)

Linda Jo found an excellent insect during our break, during which she and I looked for flowers. Naturally.

After checking that item off, I took the horses over to Tarrin’s for an unscheduled visit. (Make that “we” since Lee drove.)

Apache was the easier horse to deal with. Tarrin and her hoof consultant picked out some boots for him to wear while his abscess heals. I’d say they cost more than any shoes I ever bought, except I have some really nice cowboy boots.

I was relieved that she got him to pick up both front feet to get cleaned and treated. He let her put the boots on, too. They will stay until Monday, when the farrier comes. It took him a while to adjust, but I think this will help him. Now he just needs to shed all that long hair. He’s so hot!

They will never be this clean again. They are also reflective!

Drew was acting less weird today, but I was very glad to get her to look at him. He just hasn’t been himself with all that snapping and kicking. Plus today he had blood on his legs. He’s been getting into something!

Quickly, Tarrin figured out his neck hurt. He had a huge knot in it. No wonder he didn’t like being groomed or having his mane brushed. She worked hard on this neck, and even Lee could see him relaxing.

She then had him stand on the special pads that are supposed to make him feel better. He kept pawing at them and sniffing them. We don’t know what that meant. But he seemed less tense and grouchy. I’m interested to see how he is tomorrow when I groom him and pay special attention to his neck.

I sure am glad I have such a good trainer who cares about my animals. The horses have certainly benefited! Me, too!

I’d give her real flowers if I could. It’s Field Madder (*Sherardia arvensis*) and is tiny.

There’s a lot to be thankful for, even if I don’t get all my chores done every day. Those clothes are waiting patiently.

Today I was thankful for many interesting cloud formations.

Stinky Dog, Again

Once again, Goldie the Mighty Huntress has tangled with her striped nemesis, one of our local skunks.

I made the smelly part of the couch smellier

It happened last night, which we figured out when we tried to stop Penney from blocking Goldie from coming upstairs. We then praised Penney!

This morning Vlassic investigated where the skunk was.

At least this time she didn’t kill and try to eat it, which last time resulted in months of skunk breath and a disgusting mess for me to remove. No, this was just a light spray.

Of course a light spray leads to a stinky house nonetheless. My office, where she sleeps, is the worse. Good thing I don’t work until Tuesday!

It’s already better after I’ve used Febreeze and Lysol. No, friends, tomato juice doesn’t work. We put dog-safe stuff on Goldie, too. I forget what it is.

Our dinner guests tomorrow will just have to deal with it.

Everything else is fine. I did all my normal stuff, like nail polish and schooling Drew. Apache was seen trotting, but not easily. More epsom salts for him.

By the way I’ve appreciated comments after yesterday’s post. Thanks!

In bird news, I watched a great egret catch two fish and did not appreciate seeing a hawk over by the horses near my chickens. I think something was after Billie Idyll yesterday. Hope for the best.

The Hippie Takes a Day Off

What are your two favorite things to wear?

I say I’m a hippie, because when I saw the prompt for the day, two things popped into my head: blue jeans and t-shirts. I have had that as my uniform since the day I was allowed to wear pants to school, which I think was in 1971. It sure saved Mom money, so she didn’t argue with me. My clothing budget shrank a lot. And I bought my own shirts.

My avatar wears my usual stuff. Jeans, t-shirt, jean jacket and cowboy boots.

The t-shirts have only changed in that now there are more horses on them and before I had stylized drag racing cars. Peace symbols and flowers have stayed.

The jeans started out straight, became bell-bottoms, got high-waisted and low-waisted and repeated in various ways. Mostly I wore basic Levi’s.

I didn’t catch it, but I did see this goatweed leafwing butterfly today.

Now, on to the day off. I felt so good after a very long night of sleep, that I decided to take it easy today. I spent a lot of time birding, including being startled by the blue heron twice. It’s been picking off fish in the dwindling overflow pond, and neither of us can see the other until we’re on top of each other.

The other encounter I had came when Carlton and I took a walk in the woods. Suddenly he froze. I think he was trying to point like a hunting dog. We’d come upon an opossum along the stream bed. he must have smelled it, since he doesn’t see well.

Carlton was a good boy and followed me so the animal could go on about its business. It was a good walk the rest of the way. I’m glad I didn’t bring the Mighty Huntress Goldie or we’d have had another bloodbath. Ugh.

Other than enjoying birds, I enjoyed the horses. This morning I caught them at playtime, which involved Drew and Dusty nuzzling then running down the pasture to the pens, rearing and pawing, then running back. Dusty still has it in him! (Pictures are blurry because I was far away.)

Mabel eventually got into the running, but not the rest of it. I’ve noticed that she’s now strong enough to chase off any horse who tries to nip her.

Eventually Apache thundered back and forth until they all gathered around the hay bale. It’s nice to watch them play, and I’m glad they have the space to do so.

See, he doesn’t spend ALL his time staring into space.

Later I spent quality time with everyone, which is always so nice. Drew is a little pissy lately, since his head injury. But the other horses and Fiona were fine. I got all the burs off Mabel, even. I just have to wait until it’s her idea to have a petting session.

I had plenty of time to make dinner, and was so relaxed I didn’t even get upset when Dish Network didn’t have the channel where Sunday Night Football was. Lee just went over and set up the antenna he’d bought weeks ago for just such an eventuality. Boom. TV. It comes in great, actually.

I made a potholder or hot pad. It’s very thick, because I crocheted it with thermal stitch.

And yes, I wore jeans and a t-shirt today.

Daily Bird

I’m featuring the orange-crowned warbler today, because I’d never heard one here before, just on one camping trip. I didn’t see it, but I can sure ID one by sound now. It sounded like one of those rhythm instruments you scrape across in Latin music, usually five sets of scrapy sounds.

They only drop by here while migrating, according to the map.

A bird I saw a lot today was the Savannah sparrow. It’s a basic brown sparrow, but it’s everywhere this time of year. It and the pipit make little peeps.