I guess the family isn’t used to me really, really enjoying myself. But I did this weekend. I didn’t have to worry about work issues, people issues, or world issues. I just hung out with nature and relaxed. I recommend that.
Camphor-weed. I got that right!
I’m a taxonomists at heart. I like labeling things. That’s why I feel such satisfaction identifying things successfully on iNaturalist. It tells me where things belong (when I get it right).
Couldn’t figure this one out. Had to upload it as unknown! All the suggested flowers had five petals.
I also enjoy helping research on what grows in Texas, especially places that hadn’t had much coverage. While Jacob’s Well had lots of observations, since Master Naturalists volunteer there often, the place we stayed at had only three that weren’t by me, all from 2018! I did science! No wonder I was happy.
You can see where I walked!
Plus, I got to “spontane.” I could go wherever I wanted, as long as I wanted. No one told me to stop taking pictures, walk faster, or stop talking to the birds and cows.
This one had five petals. It’s a bluebowl or Giliastrumrigidulum. It’s only found in the part of Texas where I was.
And there was something new around every corner. Yes. I WAS happy. I still am. I got to see my animals tonight, including the chicken that just doesn’t seem to lay eggs, ever.
Suna, that’s not a hen in that henhouse.
Before I get back to thinking about Kanban cards (and yes, I dreamed I was trying to capture my weekend activities in Agile stories), I’ll leave you with a few more interesting plants I saw. I can’t believe I made over 100 observations this weekend. All fun.
Biggest spray of cardinal flower I saw.
One lonely dandelion
Texas creeping oxeye. It was everywhere.
Trailing lespedeza.
Woolly vervain clump
Pink sorrel.
Edwards plateau five-eyes.
Scarlet pea
Pasture heliotrope (in a pasture)
Dakota mock vervain
Maybe they’re weeds. Maybe they’re wildflowers. But I know who they are!
I say to you, go find your fun. Now more than ever, we need to balance our lives and bring in some fun. Have a good work week!
Switchgrass. I even got a GRASS right! This was in a beautiful prairie restoration with many blue stems, gramas, and other native grasses.
On my last morning in Wimberley, I decided to see if I’d missed anything on the property. Sure enough, after saying hi to the cows, I found a nice tent camping spot.
There’s something for everyone here, as long as you like rustic.
I found a few more plants for iNaturalist, and took this photo to show those of you not from the middle of Texas what our limestone rocks look like. they have lots of water holes and sometimes fossils.
Limestone and cedar elm leaf.
Most of the trees here are live oaks or cedar elms, just like at home. The difference is there are more live oaks here and more cedar elms at home.
Very old oak.
As I was trying to find more plants I discovered where there’s a waterfall and pool when it’s rainy. There were chairs to sit and relax, so I did.
Limestone beauty.
As I looked around, I saw many flowers and plants growing straight out of the rock, many in the creek bed. They must pop up fast! Their tenacity and drive to grow, thrive and reproduce inspired me!
There are tiny stalactites here
So much growth
Climbing the rock
Delicate and strong
Cardinal flowers
Strong and beautiful.
It’s just plain encouraging to see the native plants in their homes. No one planted them, but as they say, they bloom where they’re planted.
How delicate. Its a hairy ruellia, the only one of those I saw.
Finishing my walk, I saw more and more signs that autumn is here, even way down south in the US. I’ll leave you with these vines.
We were planning to explore Wimberley this afternoon, but we quickly realized it was Market Day. It looked really fun, with hundreds of vendors. However, there were also many hundreds of attendees. As wild as we were being by going out of town, we were NOT going to hang out with huge crowds!
So we kept going and instead had a nice drive, punctuated by a stop at Buc-Ees.
I didn’t touch that dirty beaver.
After that we drove around the Canyon Lake area, where I’d never been. We ate at a nice Italian restaurant, then drive around a while more. It was so relaxing looking at all the scenery.
When we got back to where we are staying we decided to go visit a rum distillery. It would have been more fun if they were allowed to serve drinks, but I did get a bottle of craft rum.
The distillery was right near Jacob’s Well, which is a 140-foot deep artesian well on a river.
Jacob’s Well.
These are fairly common around here, with all the limestone aquifers. Of course, there are caves down there. Lots of people get lost in there. Thankfully, swimming season ended October 1. While it was slippery getting down to the well, I managed not to fall in.
Looking down the river.
There were beautiful gardens nearby and a nice playground.
Visitor center (closed)
I was happy to see a sign thanking Master Naturalists for their help. I also enjoy talking to a couple of young park volunteers. So fun.
Nice sign!
I amused the family by taking even more photos of plants. But they said it was nice to see me so happy.
Autumn wildflowers.
Visiting a natural wonder was just what I wanted. It brought much more joy than buying a bunch of stuff would.
This morning I woke up after a great sleep, and went in another direction at the Red Corral Ranch (its old name). We’d seen some interesting sort of ruined things behind our house, so I set out in the cool air to check it out. It’s sure pretty in the Texas Hill Country!
This broom flower in the foreground attracts so many bees it sounds like a symphony. In back are live oaks and cedar elm.
First I found the barbecue area. It looks like they fixed it up recently.
This area must have been beautiful once! Obviously someone went to a lot of work here at one point. Right near the barbecue was what looked like a foundation or something.
See, it’s pretty.
I went up to the other edge and looked in. It was an old swimming pool! A very old one. Now it holds trash, sumac and liatris.
Can you see the blue paint?
Crazy, huh? I really enjoy the terrain here. It’s a lot of karst. That means the topsoil barely covers the underlying limestone. It’s fun to look at all the rocks.
This is a wash, so all the limestone is exposed.
There are lots of fossils and quartz geodes in the stone. Check out what they did in the fireplace!
Fireplace detail.
So, I guess I’m having fun! Hooray! More on plants soon.
I’m guessing that today you’ll be wanting to find out how our boarder horse, Lakota the elderly fancy palomino, came out after his rough time yesterday. Last we heard, he’d been sweating and heaving, and Spice was standing over him like she was guarding his life. Sara is happy to report that after he stood up and made a big poop, he walked off, normally. She did keep checking through the night.
This morning, to our great relief, he was standing under a tree with Spice, and they both had been sleeping. It was probably a rough night for them, too. They both kept yawning and yawning, and were very loving and affectionate. Poor guys.
He just let me hug and hug, and he hugged back.
Sara had a couple of ideas about what had happened. Her current theory (and it’s just a theory) is that he ate some of the nightshade (Silverleaf NightshadeSolanum elaeagnifolium) that had been mown in the pasture (because she is allergic to it). Apparently, horses and cattle don’t eat it when it is alive, but for some reason think it’s tasty when it’s cut and dried. I hope that’s all it was.
It does have pretty flowers.
Thanks to me looking up alternative veterinarians, Sara was able to get in touch with Dr. Brinlee, who works with Milam Touch of Love, and while he couldn’t come last night, we are scheduling him to come soon (Apache’s teeth need to be looked at, too). In any case, we were both really relieved to find two horses standing under the trees this morning!
Spice was a good friend and nurse last night.
After this, my morning went downhill and my anxiety went uphill, but that’s the way the circle of life goes, I guess. As I approached our gate, I saw lots and lots of black birds in the pasture. What, a crow convention? As I got closer, I realized it was vultures. I also saw this.
Brown cow guarding two calves.
I drove over to where the feasting birds were, and found one of the three calves was no longer with us, and hadn’t been for a day or two. That certainly startled me. I don’t know what happened, and I probably won’t, but it was sad and a bit of a shock to see him laying there. Circle of life strikes again.
On the other hand, the chickens are all still here! Haven’t lost one in weeks! And Hedley seems to have given up on being broody, but hasn’t started laying again. I hope she does. She doesn’t seem sick or anything. They all got quite a treat out of a bunch of tomatoes Kathleen donated to them.
Hey, this is good! Thanks! Hedley is the one by the water trough, looking perky.
Even Buttercup and Butternut ate a tomato, which is a first. Maybe they’ll start branching out and eating more than just their feed and only their feed soon. I do enjoy them, and they cheered me up.
THEN I went to drive to the office. There was a giant wasp in the car, the black kind with red wings (sorry, no ID). I usually don’t worry about them, but two of my friends have had bad wasp reactions in the last week, and it started buzzing my head. As I tried to shew it away, I ran off the road. Luckily, I just drove through a lot of long grass, and probably made County Road 140 passersby curious. I am just not having a calm day so far! I’m still shaky. On the other hand, I did find some pretty groundcherries in the overgrown office lawn. These are clammy groundcherries (Physalis heterophylla).
The blossoms face downward, so you often don’t spot them.
So, I will go do my other Saturday writing tasks and breathe deeply. Has anything startled you today?
Apparently, it’s well known that I like to have plants in my immediate vicinity. A coworker started a Slack channel to share our plants, because they miss the plants I used to have at my desk (which are now moved to the part of the office farthest from any natural light). But, the coworker was right. I do better with some plants around me. It’s one reason I found working in nothing but basements so hard. Only plastic plants thrive there.
The Pope Residence office does have one window that lets in natural light (yes, the Plant Lady managed to pick the office with the fewest views of the outdoors). That’s where most of my little collection lives.
Motley plant collection in weird lighting.
I’m sure the peace lily is fine in its corner, as long as I water it to death.
Peace lily crawling with scarecrows.
And I do try to supplement the ridiculous amount of fake roses with some real flowers. This tiny vase is perfect for things I find on my walk.
Oxblood lilies, Mexican hats, salvia and come Carolina snailseed.
Today I added what I hope will be a nice addition to the plant collection. I got a kit (yet another buy off The Grommet website, which has way too many Suna-esque products) to grow herbs in wine bottles. The seeds and stuff even came in a box so pretty I can’t throw it away!
The idea is they will grow in the potting medium that appears to be topped with spaghum moss or something, then the roots go down into the water.
Hmm, fascinating.
After planting the seeds, I put the little stickers they provided on the mouth of the bottle, to create a moist environment for germination. We’ll see what happens.
The germination sticker in extreme close-up.
I may not have enough light in this window, since it’s pretty shady in the mornings to mid afternoon. But, it should be a fun project to watch. I’m just happy to have any plants at all.
I have stuff for a third bottle, but I brought a clear one, then saw the instructions called for a dark bottle. I have a whole bunch at home, so that won’t be an issue.
Maybe when there is glass in my internal window rather than the rustic wood covering, I can put something low light on the hypothetical shelves that will be there.
The lamp, fake candles and real candle still don’t make it very bright over there.
Do you have plants in your environment, or would you prefer them outside? I’d like something outside my work window, too, but there’s not much space. At least I see a nice cedar tree!
Happy Friday to all! I’m especially happy, because I slept like a rock last night and am taking the day off to just do whatever I want to do, as long as it isn’t in a crowd of people!
What I wanted to do this morning was go check out the flooding. It rained a good deal again last night, and the creek spilled its banks, the fields are all full of puddles, and happy egrets and herons are everywhere. I’m happy to report that since the little pond filled back up, there is at least one bullfrog remaining (heard it last night, saw it splashing into the pond this morning).
Still not finished, but it’s full again. Note willow tree already trying to grow on the banks.
It was good to see the front pond all full. The dogs will be able to swim in there now, since Chris mowed all the plants from around it. And the water is happily flowing through the arroyo and down to the stream. That always makes me happy.
A tank any cattle rancher will be proud of.
Excess water heading out
Our gate had stopped working this morning, probably just ran out of juice from not getting much sun for a couple of days. I got it to open and made it stay open so our caregiver can get to Jim in the RV. Then I decided to take a walk, since there were no dogs outside and it was safe to go down the road. I was interested to see what was still alive and thriving after over a month with just a trace of rain. Here are some!
Morning glory is still glorious
Balloon vine never gives up
Our rare and beautiful yellow rain lilies.
Milkweed seeds! Hooray! They didn’t all get mowed down.
Snow on the prairie, still beautiful even if it ain’t good for cattle.
Some of the balloon vine flowers are headed down the creek, or stopped by the GIANT logs.
Dayflower and poison ivy are fine.
Blooming milkweed.
Lots and lots of yellow rain lilies.
Sunflowers hanging in there.
I continued walking, and enjoyed seeing all sorts of rain-laden clouds, and wet vultures drying their wings, chatting, or whatever they do on the fence.
Vulture chat time.
Scary clouds rolling in.
The flowers look so pretty against the green pasture.
The most exciting thing I saw was this:
Eggs!
Since they had obviously come out of a mound in the dirt, I figure these are turtle eggs that had recently hatched, perhaps prompted by the rain and lower temperatures. They are rubbery and soft, not like chicken or other bird eggs. I actually saw two nests with eggshells, and once I realized they are there, a few more nests that are still “cooking” (which I did not disturb).
Another nest
Eggshell up close
Turtles like to lay nests on the sides of roads, because they tend to have loose and sandy soil for easy digging. I hope these little guys made it and are off swimming away to wherever the floods take them!
Speaking of the flooding, I got a couple of photos of the creek. The new fence technique the Vrazels used across the creek seems to have held up, and it appears no new giant logs came through. This is a fairly normal amount of flooding for our little creek bottom, so it mostly made me happy to know the weather cycle is normal this year.
It’s out of the banks, but not very far.
You can see the top of the fence, so it’s still there.
I came back to check on the chickens, who all appear to have made it. They made four eggs yesterday, so the rain didn’t bother them too much. But, wow, the wet chicken area is stinky. I’ve got to get to work figuring out better ways to keep their food dry, too, especially the ones who aren’t free range (they all ran out yesterday while I was trying to cover the cage in the run where the new ones are, but in the end, they all ended up in the right place (though a couple of pullets lost their virginity, thanks to Bruce).
A symphony in gray, or hello from Gertie.
All in all, I think today is a good reward after working hard all week (and succeeding!). I’m glad I wasn’t too tired to go feed horses and check on them, too, because last night I had a good chat with the Ralph and the Vrazels, who were getting ready to harvest a couple of steers. It’s good to catch up on what’s going on, and being outdoors makes it a lot easier.
I had nothing on my agenda today, so rather than lounge around the house, I decided to do whatever I wanted to.
I went over and visited the calves, and got to feed Rip while the new guys were worked on. Then I just sat and watched the chickens. Why not? It’s fun. I got a few more portraits. Because it’s fun.
The three amigos.
Pretty Patty and Springsteen.
Star
Bruce says look on the roof
Sapphire and Buttercup
King Bruce
Dancing Bertie
I like these guys
After that excitement, I drove off and daringly went to the local nursery all by myself. I wanted a few more little plants for the office. Instead I got two small plants and a monster. Meet Eduardo!
He’s a basket plant, I think. He will be spectacular in the window with the spider plant.
A tiny angel wing begonia and uh, a succulent rounded out the plant fun.
I’ll repot them tomorrow.
Look to the right of those plants and you’ll see I brought my stained glass windows over, too. I cleaned them all up so maybe Chris can hang them next week, if there’s time. I also brought down the hanging lamp to put up in the reading nook. It’s all clean and ready to go up, too!
I didn’t take pictures of those, so here’s the pothos I put in Tubby Jr. with some wandering Jew I found on the ground at the nursery. The guy laughed when I asked what it cost.
As if that wasn’t enough fun, I next went to my friend Pamela’s studio and had fun with clay. It’s hard to concentrate, though, because she has such cool stuff.
Ceramics and found objects combined.
Anyway, she’d made some soap dishes large enough to hold those huge Posh bars I have. She asked what colors I wanted, then suggested I come select my glazes. That sounded fun.
Little did I know that she was also going to let me glaze them myself! It’s been so long since I got to do that. So, I made one orange and gold and one red and pink. I did a bunch of layers, so we will see if they show up or not.
This is orange and gold, believe it or not.
In the past, I have failed as many times as I succeeded in my glazing, but I always do it that way, anyway. Besides, the soap dishes Pamela made are so pretty that my glaze won’t mess them up.
This is two shades of pink with red under it. Hope it comes out!
Well that’s self care. I got to see someone but not too close! The studio is open to the air, too. Fun times. Good for the soul.
First, we decided it was time to let the chickens out to eat some bugs. You know, the whole free range thing. Of course the first thing happened was Clarence the super stud went after Bertie with a vengeance. What’s cool is that Bruce came to her rescue.
Bruce is about to go after Clarence for his unwanted advances.
That led to the two roosters going into the pen and chasing each other, flying around and such. All that got everyone in a tizzy. Poor Hedley the little Roo-ish one got chased outside and hid with Henley.
Hedley did manage to get some grasshopper eating in, along with Springsteen.
Eventually the three bravest birds started going after bugs, Bertie, Fancy Pants, and Gray Greta. The guinea just loves her fluffy, white buddy.
Fancy Pants finally has a chick to dote on, even though it’s her size.
They all went out some, but it wasn’t the mad dash to freedom I’d envisioned. Probably because it’s hot outside and the chicken pen has all the shade.
Free ranging, baby.
The part that DID turn out well was that when I got home from horse activity and went to shut them back in, everyone was roosting quietly. And! Clarence had gone to his outside roost! He thinks that’s his house! Hooray.
I’m not always chasing everyone under the henhouse so I can strut around crowing in victory. Just sometimes.
Walking the Calf
This afternoon Chris and I went out around the property looking for trees to potentially transplant near the house. We found some cool Osage orange trees we might take cuttings of, and lots of cedar elms.
Osage orange or bois d’arc (bodark)
We also enjoyed seeing herons and egrets, including a little night heron!
Blue heron and great egret.
We heard shouting. That’s weird around our house. It turned out Kathleen had come home from work and decided to take Rip for a walk after his bottle of milk. We finally saw them. It appeared a lot of his walking was lying down.
A girl and her calf.
We got back to the house and I went to check on them. Rip was ensconced in some tall grass, slowly munching.
I’m camooflaged.
I chatted a while, took pictures of some bugs and plants, and discovered it was time to go see Sara and feed horses. So I left them, right where I found them.
This dragonfly is camouflaged.
Just before I left the horses, I got a text. Kathleen never got Rip to move, so Chris came and got them. He picked up the calf and put him in the back of Hilda the utility vehicle.
My Uber is here.
Chris says Rip finished his milk and went to sleep in Hilda! They had to make him wake up to go back to his pen. Nope, that’s not how Kathleen had planned for their first walk to go!
As I was reading my morning news/opinion pieces, I was reminded by the Rev. Jim Rigby that it’s important to remember that there’s good stuff going on today. Go to his Facebook page to see his ten reasons to be grateful today. What struck me was this:
What a shame it would be if we forgot to celebrate the fact we are alive, that we are all connected to each other, or that underneath all our problems we are still expressions of a cosmic process. What a shame if, in the middle of this terrible storm we did not pause to appreciate the courage and nobility of those who struggle on our behalf.
Jim Rigby, Facebook, July 27, 2020
To that I want to add that we continue to celebrate that life and death go on, regardless. While I heard of the death of an old colleague this morning, I also saw beaming baby photos from three other friends.
My morning also featured this new heifer, who doesn’t seem to understand that cars have the right of way! The old ones politely moved.
And last night, when I went out with Lee to look at the frogs, he asked me what a particular plant growing up out of the disturbed earth was. Usually what we see are the plants that typically come up in disturbed soil, but this one looked familiar.
It’s a leaf, all right. I didn’t take a picture of the whole thing.
It was not a hackberry or a cedar elm, even if the leaves have serrated edges. It looked like, hmm, what is that tree in the field on the other side of the woods? Thank goodness I have iNaturalist!
Sure enough, it’s a cottonwood, which is also a native tree, but we only have ONE on our property. We had just been talking about how we REALLY need some trees. And boom, we have one! New life to be happy about.
We may or may not move it. It might look nice next to the little pond. I know their seeds are a big messy, but I love the way the leaves shimmer in the wind and the seeds fly around like snow. We only have the one tree, because cattle eat up any saplings in the pasture. Now we have one with a chance to become a nice shade tree, eventually.
The rain that fell all over the county completely missed our ranch. There was a little peninsula of nothingness, and we were in it. But we got a nice sunset.
Now I just have to mark it so no one will weed-eat it or pull it up! I’ll just stay optimistic about this, and carry it into the rest of life today. Back to work on the ole kanban cards.
The Hermits' Rest 