Reptile Sightings – Page 5 – The Hermits' Rest

Master Naturalist 2023 Part 1

Ooh. Today was fun. It started out with a trip to the National Butterfly Center, which is beautiful and exciting. There were wonderful plantings of plants that attract pollinators as well as lots of unmanicured areas teeming with birds. I got LOTS of new birds on my life list! I really enjoyed the greater kiskadees.

The woods were very different and had all kinds of new trees and bushes for me to explore. I definitely fell in love with the woods, the wetlands, and the river.

I had only seen the Rio Grande in El Paso, where it’s not pretty. Here, it’s wide and lush and gives you an idea of what this part of south Texas used to be like.

Unfortunately you can’t forget what South Texas is like now. We came upon the news in action: progress on the border wall. It really hit all of us hard. Nature can’t pass through, either. Luckily the Center property will not have a wall through it.

Oh yeah. There were butterflies. And bees.

Ok, after many photos and much listening to new birds (green Jay, two kinds of kingfisher, golden-fronted woodpecker, Wilson’s warbler), we headed to lunch, after which the conference started.

Beautiful ofrenda in the conference center

All four sessions I attended were interesting. I learned about the geology of this region, burrowing owls, reforestation down here, and changing coastal marshes due to climate change. Quite a variety.

The dinner was nothing to write home about, but we had good conversations and had fun waiting for the hotel shuttle and enjoying the día de los muertos decorations.

When we got to the hotel there were more reminders of how weird things are in south Texas. We wondered why the cleaning staff was cleaning at night. Then a young man came out of the door to his room. He told us they clean the rooms for him and his colleagues at night because they sleep during the day. We looked at his Army fatigues and he said, “you can guess why I’m here.” He’s been on this job a year. Wow. Very nice guy, as were the others we met in the lobby.

I’m learning a lot.

Cooking, Bletch

Write about your most epic baking or cooking fail.

I’m sure I’ve had plenty of cooking fails, but I must admit that meals I cook don’t stick in my memory, good or bad. It’s just not a part of my life that I think about much.

Cooking is something I did a lot of in my younger years. I enjoyed it when I was trying new things and feeding my kids. I’m grateful that the kids’ dad ate pretty much anything I made and seemed to like it. That encouraged me. He ate a lot to fuel his cycling and running.

Something I cooked in 2015. I recognize asparagus.

I don’t have as much fun cooking today, for a variety of reasons. We rarely are all home at the same time. Lee has started wanting to eat at 5 pm or earlier, like the old people we used to make fun of with their Early Bird Specials. The other man here works late and often eats around 8. Then there are all the things various folks can’t or don’t want to eat, healthy eating choices versus other choices.

Aha! A thing I cook well. Pork loin, Brussels sprouts and potatoes.

Every so often one of us will cook a nice meal, and we all enjoy it. I’m quite fond of everyone’s choices. Mostly we just scrounge, as we call it.

This looks icky. 2016 meal. I like beets.

What was the question? Oh yes. I asked Lee if he remembered a particularly icky meal, and he said he couldn’t remember exactly what it was, but that we threw it out and went to a restaurant. That sounds bad.

One cooking error I remember was when I was in my twenties. We made a huge batch of ice cream, and when it was finished we saw the bottle of vanilla extract, which hadn’t been opened. Luckily, the iced cream was still very good.

I’m pretty sure I made banana bread with no sugar once, too.

I make a lot of bean soups. 2019 at my house with Anita.

Sorry this was pretty dull, but hey, I committed to answering each WordPress prompt this month!

My actual day was mostly quite fun. Work was interesting and full of good conversation, and we went and looked at a potential house to renovate later.

I wonder how many meals this oven baked before it conked out? (From the house we looked at)

One negative part of the day was that I got my flu shot for this year, and got it on the wrong arm. No horse lunging today! I also have been enjoying a fever. It’s a tiny price to pay for no flu.

The other negative part was that a swarm of tiny biting flies attacked me this morning, when I was wearing shorts and had exposed arms. They hurt almost as badly as horseflies and it lingered. The stiff breeze seems to have blown them away.

I’m sure the cows are grateful for the breeze. They are eating sweet honey locust seed pods.

Just in case, I put fly spray on all the horses. I’m sure glad I have such a friendly herd that come right up to me and let me spray them.

That’s it. I’ll leave you with one more meal from my handy photo search for “food” tgat brought you today’s pictures.

New Year’s dinner, 2021. My favorite meal to cook. I do usually add pork loin for those not fond of black-eyed peas and collard greens.

Sculptural Delights Plus Natural Beauty Equals a Good Saturday

Ah, It’s good to have a day off for fun and education. Today we enjoyed sleeping in a bit, then followed through with our plan to go back to scenic Brookgreen Gardens to see the new exhibit that was getting installed this week. We ended up seeing two new exhibits and lots of living wonders as well!

First off, we went to the beautiful butterfly exhibit, which was closed when we were at the Low Country Zoo last week. It’s always fun there, because there are beautiful flowers and water features in addition to all the butterflies.

They have different butterflies at different times of year, too, depending on what they have hatching. I can’t tell you what any of these are, because I don’t want to put them on iNaturalist. They aren’t wild. But they sure are pretty!

After the butterflies, we hopped back over to see the red wolves again, hoping maybe they’d be up to something this time. We lucked out, and while the female was just resting in the sun, the male came out of his giddy hole, walked around, then rolled and stretched for us. I guess that was enough of a show for him, because he went right back into his shady spot. We were lucky to see this!

We drove back to the main part of the gardens to see the first exhibit, which was the 90th National Sculpture Society awards exhibition. There were 42 works of art in the exhibit, which was narrows down from a couple of hundred entries. Only a small subset of these sculptures will be winners and exhibited in the NSS gallery in New York City later in the year.

We really enjoyed looking at the variety of entries and reading the stories the artists shared about their work. There were a lot of COVID themed works, and others with universal themes that really touched my heart.

I listened to a talk about some of the works by the curator of the museum, Robin Salmon. That was quite a privilege.

We went back to the same little restaurant we ate at last week, and had a good time visiting with the birds once again.

We also enjoyed lots of nature. There was a group of plants that was literally dancing with dragonflies. We must have watched them for five minutes, along with another couple. There were blue, orange, and yellow ones. Some of my photos have at least five in them!

We also got to see the resident alligator family (and hear them). First we saw the mother gator, who was hanging out in a small pond, then we saw two of her babies in a larger pond, hanging out with turtles. All the while we could hear other alligators nearby, but I decided not to be a dumb Master Naturalist and go look for them.

We ended up finding the other exhibit I was looking for, which was of Shona art from Zimbabwe. They used interesting stones, and I especially liked one that was completely different looking when it was polished versus unpolished. Many of the artists made people whose faces and body parts were polished, but their clothing was unpolished, and it was quite striking. I completely forgot to take any photos, but here’s a sample from the exhibition web page.

It’s just so lush and green at Brookgreen Gardens. I’m going to hold on to the image of all the green grass and the huge oaks when I go back to my crispy home.

When we got home, we napped, then headed down to the bar, where Kevin the bartender/history professor was kind enough to give me a pre-publication copy of his book on early Florida history, La Florida. I can’t wait to read it. I love an academic book with humor thrown in every so often, and I appreciate his perspective on the Spanish.

I also have the book from the NSS exhibit to enjoy, as well. It has interesting biographies of the sculptors.

Lee and I sure had a good day. And we had smoked salmon for dinner. That’s right. Indulged ourselves.

Red Wolves, Birds, and Plant Delights

Other than taking a brisk walk for a break, I worked all day. I got some photos of the strip where the condos are.

However, we did manage to sneak back to Brookgreen Gardens to their Low Country Zoo before it closed for the day. I really enjoy that place. It’s lush and cool, plus it’s covered in native plants. Score!

I really didn’t see many of the animals, but this horse was friendly. And attractive.

Lee and I always enjoy looking at the bird exhibits, so we said hi to the hawks and owls, then wandered down to the aviaries.

The swampy area with the black-crowned night herons and ibises was beautiful. Lee thought some were statues. Then one caught a fish!

Then we enjoyed the river otters a long time, because, well, otters are incredibly fun to watch. They were in their glasses-in area, so no photos, but you can imagine all the fun. Eventually we headed to the duck pond, where much cuteness was waiting.

You know me, I spent a lot of time looking at the “free” exhibits, like insects and spiders. I saw some new ones, too.

Ok. The reason we actually drove back here was to see their newest exhibit.

The zoo has acquired a pair of red wolves that they hope will breed more little wolves that can be re-introduced into the wild. I knew that people were trying to build the population back up, but never thought I’d get to actually see some of these critically endangered canines. What luck that they just opened the exhibit! Rather than type all the info out, I’ll let you read the signs I photographed so I could refer to them.

They built a beautiful space for them “where the deer used to be” as the people giving directions said. It will eventually be large enough to roam around in, too. And yes, we were lucky enough to get to see them both, just lounging around by the fence.

They seem much smaller than gray wolves, but maybe these are still young? I hope the program works out! Oh, and there was something else in the exhibit, the part they are still working on. There were two wild turkeys just wandering around eating. They were not captive. They were just there!

I can see why turkey vultures got their name. Only the blue head helped me ID it from a distance.

We had dinner in Murrell’s Inlet, where all the restaurants are. It was fine, and I enjoyed the marsh view, but there weren’t many birds. One tree did gradually fill up with pelicans. A new one glided in every five minutes or so. I guess that tree is a favorite roost.

You can sorta see pelican heads in the most distant tree (or bush).

I’m really glad we got out. I needed it, especially the quiet. The zoo was so quiet at times that it was eerie. Here at the condo there’s always background noise of air conditioning, waves, or screeching kids. The quiet was a balm to my heart and soul.

A Mighty Huntress Is Our Dog (and the reptile exhibit expands)

Hi there, readers. Sorry there was no blog yesterday, but I’ll be honest, I was not really feeling like writing about the happenings of the day. The Circle of Life is real, and it certainly becomes clear here at the Hermits’ Rest.

I tried to write this on our newly assembled loveseat, but that lasted five minutes.

I don’t think Great Danes have a reputation for being hunting dogs, but I guess they are bred to protect their property. We’re thinking of renaming Goldie to Artemis, because she truly is a mighty huntress.

Yesterday I went out to survey my domain and feed the chickens, as I normally do, and I saw Goldie intently watching something that looked to me like a bunny. I watched it slowly “hopping” away from the fenced-in area.

But when I got closer, I saw it was not a rabbit, but an injured armadillo. I knew who’d injured it right away, our mighty dog-goddess of the hunt. Goldie could no longer get to her, so my hope was that she could make it to her hole and heal up.

But I forgot that we have an actual hunting dog on the property, Vlassic. Apparently, he also got to the poor thing and hurt it a lot more. He was seen chomping away on the armadillo (which I didn’t see, or I would have stopped it).

By the time I came out in the afternoon, the dillo had made it to the front pond, where she got away from Vlassic, but couldn’t swim anymore. For some reason, this made me incredibly sad, like when the sick coyote died.

I guess I’m just too soft hearted when it comes to animals. Also, since I had just gotten the news that my late friend Christi’s son had just been indicted for her murder and I was still reeling from my two recent friend deaths, I think I am a little more open to sadness than usual. I feel imbalanced, like the scales that are usually balanced between life and death are tipped heavily over to the death side.

I was really sad when Goldie killed this, too. It was a snapping turtle. My favorite huge one.

I know it will pass. But it’s no fun right now. On the other hand, I did get a chance to examine an armadillo up close. It’s cool to see how many hairs they have. I thank the armadillo for the chance to see her. Don’t worry, I didn’t touch her, and she was disposed of properly.

So, our little zoo is still bringing me interesting surprises. This morning I found dozens of caterpillars on the sorrelvine behind the house. I recognized them as black swallowtails. With this many babies, we should have quite a display of butterflies when they emerge from their chrysalises.

But the biggest surprise was in the chicken house. When I went in this morning, I saw that my snake friend was still there from yesterday. I love the snake’s smiling face.

I came back later to see if I’d been left any eggs, and thought to myself, wow, that snake is really long, even for a rat snake (they get to be over six feet long).

Aha, I realized why it was so long. It had two heads. Yes, both my snake friends were actually hanging out in one of the nest boxes. There went my egg supply for the day (but they didn’t get Bertie Lee’s egg, which is always laid on the floor next to their exit door).

I wonder if they are a pair? I’ve seen two together over by the horse pens before.

Our reptile exhibit certainly is exciting. However, I am extra glad we haven’t had any copperheads or rattlesnakes showing up. On the other side of the river, there are lots of copperheads. We should be seeing rattlesnakes now, but I have only seen one this year (and I briskly left the vicinity).

I wish it weren’t so incredibly hot, smoky, and unpleasant outside. But, we’ll get through it. I want to be able to make more use of that new outdoor furniture. But the pool is always there to help me, especially after horse work!

Living in a Zoo

Honestly, I often feel like I live in a zoo. There are just so many critters everywhere I look. This morning I went in to feed the chickens, and realized the rat snake exhibit had moved back in. The BIG one was in there today. I hope she liked her eggs.

Rather than show you the snake, enjoy the first third of the year in temperatures. I’ve started a new segment. It will have way more red and NO blue.

When I went to the Red House to be sure the weekend renters left it in good shape, I picked up branches the bad storm on Saturday had deposited. As I was doing that, I realized I’d moved part of the amphibian exhibit. There was a tiny baby Gulf Coast Toad. Awww.

I was basking in that cuteness as I took a pane of glass that had fallen out of the garage window (and didn’t break) into the safety of the garage, which was apparently doubling as an insect exhibit. The star was the stuff of my personal nightmares. It was a huge black horsefly. I got bitten by one as a child and can still feel it.

These things are not only painful, but deadly.

It’s all-black coloring reminds me of a trendy modern black house. Yes, it’s striking, but is a pain when it gets hot outside.

Luckily the zoo today had some cuteness, and for me it was the free-range cottontails in the pasture exhibit. The ones near the horse pens are still friendly. I enjoyed watching this one exploring and hinting that it wouldn’t mind sharing Dusty and Fiona’s food.

Bunnies aren’t the only ones who like the horses’ food. The chickens have figured out that every afternoon I go into a room and pour delicious pellets into buckets. Fiona’s dish is the perfect size for a pecking hen. This makes horse feeding time even more zoo-like!

I need to get better photos of the “arboretum” in Cameron. There are some crape myrtles that are breathtaking this year!

Back to my indoor menagerie for me. In the house we just have scorpions, moths, one cicada (a dog brought it in), and all the dogs. I’ll be glad when scorpions go back outside.

Carlton and Goldie would like me to go to bed.

Camping Weekend Update

Long time no blog! I could not get anything but brief Facebook updates to upload, so I just spent quality time with nature and Seneca the RV (and yes, of course with Lee).

Pedernales State Park has so many trails! I didn’t get to anywhere near all of them. Plus they have MANY miles of equestrian trails. I went to all the ones I could walk to, though. Actually, our camping spot was right next to the entrance to the Twin Falls trail, so there were no possible excuses to not go there.

It’s a beautiful pool, surrounded by ferns. It’s off limits to people, but there’s a nice viewing area. And the trail is steep and challenging, but gorgeous, with lots of rocks, ferns, and birds. I’m so glad I have the Merlin app! I now know three different vireos but sound. And the ivory billed cuckoo. What a sound! I heard them all on this trail.

The best part of the trail was the bench where I stopped to rest on the way back up. I sat there for about five minutes, then I heard a noise. It was a doe, a large, sleek beauty. I watched as she went about her business, ignoring me completely. What a treat!

I was full of joy and peace after that walk. For some of rest of the day I sat outside a lot and enjoyed the birds. We enjoyed our neighbors, who were a family with two kids who were truly enjoying their visit. Ee kept having to find their lost baseballs.

I got the itch to go out again, so I walked to a place that’s a low-water crossing. It was very peaceful, with only a few other folks around. I had a blast hanging around the cypress trees and finding out what grew along the Pedernales River (pronounced in Texan as “purr-duh-nal-iss”). I got some really cool pictures especially the first one below.

That’s about all I packed into this long and beautiful day. Well, I did do my nails a very patriotic way, for Memorial Day.

I’ll try to write up the rest of the weekend tomorrow. I hope you enjoy some of the things I saw. I put up a LOT of photos on iNaturalist and lots were new to me. I got quite a few birds on my life list!

A Tribute to Portulaca

It’s been a good weekend. Yesterday was spent driving to Houston and back for a family errand. It reminded me that I’m glad to live outside of a small town. But it was a change of pace that still let me get all my animal stuff done.

Houston always reminds me of getting closer to bayous, so here’s a crawfish that somehow ended up in the swimming pool.

The men in my house and I spent a lot of time this morning sitting by the pool. It was a nice, cool morning, the kind there won’t be many more of this year, so we took advantage of the opportunity.

Goldie and Penney also enjoyed the morning.

I weeded the pool planting bed, which of course has many volunteer plants coming through the landscape cloth. It’s mostly morning glories, nut grass, and the dreaded spurge. Yuck. That’s one native plant that’s totally a weed for me.

Weeding was made much more pleasant by the presence of the portulaca (or moss rose) plants that we put in just two weeks ago. I just love these cheerful succulents! They’ve already more than doubled in size.

This is the only plant that I’ve found that thrives here in the dry, hot summers. Last year, I had three plants, and they grew huge, but died in the big freeze. If only I’d known you can take cuttings and root them over the winter for next year!

Two pieces fell off. I stuck them in the pot with my sad bougainvillea that barely made it over winter. Both are growing.

Next year, I’ll be all set for more beauty! And wow, they are so lovely. Lee is very happy that they aren’t plain pink and yellow, as he feared. But I think the yellow ones are fascinating.

Note a morning glory is trying to sneak in.

It turns out that the portulaca grandiflora that we grow as an ornamental is related to the edible plant purslane, which chickens love and is full of vitamin A.

I don’t see any in your poop pile, Suna.

All in all, this plant is a winner and I don’t even feel too bad planting a non native. At least it’s food for someone. And it’s not showing signs of becoming invasive.

I’m not feeling bad about planting them, since they’re surrounded by red yucca, which seems to please all sorts of pollinators. We enjoyed hummingbirds this morning, plus many types of wasp visiting the yucca, which aren’t native here, but grow not too far away.

A Guinea paper wasp and a red paper wasp enjoying red yucca.

Yep, I’m looking forward to using portulaca all over the place, but I’m still going to encourage our native flowers. They take my breath away.

Yep. As long as I focus on beautiful flowers, insects, and random animal buddies, I’m okay. I hope you have something lovely to think about.

Sunshine Follows Rain

At least so far that’s been true. And it’s true today. It rained starting last night and kept going until right about when I stopped working. We got at least two inches, which means we now are in a series of shallow ponds and the creek is extra full.

You can see the creek from the back yard.

Once the clouds parted and there was a little sun, everything perked up fast. Suddenly the pollinators were in action!

I really enjoyed how green it is this year and how many flowers there are. I’m treasuring every day this spring.

Of course, other residents came out after the rain. I saw one of our large rabbits, then found this guy enjoying the poor drainage at the horse pens. I bet the water felt good. It’s just a rat snake/chicken snake, so there was no reason to panic.

Not only the natural world came out. There are lots of new airplanes here, thanks to an air museum moving in and a flight school, too. I enjoyed these two planes going over. I don’t enjoy helicopters shooting at hogs, though (or whoever is shooting at them with a semi-automatic rifle and not letting us know).

Today was just fine. I’m glad for the peace here, because it lets me send good thoughts to friends who need them. Love to all.

Detente

So, this rat snake has been hanging out in the chicken house. The thing is, we’ve been getting plenty of eggs.

Kathleen and I agree that this snake can hang out with the chickens and take care of the mouse issue in the chicken coop. I have a feeling the fact that it scares away mice is a real bonus.

I’ll do my job and let you have the eggs. Most of them.

I just go in and pick up eggs, and the snake just watches. It’s fine with me. I took care of my son’s pet rat snake for years. It was always fine with me around. Snakes do their jobs!

So, I guess we have a partner in the chicken house. And that’s great.

In sad news, poor Betty got egg bound again. She managed to pass the egg, but it did her in. I really didn’t want her to live the rest of her life in pain, anyway. I sure appreciate her, though.