Travel Report – The Hermits' Rest

Yes, I’ve Been Camping! Yes, I Feel Yucky. Not Related.

Have you ever been camping?

Yes. I’ve been camping. I’m not sure if all this RV camping we’ve been doing the past decade or more counts as “camping” to some folks. I don’t blame them. We have heat and air conditioning, plus real mattresses on the bed. Still, if camping is about nature, fresh air, and learning, then, indeed, I’ve been camping!

I love quiet times and hiking. I love birds, flowers, trees, and insects. And I love the interesting people I meet. I’m not fond of screaming and loud music, or of messing with the parks. But, people interact differently with nature and enjoy different camping activities. I’m fine with that. At least they’re getting out.

So I answered the question. I’m about done. Today I was pretty damned miserable with throat, ear, and neck pain. It’s so hard to swallow!

I did go see my health care provider like a good girl. I got a free ear wax cleaning so she could see my inflamed ears. TMI, no doubt. But it worked, and indeed I’m all inflamed and my throat looks extra bad. Strep test was negative, but when I told her I haven’t had my usual energy and have suddenly put on ten pounds, we agreed that my thyroid is acting up again.

I didn’t even get to see Fiona and all the new grass sprouting up where hay bales were.

So after three tries, the technician finally got enough blood out to test my thyroid numbers. I hope to hear back soon. In the meantime, I’m hoping the antibiotics have done their work by morning. I’m weary of this.

I love all these ball moss flowers in black and white.

Kathleen made a delicious dinner that was soft enough to swallow, which was a relief, because I was really hungry! And wow, I’m tired, thanks to waking myself up all night making wheezing and gagging noises. The curse of being a light sleeper is your snoring wakes YOU up.

No doubt things will be better soon. My friend circle has a lot of harder challenges. Aging isn’t for sissies, but we keep plugging along!

Happy Scenic Travels

We have returned from a very long travel day. We had to go from Garner State Park to Sisterville, or someplace like that, to drop the RV off to get fixed. The road there was as beautiful as only a Texas Hill. Country drive in spring can be. Believe me, if someone offers you a trip to this part of the world in April, go! So many flowers, hills, scenic rivers, and grand ranches to see!

I didn’t take scenery photos, but hey! Here’s a real live jackrabbit!

I didn’t take pictures for two reasons. One is that I had meetings all morning and was working. Two is that I woke up with the horrible sore throat I had recently, and my ears were also sore. I cannot swallow without bad pain. Yes, I will try to get in to the doctor tomorrow.

Squirrels having fun at the campsite. I hope the wrens find a new nest spot.

It was an adventure getting the RV and Jeep to the repair place, which is well off the main road. But Lee did it masterfully! While he talked to the repair folks, I met the neighbors.

We left a long list of repairs to be done, like making the bedroom slide, propane, and kitchen sink work again. We bid Seneca a fond farewell, and hope to see him fairly soon (realistically, the repairs will take a while).

We enjoyed more scenery until we got closer to I35. But even there, the wildflowers have been planted. I found these at a rest stop.

I’m now going to try to sleep with my dear dogs and a hefty dose of throat spray. My sore finger will thank me, too.

Bird Stories

Warning: I have some pain in my index finger, probably from writing on my phone. Yes. I use my index finger. So the fun stories I was going to share must wait.

I should have spent more time sitting on a rock watching the river flow. But no, much keyboarding occurred.

It was misty again most of today but I went for a couple of walks anyway. The park was nice and empty, which made it easier to hear and see birds. One group of birds I enjoyed was the swallows. In the tent camping area next to ours, I saw many Cliff Swallows swirling around. I realized they probably live under the nearby bridge.

You can sorta see the bridge behind the outcropping of rocks and shrubs.

I was proud to ID them by sight and sound before checking Merlin. Square tails were the helpful feature.

Back on our camping loop I saw a group of barn swallows pecking near the mud puddle that kids played in over the weekend. I thought that was strange since they have plenty of clean water in the Frío River.

I later saw Cliff Swallows there, but by the time I got my camera out, all that was left was a White-winged Dove. Darn.

Anyway, when I got back to our site, I looked to see what Merlin had picked up. I saw the app had put one of its bird trivia videos up, which I usually delete. But this one was on Cliff Swallows, so I read it.

Well. Now I know what those birds were up to, collecting nest material! I should have known that. it’s always good to learn something new.

Another quick bird story. I saw the Park Host taking a rag out from under his car. I asked him why he stored rags there, and he laughingly told me it was to keep wrens from nesting in there. He can’t get them to stop trying (thankfully, he’s heading to another park tomorrow.) Wrens are quite persistent. I thought it was a fun story to share with Lee.

Then I came back and worked a bit. Lee went outside to escape my meetings. Soon, he returned with news. We have our own pair of Bewick Wrens building in the Jeep’s back bumper. Sigh. They’re so sweet but on a futile mission.

A pair of Bewick’s Wrens were busy all afternoon working on their project. They mostly chose the flower stalks off ball moss to take up to the Jeep.

Searching for sticks (both are in this photo)

I had fun watching them, Black-crested Titmice, Lark Sparrows, flycatchers, Cardinals, and Eastern Bluebirds for a long time in late afternoon, when the mist finally dissipated. I could just sit in my rocking chair and watch the bird show. Ahh.

I’ll share plants and more river stuff tomorrow. My hand is tired.

Lost among the Maples

The weather here at Garner State Park and surrounding areas was strange today. It started off misty and stayed misty/foggy all day. That’s not typical Texas Hill Country weather.

It made the hills look mysterious. This was mid afternoon, when fog has usually been burned off for a long time.

After a pleasant morning of coffee and birding, Lee took me to Lost Maples Natural Area, a place he’d been many times when he was younger, but I had never been. You may know of Lost Pines, which we’ve visited many times. Both places have remnants of the forest that was in Texas the last time it was much cooler.

The trees in this preserve are still around because they’re surrounded by hills and have a river in the middle, which creates a perfect microclimate for bigtooth maples. The area is extremely popular in the fall when the trees turn colors, so coming in spring is a much better idea for us hermits. The mist also helped keep away crowds, but didn’t distract from the spectacular scenery.

The Sabinal River was fun to cross repeatedly.

We did a mile walk, which was a bit challenging for Lee with the rocks and water crossings, but I’m glad he could join me, because this is such a special place.

In addition to the plentiful maples, there were many fun plants to spot along the trail. The most spectacular sight was Scarlet Leatherflower (Clematis texensis) which attracted hummingbirds like crazy.

Best I could do. More flower photos later.

I also found out the identity of the yellow flowering plants growing out of all the rock faces along the road, Lindheimer’s rockdaisy (Laphamia lindheimeri). It only grows in this area, the Edwards Pkateau.

One more I’d like to highlight, because it was new to me, was the Texas Mock Orange (Philadelphus texensis), which is a pretty shrub with white flowers that do resemble citrus blossoms. I didn’t get close enough to sniff the flowers to see if they smell as good as orange flowers. It’s related to hydrangeas.

There were many more interesting plants, so I’ll do a photo dump. I do want to add that there were also interesting birds, including only my second ever observation of a Golden-cheeked Warbler and many striking Black-and-White Warblers. I got to see Yellow-breasted Chats, too, which I usually just hear. But since the only bird photos I got were of blurry hummingbirds, here’s another Vermilion Flycatcher that posed for me back at Garner.

Mostly, we gawked at the scenery, switching our focus from trail to hills to river. This is a special place, and there are much longer trails, so if you ever get to Vanderpool, Texas, do stop by. It’s the only thing in Vanderpool, Texas, but I like it because I had a teen crush on a curly-haired musician with that last name. Anyway, here’s some scenery.

I know, quote the photo dump. It’s just so pretty! And for my reference, here are more interesting plants. I’ll spare you oak trees and grasses. These are the most interesting to me.

All in all, it was a great day to be outdoors and geek out over plants and birds. And rivers and hills. We are here until Tuesday, so maybe I’ll see some more interesting stuff tomorrow!

It All Worked Out Today

Attitude really can make a difference. Today proved to exemplify the effect of a positive attitude very well. Let’s hope for more like this for us all!

Thankfully, we did not end up crashed on the side of the road like these poor folks.

The day started with me doing all my chores and packing, then diving into work with gusto. Why not? The folks I work with were happily surprised at how much I got done on our project. That was a good start to the day.

I found the first day flower on the ranch this year, too.

Rather than getting impatient with Lee about getting off to our distant campground on time, I decided it was his schedule and his trip, so he could leave when he was ready. Thus, no stress.

I got to walk around a bit and see pretty Texas Prairie Parsley, which attracts many pollinators. Yippee!

I ended up having to work three of the four hours of our drive, but I managed to see many gorgeous wildflowers on the roadside, as well as two Roadrunners and flocks of Cattle Egrets. Plus I managed to work quite well from the RV. It was pretty fun, for work.

When we finally arrived at Garner State Park, which is next to the Frío River and surrounded by hills, it was late. We were hoping it would not be too hard to find our campsite. But, we were delighted to discover the check-in was open late because it’s Friday. We had a great chat with the check-in lady, who had many park insights.

Then we went out to unhook the Jeep and I wandered to a trailhead near the parking lot. I was greeted by a loud chirp, and a bold little bird looking right at me. I thought that it was funny-looking for a White-eyed Vireo, because it didn’t have white eyes. Merlin identified it as a new lifer for me, Hutton’s Vireo, apparently fairly common here.

All happy about this, I led Lee to our site. I was cheerful, especially when a flick of Wild Turkeys walked across the road. But. Oops. The site I’d reserved had a short driveway with a large live oak tree right at the end, so we couldn’t hang over. And once he got to the space and tried to back in, he hit (gently) an overhead branch. It was not going to work. I got a bit flabbergasted, but managed to call the park and explain.

Not the original site, just showing the view.

A park ranger came and said they could trim the branch. Then he realized that couldn’t happen. The tree is big. So Plan B was to put us in an “emergency site.” It turned out to be more spacious with fewer neighbors. It worked out great!

We got set up, chatted with nice park hosts, then went to look for dinner. It was pretty late by the time we got to the nearest town, Leakey (pronounced lake-ee). There used to be a La Leche League administrator who lived nearby, on an exotic animal ranch. So, even though no restaurants were open except a super crowded one, we were fine just getting food at a gas station and admiring feral cats. I finally saw Leakey, and that’s what counts.

No town photos, but here’s a “mountain.”

I’m happy to be here! We might be late and we may have had to change plans, but here we are!

Ball moss. It grows on electric lines here.

Visiting the Official Wildflowers

Yeah, yeah, I write about wildflowers all the time. But today four of my Master Naturalist friends and I traveled to the deepest depths of Austin, Texas (which only took 1.5 hours on a Saturday with no huge festival happening). There, we found the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, a regular treasury of Texas wildflowers, many at their peak of bloom.

We were prepared for rain and dropping temperatures.

I used to be a member when my children were young and I only worked part time, but it had been quite a few years since my last visit. Seeing how well the plants have grown, as well as finding new places to look around, was a great experience for me.

One new area is a circle of young oak trees, all of which were grown from acorns of trees of historic importance in Texas. The tree shown here came from the Big Tree on Goose Island, which Lee and I visited recently.

I am a lot better at identifying native plants than I was 25 years ago, so I had fun figuring out what I was seeing before checking its sign or looking it up on iNaturalist. Of course, some plants were new surprises, which added to the fun. I think I ended up being the ID guide, though a couple of my companions were pretty good, too.

After enjoying the gardens, we went to the annual native plant sale, where the group picked up some interesting plants for the urban wildscape our group is making at the church where we meet.

We rewarded ourselves with a visit to the gift shop, where we found the Texas Master Naturalist textbook among the offerings. I got a book I can’t wait to read, with plant and insect mandalas.

When we were finished, we drove up to Georgetown for a late lunch at Wild Fire restaurant. It was pretty spectacular and a great ending to our trip. Plus! When I got home it started to rain. Yay! Let’s celebrate by looking at some plants I saw.

Looking forward to a cool day tomorrow and a good rain total!

Gee, but It’s Great to Be Back Home

You didn’t hear from me yesterday, because I didn’t feel up to writing about lots of meetings followed by all the endless steps it takes to go from one place to another these days.

The only Portland photo I took yesterday.

Still, work was actually quite productive, so it was all worth it. I was pleased with myself that I coordinated packing, returning Jasmine’s nice warm coat, driving to the airport, returning the rental car, walking great distances to find planes, and remaining patient when my flight from Phoenix to Austin was delayed so the brakes could be repaired. I’d certainly prefer a delay to not having good brakes on a 737 when it lands.

One of the things flying across the country accomplishes is to remind me how amazing our landscape is.

I got lots of reading done in the Phoenix airport, so I was glad the second book I brought with me is over 500 pages long. You have that book report to look forward to!

I was quite pleased to find my bag that I’d checked (first plane was tiny) was already on the carousel when I got to Austin at 1:30 am and that the hotel driver was waiting for me. That was so nice of them to send him when the plane arrived! The familiar sight of the oddly shaped rooms of the familiar hotel was so welcoming.

After a pleasant hotel breakfast I headed home and made it through a couple hours of work before I had to nap. I was much perkier after that and got all my late meetings done so I could visit my animals. I gave the chickens and turkeys some dewberries. It was great fun watching them go after the fruit. Clint the rooster tossed one in the air and caught it!

The horses were in great shape, thanks to Kathleen’s care, and I enjoyed seeing the new horse-area flowers that came up in my absence.

Of course, I had to say hi to all the birds! The Painted and Indigo Buntings are back! What a happy sound! I also got to see this Belted Kingfisher, which proved it wasn’t a Mockingbird mocking me.

After all my chores were done, Lee and I sat by the pool and enjoyed the hummingbirds around the red yucca blossoms. These natural hummingbird feeders were a great addition to our yard. We saw both male and female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and Lee even realized they are green! Forgive all the pictures. I had too much fun.

The palmettos are sending up flower stalks, too. Those attract butterflies.

Of course, I also greeted the dogs. Here’s Penney indicating she’s glad I’m back.

Thanks for sticking with me and being so supportive, friends and readers! You’re appreciated!

Oregon Has DUCKS!

I mean, I knew that…college mascot and all…but I got to see plenty of them today! I’m in Tualatin (near Portland) for work for a couple of days this week, and I figured the only birding I’d get to do was around my hotel and the office.

I was very pleased when my boss, Jasmine, suggested we go on a walk after a team lunch yesterday. After many hours on a plane and a stressful rental car drive, I welcomed the chance to move around. I swiftly got many plant photos and heard some good birds. I love the little woods next to the office buildings and am so glad they saved it.

When I got to my hotel in Lake Oswego, I was charmed by all the cherry blossoms fluttering around. I’d never seen them in person!

I took a little walk around the neighborhood, found a path around a creek, and walked by some beautiful homes while listening to birds and enjoying plants, both native and cultivated. Oregon is truly verdant.

This morning I woke up early, since I’m still on Central Time, which enabled me to drive through tree-lined streets, many of which were in full bloom to the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. Jasmine came up with the idea of going for a walk in the refuge before our meetings started, because she really wanted me to have the chance to go there.

I was grateful she loaned me a coat. It was pretty chilly!

This wildlife refuge is mostly a huge wetland teeming with life, including beautiful plants, both native and introduced.

We had a blast looking at all the birds we found. There was a White Pelican, Great Egrets, Red-winged Blackbirds many Robins and Yellowthroats, a Harrier, Song Sparrows, a Spotted Towhee, Mourning Doves, Canada Geese, and so many beautiful ducks. We had so much fun trying to figure out what we saw. Ones I’m sure of were Mallards, Gadwalls, Green-winged Teals, Northern Shovelers, and a gorgeous Cinnamon Teal that Jasmine actually spotted.

There were also many fascinating plants in the wetlands and wooded area. We particularly enjoyed this native Horseweed. It’s one weird plant, especially the flowers.

Many of the trees were new to me, being Oregon natives. The Oregon ash had very soft leaves in an ashy green. The maples were in bloom, as were many others. I learned so much. Here are some scenic pictures and some named trees.

Things like this fuzzy caterpillar made us a little late to our meetings. But we had so much fun, it was worth it.

And now I’m ready to catch some zzzzz. A half day at work tomorrow, then back I go!

Birding and Driving Success

The last day of camping didn’t lend itself to hiking, since it kept raining off and on. So I did more friend chatting and snuck over to the shore of Lake Somerville to see if I could find any of the birds I hadn’t seen yet. I knew those Pelicans had to be somewhere!

I saw some Ring-billed Gulls. Oh boy! Perhaps that wasn’t what I wanted.

I turned my head to the right, and there was a lot of white. Ooh. That was promising.

I moved closer and saw a Great Blue Heron and some Great Egrets. That knocked one white bird off my list.

I finally got close enough to see the distant birds (binoculars were in the motor home). Yes! There were some American White Pelicans! They haven’t all migrated (I have seen some flying over).

Looking more closely, I realized there were bonus while birds—Snowy Egrets!

The ones at right with black legs are Snowy.

After enjoying all these guys and the fun sandpipers for a while, I was happy with my bird sightings.

I found a few more pretty plants, too. It’s always lovely to see raindrops on flowers!

I left the campsite mid afternoon to try to avoid hard rain, but didn’t. I was a bit shaky by the time I made it to the airport Hilton. I’m not bad at driving in the rain, but it takes concentration. We still need more rain, so I’m not complaining. Naturally, it’s flooding in some spots. I just hope the plane takes off on time and I make it to rainy Portland tomorrow morning!

The Old Fashioned settled me down nicely.

Fire Brings Beauty

On today’s big morning hike in Birch Creek State Park, I walked all the way to the far edge of the park. I quickly realized that the trail I took had experienced fire recently. I remember there was a fire in January or February at Lake Somerville, but I’m not sure if it was in the park or not. I do know there are prescribed burns in the fall and winter months.

Anyway, the point is that the number and variety of wildflowers I encountered on the burned grassland astonished me. I found myself muttering and exclaiming to myself as I encountered one beautiful plant after another. For example, there was a carpet of trailing Rhatany (Krameria lanceolata) in many places. This is a deep red blossom that’s unforgettable.

Another striking plants I was delighted to find was Prairie Nymph (Herbertia lahue), a wild iris that you don’t expect to see in a burned field.

In addition to those, there were hundreds of wild garlic plants blooming, phlox, colorful spider worts, and tiny flowers called Arkansas Leastdaisy or (duh) tiny daisy (Chaetopappa asteroides). There were winecups in large numbers, too. It was not apparent that there were so many flowers unless you looked carefully, but by stopping to look, you’d be greatly rewarded. I was in heaven.

As I moved on, I found the Eagle Point trail, which had no eagles to see today, but provided spectacular views of a large wetland area, along with some fine large oaks. It was a great place to take a rest.

I actually called Lee to come pick me up, because I didn’t feel up to walking nearly 3 miles back. I got some rest in while it rained, which gave me time to put all my plants on iNaturalist. So many photos. A few more.

I went out again in late afternoon, just because, why not? The Wilderness Trail went through dark woods and near the lake. I dodged mosquitoes, which I didn’t photograph. But it was pretty and I enjoyed all the birds.