The Hermits' Rest

Squirrels and Me

I like squirrels. I had a pet squirrel as a kid, named Squirrelly, who we shared with our neighbors. He was cute and fun, though he made a lot of noise running in his wheel at night. Later he lived in our treehouse until we let him go.

Here in central Texas, we mostly have the fox squirrels, which are bigger and have more tan on them than the other ones, the gray squirrels, which are what you mostly see east of here. We do have some of each. They dig lots of holes, which mean the dogs think there’s treasure in there (acorns).

Squirrel Adventures

A couple of days ago, while Anita and I were walking the dogs, I saw a squirrel in the greenbelt with a black head and tail, with a gray middle. That was some cool genetics happening there! I’ve seen a black one near where I work, too.

Of course, some places have lots of interesting squirrel variations. I remember white squirrels in Baton Rouge, for example.

You always know when the Property Brothers (that’s a TV show) are in Toronto when you see the black ones running around. I have a deep connection with the black squirrels of Toronto, since I was walking down a side street one day when one tried to jump off a building into a young tree, but the tree couldn’t hold it. It landed on my head. All I knew was that suddenly there was a THUMP and scritching on my head. A little old dude excitedly pointed down the road and shouted, “Skwi-rrell!” in a cute accent. Then we all laughed our heads off in the middle of Yonge Street.

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More Dewberries

Dewberry sauce with many, many spices and seasonings. It went perfectly with the roast venison.

I hadn’t intended to write up two dewberry posts, but other than a couple of fun bird sightings (dickcissels and Eastern kingbirds!), the dewberries were the nature highlight of the weekend for me.

This week there were way more of them than last week. I picked three quarts in just a five-yard stretch along our arroyo. Some of them were as big as fancy blackberries. They must have liked the rainy winter a lot.

From those berries, I made yet another cobbler, and also a really interesting sauce, from a recipe by Jess Pryles for blackberry sauce. There are many interesting ingredients in that there sauce (star anise, whole cloves). I served it with delicious venison backstrap roast, and both my sister and spouse declared it a gourmet triumph. I’m glad the neighor recommended this recipe, because just the salt/pepper/nutmeg rub on the beef made it worth checking out. Her new cookbook, Hard Core Carnivore is available now, so check it out (she’s also been on lots of book tours lately).

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Dewberry Time!

Dewberries are the unofficial plant mascot of Cameron, Texas. They are truly abundant here, judging from all the photos I’m seeing. Cameron even used to have a Dewberry Festival, which featured all sorts of delicious things made with these perky fruits. I miss it.

Here’s what our friends at Wikipedia have to say:

The dewberries are a group of species in the genus Rubus, section Rubus, closely related to the blackberries. They are small trailing (rather than upright or high-arching) brambles with aggregate fruits, reminiscent of the raspberry, but are usually purple to black instead of red. Unlike many other Rubus species, dewberries are dioecious, having separate male and female plants.

That male and female plant part explains why I keep seeing bushes with no fruit! Aha!

We are lucky to have lots of dewberries here at the Hermits’ Rest, though I’d never really done much with them before, other than snack on them. That’s because I never went out looking for them when they were completely ripe. This year, after all that foraging talk, I vowed to do better.

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What’s Bugging Me

If you live anywhere in Milam County, Texas, you will know what’s bugging me.

June Bugs

Lots and lots of June bugs. We say every year around here there’s a plague of something. So far this year, these bugs are the winner. And, yes, I know it’s May. They always show up in late April here. We’re in the South, you know.

The bugs don’t really hurt anything, but they sure cause a mess. In the picture above, that is ONE day’s accumulation. My husband had swept the porch the night before (note that the mop and bucket are there from the previous night’s “adventure” where a skunk expressed an opinion about two of our dogs).

Our new puppy LOVES the June bugs, however. The other dogs will snatch one out of the air as it plummets to the ground, but the puppy would prefer to just sit there and eat then off the ground. Since the pup’s underweight anyway, I guess the additional protein isn’t killing him. So far.

Who’s Singing?

Last week I showed you the urban hawk nest near my Austin workplace (they are doing well, by the way). Today I went to sit in the courtyard behind our building, just to get some air, so I’ll tell you about the birds there.

The lansdcaping team did a great job on this spot. They planted many great native plants, including turk’s cap and other plants the hummingbirds love, plus a variety of textured and colored plants. It’s a pleasure to walk through or have a nice lunch there under the escarpment live oaks and cedar elms. And of course, the plants attract all kinds of birds.

The highlights of today were a large group of wrens, Carolina wrens, I believe. Every time I see one I think, “Wow, wrens are small!” They are also just about the cutest birds to watch, with their bobbing tails, chirps, angry wren sounds, and nice songs, when they are happy. They aren’t very shy, either, so you can easily watch them in trees, on the ground or in nests built in odd spots (like our old gas grill).

While I was watching the wrens and listening to them chirp and peep, a glorious song rang out. I was entranced. It was just beautiful, and there were two different songs, obviously from the same bird. “What is it?” I wondered. “I hope I can see this magnificent creature!”

I could tell it moved to the other side of me, so I peered into the tree. Then I laughed. The magnificent creature was a male American robin. This is a bird I listened to all the time when I lived in Illinois. Here in Texas, I don’t see them very often (Merlin Bird ID lists them as uncommon both here in Austin and at the Hermits’ Rest), so I guess I forgot what they sounded like.

What a wonderful memory to resurrect!

May Day!

Here is some horse nettle to help you celebrate May Day.

Today is one of my favorite holidays! It’s May Day, or Beltane in the Celtic tradition. It’s a day when traditionally folks left baskets of flowers on friends’ and relatives’ doorsteps. It’s also a day to celebrate all those happy forest creatures out there having babies, birds building nests (hello to our barn swallows), and generally the fertility of spring.

Mockingbird Real Estate Failure

In Hermit’s Rest fertility news, we have been watching some mockingbirds try to build a nest in their favorite location, where they’ve been trying for at least the past three years. Where’s that? Sigh. One of the tractors. This year I think it’s the backhoe. They even follow it when Lee moves it. They like the high part where the bucket bends. It’s not a place that is great for successful bird parenting. We always feel bad for them and hope they eventually find another spot.

News, as in Paper

I did get my first article for the Master Naturalists in the Cameron newspaper last week. They didn’t put in any photos, which doesn’t surprise me, and it was on the back page, but it WAS the article. I think I’m supposed to write another one soon. With all this new puppy stuff, writing is not as easy as I’d like.

And I am sorry about how HUGE this is. There are so many names in the article that it’s hard to read (I was supposed to mention EVERY person who was there. Yow.)

newspaper_article_418 — Yeah, I’m sure you’re real impressed.

A Walk around the Pasture

Texas_thistle — Texas thistle next to the old burial plot fence.

Some new flowers are blooming around our property, and since we have a new puppy, I figured today would be a good day to walk around and check out the area. It brings such joy to walk with the dogs, since they jump in the pond and swim, run around in the tall grass and find dead things, and of course, roll in hog poop.

nature_dogs — Alfred the Anatolian shepherd dog, and Carlton the white mutt explore their wild kingdom, also known as a hay meadow.

My mission was to take some pictures to upload to iNaturalist (I am sunasak there) to get some volunteer hours, and add to my collection of plants and animals here at the Hermits’ Rest. I was able to get photos of a great egret and barn swallows, which was good, since I still don’t have a camera with a birding lens.

As for plants, I got some nice shots of Indian blanket (gaillardia), Texas thistle, wild garlic, white clover, hedge parsley (ugh), and the pretty curly dock we have with the bright pink seed heads. Sure, these aren’t real exciting, but I do want to record all, not just the showy ones. (There is lots of grass, but I need to get better at grass identification.)

I do love walking around here, but I equally love just sitting on the front or back porch and watching the wildlife, dogs, and weather. Spring is pretty awesome at the Hermits’ Rest.

PS: Don’t forget these blog posts always appear on the Hermits’ Rest Facebook page, along with more photos and goofy things. Please “like” us there, too!

Random Observations, a Puppy, and a ‘Possum

dandelion — Face it: this thing is beautiful.

Observations

I guess I should note what I’ve been seeing and hearing lately. There have been some great song birds at both my houses. There is a Chuck Will’s Widow somewhere near our Austin house, and their call is so cool (they say their name, loudly). You never see the bird, but you sure hear them! Ours are in the greenbelt across the road.

There’s another bird out there I can’t identify. It’s like a louder bobwhite call, without the first note. Bobwites go bob-bob-WHITE! And this bird goes bob-WHITE bob-WHITE! It’s a night-time bird, too. I’ll have to ask one of my birder friends for help with this one.

At the ranch, the prickly pear cactus has started blooming, and some of those supposedly delicious dewberries are starting to ripen. Since Sean Wall keeps saying how good they are, I guess I’ll make a cobbler this year. We certainly have enough of them.

Most of what we see in the pastures and fields are many, many dandelions, along with all the pollinaors thereof. No way am I getting rid of these delicious and useful plants!

The bluebonnets are fading, but the Indian blankets are coming on strong, and some of the Mexican hats have started. Plus, my tomato plants are fruiting. That’s all fine!

The puppy

Yes, the Dogs of Hermits’ Rest have a new member. I adopted Carlton from the Cameron dog pound, which has to be the nicest dang dog pound on earth. Sandra, the dogcatcher, is a real animal lover and lavishes all the doggies in the pound with love and attention. She even works on training them.

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Bats and Termites and Flowers

This is a very old jasmine vine, judging from the width of its trunk (which doesn’t show up in this pho! And it sure smells good.

I’ve added flowers to today’s post to make it a little more cheerful. My urban home in Austin is on a hill near Bull Creek, and surrounded by greenbelts. That means there’s plenty of native flora and fauna, plus some darned nice things someone planted once. I’m glad I got to enjoy the scent of the very sturdy jasmine vine behind our house, and the nice collection of cedar sage in the limestone outcropping next to our house.

sage — A lot of people walk their dogs by here, so this lovely planting brings joy to many.

What about the bats?

Well, the guy from the pest control company came by today. At first he thought the scat on my deck was from a rodent, but I pointed out how it’s arranged in a row and encouraged him to look up bat guano on his phone. He agreed we do have bats, and guessed they are mostly hanging out in the cavernous space where nothing else is in the chimney.

I began to imagine a growing smell, so I was pleased when he said they can block the holes in the flashing, put an “exit cone” in, and wait until all the bats have left to finish sealing it. The cone lets bats exit, but not re-enter. That would be nice.

Why so sad?

Unfortunately, when Francisco the bat man was looking for evidence of flying mammals he discovered evidence of burrowing insects that only occationally fly. Dang it, we have termites, and they are in the NEW wood, so they haven’t been there long.

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Bat Encounter

bats3 — See those spaces between the rocks and the flashing? That’s where the bats are.

Last night, right after sunset, my housemate Anita was gazing out the windows of our Austin house. She turned to me and said, “Hey, I see swallows coming out of our chimney.”

“It’s not swallow time,” I replied. “It’s BAT time.” I then briskly went out to see what was going on at the ole chimney.

Sure enough, two sturdy-looking bats emerged from the flashing around the chimney…right where we’d been noticing “mouse turds” for a couple of weeks. I immediately googled “bat guano–images.” Yep, that’s it, all right.

bats2 — The tiny black dots on the table, chair, and deck are the poop. I mean guano.

Anita then mentioned that the next-door folks had just erected some kind of wire barrier all around their chimney. Hmm. Maybe the bats just moved one house down.

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