The Hermits' Rest

Getting More Naturalist-y

I still don’t feel too great since my bruising on various appendages is setting in, so I took it slow this morning until I had a nice early lunch with my friends Lynn and Don. We had interesting semi-Mexican food and just chatted. I told them, as I’m telling you now, that last night I had a dream in which some little kids did something funny, and I laughed so hard that I woke myself up! That was a new one.

The Master Naturalist Annual Meeting is in a fancy hotel and conference center on the Texas A&M campus, which means you are required to say “howdy” a lot and whoop. Eh. But it’s a nice place.

I attended a session or two but mostly enjoyed the vendors, which include at least three talented artists, one on canvas, one in metal, and one in super-realistic machine embroidery.

I’m going to get metal art for the motorhome, because it’s all stuff Lee will really like.

I don’t have photos of the machine embroidery, but I was very impressed with the artist, who modified used machines to do much more intricate designs than they originally would have. She seems like a big bundle of talent and skill!

The other thing I was impressed by was a series of poster sessions by young scholars in the natural sciences. I had a great time talking to them and asking them questions about javelinas, goats, and bats, among other things. They were all very articulate!

It’s been good seeing my local friends and some old pals, and the next two days will be more packed with activities, so I’ll rest up now. Tylenol is helping, but I’m just sore.

Book Report: Beaverland

I recently finished this fascinating book about beavers, which opened my eyes to a lot of possibilities for healing the earth thanks to these helpful animals. Leila Philip is a New Englander who became interested in beavers when they were in the pond behind her house, so she spent a couple of years researching Beaverland: How one weird rodent made America (2022).

I like that Philip researched so many aspects of beavers’ presence in North America. The historical background was fascinating/horrifying. Fur trapping completely eliminated beavers in the eastern US and Canada but when reintroduced, numbers came back very quickly. That’s good.

Philip spent a long time learning about modern-day trappers and I commend her open-mindedness as she not only talked to trappers but went out with one as he checked his traps. This guy had incredible knowledge of the wildlife and terrain and a deep knowledge of beaver behavior and habits. I was fascinated, and came to accept that a reasonable amount of harvesting keeps numbers at a good level and provides hides that are used for hats, etc.

What boggled my mind, though, was finding out how beavers (and the prolonged lack of beavers) affect our waterways, water quality, and health of the surrounding countryside. Rivers didn’t look like they do now before trappers arrived. No straight lines and eroded banks. When there are beaver dams, water moves much more slowly toward the ocean and is cleaned of toxins. Oh there’s lots more, but I don’t want to rewrite the whole book!

Speaking of writing the book, my favorite part came at the end, where there’s a section called “The Story of the Book,” that provides context for her travels and research for the book. It’s just as interesting as the main book, and a lot more fun to read than typical endnotes, though it serves the same purpose.

My only quibbles with this wonderful book are that sometimes information is repeated almost verbatim, and Philip feels compelled to describe everyone she meets through a sort of annoying subjective lens. I’m not sure I need to know how messy someone’s hair is or the details of their clothing in every situation.

I’m in a grumpy mood, so take my criticism with a grain of salt or two. If you’re a naturalist or nature lover, you’ll treasure this book and the perspectives it provides.

All By Myself

I’m all cozy in a hotel very close to a University campus. So it’s not quiet. I’m pretty tired from all that bleeding and stitching yesterday, so you’re not getting much to read tonight.

I did do a BioBlitz at Lick Creek Park in College Station today, but it was very low key because I just wasn’t ready for big crowds (auto correct made the word “crowds” into “briefs”) and talking. So I wandered around and looked at the saddest collection of wilted plants I’ve ever seen in the wild.

It’s hard to find diverse plants when everything is brown and droopy.

I found a few things and would have seen more if I’d been in the guided botany walk.

There were irrigated pollinator gardens around the nature center. I hoped to get lots of pollinator photos, but the butterflies seemed more intent on mating than sipping nectar. And the mid-afternoon sun makes phone photography hard. You can’t see the screen, so you miss a lot. I tried taking distant photos and cropping, with poor results. So the four types of skippers and the many Queens remain uncaptured.

I only heard four birds, too. But, it was a day outdoors and I did chat with a few like-minded people. No complaints.

Thanks to all who checked in on me. I will endeavor to not fall this weekend.

I Have My Halloween Costume All Picked Out

TW: cuts and bruises

I usually go as a witch (requires no costume), but this year I can be an accident victim.

I got stuck between Dusty and the gate when Apache charged in to eat Dusty’s leftovers. Usually Dusty flees safely but he was too close to me and I was knocked into a metal gate. At least my glasses protected my eye.

I did bleed a lot, but hoped it would stop. Alas, it did not, so off to the ER for rich people we went. I just wasn’t up for hours and hours at the germy hospital. I was the only patient and was in and out in an hour. I got seven stitches, so I guess my family was right to encourage me to get the cut looked at. The good news is my glasses (non-broken) cover most of the bruising and stitches.

The doctor said my skin looked amazing for my age. Aw shucks. Thanks, Olay products.

Here’s a nice bee fly to take your mind off blood and bruising.

I’m now dreading the numbing shots wearing off, but I’ll be fine and I’ll be more careful when letting Dusty out from now on. Usually I’m quite careful but I was tired from a long day of work and Master Naturalist stuff. That’s when accidents happen.

I’m not particularly looking forward to a long weekend of explaining my face, but I’m cleared to attend the Master Naturalist annual meeting, so I’m going!

More later. All is well, and I’ve done all the right bruising protocols, etc. And I’m on the lookout for signs of further issues.

Worn Out in a Good Way

I’m a tired little teddy bear tonight, so don’t expect anything even moderately pithy. Not that pithy is an adjective I’d choose for my blogging.

I got up bright and early so I could look for birds and pollinators by the lake. I was more successful today than yesterday, and I had bonus sightings of deer, a desert cottontail, and a coyote that I didn’t get a photo of.

After that early fun I set up my outdoor office and got in most of a work day at the park. I got to watch the Green Jays, doves, and woodpeckers while I worked. It was a nice change of pace. I was joined by some friends.

We pulled out of Choke Canyon State Park before my last work call. I managed to take some pictures of the things one sees in the brushy oilfield land on our way home. I was asked for photos of towns, so I’ll give you Kenedy and Nixon. Yes, they are near each other. Enjoy views of deep in the heart of Texas.

So, that’s southern Texas. Now to have a normal day before I go somewhere else. I’m piling on the travel. Zzz.

Exploring to the Extent I Could

It was a pretty darn good camping day. I even got to do more traditional nature activities than I did yesterday. After coffee I’d planned to hike at the other unit a few miles away. Instead I went on a fun hike with my new friend Sue along the trails named after birds here at the main camping unit at Choke Canyon State Park.

Sue’s a solo nomad camper, with just her dogs. I admire that! We have a lot in common, including horses, so we had a lot to talk about.

However, the scenery frequently left us wordless, because there were so many butterflies around. There were many Queens and Buckeyes, but the best part was that there were dozens and dozens of American Snouts fluttering around the trails. It must be their migration time.

I have always enjoyed the Snouts. A few years ago, we went to a cabin with family during the Snout migration, and I still have great memories of these little guys and gals flowing in a steady stream as we watched from the porch.

Snouts are feisty, too. We saw them chasing the larger Queens quite pugnaciously. What fun.

We did see some Monarchs, but none ever stopped long enough to photograph.

And some of my photos were bad, like this Funereal Duskywing

Other fun sights came when we went down the concrete jetty trail near the concession stand (closed due to the lake being so low there are few fishing visitors). I was thrilled to see a Ruby-throated Hummingbird enjoying the tubular blossoms of tree tobacco plants. I thought the hummers were all gone.

Anyway, it’s very pleasant to have someone to hike with, especially here, since there really aren’t all that many birds around right now. And it was warm, but not too hot.

Later, i had to take a sad football game break, since my team wasn’t doing great. I went over to the “swimming area” to look at clams and water plants. I also found some very pretty purple flowers called Gregg’s Tube Tongue (Justicia pilosella). I’m a sucker for anything that looks like a violet!

Lee and I went off to the South Unit. They didn’t even have staff at the gate, because it’s so dry that boaters can’t get into the lake easily. We explored the lake shore, which had swaths of marsh fleabane teeming with American Buckeye butterflies. We had lots of fun with them.

Next, we drove over to the dam that contains the Frío River to create the lake. I was very disappointed to find out the road across the dam was closed. I’d really wanted to look for shore birds near the dam. I did see one Great Egret with my binoculars and determined that the white birds I’d seen were buoys to keep boats away from the dangerous part of the lake. Sigh.

We enjoyed dinner outside and that was the end of a pretty good day.

Ooh! I forgot to mention we saw javelina on our way to the dam. Good thing!

Spontaining All Over Texas

Today didn’t go as planned. That’s okay. If you can’t spontain on a relaxing weekend at a state park, when else can you? I did get to spend the morning doing what I intended, which is record birds for the Big Day on Merlin/eBird and record pollinators for the Texas Pollinator Bioblitz on iNaturalist. I do so love doing competitions where I can compete with myself.

Lee had wanted to take pictures with me at the bird blind, but realized the camera batteries were not charged. So he decided to go to Corpus Christi (1.5 hours or so) to get some at a camera shop. I was promised visits to parks on the trip. So, I spontaneously agreed.

I hoped to see more butterflies, like this Buckeye

Off we went, but soon realized people need to eat. We lucked out and there was a very authentic Texas-Czech barbecue/kolache place at our first exit in Mathis. We went through many small towns today, some more decrepit than others. The restaurant had a great collection of antiques and extra friendly waitresses. The fried okra was fresh, too. A winner.

Yes, we did stop next at another state park, Lake Corpus Christi. We decided to come back and stay there for a longer trip. They have full hookups and lots of trails, plus the nicest state park restroom building I ever saw. Indeed, I took pictures. We just drove around and didn’t get out, so I only got two plant photos.

After that I saw many fascinating slums and defunct shopping centers in Corpus Christi. I saw parts of that town I’d never seen before and would have been okay not seeing, but it was like an adventure/scavenger hunt trying to locate the camera stores Lee had looked up. For future reference, there is no camera store in Corpus Christi. There are many small houses, giant empty churches, and weird downtown streets, though.

It was a relief to get on that nice wide road that takes you over some bays index onto Mustang Island, a place I used to hang out at during my early years in Texas. I’d never been to the state park there, but I can no longer say that. We did get to Mustang Island State Park (got our money’s worth on the parks pass).

I got many observations of Beachy pollinators as well as plenty of birds to record, so I was satisfied. We both enjoyed watching the ghost crabs and were astonished at how many jellyfish were washed up. There are super high tides right now, so they were almost to the dunes.

On our way home we drove the back way with no interstates. Wow. There are some desolate areas in this part of Texas. We passed many large ranches with dirt instead of grass (drought) and many others that were obviously being managed for game. The scrub is very good for hunting birds in addition to larger animals.

We also passed through Orange Grove (no oranges seen) which is where some of Lee’s family settled. It was in pretty sad shape but had some nice housing tracts outbox town. It was the last town before all the nothingness.

It’s good to be back at Choke Canyon after a nice meal of H-E-B sushi. I got 45 bird species today!

Heading South Like a Bird

Not that I want it to be warmer; it’s plenty warm still where I live. Nonetheless The plan for today was to head down south for a repeat visit to Choke Canyon State Park. I accidentally rebooked this park, perhaps I had a subconscious plan.

This very anxious cow had both me and the dogs concerned during birding time.

But first we had to get there. The farrier came early, which messed up my careful plans for getting both my work and my travel preparation done (and photography of pollinators for Texas Pollinator Week). Then, of course, work needed me and that got me more out of sync. I kept up my planned work/prep until I went to feed the chickens and give them water.

Of course I stopped for pollinators. This clouded skipper was diving into a flower.

As I turned the water flow on, I saw a brown lump in the grass. Was it something else Vlassic had dragged in from the pasture?

Oh my gosh, no! It was a newborn calf! On our side of the fence! It was doing the classic baby calf thing of laying low and not moving. I knew it was just born, because Tyler V tags new ones as soon as he finds them and he’s looking at least twice a day right now.

No wonder that cow had been mooing so hard this morning! And her milk bag was very full. I got in touch with Tyler then finished working and getting ready. Just as we were finally leaving, Tyler arrived and I showed him where the calf was. The poor thing was getting hot and breathing hard, so I’m glad it got rescued. All it took was for Tyler to walk up to it and it scooted back through the fence. I hope there was a family reunion and the baby got tagged.

That made me as happy as I assume these bee flies were when I took this shot.

Four hours later, we arrived to the familiar sight of Choke Canyon’s scrubby beauty. I quickly realized why I subconsciously rebooked a place we had already been—this time we are just two spots away from the bird blind! The really good one! And there’s javelina poop on our site! Yes! This place has its own beauty and excitement.

Bonus: the leveling system worked and my bedroom slide went out. I can get to my pajamas and art supplies! It’s like we have our motorhome back, though the generator still won’t start.

I did get to walk around just a little bit, and found a lot of climbing milkweed, lantana, and cow pen daisies. I hope these will convince some of the beautiful butterflies I’ve been seeing to stop and pollinate. So far I have a dead queen butterfly and a brown moth. I must do better!

I figure I’ll enjoy a few more birding hikes this weekend as well as take a lot of insect and plant photos! Enjoy scenes from my sunset walk.

Mothing

Tonight’s Master Naturalist meeting presentation was on moths. It turns out I have a lot to learn about moths, which far outnumber butterflies, so I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation by a very personable Swedish woman who I’d love to know better.

This fiery skipper would like to point out that butterflies are still fascinating.

It turns out all that sorrel vine at our house attracts the beautiful Wilson’s Wood Nymph moth, so I will need to share it with our Wildscape for a new project.

We did some mothing after the meeting was over. That’s where you shine a bright light with UVA in it on a white cloth and see what shows up. I’ve done it before at Master Naturalist annual meetings, but it was fun to do it in Cameron.

Genuine moth. The good old Vagabond Sod Webworm moth *Agriphila vulgivagellus*

We didn’t see many moths, but did realize that by attracting tiny insects, we were providing a smorgasbord for Asian lady beetles. It was like Wild Kingdom (that’s an old TV show).

Maybe I’ll set something up so I can get better photos with the good camera while we go camping this weekend. Ooh, I can see a white sheet from where I’m writing this…in my bedroom…not sweating. Yes, the air conditioner is working again.

I can enjoy my glow-in-the-dark fingernails comfortably. They really looked good in the motorhome, where I slept last night, because it gets dark in there.

Hard Goals

What was the hardest personal goal you’ve set for yourself?

As tired as I am, I can answer this one (I don’t answer blog prompts lately because I’ve answered most of them). That’s good, because it was another day of barely getting through work and not being able to do much more.

I finished coloring this. It took a week or so in small doses.

So, I’ve probably mentioned this before and will again. But for years I had a hard time being the person I felt I could be, and it turns out I had a lot to do with it. Thanks to some issues in my birth family and an inherently sensitive nature, I was always very hard on myself.

I never met my own expectations. Any mistake I made lingered in my mind for a long time. I’d replay “dumb” things I said over and over. And I would constantly talk to myself in ways no one would talk to someone they cared about. I was ugly, fat, stupid, and so on. I was not nice to me.

Since I AM actually pretty smart and intuitive, I figured out that I was not helping myself with the negative self talk. So I had some therapy, talked things out with a group of safe and understanding women, meditated (a lot, still do), and read.

I’m very pleased to have come across the writing of Brené Brown. I’m also pleased someone made me read a self-help book. I find most of them really simplistic or not right for me. Her first few books opened my eyes to how much I was affecting my own self worth, and by that, encouraging others to pick at me or devalue me. Figuring out that I wasn’t the only one doing this to myself was a huge revelation. I got a much better outlook and began to heal.

I got tested a lot in this healing phase. Since I came to Cameron, a couple of people (who of course are suffering from their own internal battles) tried their best to break me down, give the community a bad impression of me, and hurt others I cared about. I’ve had some very hard times here in rural Texas, where even in a good day I’m a square peg not even trying to fit into a round hole.

But, one day, right after a very mean person was mean to me, something snapped in my brain. I told my patterns I was sick and tired of them and vowed to reframe the situation every time I started to berate myself.

Get this. It worked. After a while, weird thoughts like how good I felt, or how peaceful life was began to replace sadness. My negativity patterns have gone into background mode, and I feel so much better. Sure, that stuff is still down there and today’s trying times make feeling good about anything difficult. Yet, I honestly feel good about myself, like myself, and don’t beat myself up when I screw up (much). And of course, the horse riding lessons helped me practice gaining self confidence.

I kept telling myself I was fine just as I was and that it’s perfectly okay that not everybody likes me until it became true. I’ve even learned a bit about how to perform the once-mysterious act of “letting other people’s negativity slide right off my back.”

Maybe that’s why these bluebirds of happiness keep following me.

I try to cut others some slack, and accept those around me who confuse me just as they are. I just hope they find peace and joy on their path.

Who IS THIS version of Suna? She’s different. Not perfect, not better than anyone else, but at a good place in her spiritual journey.

So, blog prompt readers, loving myself and treating myself kindly were my hardest goals.

Now I’ll move on towards being less judgmental (making good progress), and being so afraid to speak up about what I see as wrong. There’s always room for improvement!