Not much to write about that I have time for, other than the fact that my precious horses were naughty. It’s my own fault for trying to keep them in the front pasture overnight so I could ride Drew this morning.
We busted out
Drew and Mabel apparently knocked most of the fence between the two pastures down because they WANTED that greener grass. I hope they are happy. I’ll come up with Plan C.
Fence remnant
So, I rode Apache this morning instead, and we had a fine time. We walked on the road! Briefly. Very briefly.
All these guys wanted was to hang out with me before it got hot.
Plan C was ride Drew after he ate, while the other horses were nearby. It was still 100° at that time but the sun was less intense. He was much more focused and friendly today, and even seemed glad I got dozens of pieces of dried pepper weed out of his mane. But, no riding occurred. He kept having back leg trouble. He could canter to the right just fine, but the second time he tried going left, he sounded like he hurt. Eek!
I’m moody.
So I petted him, walked him around and told him he was a good boy. We see Tarrin tomorrow, so I’ll know more then. It’s weird, because he seemed ok Friday, though I didn’t push him. And he certainly could gallop yesterday, as seen here.
Horses are mysterious.
Anyway, since I had to tromp all over the pasture this morning, I also looked at plants. I was happy to see Devils Claw (Proboscidea louisianica) blooming. It is a fascinating plant with aromatic oil and edible seed pods that are beautiful dried. They’re pollinated by native bees. Thanks, Wikipedia, for that info.
The flowers are beautiful.
While inspecting the downed fence, I saw something unfamiliar and pretty, so of course I photographed it.
A new plant!
I touched its stem and realized it was a sedge, which makes sense, because it was growing in a spot that stays damp longer than most of the pasture. I guessed it was a nutsedge. Two other sedges grow there, too (yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus) and pine barren nutsedge (Cyperus retrorsus)). I looked it up this evening and found it was a new plant I hadn’t seen here before. Short-point flatsedge (Cyperus acuminatus) is common from here up north to Canada. It’s certainly a pretty one!
I guess that gives me hope on US Independence Day.
I went out to the front pond, which we enlarged in the drought last year to be bigger and deeper. All the dirt that was dug up became a large berm that the horses just love. We call it their hill.
The hill today.
The horses and Fiona are always up on the hill eating…something, now that the heavy spring rains got things so soggy (though it’s droughting back up again).
Sometimes they eat at the base of the hill.
I decided to go out there and see what is growing on what was a big pile of dirt at the end of last summer. I knew there were seeds in the soil, as well as wind blown seeds. And I learned in Master Naturalist training about plants that thrive in disturbed soil, so it was time to check out the renewal process!
A typical mix on the hill.
The clump of plants you see above is typical of what I found. At right are annual black-eyed Susans. They are all over the area, so I was pleased to see them. The green stuff in front is prairie tea (Croton monanthogynus) another annual whose roots are helping to stabilize the soil. All the pretty yellow flowers in the middle are the decidedly are the dreaded buffalo burs (Solanum rostratum) that will cover the horses’ manes and tails, as well as the entirety of Fiona if they don’t get mowed down. You will also see green antelope horn milkweed (Asclepias viridis). Those seeds are wind born. There’s even a small Dakota mock vervain (Glandularia bipinnatifida), the most common verbena here. It will be back. Whew, that’s a lot in one clump.
Prairie teaGreen antelope hornsDakota mock vervain Buffalo burBlack eyed Susans plus a new butterfly for me, the bordered patch (Chlosyne lacinia)
Elsewhere I found many plants had already passed their season, like the red seed plantain and the thistles. There were a few pink evening primrose that give me hope that they’ll be all over the slope soon, like they used to be. I didn’t see any bluebonnets. Maybe next year, but some upright prairie coneflowers/Mexican hats were ganging on. Their roots will help with runoff, too. It’s a plant that does like disturbed soil, like the plantain.
One sad thistle Dead plantainHanging in there, pink evening primrose Not many petals on these coneflowers. Not at their peak.
Other common plants that appear in disturbed soils include sand mats like matted sand mat (Euphorbia serpens) and prostrate sandman (Euphorbia prostrata) my least favorite weed. Here, they are helping cover the bare soil and help prevent more erosion. Prairie bundle flower (Desmanthus leptolobus) is another low-growing stabilizer plant.
Matted sand matIcky old prostrate sand matBundle flower, and seed heads
Vines are also useful for holding the soil down. Two I saw were Texas bindweed (Convolvulus equitans), one of our wild morning glories, and balloon vine (Cardiospermum halicacabum), a pretty but non-native and invasive ground cover. These seeds are brought in from upstream. Some years they totally cover the creek banks, because they also love disturbed soil, like after a flood.
BindweedBalloon vine
Vines I did not see but expect soon are the dewberries, tie vines (the other wild morning glory), saw greenbrier (Smilax bona-nox), and passion vine. Those take longer to get started. I could do without more of any of these, along with the mustang grapes, which I’m still snacking on. They are as bad as kudzu for covering trees and bushes.
Tree in center is covered with grapevines and greenbrier.
Anyway, nearly all the rest of the plants I saw are other opportunistic pioneers. Ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya); curly dock (Rumex crispus), a common plant in damp areas here whose seeds feed birds; willow dock (Rumex salicifolius); dove weeds (Croton lindheimeri); and Carolina bristlemallow (Modiola caroliniana), which also grows low to the ground and earlier in the year had pretty flowers. And I almost forgot two flowers, the common sunflower (Helianthus annuus) and lemon bee balm (Monarda citriadora). The latter is just about done for the year.
Western ragweedCurly dockWillow dockDove weed Bee balmSunflower plus cute sunflower chimney beeOther plants that showed up
If you’ve slugged through this you’ll finally find out what the horses are eating. I was surprised to see no Bermuda grass, but some bunch grass I can’t ID, a gramma grass, and a brome. Natives!
Grasses
One of these plants, or perhaps the long stuff none of the horses like in their pasture (not sure what it is), is making Apache have allergic reactions all over his face. He’s on Zyrtec now. 21 per day for the first week. Hope it helps. I’m grateful Tarrin knew what was going on!
Spoiler alert: yes, you can. Even I can, with good planning and a little luck. I got through today with only one little bit of heat dizziness. Hooray.
I had it made in the shade!
First, we booked a trip to a shady park and I was careful to try to select a shady campsite. I did, though I sacrificed a lake view. We are next to the lake, but there’s brush blocking the view.
The lake is about a foot past the big trees. I like the bent one.
We were actually able to sit outside much of the afternoon, thanks to the shade and a brisk breeze. I got to knit and read, and of course look at and listen to birds. There’s a red-bellied woodpecker that comes by often, and I even got photos where you can tell what it is!
Woodpecker fun
But my smartest way to deal with the heat and still have fun was to do all my “hiking” while it was still relatively cool. Now, don’t think I went out before I had my coffee. I’m not that driven. But I was out by 9, and went three mikes or so. Yes, much of the time I stopped every few feet to look at a plant or butterfly, but I did get 54 exercise minutes!
I went through some very pleasant and shady paths, and though there were few wildflowers, like yesterday, I did find some beautiful new flowers. My absolute favorite is this one, which is one of two plants, both that can be called butterfly pea. Or pigeonwing. I hope I get iNaturalist help with it.
So beautiful. I can sorta tell where it got its Latin name, Clitoria mariana.
The other flowers I enjoyed, maybe mostly because of their name, were the trailing fuzzy-beans. What a cute name. In fact, there are multiple fuzzy-beans in North America. Huh.
It’s a vine that grows very long tendrils.
It was a fun plant day, for sure. Here are other highlights. A couple are a little blurry because the phone was running low on battery so I took pictures fast.
Good ole black-eyed SusanThis is tiny, a gulf skullcapVery pale ruellia Slender green threadIron weedEbony spleenwort. Ugly name for something so gracefulBlack walnutWhite mouth dayflower Osage-orangeOsage-orange tree Shaggy portulaca Stiff hair sunflowerAmerican germander Meadow pink still bloomingOne last bluebonnetThis is delicate white nymph. Very pretty plant
The trail I took led to the old Springfield cemetery, which is in the park. Springfield is the place that used to be where the lake is now. It has some old graves, ones with interesting features, and some unmarked ones. I thought it was interesting that some of the Black workers who built the park are in there, from the 1930s. There were not many integrated cemeteries then.
Bluebird house Best tombstone. Check these out
After the cemetery, I got on the road, but still found lots to look at. I knew I’d gone far enough when I realized I was at the park store. That’s a ways away from the campsites. I rested in the air conditioning there and enjoyed teaching the employee about iNaturalist and Merlin Bird ID. I can’t help it. We had fun.
My hiking boot fell apart when I took it off. I’ll try to get it fixed. It’s only 28 years old!
Lee and I relaxed and watched a movie this evening. Camping is so good for us both. I treasure these times of relaxation and being surrounded by nature. By the way, I passed no one on any trail. Bliss!
Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.
I can answer today’s blog prompt easily, because it fits in so well with what I wanted to talk about, anyway. If you didn’t already know this about me, I’ll tell you what I do that brings me joy: it’s discovering new things about the nature around me. Today was a great example.
There’s always something to look at.
Today I’d intended to relax and recover from yesterday, but the life around here kept pulling me in. I’ve been careful where I go lately, since scorpions appear to be this year’s plague. I found one in my bath towel, then one in an outdoor chair cushion, and finally one out in the grass, where they should be. That didn’t bring much joy, though.
Scorpion hiding by a rock.
What brought me great joy today were two discoveries. First, I found a plant I’d never noticed before!
Nodding green violet Pombalia verticillata
It’s tiny! I know I’ve seen the plant, but never these beautiful flowers. I was extra disappointed to see it has no Wikipedia article. It appears to be native to the southwestern US and northern Mexico. I just adore it’s secret beauty.
From more of a distance.
The second nature observation came when Anita and I were sitting by the pool drinking wine, since I was too tired to cook a big dinner. Anita said something like what the hell is that, and I looked over to see a weird creature.
What the heck?
We quickly realized it was a wasp dragging a large wolf spider. It was making progress, too. At one point the wasp left, so I could get good photos of them separately. The first thing I did was find out what kind of wasp it was. I knew it was pretty, with a striped abdomen and blue-black wings.
Rusty spider waspRapid wolf spider
Well, duh, it was a spider wasp! I looked deeper into these wasps (so glad I had my phone right there) and found out this was a female wasp, and that these wasps prey on large wolf spiders. They take them to their nests, which are shallow depressions in the dirt, and lay their eggs in the spider. Mmm.
Anita said I should get a video, so I did, forgetting to turn the camera sideways. The link is on Facebook because I can’t get it to load here. But it’s cool to see how fast the wasp drags the spider and how she climbs stairs with it. We were glad when she finally found the edge of the patio!
That was really fun. Besides that, we got to see a great blue heron right in the other side of the fence, and, right after I played the call of the yellow billed cuckoo for Anita, one flew over and made its call. I hope it hadn’t heard me.
I had other fun with domestic animals, too. The chickens were something else. Sigh. I found a small mouse in their feed, so I got it in a cup and tossed it outside, thinking I’d done a good deed. Oops. I looked out the door and realized Buttercup had instantly pounced on it. Who needs a cat, right?
Buttercup, center, points out that mice are more nutritious than tortilla chips, which Lee gave them.
In a cuter chicken anecdote, I was hanging out with Bertie Lee, the smartest chicken, and she drank out of my cup of water. I love watching them drink. She won’t let me pet her, but Billie Idyll will. They are all so different!
Bianca likes to March.
The horses were glad I was home and back into our normal routine. I found them conferring about it today.
Yes, things ARE much nicer when Suna is here to give us food and treats.
Apache wasn’t even grumpy from working so hard yesterday! That brought me joy, too.
I did promise to finish writing up my trip to Pedernales Falls State Park. Gosh, I hope you like wildflowers and scenery and stinky insects. I had lots of energy for hiking/looking at plants, thanks to sleeping so well. Ahh. Total darkness and no barking or licking makes for great sleep.
Lee needed coffee, too.
So, once I woke up on Sunday morning, had my coffee, and analyzed bird songs (so many vireos), I took off for the other nearby trails. First, I took the Coyote Crossing trail, which led deep into a very humid woodland area and crossed a mostly dry creek that feeds into the river.
There were many interesting fungi, ferns, and vines in the moist environment. I also got to see a ladder back woodpecker. Mostly I enjoyed the deep green solitude.
Grama grassMore Pearl milkweed Coyote Crossing
Once past that trail the scenery was very different, with seemingly endless swaths of black-eyed Susans and their friends. There were lots of new flowers there, and I had one of those “Linda Jo moments” when I got practically giddy over plants. But I didn’t have a fellow Master Naturalist to exclaim to!
Berlandire’s yellow flax. New to me. White rock lettuceSkeleton flower and friends Gregg’s tube tongue. Great name.
The next trail was the one that led to the swimming area of the river. I must admit I forgot there was a river to go to, because I was so mesmerized by the flowers. The trail went down steep steps. Every time I stopped I said to myself that THESE were the prettiest flowers I ever saw.
So much horsemintBreathtaking.
And there were so many butterflies that I felt like Snow White in the meadow. They were flitting all around me. It was magical!
I finally got to the river, and was happy to see it wasn’t crowded. There were just a few families wading around and playing, plus a woman with a big dog.
Mystery flower. INat thinks it’s bindweed.
Eventually I turned to go back, stopping to photograph lizards and more flowers. I let the family with the dog pass me on their way up, then encountered the dad resting halfway up. I said something about taking it slow because I was a naturalist, and we got to talking about his interest in foraging. Talking to them made me not even notice the steep climb! Finally, someone was interested in my blathering.
They left to take a bathroom break and I headed back along the road, where I found some phlox and other plants that like sand.
Spiny lizardPretty army worm caterpillar Common whiptail lizardPhlox!Red satyr
The family drove by and asked if I would like a ride back, and to be honest, that sounded good. So I joined them. They said they were thinking of driving to the big falls, and invited me along. I’m glad they did. It was a ways down the road.
We had a fun walk to the falls. The best part was when I saw a dung beetle rolling a ball of poop across the path. Carl (the dad) got all excited, because he didn’t know we had them in Texas. That got the two boys and the wife excited, too. She took movies and we had a grand time watching the beetles while all sorts of people passed us, probably thinking we were weird. But it was educational!
We finally made it to the overlook, and it was gorgeous. We saw a wedding party, too. We were all too tired to go down to the river, but they were going to go Monday morning. I was fine just looking down. The photos don’t do it justice, for sure.
Veda takes photos. Carl, the boys, and Zoe. I was there, too.
And that’s about it for adventures. The rest of the day we sat outside a lot and went in to watch movies. I don’t know what to think about the Legion of Superheroes movie. They did stay pretty true to the characters…but it was nowhere near as good as Ant Man and the Wasp. Marvel does make a good movie.
Listening to me talk about birds.
Back Home
I was glad to get home on Monday, but sure enjoyed my wallows in nature. I needed that rejuvenation. Of course, there’s plenty of nature here. Just look at the baby birds in a nest on our back door!
Too tired to peep. A storm kept them awake.
Speaking of storms, one showed up out of the blue yesterday and dumped a ton of rain in a short time. It was full of thunder and lightning. The dogs were NOT thrilled, and since I was the only one in the house, all five indoor dogs clustered around me. Penney and Carlton were under my desk. Harvey was beside my chair. Alfred was standing on the other side of the chair panting into my face. At least Goldie just stayed on “her” couch.
Help!ShiverPantNo room for me!
Eventually, Penney wormed her way into my lap and did that unbearable wiggling and trying to squirm up to the top of my head, or inside me. I’m not sure what her intent is, but it’s hairy, hot, and whiny. Thank goodness I discovered the guys were stranded in the garage so I “had” to take them umbrellas. That allowed the dogs to distribute themselves among three people. Whew.
Help ME!
And oh yes, I’ve had my dose of cuteness. look at Jhayati! She’s so soft! And like my dad, she’s never met a stranger. Sara is in love. I’m pretty thrilled, too.
I’m bigger. I love my human!Butt scritches are excellent. Pat my butt. Ignore my spawn. About 3 weeks old.
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).
See, I was happy.
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.
The fall is behind the dead branch.
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.
You had to duck!Lots of rocks Beautiful rough lip fern Tiger bee fly
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!
The doe, and me enjoying the bench
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.
Bird watching station.
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.
This is an owlfly. It’s gorgeous. Spiny lizard on patrolSkeleton flowerA well?My beloved pearl milkweed. Ah. Great name: redwhisker clammyweed. Two butterflies!Orange sulphur
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!
Today was a more encouraging day than many in the past few weeks have been. And I’m going to pay myself on the back, because twice today when people told me what a good job I’m doing, I didn’t say, “Aww shucks,” or downplay what I’ve done. I thanked them and agreed.
Hey Suna, you did a good job coordinating me with the trailer and tow vehicle. Thanks, Drew. Do I need new ones for Apache?
I finally was able to fit a horse lesson in today, after the mud dried up a bit. I enjoyed riding both horses a lot. All that time I’ve been spending with them has paid off. Even though Apache once again wasn’t thrilled at jumping, our riding was tons of fun. He’s so willing to do what I ask!
Tarrin said he seemed stiff, so he got a good butt rub. He seemed to enjoy it.
Tarrin did some ground work with him and helped him figure out his uncoordinated canter a bit. In the end she had him flying. I don’t know if he loved that, but he did love the nice hosing off he got as a reward for very hard work. We had a great time learning!
Patchy the Wonder Horse
When Tarrin told me she was proud of how far we’ve come, I said thanks and did not try to downplay it. Nope. We HAVE improved. Compliment accepted.
Drew was also a lot of fun to work with today. Even though we each had some things to work harder on, the improvement in how we work together is sorta surprising. He’s getting to where I’m able to ride him confidently. Tarrin said we are getting close to being able to do shows. At first I doubted it, but then I could see what she meant. I accepted that praise.
Oh, must I canter?
When he and I were finished working on circles and trotting straight, Drew got to listen to Tarrin remind him of what he should be doing. He’s still a teen with opinions!
Let me show you my un-collected look.
I’m going to now compliment my horses. For as much time as they’d spent in the mud and rain, they seem calmer and more eager to work than ever. They were great in the trailer, calm while waiting, and all-around good citizens. Hard work pays off. Knowing there will be ups and downs also pays off, though.
I’m a good equine buddy.
On the way home today, Lee repeated to me how impressed he is with what working with the horses has done for my confidence and mental health. I didn’t disagree. He’s right!
This beautiful bluebill flower is in the clematis family. Thus changes the subject.
I didn’t want to write two blogs, so I’ll just stick this good news in here. Today on my walk, I heard “gobble gobble,” so I turned back towards the creek and found Tom here walking around eating bugs.
Why did the turkey cross the street?
This was my first chance to really watch the turkey up close. I’m so glad we have them here again! My friends up North who have them everywhere don’t see why I’m so excited, but we didn’t have them here for a long time.
To get to the other side!
Even better news followed. As I was approaching our driveway, I saw something large walking down the road. It was another turkey! I think it was the hen, but I’m bot sure. I couldn’t get too close since I needed to go back to work.
How about that? You can’t go down our road without killdeer screeching at you, so of course they joined the turkey.
Indeed, it was a good day for accepting praise and enjoying Nature’s surprises.
Naturally, I’m feeling a bit better today. A lot of it is because my friends and family have been so supportive and encouraging. Thanks to everyone who’s reminded me of my humanity and that there ARE plenty of folks not out there judging me (and that judgmental people’s judgments aren’t worth spending time on).
This view of where I live is worth dwelling on.
Today was productive in so many ways. I really enjoyed work today, though I have to say the interruptions were even better.
I interrupt you to share a fiery skipper on a thistle. Skippers are everywhere now that it stopped raining for a bit.
The first interruption was this guy here.
Hey, what’s he doing? (The dogs asked that a lot).
It was Brenham Iron Works coming to fix our gate, which has been beeping at us for over a year, then when we finally got it to shut, had a car push it open. Poor gate (and car). At the moment, it works!
Yay, horses can be kept in if they escape their gate again. Note that blue sky!
It was fun watching the nice guy fix it, and the company got more business when the neighbor across the road got all excited that we actually got a repair person in that she came over and got their info. They have a similar nice gate just a year or two older than ours.
He worked a long time on this. Welding occurred. He also disturbed these deceptive carpenter ants. That’s what they ID as!
The next minor interruption was my Becker Vineyards wine delivery. I got two old favorites so I didn’t complain. A much more fun interruption was a visit from a guy who’s interested in growing some vegetables here. It sounds like a fun project, if it goes through. I’ll tell you more if it goes through. It’s just a possibility but it made me happy to just imagine it.
Picture a vegetable garden on the right?
Lee even suggested that we use our gardener friend’s expertise to spruce up the pool area and such. He’d do way better than us! Now, this is my kind of gift. A gift of service. I was quite tickled at this development.
It made my heart skip like a skipper. I think this is a female sachem. I could be wrong.
I love having something to look forward to, though I’ve learned not to count on anything until it happens. There are just so many sudden changes and pivots these days that it’s just the new normal. That’s fine! I’ll enjoy every day and see what happens! I feel so loved.
Speaking of love…
And it didn’t rain. The sun even shone for a while. For that reason I ended up just walking around and enjoying late afternoon light, flowers, and birds. I love it when the nighthawks come out. They’re so graceful. I’ll skip my bad bird photos, but do enjoy the other things I saw.
Question marks are so cool……even sitting in mud and poo. What do you think of my egg, Billie? We are tired of mud. Meadow with meadow pinksPlus black eyed SusansBlue sky!Shiny pond!Mexican hats Indian blanketsSunset horsesBubblesCool cloudsOne of our many bunnies
Thanks for bearing with me! I appreciate my community, both in person and online.
I heard a piece on NPR about the effects of nature on moods of people dealing with hard things. I have to agree that spending time in nature can help a lot. My lunch activity today was a nice walk along our road in search of peace.
This pitcher’s leather flower sure looks peaceful. What a beauty.
As I walked, I was repeatedly reminded that humans aren’t the only important things on earth and that life and death will go on regardless of whether I’m there or not. That actually did make me feel more peaceful and part of something bigger than myself.
And I was reminded that life’s full of mystery. Like what’s in this ruellia? I don’t know.
The highlight of my walk was finding dozens of black swallowtail caterpillars on one prairie parsley plant. I watched those little guys noshing away for a long time. I forgot all my sadness about community events for a while!
The plantA flower Young caterpillar Older caterpillar Hungry caterpillars!
I enjoyed all the flowers I saw, and the butterflies. Even the trees were beautiful. What a nice break.
Our lovely roadside. Where all the flowers wereNew growth on cedar elm treeBlossom on soapberryBeeWhite evening primrose A damselfly! A yellow Indian blanketDragonfly!Big ole drone fly Carpenter bee buttFritillary HorsemintFormer Mexican hatsNow upright prairie coneflowers Buckeye
I didn’t see many birds but heard lots. I spotted a painted bunting by hearing it first. Um. You couldn’t ID it from this!
Can’t see any pretty colors!
From the listening app I heard:
Dickcissel
Robin (rare here)
Barn swallows
English sparrow (zzz)
Painted bunting (lots)
Cardinals
Mockingbird (also pretended to be a blue jay)
Starlings
Tufted titmouse
House finch
Killdeer
Carolina wren
Song sparrow
Cowbird
Phoebe
Carolina chickadee
Common yellow throat (only saw that once ever)
Nighthawk (also saw two)
Scissor tail
Baltimore oriole (wow)
That’s a lot of birds! The vultures didn’t make any noise, but were there, too.
Not only did nature make me feel more at peace, but my friends did, too. I enjoyed my afternoon coffee with two friends, Anita and Pamela. We laughed over my high school diaries that I found yesterday and discovered were mostly in Spanish. Then we shopped at the new antiques store downtown. I was happy to see there were many customers! I got a giant piece of purple glass for my window.
It’s the wine glass-looking thing in the middle.
After that we sat on a bench overlooking the town square, wondering how we ever ended up in Cameron, Texas and enjoying it. Fun times. I’m glad for the supportive friends I’ve finally accumulated here!
Perfect spot to watch small town life go by
Topping the day off with a horse ride and swim in the pool brought balance back, at least for now. I hope you also find your own balance.
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. Usually the creek is in its banks. That hill has a why I couldn’t get Zochnet internet. Other side of the roadCreek in trees
Once the clouds parted and there was a little sun, everything perked up fast. Suddenly the pollinators were in action!
Orange sulphurCheckered whitePearl crescentFiery skipperFly and perhaps a wasp pollinating Front view of checkered whiteA black-chinned hummingbird is also a pollinator! It’s a male!
I really enjoyed how green it is this year and how many flowers there are. I’m treasuring every day this spring.
Flowers around the ranch.
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.
I AM pretty. The water feels goodToo much poop here. Time to go.
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).
Zoom.
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.
The Hermits' Rest 