September 2 It was time for a quarterly visit to Alibates National Monument to check on it for Texas Parks and Wildlife, just to make sure nothing had changed that would impact the Great Texas Trails map. Kari accompanied me and we found that the road to the visitor center was closed for replacing. It being a temporary condition, I don’t think it needed to affect the map. It was a nice cool morning and we hiked the Mullinaw trail that runs along the river. Flies were a nuisance but we had a nice hike nevertheless. After an early lunch in McBride Canyon next to the rock house, we headed home.

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August 9 There was a new helper out at the Bluff today. I was watering and weeding in the butterfly garden when I noticed a raven, or a crow, I wasn’t sure which, on the sidewalk. It was pretty close and got closer as I spoke to it. I figured it was someone’s pet. It seemed interested in what I was doing, or maybe it was hoping for a handout. At one point, while I was bent over pulling weeds, it flew over and settled on my back. I try to be on good terms with most of God’s creatures, but this was pushing it. I explained it wasn’t much fun pulling weeds, even with a raven on my back. When I straightened up it flew back to the sidewalk and continued to monitor my activity. Later I was informed it was a veteran of the wildlife rehab center and was thus accustomed to people and to getting handouts. I’m told it likes apples, which we have plenty on SA, so I’ll take a few next time I go to the Bluff in case it is still around. The folks at the rehab center named it Mavis. I think I’ll call it Wild Thing, WT (dubtee) for short.

There are a couple of hornytoads I see around the Bluff. It is always nice to see them, but these two added a new twist to hornytoad behavior. They both wagged their tail at me, almost like a dog. I haven’t seen that before.

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It’s the middle of July and we settled into a summer routine. Our Red River outing has come and gone. Seems to go by so fast. It was a good trip, I think everyone will agree. No one was interested in fishing which gave us more time for other activities, such as hiking. We scouted out a couple of hiking trails we hadn’t hiked before. The first one was to Cabresto Lake. It was more of a road than a hiking trail but we left Jill’s vehicle and ventured on by foot. Some of us petered out before going very far, but Kari, Jill and I wanted to make it to the lake. I think we got pretty close but I finally turned around because I figured others that had gone back to the car would be wanting to go back to town. Along the road I got to see a pair of spotted fawns. I’ve never seen any before. Don’t know where the mother was, close by no doubt. It started to rain on the way back and a couple in a Jeep offered us a ride. We were crammed in with a man and a woman, their baby in a car seat and their two small dogs. They let us out after it stopped raining, and we made our way back to the car without any problems.

Continue reading “June-July 2023” →

I saw the first western king birds of the season a few days ago, May 8. I think. They are right on time. Maybe they will nest on the telephone pole again. I also saw a Mississippi kite last week. That is, I think I saw one. It was about the right size but, unfortunately, it was flying away to the south and was hidden by trees before I could see if it had the gray head those birds have.

In April I took a chance on radically trimming the butterfly bush in the Wildcat Bluff butterfly garden. It had a lot of dead in it even after I had trimmed a lot out, so I decided to just whack it off about knee high and hope that it would come back. They usually do but this was such a major trim, practically down to the nub, so I wasn’t entirely sure it would come back. At the time it had no fresh growth showing but my dear sister assured me that kind of bush waits later in the spring to show new growth. I have a couple of butterfly bushes of my own which I cut back clear to the ground in the winter, and they come back just fine, but they are much smaller than the one at the Bluff. Last week I had seen just a couple of sprouts but this week the stump was nearly obscured by new growth. I do believe the operation will be a success.

There is a little cotton tail rabbit around the WCB nature center. Cute. Females would say, “Awww.” There is also a thumb-sized horny toad in the butterfly garden there. Little devil went skipping among the mallow so that I had a hard time getting a good look at it. I think it is good that it was so risk averse. My big old boot would do it no good.

Kari, Rebecca and I drove to Lubbock Friday morning, to watch Abigail walk across the stage and receive her diploma. Actually, they didn’t walk across the stage, just in front of it, and she had to go somewhere else to get her diploma. They did give her something rolled up in a tube, but I’m not sure what that was. She graduated summa cum laude, in case you are wondering. Afterward, she took us to her workplace to see her office and meet some colleagues. Then we had a late lunch at a nice restaurant. Back at her apartment we gave her the electronic keyboard we got her for a graduation gift. She seemed to like it.

We enjoyed exceptionally nice weather on the day we went to Lubbock. I emptied .85 inches out of the gauge the day before. Then on Saturday it rained all day, not heavily, but persistently into the next morning and I collected another .98 of an inch. That was followed by another .48 of an inch during the night Sunday. For the time being, the drought is broken. I have stowed my sprinklers and rolled up the hoses in anticipation of some serious mowing in the next few weeks, even if it doesn’t rain any more, though there are possibilities forecasted. It may sound strange, but I’m looking forward to mowing. First I have a lot of twig raking to do.

We wound up the wettest month in the last fourteen years at 9.85 inches, topping the 9.70 recorded in May of 2015, the wettest year in the last 14. From trees to weeds to grass, everything is responding, and I’ll be spending a lot of time on the mower this summer. Also, I’ll be spraying weeds and swatting mosquitoes. Our day-time temperatures have been mostly in the 70s and 80s, which means we’ve been saving on electricity. Overall, I believe May 2023 was the nicest I’ve ever experienced, a far cry from last year.