Cooler

Heat broke overnight. When we woke it was in the low 70s, but felt much cooler. DH had heard thunder at his regular running time, so he did not get up. Ha ha! That means help with the krakens on our walk

The park was empty and we were surrounded by clouds that hinted at rain to come. I think the weather is just teasing us. We will see.

We walked along the edge of the woods and looked for the purple leatherflower vines that had been so prolific last year. Nothing, nothing, nothing, Aha! The wild and crazy seed-cluster gave them away. I found only one bloom, but I suspect there were more hiding in the green that makes up this June woods.

These crazy seed pods make me laugh. I am not surprised this is a cousin to Old Mans Beard.

I almost missed this bloom resting just inches above the ground.

The bois d'arc were showing off with green fist-sized "oranges." And the wafer ash blossoms are peeking out from among the thick growth.

Wafer ash blooming in the woods.

Small puddles were evidence it rained in the park, but we saw no indication a drop had fallen on the yard. But there is still time.

Threatening clouds to the west.

More cottony clouds to the east.

Plague?

I have had a few free hours to work on a project during the past couple of weeks. But there is a "plague of beetles" at the studio where I work. They are everywhere.

The first day I noticed the beetles they just wandered around, mostly drinking from the places I "shook off" my hands after washing (OK. I don't wear gloves when playing in the mud so I wash my hands 10 or 20 times in the 4 or 5 hours I can bear the heat of the studio).

When I came back to work for a few hours earlier this week most of the critters were six-legs-up. A couple ran around (dangerously close to my inattentive feet). I crunched a few by accident. Feeling a little guilty, I left the survivors a small butter container lid of water - it was actually a test. I thought perhaps I would find them crowding around it when I returned, but someone came and cleaned (yea!). There are still beetles for a while, but they appear to be on the wane. I think their time has come and is going.

But it wouldn't be a Texas summer without plenty of replacements. Last weekend at Dinosaur Valley State Park we were bombarded by clicking grasshoppers as we walked along some of the trails. I wondered about that. They are subject of one of those biblical plagues, no?

And now I have discovered they are here and here in numbers.  I met a friend for breakfast today. We meet at a small restaurant in a good sized strip-center. The parking area is huge and primarily hard-top/black-top/ tar and gravel - whatever you want to call it. And today it was inhabited by grasshoppers...hundreds (thousands?) of grasshoppers. Why they were in this inhospitable area is a mystery. Why weren't they in the grass? This is one of those plagues one must watch. They will find the grass and yards and flower beds all too soon.

That's all, just thoughts on the masses of insects responding to increased food supply because we have had a little rain. I am pretty fond of the six-leggers as a general rule, but I like them in reasonable numbers. And we still have the cricket invasion to come. That seems to happen annually, rain or no rain. They are already starting to sing there evening songs. Bummer.


BUNNY UPDATE:

I discovered where they bunny has gone. He ate all my collards and moved across the street. The neighbor just mentioned that they have a cottontail in their garden. We are glad he has found a home and another food supply.

NOTE: Looks like it is not just us. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/nyregion/during-cicadas-swan-song-many-wonder-if-they-missed-the-show.html?hp

Weird little walk - but our friends were in the park!

The dogs are still at the vet. We returned from our large creature adventure (train and dinosaurs) too late to pick them up.

So DH and I took a pretty quick walk to the park and back. It needed to be quick as we overslept a little, dragging after hours on the road in the past few days. I need to calculate our mileage. It might help me give myself a little break.

We were too late to see any creatures save insects, but we saw Banana Man! We have been walking so early and sporadically that we have missed him. And we missed him.

Sorry nothing exciting to share, but will try and catch a couple of bugs and such to add at the end. These are from the yard. Found them while watering a bit this a.m.



I had to use a flash as I am too wobbly with telephoto and tiny subjects. Must have the FAST take of the flash.

True bug on the photinia

Lizard on the aspidistra

Snail (I have tried to eradicate these, but this was in a far corner of the yard).

Unclear what kind of spiders make these webs, but they are interesting.

OK. One flower insisted. Love my daylilies. They have been beautiful this summer.

[Tried to snap a photo of what seemed an enormous spider weaving across our pass-through from the sidewalk to the side yard. I had started to take the shortcut at the end of the walk, but that giant spider scared me. Funny, but when I tried to photograph it, I discovered that it was so small the camera really couldn't register on it. I just got a grey blur. Well, I guess size is relative. The camera sees one thing and the walker sees another.]

San Antonio and parts south...(and home - both of them)...end of the journey

We were not really up early today. The coffee drinkers did feel a need to grab some caffeine about 7, but we let DN sleep. He was up late reading while I wrote of our travels.





 About 8 o'clock we shook him awake, dressed and packed and headed to our breakfast. We had decided to take our time, to stall as long as reasonable. We did not want our trip to end, but end it must.

This hotel was pretty nice. The plants were real! [Yes, we have stayed in some places where the plants were fake. Websites do not tell you if the plants are real or not.] An interesting chandelier hung in the atrium and we rode in an elevator with one glass wall. Needless to say, I stood back by the door.

Pothos and Zamioculcas zamiifolia (Zee Zee or Eternity Plant)

Chandelier (it does not photograph as pretty as it is) and guys looking down to the lobby

Breakfast was nice. DN showed me how to cook my waffle (his did not stick to the pan, but mine did).

Waiting for waffles!

Yum...

OK, mine was not pretty, but it tasted good.

DN went to the desk to mail the postcard he wrote home. And we walked up the stairs to get our luggage since the line for the elevators was entirely too long. This is what happens when traveling with this uncle. He does not like lines.

DN climbing the stairs ahead of me...

Racing up the stairs - guys will be guys!

For a couple of days it seems this vehicle only has known one direction - south. Once we were on the move we headed through the city, south towards my old home town and DN's home.
We didn't stop, but I stared at the buildings old and new in this city that was my college home.

The green roofed Tower Life Building in downtown San Antonio in the distance. I always navigate by it and the
Tower of the Americas

The Tower of the Americas - our second close encounter of the World Fair kind on this trip.

We stopped for gas just south of town and called to let the 'rents know we were on the way.

The is the closest we got to any "Alamo." It reminded us the 4th is around the corner, but we found no fireworks stand open.

I have not taken this route home for years. We passed miles of scrub, prickly pear, and mesquites. An occasional elaborate ranch gate would appear marked by wrought iron and guarded by century plants.

Sunflowers lined the roadway and filled the median.

Median full of sunflowers. In other spots were hedges of oleander (for my sister).

Every now and then we saw heavy equipment clearing brush and "For Sale" signs along the fences.

I know these counties and towns - Live Oak County, Bee County, San Patricio County, Three Rivers*, George West, Mathis, Beeville. This was part of an area my father represented when he was a prosecutor. He criss-crossed these counties on small roads to docket calls and grand juries and trials. I don't think we realize how hard our parents worked until we examine it as adults.

And I thought about how he loved to hunt this scrub. He loved to fish these reservoirs - Lake Mathis and Choke Canyon.

And Daddy took his nephews for hunting and fishing adventures. I only remembered that on my way back north.

We do not always recognize the examples our parents give us, the behavior they imprint in our hearts.

Who knows if we will every travel quite like this again, but I surely am glad to have had this opportunity to experience something new and to share this adventure with DN (and DH).

I think DH enjoyed himself too. As seen below, he gave it his all.

The designated driver finally pooped out.

* Three Rivers gets its name from its proximity to three Texas rivers. North of the city the Atascosa joins the Frio. Then the Frio joins the Nueces just south of the city.

Looking for Billy the Kid...actually, looking for lunch...

DH again turned the hamster mobile south and we headed to Hico, Texas. We debated who the elderly gentleman, a tall tale telling Hico resident, claimed to be all those years. We narrowed it down to Billy the Kid or Jesse James. We really thought it was Billy and the signs (museum and such) told us we were right. (http://www.hico-tx.com/index.php?tag=Billy )

I had sent a text to a dear friend who grew up in Hico. Where do we eat? She recommended Lilly's on main street.

Hico is a tiny town so Lilly's was easy to find. It is actually Jersey Lilly's Mexican Food. DH ordered the cheese enchiladas. I ordered the combination plate. DN ordered the beef burrito. The food was good, but that burrito! It was the burrito to end all burritos. It was an ENORMOUS burrito. We could have split that burrito three ways and still had food left over.

Wall art at Lilly's

We wanted to explore a little before getting back in the car so we looked in the windows of the popcorn and fudge shops (DARN! I forgot it was Sunday.) My friend had told me not to miss the popcorn shop, but it seems someone in the family is sick so they were not opened their regular schedule (so if you are in Hico, try to stop in. They usually open after lunch on Sunday.)

We found Billy in a couple of places.

Statue of Billy the Kid just off the main commercial block.

Hico also has at least two small log cabins. We explored one. It was amazing.

DH and DN exploring one of the log cabins.

DH looking out of the window. You can just see the pattern of his shirt in the one "cleanish" pane of glass.

DN looking at rusty old tools on one wall. I love rusty old tools!

Then stopping for gas, DN laughed and told me to look at the dog. In the truck along-side of us was the perfect cattle dog. He was standing on the toolbox looking down at us. He was that mottled white-brown-black and floppy eared. Best of all, one eye was blue and one eye was brown!

Heading south on 281 we talked about stops we wanted to make - maybe a cave, maybe peaches.

I loaned DN my neck pillow (it is the sleep pillow apparently). He fell asleep and slept almost to San Antonio. I know the trails at the park had worn me out and perhaps that up and down climb (and the excitement of the snake!) had taken a toll on the young one. But I think it was the pillow.

We passed two turns to caves. Those will have to be saved for another trip. We passed our favorite peach stand. It was closed.

We crossed river after river - Bosque, Leon, Lampasas, Pedernales, Blanco, Little Blanco, and Guadalupe. Some seemed to have plenty of water. Some were pretty dry. But we marked our journey south by them.

I think this was the Guadalupe River bridge. These old bridges are such a part of my youth and are disappearing.

We finally found a peach stand as we reached the far outskirts of San Antonio. I took one look at those peaches and asked "Where did you get your peaches?" "From Georgia" she replied. She explained that a late hail storm had taken out the hill country peach crop this year. That explained why there were no peach stands along the road. Bummer.

We visited relatives in San Antonio. We told our tales and promised photos.

After a swim in our hotel pool and an hour or so of reading, we crashed. Only one day of our trip remains. It is the last push home. We are going to take our time in the morning and savor the last few hours of the journey.

NOTE: I should admit that DH and I could not figure out how the keycard worked at the hotel. Fortunately DN is young and technically savvy. He waved the card in front of the lock and "click" it opened.

Dinosaur Footprints

The day after a ride on the Texas Eagle, what do you do?

Well, you breathe a sigh of relief when your next ride shows up in time to load the car and head out to a diamond of the Texas Park system, Dinosaur Valley State Park. We arrived early enough to check out all three sites of dinosaur footprints (without extreme overheating).

But first we took the required photo with the giant fiberglass dinosaur models at the entrance to the park. It seems these creatures were created for the New York World's Fair of 1964. DH lived in NY City then and saw them in their first location. We visited Dinosaur Valley a few years ago and on that occasion he shook his head and said, "This looks just like the one from the World's Fair." And, upon reading the sign, he discovered that it was.

[I suppose it is only fair that New York give the park something since the records show a huge section of the riverbed was removed and is currently in the dinosaur area of the American Museum of Natural History. It is one of our favorite museums and I have seen the tracks there, but in hindsight, perhaps a cast of the tracks would have been more appropriate.]

The Paluxy River was low and murky on this visit. But we found footprints at each location.

On our first sojourn onto the rocks of the riverbed we looked and looked and tried not to be disappointed. Then the nephew said, "Look! That sign says TRACKS." And he was right. Across the river was an area of tracks roped off so that people wouldn't damage them.

Nothing but rocks.

Nephew looking at the tracks (see part of the sign just behind him)

These tracks are near the bank in the "blue hole" area. Of course the swimming hole was really yucky green. The best track is seen at the top of the photo in the water near the center of the dry rock.

We followed a short trail down to the water for our last look at dinosaur impressions. This may have been the most impressive. It looked interesting close up, but really shows best in the photos. Go figure.

See.

We were told to look for tracks "and a tail drag"

The best we could tell this is the tail drag.

DH and DN compared their feet and the tracks (Duly noted was that DN wears a larger shoe than DH. Wow!).

Boulders on the bank

Bank of the Paluxy

It is hard to see the tracks unless the water is low, but I was a little sad at the state of the river. I love a clean flowing river.

Still there was adventure enough for the day.

In addition to the tracks we saw many cardinals, dragonflies and bees, a mass of grasshoppers clicking and jumping all around us, a big bed of old fashioned red ants (you almost never see those anymore), and a snake.

Yes, our friend Jake the snake was waiting for us on our first search for tracks. We were walking around on the rocks when DN shouted "SNAKE!" and backed up.  I froze. I didn't see the snake and was afraid to move. After much shouting and pointing, I saw the snake (probably more frightened by us than we were by him). He swam towards the open part of the river and then stopped. It was almost as if he was posing for his closeup.

I did not get close (grateful for telephoto lenses).

There may be more photos of Jake, but this is the best unedited one. See him resting on the middle rock?

We left Dinosaur Valley wanting to know more about these creatures who walked our state. The volunteer in the gift shop talked about fairly recent discoveries of bones and the naming of the Texas State dinosaur ( http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Texas/Dinosaur_Brachiosaur.html ).

We left Dinosaur Valley with memories (and a T-shirt).

It was time to head south - to Hico for lunch and a look around.

Train Ride II

What is there to do on a four hour train ride?

We talked a lot. I rarely get to see my nephew without lots of other family around and all kinds of interruptions to our conversations. When we ran out of talk he read and I took bad photos out the window of the train. And then we talked some more. And he showed me the chess game on his Kindle. He showed me some other amazing games and I became dizzy at the speed of some of them.

Our lunch "basket" - bananas, yogurt, pudding, sandwiches, drinks, Funyuns...

We also had lunch and I took a short nap. This lovely child swears that I did not snore, but perhaps he was being his genuinely kind self. In any case, we did see many sights outside the sometimes fast, sometimes slow moving train.

We saw other trains speed by:

This one looked empty.

This one seemed full of gravel.

We saw rivers:

Narrow and deep

Wide

And most suffering from the drought

We saw fields:

Some with crops...

Some with farmers...

Some filled with sunflowers (I failed to get a good photo, but they were lovely)

And some with dirt just being turned...

We saw vehicles:

Some stopped for us in town...

Others had to wait at crossings in the country...

Some seemed to be racing us down the road...

We kept hearing a train whistle in the distance and I would think, "A train is coming." But then I realized it was us. It was our train whistle.

It was a great trip.

We know the view might have been nicer had we not missed the wildflowers, but we had to take the opportunity to ride when school was out and there was time to head north to "Cow Town" for a short visit.

Once there we were picked up at the station and then escorted around town by a long-time friend and Fort Worth native. We saw parts of the historic city and the Cultural District. We ate hamburgers (one of the best I have ever eaten) and talked.

We swam in the hotel pool. We watched some TV. And the aunt fell asleep while the nephew saw and heard fireworks after the symphony performance in the park a few miles away.

Tomorrow Glen Rose and parts south...