Go west...

We have friends (BD and MD) who live a couple of hours west of us. While one would think of this town as "in the west," it claims to be the geographic center of the state. Who am I to argue?

Our friends live a few miles out of town at the top of a hill and down a caliche road.*

Their home looks out over pasture and valley - you can see to the dam and beyond. It is somewhat typical of what you expect in this part of the country - cactus, scrub oak, yucca, mesquite, agarita,** and native grasses. Deer come to eat at the house in the afternoons. [After our walk MD threw out a spread of corn and grain to draw the wildlife. We didn't see any deer, but the birds and bunnies competed for their share.]

We hiked the property and noted all the tiny blooms and promises of more. We talked about making agarita jelly when the berries ripen. We hunted for fossils and arrowheads. We debated the nature and source of a dark red metallic(?) rock peppered across the property in spots. [I have specimens for the geology professor at the college.]

Our friends are full of history -  of our state, their family's and our family's. MD read to us from some of his books - including the story of the demise of my 4 times great grandfather (a Texas Ranger who was killed by Indians near Baby Head, Texas***). BD showed me photos of her ancestors and paintings her grandmother made of this wild area. They have roots in this community and state - deep roots ****

This home (designed and build exactly as they wanted it) is warm and welcoming. They have a menagerie as we do - two dogs and a cat (Molly, Ranger and Taz - Molly didn't like me much).

The grandchildren were visiting for the school break.*****  They are wonderful and busy. I have kept up with these grandbabies and their family for years via social media (first email and now FB. I met their mother when she was a child, but their father and I are friends electronically. Guess I need to meet him face-to-face at some point.).

The visit was all too short, but we had to get home. There was talk of some joint adventuring in the future - more rock hunting and talking, eating and story-telling. Sounds good to me.

It is a rugged area. [Grandchildren, including LBS, wander the property with dogs and a cat picking up rocks and fossils and artifacts.]

This is one of those devil plants that is impossible to eradicate. I have forgotten the name.

This area was once under water - part of the ocean.  Fossils of this type of shellfish are everywhere.

You cannot take a step without crunching a shell.

A conglomeration of fossils.

"Shells" in the sand.

BD had mentioned she wanted me to help identify some rocks. OK. I can do wildflowers, but everything else is a "toss up." Here are the rusty red, abnormally heavy rocks littered about the area. I picked up a few and wondered if they weren't iron.

See how it looks like a rusty bit of metal?

I put a handful in DH's pocket. I knew there was a reason I brought him along. I held a magnet to them, but they did not respond.

Agarita. It is beautiful, but sharp and spiky beautiful...

...and blooming.

How gorgeous is this? We may be back to harvest berries for jelly. [You don't pick 'em. You spread a tarp and knock 'em off the bush with a stick.]

There are many varieties of cactus on the property. This one was so small, but lovely. MD called it "horse crippler." When I was a child we always called this type of rounded cactus "devil's pincushion."

But look - beautiful!

There is so much to see everywhere, but you have to look. This is a rock the youngsters had gathered on an earlier visit. It was one of a number they had used to break the ice on a water trough during the Christmas holidays (just like kids would). I love the black veining.

Looks like they have a predator on the property. This bird (dove maybe) didn't make it.

Why don't I walk through tall grass?

Well, it is often hiding a snake or sharp and sticking thing. This one is blooming. Pretty, but it would still hurt.

Remains of a yucca seed pod.

They told us the bluebonnets were blooming by this time last year. They have had a good deal of rain and expect a good wildflower season, but the bluebonnet plants are still tiny.

You can see that it was misting rain on part of our walk as the drops were gathered in the leaves of this bluebonnet plant.

I don't know what this is, but I loved the red veining in the leaves. It is tiny. That is a live oak leaf...about an inch long.

A few wildflowers were blooming.

The native redbud was starting to bloom.

Our friends were going to share a tree with a brother-in-law and had marked the redbud location with tape.

Hey! We have this spiky thing back home!

Sharp (I don't want it in my yard), but the tiny blooms are amazing.

Another tiny blooming plant This was near the scrub oaks. I know this looks "wrong" but the plant was leaning right.

Check out this beauty. I never...

...have seen this tiny thing...

...bloom. [This is why I am a pokey walker. I want to take time to look - really look.]

BD with Molly. Now, Molly sounds like a name for a sweet puppy.  She is a good dog. Molly protects BD - Molly stays by her side. Molly always stayed BETWEEN BD and me. And when I made the mistake of entering the house AFTER Molly and BEFORE BD, Molly let me know all about it. [She didn't break the skin - there's just a bruise.]

Ignore the people - look at this huge cactus!

Yes, this is the same little white flower we have seen on every walk we have taken in the past week. We saw it at the creek, at the new wildlife area, at my friend's house near the figs, and now here.

Check out the spikes on this cactus!

Towards the bottom there were these small fruit (maybe).

Two male cardinals feeding. There were at least two nesting pairs as we saw the females too. These guys put on quite an air show as they battled over the food. It appears they had declared a short truce here. There were loads of mockingbirds and dove on the property too.

A cottontail made an appearance.

Molly guarding the bedroom. If you could see her face here you would note that she was giving me "the eye." I am not sure she ever "trusted" me.

NOTES:

*Folks - this is where caliche comes from. While they may have had to haul in some of the building materials when they built their home, the caliche for their roads was already in place.

** Agarita, Agarito, Algerita, Agritos, Currant-of-Texas, Wild Currant, Chaparral Berry
Mahonia trifoliolata: https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/nativeshrubs/mahoniatrifol.htm

 For jelly recipes: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/recipes/agaritajelly.html

***For more information about the community of Baby Head:
http://1dustytrack.blogspot.com/2014/09/baby-head-texas.html

And a little about John Williams from the Berry's Creek Cemetery page on the Williamson County Historical Commission website:
   
Captain John owned a fine white stallion that could outrun anything in that locale. It was his custom to seek out the hostile Indians, make a strike, and then outrun them to safety. The very sight of this tall man on his superior white horse frightened the Indians and kept them at a distance. One day Captain John joined by a fellow scout, encountered a group of Indians who stayed to fight. The two men were outnumbered and started to run their horses home, but the slower horse was shot and Captain John went back to save his friend. He pulled him up on his white horse, but the two heavy men were too much for the gallant stallion and the Indians were almost upon them. Captain John was adept at hiding from the Indians, so he dismounted, insisting that his friend ride on. He tried to hide under some leaves and brush in a gully, but this time he was found and killed, his body brutally beaten by the savages. This was at Baby Head in Llano County. He is buried at the Hannah Cemetery in Cherokee. 

****MD's ancestor was part of the relief force from Gonzales which joined the fray at the Alamo. If you are interested there is more here:

http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/Andrew.htm

*****They call it "Meme Camp."