Nature
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HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!!! I was a sophomore in high school in Leavenworth in 1970 when the first Earth Day was celebrated. I remember Robert Redford being a big part of this endeavor to wake people up about the connection we all have to making sure our planet is happy, healthy and keeping the environment rather than paving everything with asphalt and concrete. Robert used to vacation in Austin as a young boy and was in awe of the Barton Springs pool, which is fed by a natural spring. He narrated a documentary on it and the activists that were demanding construction be limited at the Spring's beginning started a years long fight by the Citizens of Austin to protest the development upstream by a "less than caring individual", Jim Bob Moffat, who with all his money thought he could rape the land to gain a profit. At a City Hall hearing that went on for over 24 hours, the City of Austin denied his development permit and the Springs were saved. From time to time they have to close it due to runoff from the other developments that were allowed upstream and it is a never ending fight to keep the Springs healthy. It's a constant 68 degrees and people swim in it year round, even in winter, and it is a shock to your system when you jump in on a 100 degree day! There is a salamander that is on the threatened species list and a cave cricket that was also found and were able to declare it a federally protected habitat. One of our clients owned a 2,700 acre ranch where the headwaters for Barton Springs began and I got to help the ranch owners protect their land with conservation easements with the City of Austin and The Nature Conservancy, whereby their land will never be sold for commercial development and is monitored yearly for control burns, hunting, grazing and wildflower restoration. Each year this family had an open house and Mike and I went to several, which included hiking to the beginning of the Springs and seeing the flora and fauna. Just breathtaking. We all can do our part to keep what we have before it is too late. That's why I plant so many polinator flowers. My wild sunflowers are a haven for the migrating Monarchs and this year I didn't even pull up the dandelions because before all the spring flowers have bloomed, the dandelion is one of the few plants out there when the bees need it the most.
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I lived in Austin in 1978 and visited Barton Springs regularly. It had absolutely nothing to do with the girls that would frequently sunbathe topless.
My reputation as an a-hole wasn't helped by the fact that I would tell out of town visitors that Barton Springs was Texas' only natural hot springs.
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Today's photo typifies the gloominess around me. This is the spot near the foundation I think I found. It's thick with cedar. This is called a "bulbous". Cambridge Dictionary shows it as an adjective: Protruding and sticking out in a rounded shape. Classic depiction if I don't say so myself.
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Had to run to town today to get more bird seed. Today's picture shows how many birds were all waiting their turn on a very rare, icy, and snowy morning back in late January.
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Lots and lots of cardinals...do they elect a pope?
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Today's picture is of a green tree frog that I find in my plants when watering. They especially like the palm trees. Swaying on the wind.
I have a wren who has built in a nest in one of my mother-in-law tongue plants and for the second time when watering, she flew out of the nest and brushed right past me above my shoulder. I could hear the flutter of her wings. Mental note to stand further aside when watering!
#RCJH GO KU
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@RockChalkinTexas-0 adorbs!
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@RockChalkinTexas-0 Love these posts! Must be fun every day. We have 2 hummingbird feeders in the gardens around our patio. Those little zoom demons go buzzing by us all the time! In cartoons, we would be spinning like tops while they dart back and forth from one feeder to the other.
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@mayjay Glad everyone is enjoying. I want to see some of you guy's photos though. It gives me a break from all the craziness in our world. The girls and I watched better than a dozen hummers last night before I put their feeders away. I have stood near where they feed holding a feeder in my hand and extending my arm and they will come to me and feed. I can really hear the buzzing when doing that. Last night Hattie was laying on the bench watching us watch the hummers.
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@RockChalkinTexas-0 I wanted to add some pics but couldn't find a link to add a pcture. In ages past, it was in the part of the menu bar accessed by scrolling to the right. Linking text or a url doesn't work because my pics are neither, just jpg's on my phone.
Am I missing something, @approxinfinity ? 🤨
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@RockChalkinTexas-0 I wanted to add some pics but couldn't find a link to add a pcture. In ages past, it was in the part of the menu bar accessed by scrolling to the right. Linking text or a url doesn't work because my pics are neither, just jpg's on my phone.
Am I missing something, @approxinfinity ? 🤨
When you are composing your words, look below the box and you will see a "download" icon. Click on that and then go your photo, hit copy and then go back and paste it in. Easy Peasy!!!!
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Thanks so much! I'll look for some pictures and give it a try. Got an irrigation assignment now from my wife, the Master Gardener. (I guess that's how she learned that Lantana won't water itself!)
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Today's photo captures "contrast." Caught this guy hanging out on the ground around some of the wild iris. Some kind of moth. Never looked him up.
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@RockChalkinTexas-0 wow thats cool. Looks like the a paper snowflake.
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Today's photo shows what is known as a "wildflower prairie" in my backyard that was sown with this specific seed (Mexican Hat) at least 15 years ago, back when Mike was mowing everything with his new Kubota tractor (a man thing I know). He also plotted out a clover field for the deer. When we have a wet winter, the moisture ensures that these beauties come back year after year. I have seen years where there is a carpet of them and then some years just enough in a group to continue the blooming. The bees love them.
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Here's a better close up from TX Highways
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Today's photo is of a banana spider and her web which she built on the outside of my solarium fixed door over many days last year. It was attached to the frame of my sliding door so everytime I went out the door, the web would stretch and then later it would all be back to normal. She left her egg pod hanging from the eaves of the solarium last fall but have yet to see any new babies trickling out. Isn't the web intricate and mesmerizing? Wonders of nature! We watched her get the flies and gnats and occasional moth. She was quick to lasso her prey.
#RCJH GO KU
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Oh wow Im jealous of your beautiful orb weaver. We havent had one here in a while.
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I found this picture of the front of the banana spider!
#RCJH GO KU
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I was at the kitchen sink looking out my garden window at 6:40 this morning cleaning the 3 hummingbird feeders and thought I saw something splashing around in the big bird bath. I turned off my light and could see a 2 year old owlet taking a bath. He frolicked around and was a soaking ball of fluff. Off to the right I see a second owlet swoop in and as the first one got out to shake, he dived right in. Then the first one took off and flew to the closest limb and groomed himself. Starting to get light out and the second one, who was much bigger, took his leisurly time and completely drenched himself. Last spring we had a mom Western Screech Owl and her 3 owlets hanging out in the white oak tree that leads to the she shed. One morning I walked out and my driveway was covered in white poop mounds and when I looked up I saw these 2!! They would watch me as I worked and as I would be in and out of the she shed and at dusk we would watch them stretching before their night on the town. I welcome their ability to keep the unwanted parts of our wildlife in check. I wish they dined on squirrels. That's another day. They would take flight in different directions but be back the next morning. Truly a wonder to call them neighbors!! And now 2 of them are back. We will keep our eyes out. I wish I had my phone with me this morning.
