Last month when I was in Carrollton, my daughter texted that the moon, Venus, and Jupiter were visible in the west. I went out…it was a clear night…and the horizon was clear enough to see all three. I opted to take a picture of the moon since my camera could focus on it well enough to see some craters. It also reminded me of the Alice in Wonderland Cheshire Cat – where the cat’s body has disappeared and all that is left is its iconic grin.
I arrived at the Elm Fork Nature Preserve at the same time as a Texas Master Naturalist (I could tell by his hat!) which turned out to make the walk through the circuit into a guided hike. I didn’t take as many pictures as usual. The day was brisk and sunny…pleasant in a zipped-up jacket.
Toward the back of the loop are several areas of wetlands/open water. At least one of them was an oxbow of the Elm Fork of the Trinity River – now disconnected. There were ducks, grebes, and coots…and a cormorant in a tree. They were far enough away to be almost out of range of my camera, and I didn’t take the time to get better images stabilized with my monopod.
The area was owned by the same family from 1861 until it became the preserve and was always used for household wood (shelter, cooking, eating) until it became the preserve. It is a rare parcel in this part of Texas that has always been timbered. The trees are all different sizes and I found myself taking pictures of ones that were snags or pieces of trees. When the trees leaf out it will be a good place for canopy pictures --- looking up through the trees.
A tree that had fallen across the path and been cut was particularly interesting. It had wavy markings…like meandering rivers taken from above.
There is a structure, but it doesn’t appear to have been used recently; it is beginning to deteriorate. The place does not appear to get a lot of visitors (and the Master Naturalist told me that he’d been there a few times when he thought some of the people there were not nature lovers or fishing). So – I’d like to go again but it might not be a place to go on my own.
The temperatures were getting warm enough in Carrollton TX for some of the hardy spring flowers to make an appearance.
The naked lady lilies are just leaves now…building up for their bloom during the summer. The daffodils and hyacinths are blooming.
I noticed the fallen rooster and rusting toy surrounded by brown debris from last season and the greening new growth of spring. The rooster’s fall, twisted feather and the rust on the base/foot is new this season. I didn’t attempt to right it.
The small landscapes appealed to me as well – the small rock that looks like a big cliff next to the green vegetation, the single pink flower at the base of a big mulberry tree, a red leaf surrounded by crinkled brown leaves and delicate new green growth, and a dandelion already in bloom (also at the base of a mulberry tree).
My favorite image from the February walk around the yard was a backlit dandelion seed puff. Yes – the background is messy…but I always attempt to capture the situation as it was in nature, not something contrived.
It was a breezy and cloudy day when I went to Josey Ranch in Carrollton last month. There were fewer Northern Shovelers and American Widgeon around and they seemed to be resting or grooming rather than feeding.
The American Coots were still around in about the same numbers as in January.
There was one Bufflehead…feeding. It was in the middle of the small lake and only spending seconds on the surface of the water.
There was one cormorant – looking around more than feeding. I am beginning to wonder if there are many fish in the lake.
The Lesser Scaups were around and coming to the shore thinking the people were going to feed them – although that didn’t happen while I was there. In the 14 second video, most birds are male Lesser Scaups. There is one female and a coot (or two).
By the time I go in March, many of the wintering birds will probably be gone…but maybe there will be Mallard ducklings…or maybe a cygnet.
I drove around the wildlife loop at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in late February on my way down to Carrollton TX. The snow geese were still there. It seemed like there were more than the usual numbers of the darker morphs.
I managed to catch one goose flying across the frame. Notice the way the wing tips/feathers move.
The pintails were there as well although there didn’t seem to be as many as on previous visits.
Canada Geese and at least one Great Blue Heron always seem to be around.
I took a picture of an active grasshopper pump – practicing with some foreground blur.
The Greater Yellowlegs seems to always be in the same bit of water when I am there!
As I stopped at the visitor center, I noticed a sumac near where I parked and opted to take some macro images of the seed pods. They look a little like grapes…until the fuzziness becomes visible in the higher magnification.
I am anticipating a lot of changes by the time I make the March road trip to Carrollton….
The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.
Can clothes ever be fully recycled? – Evidently a lot of progress has been made in the past few years – translating processes from small to large scale production. But recycling is not the only thing that needs to change about the fashion industry. ‘Fast fashion’ is cannot the future!
A simple thing you can do to benefit backyard birds and bees – Wait until it is 50 degrees to do spring cleaning around your yard. Those leaves and dead stalks harbor insects….and birds need insects, particularly when they are raising their young! I have a big tuft of ornamental grass which I am waiting to cut. Last summer it was full of insects and I except some eggs/larvae are there now.
An incredible journey – Chinook making their way up the Klamath River in the spring and fall. (infographic)
Nearly 30 dangerous feedback loops could permanently shift the Earth’s climate - A change….triggering more change…a cycle. Our planet is full of complex connections that are often not well understood.
As Millions of Solar Panels Age Out, Recyclers Look to Cash In – Hopefully solar panels, and a lot of other end-of- life products, can become part of the ‘circular economy’ rather than going to landfills.
See Thousands of Sandhill Cranes Gather in Nebraska – Maybe next year we’ll plan to go to Nebraska to see the crane migration!
The beautiful flowers that bees can’t use – Nectar deficient hybrids (like double petal petunias) or non-native plants often don’t provide food for pollinators…even though people find bigger, brighter flowers appealing. The article also provides a link to a free book: Pollinator-Friendly Parks which might be useful for homeowners who want to support pollinators.
Anti-dust tech paves way for self-cleaning surfaces – Wouldn’t this be nice…my computer screens seem to attract dust!
'The Great Displacement' looks at communities forever altered by climate change – A book review that documents people surviving a hurricane in the Florida Keys or a big fire in California (and other climate change related disasters) and making decisions in the aftermath. A quote from the author, Jack Bittle: "In the United States alone, at least twenty million people may move as a result of climate change, more than twice as many as moved during the entire span of the Great Migration."
A Long Low Tide Dries Up Venice’s Smaller Canals – Wow…we usually think of Venice being more prone to flooding.
My trip to Carrollton the last week of February started at dawn…getting earlier as we move toward spring and before Daylight Savings Time. I took a picture from the window of my car as I left. I like the early start. I head west and then south so the morning sun is not in my eyes at all!
The drive down was easy, and I indulged in my usual tangential thinking as I drove. As I passed through Muskogee, OK, I remembered that my parents had lived there briefly in the mid-1950s when I was a toddler. I wondered where they had lived. I asked my mother when I got to Carrollton; she remembered it was a well-built small house in an upscale neighborhood.
I stopped at the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge on the way down; more about that next week.
The drive back from Texas to Missouri started out foggy and then turned drizzly. A little over an hour into the drive, I stopped at the Pilot in Denison (just south of the Texas/Oklahoma border on my route); it was the most interesting stop of the drive toward home complete with Texas flag table tops for the food concessions and swirls of leaves cut out of the trash receptacle covers.
The sign over the entrance to the restroom area was the high point of the stop!
On a sunny day last week, we headed south to Table Rock State Park – situated on the shore of Table Rock Lake. The drive down had many roadcut cliffs….curving highway…scenic. We parked near the boat launch and walked along the paved lakeside trail. There were frequent ad hoc trails going all the way down to the lake…using ‘stairsteps’ in rock down to water level. We saw at least one person fishing. There was rain in the previous days so the eroded rock held small pools of water.
The first side trail we took down to the water included a surprise. There was a whole watermelon at the water’s edge! How did it get there? Did someone put it in the water to cool down then forget it was there? We wondered how long it had been at the edge of the lake since we are well past the season for them to be in grocery stores. It was the only ‘trash’ we saw during our walk!
I was fascinated by the intensity of the color on wet rocks compared to the rocks that had dried out on the shore.
The water itself changed the way the rocks look too. These two pictures are of the same area but the water acts as a distorting lens!
I turned aroud and took some zoomed images of drying debris, a chuck of rock, and the layers in one of the ‘stairs’ – then made my way back up to the paved trail.
We started looking at the sights along the trail. There were limestone boulders along the edge and I started noticing inclusions in some of them. Some areas were forested…with enough underbrush to support communities of lichen and moss….and, my favorite, turkey tails (shelf fungus).
We didn’t see a lot of birds – and I didn’t get any pictures. It was not the best time of day for bird watching. I saw a nuthatch, crows, and turkey vultures…without even going into ‘birding’ mode.
There were not a lot of people in the park this time of year even though the day was warm enough for a picnic (there was one family with one children that was enjoying a snack). It is easy to imagine the place being full of people when the temperature is warmer…and everyone would enjoy the activities on or in the water!
Now to plan some other day trips….take advantage of any pleasant day to do a little more exploring of places within an hour of where we live!
Edamame pods have become my favorite light meal/snack. I usually look for shelled edamame for stir fries but recently discovered snack-sized packages of frozen soybeans in pods that are intended to be microwaved 2.5 minutes in the package…then eaten. They are unseasoned. I like them plain but variety could be added by sprinkling with your favorite no salt seasoning. They have 9 grams of protein…90 calories…along with fiber, essential fatty acids and isoflavones….probably one of the healthiest snacks around.
My daughter had introduced me to soybeans in pods served as an appetizer at a restaurant while we were in Canada. The learning curve to get the beans out of the pod neatly was an adventure…but didn’t take long. In restaurants they are often served with salt crystals. I’m glad I noticed the packages at my grocery store so I can include them more frequently in my diet.
The pods are left after the snack. They are not edible. Another edamame pod adventure: some macro photography (with my phone – a Samsung Galaxy S10e). The pods retain the bumps from where the beans were….and begin to curl as they dry. The inside has a lighter layer that looks like padding for the bean. There are also bristles and tiny dark channels on the outer part of the pod.
Now - I’ve collected enough pods over several days. I am putting them in my small compost pile.
Six South African Scenes and verse was published the year Wilhelm Westhoven died (1925) and contained 6 of his paintings. I selected two of the paintings for this post…encourage looking at the book on Internet Archive to see the other 4!
According to a brief biography on Artefacts, he was born in German in 1845, wrote a paper about the Forth Bridge in Scotland (a cantilever railway bridge), and emigrated to the Cape Colony in 1892 where he was an engineer in the Department of Public Works until he retired in 1904. After reading the biography…I checked to see if the paper Forth bridge was available on Internet Archive….and am looking forward to browsing through its illustrations (here).
We moved to Missouri eight months ago and have adjusted in many areas…but there are still things to do. My previous ‘settling in’ posts were made in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th month; it’s time for another update. The upheaval of the move is waning. The changes between our 4th month and now are more gradual; there isn’t the frenzy of activity like in the first few months. We’ve voted in the mid-term election, subscribed to a local news feed… are experiencing winter and working on our 2022 tax filing (it is more complex this year with the sale of a house and two state taxes). I’ve sustained my treks to Texas; it’s become apparent that the monthly plan might need to be adjusted quickly depending on the care my parents need; the priority of being available for my parents will keep me from signing up for volunteer gigs or university classes. Our three kittens are keeping us close to home too; they need a lot of attention but we have successfully done day trips and 1-2 nights away; my daughter checks on them when we are gone for more than a few hours.
There are still things we are anticipating:
Spring in Missouri. The rhododendron flowers were already fading by the time I first looked at the house…the irises had already bloomed too. I’ll enjoy seeing the flowers…supplemented with the additional bulbs I planted last fall. We are also talking about day trips for gardens and birding hotspots within the state.
All-electric. We are talking more about the order of steps we will take to move the house toward being ‘all-electric’ over the next 3 years or so…and then adding solar panels/battery.
Dark sky. My husband is keen to go to a dark sky site…hopefully once the temperature is a bit warmer, he’ll be able to do it.
Yard. I have been putting off contacting a nursery…but need to do it soon if I want things in before it gets too hot (and potentially dry) this summer.
Overall – we are not venturing out very much right now because of the cold…but we’ll do more outdoors in the spring. And maybe meet more of our neighbors too!
February started out bitterly cold – with sleet/snow that stayed on the ground for days. I bundled up and ventured outdoors with my camera to document the situation in our yard. There had been some freeze-thaw cycles already, but the concrete and rock covered beds were still very white. A downspout had dribbled water than had frozen before it could escape. In the yard, the grass bristled through the whiteness; I left footprints, but they didn’t go very deep. The yard was pristine; our Missouri yard (and neighborhood) is not a deer highway like our Maryland house was. The iris leaves in one bed seemed unfazed by the cold (hope that continues to be true!).
I went through the house to go out to the front because all the gates were frozen in place. I was surprised that mine were the only footprints on our sidewalk; with schools closed and the bitter cold, people were not taking walks as usual.
I was intrigued by the round seed pods on one of our larger crepe myrtles. The wind and gravity had emptied some of them, but others still contained the seeds from last fall. The seeds were ready to scatter…they fell out easily with a nudge of my fingernail.
The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.
Why the world feels so unstable right now – Intermittent instability of nonlinear systems of nature and global society –weather and climate, the economy, a pandemic, a war. We attempt to model nonlinear systems to predict these intermittent instabilities…but it is hard. Right now there seem to be significant nonlinear systems interacting: weather/climate + diseases (COVID-19 and bird flu (US)) + inflation + Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Completing The Electrical Circuit at Kilauea in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park – The technique to get a detailed ‘CAT scan’ of the volcano…..mapping locations of subsurface magma in 3D.
Ex-cell-ent Clouds off Chile’s Coast – Open and closed-cell marine stratocumulus clouds photographed by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites. Learning more about these clouds….contributing to better weather prediction and improving the accuracy of climate models.
The Surprising Substances Ancient Egyptians Used to Mummify the Dead – Evidently some of the substances the embalmers were using came from Southeast Asia. Perhaps embalming instigated early global trade.
Algae robots transport antibiotics to infected tissues (infographic) – Researchers inserted the modified algae into mouse windpipes…they spread into the lung tissue and killed pathogenic bacteria!
Hundreds of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Designs were never built. Here’s what they might have looked like. – Computer generated models from David Romero.
5 expert tips to protect yourself from online misinformation – We all need tools to help us distinguish information from misinformation.
Montessori: The world’s most influential school? – I sought out a Montessori pre-K and K for my daughter about 30 years ago…and it fit her needs. I have no way of analyzing how closely the school adhered to classical Montessori ideals.
An action plan to prevent Alzheimer’s disease – Defining what 2nd generation memory clinics should include.
Gallup: Fewer than half of Americans believe US healthcare is good enough – Not surprising really – it’s expensive and we are all getting more skeptical that the system is as effective as it should be for what it costs. Evidently the people in my age group (over 55) were generally more satisfied with their health care than other age groups; people old enough to qualify for Medicare may not be as anxious about costs but I was surprised that I am in the minority in thinking US healthcare is ‘subpar’ rather than ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ based on the effectiveness issue and the structure of the system overall.
There were two frosts in late January when I was in Carrollton. The first day started out at 30 degrees and 96% humidity. I made the first round of pictures around the yard of my parents’ house not long after sunrise.
Frost covered the upper surfaces of everything.
The seed pods of the red yucca are my favorite images – coated with frost that highlights the ridges and folds of the pods.
I went inside for about an hour then photographed more plants and objects. The crystals on a tiled counter near the gas grill were the largest (mostly columns).
On another morning, the temperature was 34 degrees and the humidity was not as high…but frost formed anyway. I wondered if the oxalis would be able to withstand the two days of frost. The tiled counter was encrusted with crystals again.
The birds on the water at Josey Ranch in Carrollton, TX changed from when I was there in December. The Northern Shovelers were not there in January! The American Wigeon were there the first day I went in January but not on the second. It seems a little early for them to be migrating; maybe they have moved to a bigger pond. On my first visit – I saw American Wigeon, Lesser Scaup, American Coot, Great Egret, Ruddy Ducks, and gulls.
The surprise birds of the day were a pair of Buffleheads. They were busy diving for food! I’ve seen them occasionally at Josey Ranch before but they are not in the ‘regular’ birds there.
On the second day I visited, there were gulls lined up on the walkway near the parking lot. The Lesser Scaup, American Coot, and Great Egret were still around. The mallards seemed more numerous than on the first day (seemingly skewed toward males). There was a Great Blue Heron almost hidden in the reeds. The Ruddy Ducks were still there but sleeping just as they were on the first day.
I walked around to the native plants in a terraced area between the Library and Senior Center. It was almost too windy for macro pictures…but I tried anyway. Some berries were the only color….but the shapes of the dried remains of the plants from last summer are interesting enough.
The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.
Milk packaging influences its flavor – Light blocking containers are best….and plastic/glass is better than paperboard. So why aren’t paperboard cartons being phased out (they are also harder to recycle than plastic milk cartons).
Clean Energy Saw as Much Investment as Fossil Fuels for the First Time in 2022 – Good! And hopefully this will continue to be the case…and we don’t allow any fossil fuels to be counted as ‘clean.’
What Secrets Lie Beneath This 17th-Century French Aristocrat’s Smile? – Decaying teeth and an ivory prosthesis (in front) held in place with gold wire….and a woman kept her smile and place in society.
A curious Colorado bear strikes a pose for 400 selfies on a wildlife camera – A bear that noticed the camera!
Leprosy: the ancient disease scientists can’t solve – There is treatment…but diagnosis is complicated and there is no cure. And we still don’t know how it is transmitted.
Researchers find rare 17-pound meteorite in Antarctic ice – A team spent a week and half in the Antarctic summer (14 degrees Fahrenheit…so still very cold) sleeping in tents and riding snowmobiles to search for meteorites. They found small ones….and a big one!
New mosquito repellents that work better than DEET – Maybe the next generation mosquito repellent?
In 2021, 20% of electricity in the US was generated from renewable sources – And wind surpassed hydroelectric in 2019 as the predominant renewable source. Hopefully, the percentage of electricity from renewables will go up quickly in the coming years.
Three grizzly bears tested positive for avian flu in Montana - The animals were euthanized in the fall; suspected to have rabies, they tested negative. But they were positive for avian flu. The bears were ‘in poor condition and exhibited disorientation and partial blindness, among other neurological issues.’ So – the current outbreak of avian flu that has impacted wild and domestic birds (more the 52 million have been killed or culled to contain the virus) is impacting more than birds.
Drone video of moose shedding its antlers – Wow – it happened so quickly; the video is only 16 seconds! The moose just shakes its body, and the antlers fall off. It seems to want to leave the scene quickly once they are off too.
I was in Carrollton, TX the last week of January. It was almost spring-like on a day early in the week. I took pictures of the yard – dried or frost damaged vegetation – but noticed signs of spring as well: the Japanese quince in bloom, the fronds of the naked lady lilies up through the mulch and some new leaves on the rose bushes. The oxalis had recovered from the deep freeze in December…providing swaths of green in the flower beds.
The bird feeder is very popular with a flock of house sparrows. They like the larger seeds – often flying to nearby bushes with their seed – leaving the feeder available for their friends. There are occasional chickadees and house finches that comes to the feeder too.
The mourning doves clean up the seeds on the ground – the rejects of the feeder birds.
There seemed to be more robins around in the front of the house – another sign that spring is on the way!
January is usually the calm after the flurry of holidays and other big celebrations in November and December. Still - there are plenty of little celebrations to choose from; these are the top 10 for January 2023.
50th wedding anniversary. My husband and I celebrated our 50th anniversary….a delivered lunch with our daughter. Our anniversary celebrations have always been relatively low key; this year I thought more about my parents’ 70th anniversary back in December…savoring enduring relationships with my family.
A new low weight for the year. I put on some weight in November and December. I put myself on a “healthy food” diet (logging my food into the Cronometer app) and celebrated that it worked…slowly but surely taking off pounds!
Lake Springfield. A winter meadow…and black vultures. Celebrating being outdoors in winter.
Another frost data point. I celebrated getting a second frosty morning to add to my project…noting temperature and humidit and photographing the crystals.
Hurray – bone density results still in the ‘normal’ range. Every time I get new bone density check, I am always a little anxious. I am leery of medications to treat bone density issues so I’m glad my preventative exercise - calcium – magnesium – Vitamin D regime seems to be maintaining my bones.
A sunny day in Carrollton (and seeing a downy woodpecker). After clouds and rain, a sunny day is always welcome and seeing a small woodpecker getting breakfast in a tree near a window adds to the celebration.
Coursera anatomy course. Starting a new course…celebrating filling in gaps in what I already know. Its always fun to slip back into the student role.
Pumpkin custard with peanut powder. I celebrated the success of my culinary experiment of the month: adding a cup of peanut powder to pumpkin custard (and rounding up on the spices). Yummy…and high in protein.
Snow (pictures) from Nixa/Springfield. I celebrated the event while I was in Texas.
Frosty morning in Carrollton. I added 2 frost events into my project while I was in Texas…celebrated that the conditions were cold enough…humidity high enough too.
I was in Texas last week when I snowed at home in Nixa, Missouri – this is the third snow in Missouri that I’ve missed entirely! This time there was about 5 inches of snow overnight. I enjoyed the event vicariously through pictures.
My daughter sent pictures of the snowy scenes from her windows in Springfield first thing in the morning; she has big plans to enjoy her Snow Day. Her house is on a corner; one street was plowed but it wasn’t the one her driveway is on! The magnolia – with its big leaves – held clumps of snow. Even the maple, that doesn’t have any leaves at all, looked flocked.
My husband sent pictures a bit later. Around our house, the pines and hollies held a lot of snow. There were tracks in the snow from an animal – not sure what it could have been; the area we live in now is not at all like our Maryland yard that seemed to be a highway for deer heading back to the forest.
I was surprised that the Japanese dogwood (a deciduous tree) held so much snow. I checked it when I got home and was glad that none of the branches seemed damaged.
My husband walked out our back gate and then around the pond. It was a winter wonderland!
Maybe eventually – I’ll be at home when a big snow event happens!
Copyright © 2024, Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
Celebrating the whole of life....
Thanks for visiting my blog! Enjoy the photo picks from 2023:
Copyright © 2024, Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
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