Coming Home from Texas

The morning I left Texas, I was up early to treat my bug bites and the sensitive skin left from my round of hives. The bites were my main concern…lots of calamine lotion on them to stave off itching. I did the last bit of loading into the car; my parents woke up a little early to see me off. It was dark when I set out. There was about an hour when the sun was in my eyes after the sun came up, but the weather was crisp and clear - great for driving.

I stopped at a Pilot for a rest stop in Texas (and to get my morning caffeine). The upper part of the wall was decorated with ‘Texas tourist art’.

The part of my route in Arkansas was easy…just a little construction around the cities but didn’t slow me down.

The last rest stop in Arkansas had a tree with a fresh wound…a big branch must have come off recently. .

I crossed the Mississippi into Tennessee at Memphis heading toward Nashville. The drive was easy enough that I talked with my daughter on the phone (through my car) - noticing areas of recently downed trees along the highway and a kettle of birds (I think they were pelicans…certainly were not vultures…at 70 mph I didn’t take my eyes off the road for better identification).

I turned north at Nashville toward Bowling Green, KY which would be my stop for the first night. Overall – I made it to Bowling Green 20 minutes earlier than my car’s projected ETA first thing in the morning! It was a long day of trouble-free driving.

The next morning, I got up even earlier since I was trying to get myself back to east coast time. It was dark when I set out again even though I was on the eastern side of the central time zone. The driving was easy at first. It was a weekday but I managed to miss rush hours in the few cities along the way.

By late morning I was in West Virginia and enjoying the scenery….shortly after a long highway construction/special closure caused a 30 minute delay but the weather was good and the rest stops along the highway were frequent.

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After a rest stop that included buying gas as I got close western Maryland – I got a rude surprise: snow and wind. I didn’t stop at the first rest stop in Maryland. It was white knuckle driving by then and continued for about an hour through Garrett and most of Allegany Counties. I was lucky that I68 did not have much traffic and few trucks. Everyone slowed. And we all made it through to Sidling Hill where it was cold but not snowing at all! My car was covered with salt, grit…and melting ice.

The sensor in my windshield gave an error that cleared after I use the wiper fluid/wipers so the adaptive cruise control functioned through it all. By the time I got home I had calmed down a little from the stress from that hour of hard driving. The exhaustion from the two days of driving (or maybe more the last afternoon) set in the next day. I took a long nap!

My 2019 in Review - Photos

I managed to pick 26 pictures that were my favorites of the year either because I liked the way they turned out or because of a memory they evoked. I noticed some themes after I had collected them.

All except one are outdoors (although two were taken through my office window so I was standing indoors when I took them).

Many were pictures of plants: bare trees, witch hazel, red yucca seed pod, button bush, joe pye weed, cardoon, sunflowers, beautyberry, and red buckeye (nuts).

7 were pictures of animals or evidence of animals (other than birds): whelk shells, horseshoe crab beginning to roll over, northern red-bellied cooter (turtle), tiger swallowtail butterflies, cicada, spider, gray tree frog.

6 were pictures of birds or feathers: pelican, ibis, gallinule, bald eagle (wet), red-bellied woodpecker.

There are two sunrise pictures: one from my front porch on the first day of 2019 and one from October when we were camping in southern Virginia.

More than half the pictures are from places I go that are close to where I live (i.e. not requiring an overnight trip).

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2019

October is a transition month – warm to cool (sometimes cold at night), leaves turning colors and falling. There is a lot to celebrate. Below are my top ten little celebrations in October:

The river at Middle Patuxent Environmental Area - It is a little hike through the woods to get to the Middle Patuxent River and then a scramble over rocks to set up our field tables and gear on gravel bars near the water. It’s a serene place before the students arrive…and then full of activity. Every field trip is a celebration of the natural world and the sparks of awareness/realization that happens for most of the students.

Arby’s chicken salad – I always celebrate when my husband’s choice of fast food place has their signature chicken salad…wish they had it all the time.

Heron standing on a turtle – Seeing something unexpected often sparks a little celebration that I was in the right place at the right time. A heron stepping on a turtle (and then being surprised when it moved) was one of those times.

Conowingo cormorants – We go to Conowingo Dam to see Bald Eagles, but sometimes other birds are more active. On an October morning it was the cormorants….successfully fishing. Often the fish looked too big for them to eat!

CSA popcorn – This was the first year that we got ears of popcorn from the CSA….the last two weeks of the season.  The kernels came off the cob with relative ease and I popped them in my usual microwave popcorn bowl (not all at once…a little popcorn goes a long way). The pop…the curling up with a good book while eating popcorn…a celebration on a rainy fall day.

CSA fennel – The CSA is my source for fennel…I like the bulb and the feathery top. It’s a different flavor from other veggies and one I celebrate as a rare veggie since I know it never looks as fresh in my grocery store and I haven’t found it in the organic section at all.

Mowing the whole yard – Usually my husband handles the mowing, but this fall I’ve done more since I decided to mulch leaves in place rather than rake. I started out doing half the yard…but I celebrated a day when I did the whole thing and the yard looked great….until the next round of leaf drop. There will still be at least one more mowing since there are still leaves on our maple.

Pelicans in the Chesapeake Bay – I celebrated to see so many pelicans in the Chesapeake Bay when we went to Smith Island. The birds nest and raise young in the area! Based on the number of juveniles we saw – 2019 was a good year for pelicans.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts – What a great place in Richmond. I celebrated that we chose to make the stop in Richmond for a couple of hours….and was pleasantly surprised that my husband enjoyed it too.

A rainy day – finally – We had no rain for about 6 weeks in last summer and early fall…so when it rained, it was cause for celebration.

Trip to Smith Island – Part II

Continuing the post about our trip to Smith Island, MD last weekend….

Brown Pelicans were the big bird show of the trip. I managed to get some birds in flight as herring and mackerel were thrown off the back of the boat and the birds flew in to get the fish before it sank below the water’s surface.

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I took a series of pictures of a pelican flying away after getting a fish…and landing on the water…feet spread out.

There was another bird – close to the boat that took off from the water – a strong stroke of its wings as it raised the legs and then the big wings fully extended as it gained altitude over the water.

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The pelicans use the man-made structures in or near the water like pilings,

Or partially collapsed buildings,

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Or jetties. Other birds like cormorants and gulls also enjoy the same structures. But the pelicans were the numerous and the biggest. There were lots of juveniles…the pelican rookery had a good year.

Zooming – November 2017

In October, most pictures were plants…this month there is a mix but 10 of the 16 are birds! It was hard to not give up and just go with all birds since there were so many in my trek through Texas. Still – I like variety. The locations of the last 6 in the series below will have detailed posts in the next week or so. Enjoy the slide show.

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – Part 2

Continuing the sightings at Hagerman…

We saw several Great Blue Herons (and there were probably more about than we happened to see. One of them was startled my something and I snapped a picture as it took off with its neck still straight out rather than folded into the tight S for longer distance flying.

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There was an Osprey eyeing our cars from the top of the road we were on – the top of a dike between two ponds. My sister contorted herself through the sunroof to take pictures! I had a better vantage point from the backseat comfortably seated although I did catch the edge of the opening in one of the pictures. The osprey migrate through this area.

We saw a blob of white out in the lake and watched it as we got closer. It became two white blobs. Then we were close enough to see what it was: two American White Pelicans. They are well known for migrating through Hagerman. I used my zoom to get some pictures of the one that was awake and preening.

Somehow I decided that most of the ducks were mallards and too far away to photograph on the cloudy day but the one picture I took of a duck and looked at on a larger screen when I got home turned to be a Northern Pintail! I should have looked more closely at the ducks…but I would have needed to take a spotting scope and spend more time; I didn’t have either this trip. This is a wintering area for pintails.

Heading back to the visitor center – we saw two Turkey Vultures in a field. These birds breed in the area but may not stay for the winter. They are stay year-round in Maryland so I was surprised to see the range map for them showing that they are summer residents only in North Texas.

Back at the Visitor Center, we spent some time walking around the butterfly garden and I was surprised at how many butterflies were around. I took two pictures of Sulphur butterflies and discovered when I got home that they might be two different kinds: Cloudless Sulphur

And Clouded Sulphur.

Our visit to Hagerman was a great way to spend 2 hours on fall morning. Next time, I’ll allow myself even more time and do some hiking along with the auto tour.