A new moth in our yard

Hello, everyone.

As y'all know, we wanderers appreciate a lot of facets of nature. Today we saw a moth we had never seen before. Never heard of it either. But there they were: Rothschildia forbesi, known in Spanish as Quatro Espejos, the Four Mirrors. It's a wild silk moth native to South Texas and points south.

There are two of them here. They seem to have just crawled out of their cocoons. Aren't they beautiful!

A cute little critter we saw a while back

Hello, everyone.  I had meant to post this a couple of weeks ago and forgot. Oops!

We were walking at Bentsen State Park and almost stepped on this little guy.

This is a young tortoise, who was crossing the path. He was about the size of my palm. As he was in the middle of the path, we moved him over to where he was going so he wouldn't get stepped on or run over.

Beautiful nature

 Hello, everyone.  

Today I am posting a photo of a gorgeous spider that lives in DD's garden.

Isn't she colorful! I think she's an orb weaver, which likes to catch and eat various insects that fly into its web. They are said to be great for gobbling up pest flies and little moths. 

A picture from April

 Hello, everyone.

The old homestead has been busy with various repairs and improvements lately and new photos haven't been taken...other than some more breakfast photos, that is. (I should really take some dinner pictures, too, but I never think of it in time.)

This picture was taken on the thirtieth of April of this year, on a day we drove around a lot in Colorado. This was the day we saw antelope, elk, beefalo, buffalo(?), a lama, and so on.

We had pulled over to let the pup stretch her legs a little, near a stream and across from this view of mountains and snow and some large grazing animals in the distance.

A little farther down the road we saw this sign. Possibly the animals above were some of the conserved wildlife?

A pre-Christmas stroll in nature

 Hello, everyone!

Last week, taking a break in those last few days before Christmas, a group of us went for a small hike at El Sal del Rey. This is a very historic salt lake in the north part of the county. 

Long time readers may remember Sal de Rey being visited in the past. This was a return visit, and an introduction for the younger members of our party. We were four adults, two children (both under 10 years) and 3 dogs. Truly it was an expedition! And everyone in the group, even the youngest, finished the walk under his or her own power. 

A view of the lake and the sky that day. The area that looks like trampled snow is the salt. It was not a bright crystalline display that day, even though the conditions were very dry and the water level of the lake was low. We concluded that there had been a small amount of rain in the area recently.

The path from the parking area to the lake was just about 2 miles one-way. As some of the party were dogs, and some were children, we took it easy and enjoyed walking along the trail and over part of the salt to the edge of the water. 

The oldest puppy in the group, truly an elderly lady, finished up her four miles with no problem. As y'all can see, she even had a big smile on her face at the end, after having a few sips of fresh (bottled) water from the doggie dish.

Pets are allowed at Sal del Rey if they are on a leash. As it is a wildlife refuge, allowing our pups to run wild after any rabbit or javelina they see is not appropriate. (Some of the wildlife could injure the pups, too.) 

It's a good year for the lizards

 Hello, everyone.

 I was loading photos into the computer and doing some cropping and noticed that, since we have scads of lizards this year, we have some photos of them. And, though I hadn't noticed before, they don't all look the same.

This little guy hangs out at the palapa. He bobs his head at us.

This fellow likes the pergola. Here he's showing off his red patch next to the pot of succulents.

This little guy was under a dog water dish. It's got a sheltered spot between the outside wall and the underside of the bowl. That broad-leaved tendril near him is indeed an ivy stem. It's part of a pot of needlepoint ivy. I didn't think those could grow here but this one is doing fine.

There are also many, many young lizards around, which we haven't caught on camera. They are half the size of these when we first see them, and then they grow to be like these. 

Morning walk sights

 Hello, everyone.

"Morning walk sights" is the title of this post, but there is actually only one walk picture for this one.

It is from yesterday's walk, I looked up and saw a great cloud of birds flying in a line. By the time I got the phone out and awakened, the organized line had turned into a sort of blob. Is it migrating hawks?

This was not as early as the last morning sky photo, we left the house about 0700 yesterday. 

On the sewing front, I bought some fabric from mail order and thought I was getting a knit. Oops. And oddly enough the penny didn't drop for me until *after* I had cut out a top in it. Now I am going to try putting a zipper in on the side...it goes over the head fine, but the semi-fitted waist area doesn't go over the bust well at all. So I will try adding an invisible zip on the side seam.

On the plus side, I did have enough off-cut to make a gift bag. 

This bag has French seams (there is a tiny "decorative element" at the sides where the serging to remove raveled threads sticks out), boxed corners, and a casing with two openings at the top. I ran one ribbon all the way around from the left opening and the second ribbon all the way around from the right opening, and knotted the ends to keep the ribbons from getting lost. It is a reusable bag! With a cheerful, non thematic print that can be for almost any kind of gift.

The fabric was bought from Fabric.com, and I think it's a rayon or rayon-poly blend. Very light weight, but opaque.

A pretty butterfly

Hello, everyone.

On this, the anniversary of our nation's Declaration of Independence, a lighter post:

DH saw a new butterfly flying around the yard. When she perched in the palapa, he caught this photo.

DD tells us that she is a Mexican Blue-wing. She's certainly a pretty little creature!

Happy Fourth of July to all.

The natural world: creeping critters seen

Hello, everyone.

Lately, since there is time to look more carefully, there have been some odd creatures seen. (Not a snake this time!)

Hike and Bike walk

Subdivision walk

The one on the left was scootching along in the gutter in the subdivision. It was about 5 inches long. (Appx. 13 cm. for my metric zone readers.)  It had rained a day or so before, at least an inch and maybe two. Possibly the critter's home was inundated.

The one on the right was at the Hike and Bike trail,crossing the path. It was about an inch and a half long.

Other than saying "lots and lots of legs" I am not sure what they are.

Progress report on the mason bee nest: the mud plug is still in place, the babies are obviously too young to have hatched, eaten their food, pupated, and come out.  We just check in on it and keep from putting our drink glass on top of it!

Re: beading, nothing at the moment. 

Re: sewing, hemming some napkins for the practice of it, thinking of making some purificators afterwards. The mitered corners and quarter inch hems of the one help to prepare the muscles for the other, is my thought. 

Re: quilting, my homework for the Kimberbell Jingle All The Way quilt class is pretty much caught up. The "bonus" small chenille tree is still sitting here and might end up framed in a small oval or rectangular frame to be a Christmas decoration on its own. (This would give an opportunity to add beads to it, always a plus!) 

Stash report: still a lot of it. But the napkins are using up some black linen. Some of the blue linen got turned into the last set of coasters, but there is more in the house I think. A bit of the leftover blue satin got turned into a pouch for an eyeglasses wiping cloth, that could be a gift idea for this winter.

Spring flowerpots update, and a wild creature

Hello, everyone.

The last few posts have shown the progress of the holdover lily plant. This may be the last one for that plant this year, if it doesn't surprise us all by making seeds. (I haven't seen any bees coming around.)

Y'all can see that the main bulb has made many buds this year. It also has "pupped out" several stems in the pot and maybe in a couple-three years they will bloom, too. At the left in this picture is the stem of another Easter lily that was bought this year. It gave about 4 blossoms. In a little while I will find a larger pot--larger than the 1 gallon one inside the "decorator" purple can--and see if we can have two holdover lilies next year.

The yellow is one of the daylily plants that was brought over from the old house. The other three found homes in a flower bed, but there wasn't room enough for all four. It seems to be happy in the pot, anyway.

On another note, in March on one of the days we were sharing an afternoon gin and tonic (to frighten the plague-virii away) we saw a critter crawling around in the radio.

It's not very big, and we have no idea what manner of moth or butterfly it should become down the road. We did follow our standard rule of thumb: don't touch the fuzzy caterpillars. Some of them have stingers!

Today is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, and by official proclamation in the US has been declared  "Law Day"--no idea if this name will stick around or not--as well as being May Day.

I was once told by my grandmother that on May Day in her youth they would make paper baskets and give flowers to their friends. As she grew up in eastern Montana, at the exact other extreme of the US (speaking north-south here) I suspect that any flowers they could find on May Day was a pretty big thing. Snow is not unheard of on May Day, and even on May 31 they sometimes get snow in those parts.

Here in South Texas, the first of May is well into "pretty darned warm" season. At this time of the year there is generally little rain and from now into fall what there is usually comes from tropical systems. Today the temperature has been well into the 90's F. (north of 32C for my metric zone readers.)

I have made about all of the elastic in the house into masks, and as the plague seems to be on the downhill slope now am looking toward other projects. DH wants some sleepwear, there is a piece of knit that looks just right for an infinity scarf for me, and hopefully the Kimberbell Christmas quilt classes will be able to resume at my local quilt shop. Also I have started working on a new fidget--still kind of misty and vague right now, but there is an oval of blue fur cut out for the base.

Another recent walk, this time at Bentsen Park

Hello, everyone.

Just before everything combined to reschedule our Camino walk, we did a relaxed walk at Bentsen-RGV State Park.

The bird-feeder season was pretty-much over. Except for those feeders that had been stocked! We saw some pretty birds. One type we were seeing, in addition to the green jays, the red-winged blackbirds, the chachalacas, and various full-colored red cardinals, were these ones:

Near the bridge over the irrigation canal at the entrance. His color looked rather orange-ish that time.

At the water-enhanced bird blind with benches, getting a drink.

Also at that bird blind? He was eating sunflower seeds here.

These don't really look like the female cardinals. They might be. Or they might be another color variant. Or desert cardinal? the bill in the internet images of the desert cardinal seemed more sharply curved but the feathery look to the crest--sorry, those pictures came out blurry--made me think it's not a regular cardinal.

The weather was cloudy that day and it seems to have convinced the birds to keep their little caps down.

Returning to our little snake friend of the path

Hello, everyone.

Today we discovered that the Camino walk we have been training for must be rescheduled. The government of Spain declared a national emergency with travel restrictions, as near as we can tell.

So returning to the puzzle of the snake was an attractive thought. We think we have him identified:
desert massasauga is a type of smallish rattlesnake that lives in the Rio Grande Valley. It likes dry grassy country, and since there has been very little rain this year it should be very happy these days! (Link is to a photo from the New Mexico herp society.) We're still having trouble spotting the pit in his face, but he certainly has the cat's eye pupils, and the color. The tail photo seems to show a small rattle chain beginning to form. And he has the full cheeks of a rattler instead of the narrow head of many other snakes.

We cropped the photos and came up with these detail bits:

The head

Overall look at the snake, lying on the pavement

The tail

Interested readers are welcome to add information about this interesting reptile in the comments.

Wildlife on the walking trail

Hello, everyone.

A few days ago we were walking on the Hike and Bike Trail in our town. We often carry cameras in case something interesting turns up.

I almost stepped on this one.

He doesn't have a visible rattle--the first thing we thought to wonder about!--but he's rather small. (Around 18 inches?) He does have a line of brown spots down his back. His head is triangular, the wide part being behind his eyes. No pits were visible in his cheeks, at least to our glance. (But we didn't give him an all-over look.)

A view from another angle.

He was lying in the sunshine trying to warm up for the day, minding his own business right out there on the paved path. We passed on by, live and let live, and continued our walk. When we returned through that spot he had moved on.

Walking training has begun

Hello, everyone.

As the headline says, we're now training for our next Camino walk. We've gone to Bentsen-RGV State Park twice now, and the Hike and Bike, and to Estero Llano Grande in Weslaco as well.

We saw some interesting birds at Estero this time. (One of them was completely uncooperative about posing for pictures. He was small, blue-gray, and very active. One of the other visitors guessed he might be a Blue Gnat-catcher. He was certainly eating bugs too small for us to see!)

This ibis was hunting. He wasn't having much luck, as the wind was coming up in advance of a cool front coming through.

The kite was surveying the world, and incidentally keeping most of the smaller birds in cover.

Great Blue Heron? He was hanging out with some more white ibises, and some other swimming birds, and what looked like a juvenile ibis.

Estero really has a lot of waterfowl to look at. Even when the alligators aren't holding court, there is a lot to see.

Walking at Bentsen in November

Hello, everyone.

As you all realize, life went on while the series on Israel was being posted. I propose to pick up some of those bits in the next several posts.

We went walking in Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park after we returned. It was a glorious day for wildlife viewing!

One of the flock of turkeys that were attending the bird feeder next to the road through the park. This is the first time we had ever seen turkeys there. The flock must have been around 8 in number.

And at the blind there were a mother and a baby and two adult male javelina. (One may have been the father. He ran the other one off with much loud clacking of teeth.) They socialized, drank water from the pond, and generally hung around for a while.

Walk: Return to Estero Llano Grande

Hello, everyone.

Last week we drove over to Weslaco and visited Estero Llano Grande.

"You don't see me! I tucked my bill down!"

This little fellow was sitting in the grass at the edge of Alligator Pond.

The birds at Estero seem to have had a good year for babies. We saw a lot of tree ducks, several family groups, and some avocets and at least one heron. This little guy might be a young green heron, or some other bird in that family.

The alligator was not visible when we were there. It was early in the day, perhaps too early for sunning. The banks of the pond had quite a bit of vegetation, too. Perhaps the gator wandered off elsewhere to sunbathe without visitors.

Walk report: Joshua Tree National Park

Hello, everyone.

Sorry about the hiatus in posting. I forgot. And there is, as usual, a wait list on sewing projects.

During our recent trip to visit family, we did a few walks. South Mountain Park has already been talked about.

Today I will mention that we also visited Joshua Tree National Park. This park is adjacent to Interstate 10 and just west of the California state border. (For those who remember, the infamous state ag department plant checkpoints don't appear to be staffed any more.) There are very few services in the area, as it's remote. Plan of bringing water and snacks with you if you're wanting to do a long walk. Also, of course, the usual desert area clothes should be worn as appropriate to the season.

The cutoff to the park entrance that one comes to while driving west looks like nothing. Take the exit, it's the only one as far as we could tell. It's straightforward, in that there are almost no crossing lanes between the highway and the park.

Part of Joshua Tree is in the low desert, and well furnished with such typical plants as ocotillo and some saguaro. The other part of the park is in the "medium" desert, neither low altitude and hot enough to be "low" nor high altitude and potentially cooler so as to be "high." The medium desert zone has as its famous plant the park's name plant, Joshua trees. These are an extra large species of yucca.

Another desert plant that grows in flocks in some parts of Joshua Tree is cholla cactus. This little thing that looks so cute from a distance is related to prickly pear cacti. Like them, if you touch it you will most likely get a flock of large and small (glochid) spines. In some places people plant cholla as a defensive hedge.

(We once had a prickly pear (nopal) hedge, it was pretty in bloom but a menace to beginning bicycle riders. It hid a huge cutter ant colony, too. Until we took the hedge out to put in a fence, we had no idea where the many, many attacks on our trees and shrubs were coming from.)

Cholla Garden cacti

There is a lovely short stroll near a cholla patch. They have helpfully placed some parking there. If I remember right, the park calls this the "Cholla Garden" as there are tons of chollas close together there.

Jumbo Rocks jack rabbit, with rocks

Farther on, we stopped at a rock outcrop called, I think, the Jumbo Rocks. I think they're granite, much eroded and really "neato" to look at and walk around. This area also has a parking area, and a couple of little tables to eat lunch at. (Bring your own picnic. And *pack out your trash.* I think I may have seen a restroom there. Check on the park map for restroom locations, campsite locations, entry gates, etc. There are no concession shops.)

Among the many very large rocks, and the amazing blooming cacti, there was a jackrabbit.

We got to Joshua Tree around 9 in the morning, an ideal time for strolling in the warm/hot desert. By the time we left, after a couple of strolls and reading some interpretive signs, it was nearing noon. We left by the gate at 29 Palms, a small city in California. I think there were about 20 cars and 30 motorcycles in  the entrance lane.

This is a really nice park for people who like to walk in the desert--some walking trails are rather long and you're supposed to sign the board at the trail head before you head out on them--and view nature.

This year was an exceptional year for the spring blossoms in the California desert. One final picture from Joshua Tree National Park:

More on South Mountain Park

Hello, everyone.

I had promised more information about South Mountain Park in Phoenix, Arizona.

This is one of the boulders with pictographs along the trail.

We enjoyed walking past the boulders and shrubs and cacti.

This little guy was hanging out in the shade. (It was around noon.)

If y'all should go to Phoenix, you should visit this park. (But bring water, and it's probably more fun if you get there before 10:30 in the morning.)

Surprise from nature

Hello, everyone.

A couple of days ago I went outside to see the morning and discovered that one of the (relict) rose bushes had an unusually fat green stem. Of course, this demanded closer inspection.

Does anyone know what this little guy is? The green "twigs" sting. I tossed him over the fence into the bougainvilleas along the road, where he can set up his chrysalis or whatever to his heart's content. But we have no idea what manner of butterfly or moth it is!

Spring time at Santa Ana NWR

Hello, everyone.

This is a bird we saw (and heard!) the last time we walked at Santa Ana.

He had a large song vocabulary, and a desire to show it all off. When he had sung the whole lot from one tree, he moved to another and did it again.