Everything is bigger in Texas
This image was NOT Photoshopped. It must simply be true: seeing is believing, especially in Texas.
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Pooch Lost and Found
It started out as a simple morning ride down a pastoral road. Wait, what is that over there to the left? It’s a loose dog. His tongue is hanging; he’s racing frantically along the road going in the opposite direction. Am I going to callously drive by an opportunity to save an abandoned canine? I could at least take him
Read moreArgiope Aurantia: Wanna fight? It’s mine!
Since late spring I have had the good fortune to observe three yellow garden spiders living here. All three – females – hang on their webs upside down, and outside; but each does this against window glass in separate locations. It’s interesting to see they all selected a similar spot to take up residence. I’ve named them Spider Uno, Spider
Read moreSun settings
I used to think that the only real sunsets were those you’d see from a shoreline, or perched on a vacation home deck overlooking the wavy expanse. There was something about water – and the sun being gobbled up by it – that made them cool. This probably started by watching all those old movies where the guy gets the
Read moreYou’re all wet!
“You’re all wet!” That is a recently extinct expression meaning you don’t know what you are talking about. But in terms of body chemistry it reflects reality: humans are between fifty and seventy-five percent water. (*) We can’t live without it. Extra-terrestrially speaking, our need for water even dominates the current discussion about sending humans to Mars. [To join the
Read moreJust Horsing Around
A couple of weeks ago I made a trip to Golden Curls Ranch outside Dallas in Kaufman, Texas. The BLM’s [federal Bureau of Land Management] website put me onto Angie’s place, as I have come to call it. Angie Gaines is a horse-lover whose enthusiasm and affection for her equine family – especially curly mustangs – is contagious. Oh, I almost
Read moreIt’s CayenneThyme
As you can read in the piece Drat That Dirt, I have been relentlessly trying to grow things in amended black gumbo soil. So far, no luck. But recent developments from soil nutrient tests are pushing me into another reality (more about that shortly, in another article). Meanwhile, my agricultural bent has been channeled by Nature; or serendipity, you might
Read moreGasoline Can: Caveat Emptor – When a can can’t
My gasoline can is old. After many years of filling and refilling all sorts of stuff have collected at the bottom: crunchy wings of bees; carcasses of adventurous spiders; plain old dirt; dried leaves, etc. The time arrived to clean it. How to do that with about one gallon of vintage fuel remaining was the issue. Options aside, I made
Read moreThe daToad family branches out
An admission of confusion begins this episode. Fuzzy and family are toads not frogs, but not “true frogs.” Please keep reading [*] and perhaps by the end of this piece you will have made up your own mind. To continue……… So, I’ve been concerned: Fuzzy and the Mrs. hasn’t been seen in a couple of weeks. Their dugout looks deserted. But
Read moreEeensie Weensie Spider
I have a nagging question on my mind: how smart are these creatures that live amongst me (or better said, that I live with)? Can a frog in the wild be taught by us to do something, anything? A bird? A snake? What about human intervention modifying a spider’s intentions? Around nine p.m. many evenings, I open my door to
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