Another
South Texas Specialty.
Got
to be quick with the camera.
They’re
shy. They don’t hang around for long. Sightings generally only last
a few seconds.
Indigo
Snakes are the biggest snakes down here. This one was probably only four
feet long or so. They top out at six to eight feet. They live in
South Texas well down into Mexico. They eat anything they can
catch. Mice, birds, lizards, frogs, and other snakes. Even
rattlesnakes!
If
the airplane cabin we’re in is pressurized, why do our ears still pop as the
plane gains and loses altitude?
Let’s
imagine that there is an issue in the national news that could possibly benefit
from legislation. The issue gets brought to a vote in an equally divided
House or Senate, and it is defeated by a tie vote exactly 50% to 50%.
Democrats vote one way, republicans vote the other. (Of course, the
impasse is more severe in the Senate because many issues require a 60-40
supermajority to move forward.)
Is
that how people really are? Is that how they really think? Every
politician agrees exactly with their party’s position? I don’t think
so. I imagine that individual positions, without the benefit of party
politics, would be more like bell curves; the center of the bell curve being at
least slightly off-center one way or the other for each party; and there would
be some overlap. Some republicans would agree with the democratic
position and some democrats would agree with the republican position.
Each person left to their own conscience, a majority of the votes would fall
one way or the other. If something needed to get done, or undone, it could
happen.
What
a marvel of politics is the two-party system! Absolute adherence to the
party line stalling any change, even when the general public, the public these
politicians purport to represent, would applaud a particular change. How
thrilled, or horrified, would the framers of our constitution be if they could
see us now?
We had this amaryllis bulb. It was only supposed to last for one blooming: one season. Here is a shot from then.
We
weren’t ready to throw it away when it was done, so we kept it in a pot and
took care of it over the summer. It repaid us by flowering great for a
couple more seasons. Then it languished over this last summer and fall.
The old leaves fell off. No new shoots. We waited until the end of
February, then gave up and tossed it. We didn’t throw it in the trash, we
threw it in the compost tumbler.
When
that batch of compost was done, I dumped it into a tub to spread around plants
in the yard and lo and behold, the amaryllis had come back to life! With
admiration and respect, we stuck it in a pot and put it back on the deck.
It’s
pretty pale from growing in the dark, so we’ll leave it out of the direct sun
for a few days. Don’t know what it’s going to do next. Looks like
it means to bloom. Whatever that little plant ends up doing now is fine
with us though. We’ll be very cautious about giving up on it again.
It
was a giant palm tree masquerading as a little Mediterranean Fan Palm. It
gave itself away by growing up big and fast. I took care of it by cutting
it back and lopping off the center spike so it couldn’t make any more leaves.
Well,
the lesson wasn’t learned. It quickly recovered and got big and bushy
again.
You
can see the squared-off tops of the new leaves from when I whacked them three
weeks ago.
Today,
more drastic measures were required.
No
more central spike on that invasive stalk now!
I
was on the only road here, and it was just barely passable, but I’m almost
certain the sign didn’t mean this road.
…or
me driving on it.
And
the tire pressure alarm goes off. Not enough air in one of my
tires. I pull over. Do I change the tire? Do I call for
roadside service and wait? Do I go ahead and drive two miles to the
nearest gas station and hope the tire doesn’t go flat all the way, or blow out
on the way there? I haven’t had much luck with air pumps at gas stations
lately. No such thing as free air any more. All the machines require
coins, bills, or cards, and last time I was at the gas station I’m closest to,
I couldn’t get the pump to work at all. Driving to a functioning air pump
is going to be a crap shoot.
So,
what do I do? None of the above. I get out the latest technology we
carry in the cars. A portable, hand-held, USB rechargeable, tire
pump. Always at the ready.
Set
the pressure you want your tires to be. Attach to the valve stem.
Press go. Wait. It’s not fast, but it works great! Every tire
perfectly topped-off. Problem solved.
They've been in the news lately. I
suppose there were atmospheric rivers on the west coast when we were kids, but we
never heard that term then. Old phenomenon, new terminology. In the
1950s our perspective was much more local. Meteorologists didn’t have
access to the global information they have now. I remember how much fun
it was to play in the grassy park in front of our house after it rained for
days at a time, the ground became saturated, and the park flooded. All
the usual games of football, hide and seek, and tag, also included splashing
and sliding. When the water receded enough that the grass was visible
again, that was just the right depth to get the skim boards out and go skimming
without having to walk to the beach. (Not that the six block walk to the
beach was a burden.) The park flooding didn’t happen very often.
Not every year. Maybe just a couple times while we were there.
So,
with our local perspective then, and the fact that we were kids, unusual rains
were just a fun thing. A hundred miles away might as well have been a
thousand. If there was news coverage on a broader scale and
an appreciation of larger patterns, that awareness escaped us.
A
cooper’s hawk.
Finishing
up a meal.
I
can’t make out from the remains what the meal used to be, but whatever it was
before, it has been deconstructed now.
A
little bit of South Texas History.
Mexican
independence from Spain in 1821. Mexican land grants in 1834.
(Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836 and joined the Union as a
state in 1845.)
An old standing posts fence made of Texas Ebony.
Friends
and families laid to rest as recently as 1926.
All
the new modern equipment is so neat and clean. A super-light
laptop. A high tech keyboard. A large monitor. A wireless
mouse. Wireless printer connection. And still I’ve got this snarl
of wires under my desk. That’s just not right. I could separate
them and route them along legs and supports for the desk and zip tie everything
together, but it’s still going to be a mess of wires. Am I missing
something here or does everyone have this same snarl?
The results are
in!
Half a million
participants from all over the world. 7,500 species of birds
recorded (out of a world population of about 10,000 species). That’s
pretty cool. Three quarters of all bird species located and observed over
a single long weekend!
What an incredible year. We broke new records with half a million people
participating! Take a look at final results from GBBC 2023.
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