San Marcos wildflowers

I just got back from a walk (the first I've taken in quite a while), and couldn't get over how many flowers I saw ... not to mention how many I recognized.  So herewith is a list of those I can remember:

Texas dandelion

Texas storksbill

Two-leaf senna

Nerve ray

• Antelope horn milkweed
• Prairie Bishop's weed
• Prairie verbena
• Blanket flower, aka firewheel, aka Indian blanket
• Mexican hat, aka thimble flower
• Skeleton plant
• Nerve ray, aka square bud daisy
• Rock lettuce
• Texas dandelion
• Texas thistle
• Alamo vine
• Herbertia, aka Prairie nymph
• Spider flower, aka Blue curls
• Horse nettle
• Bitterweed
• Yellow stonecrop
• Texas star
• Lantana
• Vervain
• Prairie phlox
• Malta star thistle (not a good one)
• Texas storksbill
• Scarlet guara
• Prickly pear
• Two-leaf senna
• Winecup
• Prairie larkspur
• Prairie brazoria

Along with a whole slew of daisy-like flowers that I can't even begin to identify.  

I'm Going to Texas ...

 ... again. 

I don't really want to let the old blog die, so I've decided to put up the occasional recipe and/or completed craft idea.  I'll let you know when I do ... like now.

Note from 2018: the original rain chain post blew up the user stats on I'm Going to Texas ... to the point where I ended up moving it. There are now several posts, which can be seen at this link.

For the someday grandkids

On our most recent trip to By the Bridge Antiques in Wimberley we found these bi-planes which are now flying around in the front yard.  The question  remains, "Was this purchased for the grandkids or for the "big" kids?"  Both I suspect...

Rain chain

Come rain ...

or shine ...

Flora and fauna

Two shots ... which do you like better?  
  

Just wondering ...

I've been pinning away on Pinterest, and then it occurred to me to ask: what do you remember your grandparents doing with you that makes you smile? Cuz that's what counts ... 

And the replies were worth copying out:

Melissa W said...

Playing dress up at Grandma's house, with her clothes because she was small enough :) Buying ridiculously large clip on earrings...pretending the window in the kitchen was a drive through...Shopping in the Hampton's with Nana Ruth, ice cream at the beach...

April 14, 2012 at 10:47 PM

Meg said...

Good ones, Liss. I completely agree. I remember trips to Little Creek - fishing off of the dock. Sneaking big bags of candy into the movie theater. Eating lunch off of tv trays and getting to sit on the couch. Easter shopping with Grandma...school shopping with Nana Ruth. Finding beach rocks and painting them. Tuck Shop and mud pie on Louie's (oh craving). Trips to Bobs. Playing rummikub and war.

April 16, 2012 at 7:16 PM

Melissa W said...

These all made me smile.

April 17, 2012 at 9:14 PM

KNBT Roots and Branches

We scored a spot on the guest list for Tuesday’s Roots and Branches of Americana live on KNBT radio at Tavern in the Gruene. YM asked her audiologist to help us out since her office is one of the sponsors of the show.  We saw Stewart Mann of the Statesboro Review and Jason Eady.  Jason had just released his new CD “AM Country Heaven” which was already number 8 on the country charts...according to him.  Ray Wylie Hubbard was not there so Mattson Rainer ran the show. It was fun to see the behind the scene work of a radio broadcast.

Roots and Branches of Americana is on every Tuesday at 7 PM on KNBT radio 92.1 on your radio dial.  It has become our favorite station for several reasons.  One, they play really good music. The other is that they have live shows every Tuesday and recorded archives of live shows every Wednesday.

Last night was made even better when we learned that a representative of Leinenkugel beer was there, so beers were on him.  We had not tried Leinenkugel  before but the Fireside Nutty Brown was nice.  Leinenkuglel is brewed in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin and is available locally.

Wisdom

          The days I keep my gratitude
           greater than my expectations,
          well, I have really good days.

                                                            Ray Wylie Hubbard

Memoir

The other day I had reason to recall when I started pruning, many years ago. You've heard the story before ... it was the December of 1984 and I had just miscarried. Told to rest by the doctor, I was quietly going crazy in our bedroom ... thinking of drinking and realizing that wasn't an any kind of good answer. So I slipped out the back door, grabbed some clippers, and began to prune a monster bush in the front yard. It was easily eight feet high and at least that wide. By the time I finished, it was about two feet tall, barely that wide ... and I no longer felt like tying one on.  
  

  
     Fast forward to this past Friday when I finally convinced YD to let me cut back the monster prickly pear looming over the fire pit. Easily seven feet high and half again that wide, it sported a formidable array of spines. The small tunas were the first to go, whacked off with a bent-tip Henckel knife (it didn't originally have a bent tip, but got relegated to garden duty when a butchering faux pas rendered it less-than-helpful in the kitchen). I made the mistake of picking up the first of the cactus pads, but quickly realized the spines would work their way through the gloves, so the infamous Valentine's Day pitchfork was fetched from the shed. 
     The cactus fell to the knife within an hour and I re-filled the wheelbarrow as fast as YD could empty it ... three, then four times over with heavy loads of water-laden pads. But then I reached the heavy brown base of the cactus, tree-like in thickness and absolutely resistant to the knife blade. We retreated to the back porch to survey our handiwork, but that didn't last long. Grabbing a pruning saw, I went back to work, taking down the remaining branches, until the cactus was but two feet tall and barely that wide. 

     The red oak stumps from the fire pit are now arrayed in a circle around the base of the former monster cactus. YD plans to fill the center with soil and plant lantana, which will drape over the sides as time goes by. No doubt the cactus will make a reappearance, which is fine by me since it will create a fine back drop for the new planter. For now, I've served notice that I'm a force to be reckoned with ... me, my bent-tip Henckel, and the pruning saw.

Don working the land

Spring

My riding lawn mower was returned today and I put it to good use cutting the grass on the east side of the driveway.  We have decided it is the one area, along with the strip by the road,we will keep mowed and let the rest of the property return to meadow.  Actually, it is the one area that does not have large rocks and therefore can be safely mowed.

After I finished I took a walk around and snapped some pictures of the many flowers in bloom.  It is quite spectacular.  We certainly did not see this kind of display last year.  Don't mess with Mother Nature!

East side mowed...and not mowed

Aloe plant getting ready to flower

Twisted leaf yucca flowering

Mealy blue sage is abundant in yard (twice as high as last year)

Afore the deluge

If you have an outdoor shower you should have a good showerhead...right?  Today I filled the hot water tank located above the garage that had been drained for the winter months to save energy. Now it is ready to use. I purchased a new showerhead from Lowe's called the "Deluge".  The description reads: "5.5 inches in diameter and has 72 spray nozzles to provide optimal water coverage." No fancy settings. Just a deluge of water. With temperatures in the 80's it seems the right time to take a shower outside, especially after working in the yard.  Think I'll go try it out...

New outdoor showerhead

It was as good as I'd hoped.  Since I have a bathroom and shower outside do I really need to come inside?