Slimy Saturday; movie Sunday

Warning, this blogpost contains graphic images!
Yesterday I went to the Natural Gardener and bought plants for my Hell Strip (as Cheryl calls it). I thought I might put them out today but it's looking more like it will happen tomorrow. At the Natural Gardener I bought a new copy of an old book I had years ago - Worms Eat My Garbage. I came home and started flipping thru it and was inspired to sort thru my worm compost bin. I laid out some clear plastic and dumped the contents of the bin on it. Then I separated the black pile of compost into about a dozen piles. The worms wriggled down to the bottom of each pile to escape the light. I sorted thru those piles for about an hour and a half. Here is one (yes, only one) pile of worms I scooped up for a photo op.

Yikes! I took the compost they had created and put some of it in a bed where I put out the three tomato plants that my friend Marie had given me. The rest will have a similar fate in a few days as I make new beds. Then I got the bin ready for the worms to do their work by layering shredded newspaper and topsoil and tossing a fresh pile of peach skins for them to start working on.

And as if that wasn't enough creepy fun for one weekend, I found this when I was digging to prep the bed for tomatoes. This is the second one of these I've found in the yard. I've gotta' find out what they are. But that's for later because my son is taking me to see Star Trek - the new movie. Nature later, movie now.

A day of volunteering

It’s early on a Sunday morning. I went to bed super early last night after an exhausting day of volunteering. I spent three hours in the morning with Theresa and Gloria, climbing up and down some very rugged terrain, searching for invasive plants on one of the BCP tracts. At one point we thought we might have to scale a wall but we found a way around it. At the top of that was a mesa with a little stand of flax amidst a pile of limestone rocks. Small pockets of moss took advantage of the sun. After a short breather, we started our descent. For all that efforts of the morning, we found one 3 ft. tall nandina. We cataloged it and denuded it of blooms and berries. At a point on our descent I saw the most beautiful little spider. It was probably in the Theridiidae family, no more than 3 mm, lying belly up in its tangled web amongst branches. It was green with a shiny copper spot on its belly. It was worth all the pain and discomfort of the day to see that little creature. Here are some photos of our BCP invasive hunt:

Devil's shoestring. Not an invasive plant.

Daddy Longlegs

Gloria trying to scale a rock wall. Ha!

Theresa and Gloria identifying a plant

Orange mushrooms in the leaf litter

Life persists

After we completed our survey, I drove home and had a quick lunch, shower, and 20 min power nap. Then it was off to the Wildflower Center for an afternoon of vegetation surveying on their research plots. The plots we surveyed were quite a distance from the center so we got to ride on “gators”, the motorized Kawasaki 4 wheelers they use to get around out there. The ride to and fro was a delight. Imagine perfect weather, tall stands of purple three awn grasses bent over in the breeze, spots of color everywhere from the blooming wildflowers, all accented with bright yellow prickly pear blooms. There were just a handful of us and we were all ready to start our weekends so we got down to business and surveyed our plots. I’m pretty sure I can now distinguish these grasses: purple three awn, spear grass, love grass, fall witch grass, and side oats gramma. Plus the “bad” grasses like King Ranch Bluestem, Johnson grass, and rescue grass.

My ride out to the research plot - one of the gators

The real experts return from the field - Dick and Jeannine (foreground) work at WFC and seem to know everything - but in a nice way.

Happy Earth Day!

I know this might sound sappy but I try to live like every day is Earth Day. But there are many more things I could do of course. Here's what I'm doing regularly now:

• I just set up an appointment to upgrade the insulation in my attic. They'll come out and give me an estimate tomorrow.


• Except for occasional fish or shellfish, I don't eat meat. Getting that prime rib to your butcher uses up lots of water, land, and fuel. Admittedly, I quit eating meat for other reasons but getting out of that energy consuming cycle is a plus.


• I bundle car trips and try to accomplish as many things as I can on one outing.


• Reusable grocery bags are part of my life now. It took awhile to remember to take them into the store but I'm used to them now. If I do forget, I use paper and recycle.


• got rainbarrels and use that water on my plants.


• use non-phosphate laundry soap and use cold water on most loads.


• compost with worms plus the compost pile out back.

Here's what I want to do in the near future:

• Follow thru on the attic insulation.


• Get dual flush toilets.


• Install Solar panels ($$$).


• Replace my roof turbines with wind turbines and generate electricity on windy days.


• Continue xeriscaping the yards - front and back.


• Work from home more often.


• Get a large water tank to save even more water.


• Buy locally grown produce.

But I also want to keep in mind that it's the journey; not the destination. It should be fun and as guilt-free is possible.

Here are some links that might be of interest:

Repower America

Yahoo Green

Home Power Magazine

Can you see me?

I saw some movement, grabbed my camera and ran outside. At first I just saw the ivy...

but as I got a little closer..

I saw this guy. Here's some good info about anoles.

A river runs thru it or, good day to be snail

I took the day off work to go to a vegetation survey training at the Wildflower Center. It was to begin at two and go ‘til six but it turned out to be a very rainy day. The last I heard, they were going ahead with the training but I opted out today and, weather willing, will attend tomorrow’s session. I battled the crankiness that comes with having dashed expectations but was snapped out of it by a growing pool of water just beyond and encroaching on the patio. The back yard is on a slope so rainwater funnels down the yard and out a gap under the gate – if there isn’t too much water. One of the new rain barrels – all of which are full by the way – has dammed up the flow. I went out in the rain and dug a trench so the water could flow out. It took awhile but here’s a picture of our little river. Isn’t it amazing how you can see how the soil separates? I looked at that and imagined a tiny canyon forming and I guess that’s how canyons would look if you were high above the earth. As I write, the rain has let up, at least for a bit. All in all, it’s a good day to be a snail.

Thoughts of rainwater - and new native plants

My rain barrels are full and I've been toying with the idea of getting a 300 gallon storage barrel. I think I need to chill out and recognize that I can't hoard every drop of water that falls on my property. But I do want one. I should get my attic insulated instead. That would be better for the planet probably.

OK, last Friday - yes, it's been a week - I went to the members-only plant sale at the Wildflower Center. It was jam packed with people. I was all abuzz and just grabbed plants willy nilly. Here's a picture of what $50 will buy you at the plant sale.

And check out this picture of a budding prickly pear. I didn't even see the bug until I cropped this picture!

Baby praying mantis and other yard news

I found this little guy on one of my potted plants out front. He's quite small but I hope he eats lots of other bugs and gets really big. It's a beautiful day here in Central TX. The sun is shining, lots of things are blooming, a northern flicker was on the tree out front - just one of those storybook days here. Oh, and the wrens might have hatched a baby or two because they are spending a lot of time flying in and out of the wren house.

This afternoon I'm going to get a trellis or two and put out the morning glory seedlings that I started last week. I have been watering my plants with rain water AND I created a really low budget pond. Stay tuned for pictures of the pond when it's completed. That will be in a day or two. I used a number 3 washtub, filled it with rain water, and built it up with rocks. I had a pot in the shape of a fish so I drilled a hole in the fish mouth and put the tubing thru that so he spits out water. But before I can take a picture I need to spiff it up a little. I bought an inexpensive electric pump but I want to get a solar pump for the outdoor pond and I'll use the electric pump for a yet-to-be-created house pond.

Tomorrow is the plant sale at the Wildflower Center so check back to see what I bought.