On Easter Saturday, my very talented husband went to a local nature reserve, and spotted this delightful baby bunny. It was only when he came home that he realized it was a new species of rabbit (to us). The Swamp Bunny (Sylvilagus aquaticus) is a SWIMMING BUNNY!!! Just when I thought he had the cutest image ever, it just got better. They live in the southern states in swampy areas. Then he spotted the adult below –
When I googled this darling creature, I found an article about a Swamp Rabbit swimming ‘menacingly and aggressively’ towards President Jimmy Carter’s fishing boat in 1974. The media had field day with this story. Think ‘weak president’ vs ‘aggressive bunny’. There is an real photograph out there of the President splashing his oar in the water to make the bunny go away. There are five different types of rabbit/hare in Texas. I have seen a jack rabbit and one Easter Sunday (really!), a brown bunny visited our old house. I thought it was a cotton tail but maybe it was the Swamp Bunny?
I sent the image to some of my relatives in Ireland and Scotland. Two replied that they hadn’t seen rabbits in years because the population was decimated by a virus – myxomatosis. In Scotland I frequently called my local RSPCA worker to kindly euthanize wild rabbits that I discovered with this terrible illness. The virus was deliberately introduced to rabbit populations to reduce numbers, although it occurs naturally also. In Texas we have coyotes and foxes – nature’s answer to population control.
On the same day he took this image, above, of a purple pleat-leaf flower with a turret bee inside. Texas is home to about 1000 indigenous bees, perhaps as many as 1,500.
Above is a Mexican Bordered Plant Bug – I see these quite often. They are regarded as minor pests and love strawberries,
Above is a black tailed Laphria. This is a robber fly that masquerades as a bumble bee.
Finally, he captured a new species of dragonfly or more accurately skimmer (to him) – a Black Setwing. What a fabulous photography day he had and thank you to him for sharing his images. 💌
TWO GREAT WHITE SOUTHERN BUTTERFLIES ON DAISIES IN ROCKPORT, TX.
I thought y’all might need to see a peaceful image after March Madness. What happened? One minute I was planning a vacation to Mexico, then El Mencho was killed resulting in some cartel violence in parts of Mexico. We cancelled that and rebooked a very tame trip to Rockport, in the south west of Texas. Rockport is one of my favorite places on the Texas coast but this trip was inspired by a trilogy I recently read. It was set in the 1800s when German settlers flocked to settle in a place named Indianola that was destroyed by two hurricanes. I enjoyed the books and my curiosity was piqued. There will be future posts about Indianola.
THIS IS ALL THAT REMAINS OF INDIANOLA
Our nearest town is Tomball, also settled by German immigrants. For 20 years we have been planning to visit a down home restaurant halfway between our new house and Tomball. Finally we made it on a Tuesday, thinking it might be quiet but it was packed with locals. There was mostly family groups and some small company get-togethers. I got out my phone to check the opening times and realized that not one person was using their cell phones. How unusual is that? I quickly hid it in my purse and focused on my catfish!
I was driving along the country road by our house when I spotted a big black and white bird. It was the bald eagle again! I slowed down to a crawl which must have annoyed the car behind me but he was a good Texan and did not toot his horn. It is not okay to toot in Texas, unless there is real danger. We travelled hundreds of miles for our wee vacation and not a horn was blasted.
We regularly visit a coffee shop, a couple of miles from home, and loved this sign at the book shop. The dog is a lovely old gentleman with rheumy eyes. This bookshop has all the books currently banned in certain institutions in our part of the world. More reading; less judgement.
Our local Walmart is close to the bookshop above. I was sitting waiting for my Shingles vaccination when I spotted the menstruation crustacean. Isn’t that the cutest product? I would have loved one of those when I had eggs!
Finally, a lovely shot of dawn from our living room window. It faces east. Sometimes there is mist rising from the pond which adds to the atmosphere.
Our Bluebirds and other critters wish you a Happy New Year!
This is a cheeky wee Fox Squirrel. They are more peachy than the grey squirrel and a little larger.
This is one of the many Pine Siskins who have arrived from Canada! We also have large flocks of migratory sparrows. Y’alls are welcome in our back yard.The recorded temperature on this video is incorrect. It’s warm but not that warm…
Our new community has put bird boxes at all the mailboxes. Here is one of them
Thank you to Teddy for splicing and editing the videos!
I was putting the washing out to dry on the back yard when I heard one of our neighboring hawks screeching. They were very insistent and I wondered if there was a coyote. Normally all the big birds live together quite happily – red shouldered hawks, Cara Cara, red tailed hawks and even an American Kestrel. Teddy came out with his long lens camera and we scanned the skies. Suddenly, I spotted a large bird wheeling above our heads and just below a light plane.
After Teddy took the image we looked at the camera to see the capture and it was a Bald Eagle. Woo Hoo!!! There were some nesting pairs in the previous area that we lived in but we had never seen them. Construction work in the town center has disturbed their habitat. Bald Eagles don’t normally live in this area but we do get winter visitors from up north.
We were amused by the hawks’ understandable anxiety. There is plenty of fish in the pond for them to share. This morning Teddy heard the hawk screeching again and our visitor is back. I think he has found a nest site on the other side of the pond. Bald Eagles have a wingspan up to 7ft and can live between 20 and 30 years. Santa doesn’t need to bring us anything for Christmas this year!!
I wonder if our eagle is from Canada? If so, he is probably our first Canadian tourist this year, eh? 😊 Perhaps our hawk was screeching, “Tarriffs on Texas Fish”
I know, I know – it’s GK Chesterton, the author but this is GC (Gulf Coast Toad) Chesterton who resides in our garden. Neither GK or GC were lookers but both have a certain charm. Teddy had just lifted up our patio umbrella which was laying flat because of wind, when something landed on his head and then on the patio. I was so concerned that our newest pet might have been injured but as Teddy pointed out, his head broke his fall… After he regained his composure, he jumped off to wherever he normally lives.
The baby toad above is Junior and he has been living on our front door for weeks. Our Halloween lights have been attracting flying insects so he has been gorging on them before winter arrives. When they are digesting their prey, their little mouth quivers. Do you see the size of the poop next to him?? Geez Louise, how many insects did he eat? Late at night he changes shift with a bright green tree frog, who may be one of the poo-pertrators. We haven’t managed to get a photo of tree frog yet.
I was sitting in the living room, watching TV, when a small movement caught my eye. Was it a pine needle moving in the wind? No, it was the tiniest stick insect who moved quite fast when it saw the cameras. ‘Stick’ was barely an inch long and perfectly camouflaged – isn’t nature amazing.
Another day, I was attempting to wash the windows when this very cheeky Praying Mantis refused to move. I cajoled her into going into the grass but didn’t lift her in case she bit me! She kept trying to go back to the window, even when I was drying it. I have named her ‘Mother’. Praying Mantis eat other stick insects and anything else they can bite, so watch out little one!
It’s getting cool enough to walk around the pond behind our house. If you zoom in you can see a solitary heron on the edge. The grass and trees are suffering somewhat with the drought but it did rain last week and the pond filled up again. There are farms and homesteads behind the trees – I love hearing roosters crowing or a horse snuffling.
Above is a juvenile white Ibis with his protective darker coloring. He will turn pure white as he matures. An Ibis, a Heron and an Egret were sitting together – sounds like the start of a joke!
I was the first in our street to celebrate autumn with a fairytale pumpkin and my fall flag. Within days my display looked minimal – I am surrounded by full size headless horsemen, gigantic black cats, spooky trees and skeletons everywhere. I was looking at my across the street neighbors display and thought ‘have the skeletons moved?’ Daddy moves them every few nights so that the kids get a thrill – me too!
Autumn has started to seep into the deep south. It’s cooler at night but still hot during the day. Some leaves are falling with the gentle breezes. This is my favorite time of year. I haven’t been driving much this summer as my car refused to get cool. It’s vintage, like me, and I thought it was just on its last legs. Teddy took it to the auto shop last week and they fixed it!! Freon was leaking out of a broken pipe and now the air-con gets too cold. Fabulous and just in time for winter…
I changed my CDs (old skool) in the car and was enjoying zipping about listening to blues music. As I turned down the country lane to our community, there was a traffic jam. So much so that no more cars could turn onto the road. I thought, perhaps, it was roadworks – the road has plenty of potholes. As I inched closer, I saw that it was a funeral at our old graveyard. Suddenly, I felt so sad, even though I have no idea who had died. I have written before about this graveyard – still beautifully maintained by the community with gravestones going back to the late 1800s. This is my original post – The vultures sealed the deal
The plots are all owned by local families, some of whom may have been here since that date. It was one of the most charming aspects to our new community. Our neighbor is the son of a local man who owns 20 acres. When we moved to this part of Texas, 21 years ago, these farms were all intact with forested land. There are still farms and trees but we have encroached onto something that would have been idyllic. Ever since we left Glasgow, we have been incomers to various foreign lands. Despite the current climate, we feel at home in Texas but we still don’t belong.
I felt sad for all the change I have seen in my lifetime and perhaps for what might have been. My lovely air-conditioned house is truly a blessing, especially with modern insulation, but it is part of the problem. One part of me is truly grateful to have all the mod cons, and a car, but I realize that the pace of our technological breakthroughs affects our environment. When I was young, Glasgow was smoky and black with coal fired generators. After the Clean Air Act (1956 and 1968) and the discovery of natural gas in the North Sea, it seemed like we could have a better future.
Before we went crazy with Halloween costumes, this was a special time of year for our ancestors. The autumnal equinox, changing of the seasons and death of the summer. Samhain and Dia de los Muertos are ancient festivals that have been tweaked to appease our desire for FUN. Death is an important part of earth’s cycle and every creature on it. We should both honor and celebrate it. The more I thought about the early settlers in this area, my mind wandered to all the native Americans who lived here. I wonder what they thought of all those European settlers ‘sharing’ their land.
Communities have evolved from time immemorial. Neanderthals bred with Homo Sapiens. My DNA profile is so varied, it seems like my ancestors had a competition to see how many groups they could interbreed with! Scientific progress has allowed me to know that my ancestors were Mexican. With my mostly Irish heritage and a smidge of Native Mexican, I embrace both Halloween and Dia de los Muertas. I honor my ancestors (even the naughty ones) and I choose to feel both happy and sad in autumn.
Since we returned from Scotland, I have been stuck, figuratively and otherwise. I have the material for potential travel posts but life has incorporated a series of unfortunate events, in a Lemony Snicket kind of way. Nothing earth shattering just – ‘what next?’ It took me a few weeks to really throw off my presumed Covid infection. Cough, cough, cough. When you have a chronic mental illness, viruses can knock your mental health sideways. Influenza is the worst for me, leaving me with lingering depression. This was different. Anxious one minute, hopeless the next, and back to my normal. I used it as an excuse to comfort myself with sugary treats (that upsets my digestive system). Poor Teddy! I must have been a bundle of laughs to live with…
Then, Teddy bumped his car into a rock on a narrow country road. This unexpectedly mangled the wheel and he had to get four new ones plus new tires which were ordered previously. Clearly it was a malevolent rock or a Troll in disguise, He asked if he could borrow my car when his was in the auto shop. “Of course”, I said. That evening I received a call from him to say that a tire had blown, on MY car, and he was waiting for AAA. Geez Louise – it’s been an expensive year.
When we first arrived home from Scotland, all our water was brown. It cleared eventually but it had a knock on effect on the whole home water softener and then the new fridge water dispenser. We have a tame plumber who solved most of the problems and increased our water pressure. Hurrah! We still had to pay him. The new fridge needs a new valve but it is under warranty. The dang thing wouldn’t drip when the repairman came around. I said, “I will make it drip”. He gave me that look – older lady complaining about nothing. As soon as I used it, it started to drip… “See, I told you it would drip for me!” I squeaked triumphantly. I don’t know why I was triumphant about my broken new appliance but I didn’t like his patronizing look. Sadly, I remember when the looks were lustful and patronizing. The repairman looked like a hamster so perhaps a lustful look would have been creepy?
I was just starting to feel a little better when I felt the warning symptoms of a urinary tract infection. That’s my absolute favorite illness; very painful and I can’t urinate to order at the doctor’s practice. I have had so many UTIs that I had a back up sterile container from the previous visit. When you arrive at the reception desk, the staff always query bringing your own sample. Sigh. Now I just say I have performance anxiety and that seems to work. Like many of us, I have had too many antibiotics throughout my life. It is becoming increasingly hard to treat UTIs because the bacteria have become resistant to the most commonly used drugs. The doctor gave me an antibiotic but sent my sample off to the lab to determine the PATHOGEN!
The antibiotics (which gave me a yeast infection) were completed when the results came through. “Stop the antibiotics – they don’t work on that bacteria”. Too late. This was a new bacteria for me – Citrobacter Koseri. It is usually not found in community populations and affects the immunocompromised. I went down a Google rabbit hole because I have obsessive compulsive disorder. Normally UTIs are caused by E Coli but I have previously had the one that causes the pink slime at the bottom of the shower, Serratia marcescens, another opportunistic bacteria. Every time I see that pink slime in a bathroom, I shudder with horror. If it is in my own home, I massacre it with everything at my disposal.
This new-to-me Citrobacter bacteria is sometimes found in livestock. Although I can see and hear livestock, I haven’t been cuddling anything. Then I worried about the soil in our garden, previously a field. Finally, I stopped OCD-ing because my brain was exhausted. The antibiotic seems to have worked and I am awaiting the next test results. My fingers and toes are crossed.
On a positive note, there is always a new critter to enjoy around our house. Teddy saw a red fox walking around the perimeter of the water. There was a new snake on our back doormat, an exotic stick insect on the front doormat, green tree frogs, a variety of other amphibians endlessly croaking including another salamander with spiders and crickets galore. Autumn has arrived and we are hearing the last of the Cicada song – my favorite sound ever. The whistling ducks have landed at the water in route to Latin America, likewise the hummingbirds.
I guess life would be boring if we didn’t wonder, “What next?”
The Japanese have a phrase, Shinrin-Yoku – it translates to ‘forest bathing’. They believe that soaking in the essence of a forest is therapeutic and I can only concur. Teddy and I were sitting out on our covered porch, gazing at the trees beyond our fence. To my delight, our new house not only has squirrels but two different species. The pair above and below are fox squirrels. They are larger than the eastern grey squirrel and their fur has a reddish tint.
They seemed oblivious to our silent presence and were safely out of reach, about 40ft above us on a pine tree. ‘Peek a boo’ was their favorite game; they scampered up and down the tree, going from one side to the other. They seemed like young siblings. I so missed my garden critters when we moved from the old house, especially all my named squirrels. Do the new owners wonder why squirrels are waving at them from the fence?
We had blue jays at the old house but now it is mostly mocking birds. Both are equally noisy, although the mocking bird can be a little more mellifluous. One day she was singing her song from a perch on the tree when we noticed a large shadow – a big bird! We rushed to the window to look and it was a red shouldered hawk – what a beauty. The mocking bird was fearless and managed to drive it away. In triumph, she sat on the corner of our fence (think Kate Winslet on the prow of Titanic) and sang her heart out.
Our woodland critters still consider our house part of their territory – as it should be. They tolerate our presence and we worship them. Our ‘poo-pertrator’ has struck again and I examined the scat more closely. I think I have narrowed it down to a rabbit, skunk or squirrel. This sample was full of digested grasses.
On the subject of forest essences, I was delighted to see that there were no oak trees in our near vicinity. I love oak trees but I am really allergic to them and their pollen. We arrived in the winter and there was a leafless sapling in our front garden. Do you want to guess what it is? It’s an oak, of course, a wonderful indigenous tree. I am wondering if we can move it to the backyard and plant a smaller tree. Ah, the yin and yan of life. I am gifted two different species of squirrels and another bloody oak tree.
Oh my gosh, I love the AI tool on WordPress! I do have a photograph of the Raccoons’ Latrine but it is just a pile of poo, literally. One of my passions is examining scat (or wild animal poop). Right behind our new abode is a raccoon latrine – perhaps that is the ‘poo-pertrator’ who sullied our new doormat. I had no idea that this is real terminology for the place where raccoons like to use the bathroom. It is a perfect little spot, right behind our house, to snack on the berries and then relieve oneself. Deer do something similar and also hangout behind the fence but the poop was the wrong shape and color.
Ferny entrance to latrine
Above is the ferny entrance to the latrine and below is the Critter Buffet. They eat more healthily than most Texans. Word to the wise, don’t handle any critter poop without using thick disposable gloves.
Critter Buffet
Below are a little flock of snowy or little egrets on the other side of the pond. Snowy egrets wear yellow rubber boots and little egrets wear black. Every time I got close, they moved to the other side.
Snowy or little egrets
Back to scat spotting – it’s an odd hobby but reveals so much about the local wildlife and what they are eating. I was fascinated by the scat below. Kinda looks like someone ate the Easter Bunny… 😉 It is either fox, coyote or bobcat but I don’t think we are densely wooded enough for the elusive bobcat. By contrast, I loathe dog poop, especially close to a water source. The lazy owners need to be flogged – perhaps in the community center? Now that function I would attend, with a glass of wine.
Whose scat is this???
I leave you with a photo of the last of the wildflowers. Until next time…
This week’s political talking point in the USA is a quote by JD Vance, Donald Trump’s potential Vice President. He referenced childless women with cats as part of America’s societal problems. I bet he wishes that he had kept his mouth shut. He was aiming his original comment at Kamala Harris who has no children but is married with step-children. Politics doesn’t need to be this nasty or ridiculous.
I have no children. My eggs were substandard, Teddy’s sperm was MIA and I have endometriosis, which runs in my family. All our nurturing love went into rescuing cats. We had two separate and beloved batches of three gremlins cats. Teddy and I are only children – on paper at least. My Dad had alliances after my mum but no siblings have turned up. Teddy was adopted so he has some half siblings who are yet to be found. Our parents are dead, not unexpected when you are retired, as we are. We decided not to have any more cats after the last batch because who would look after them in the event of our death?
Now I am still female (barely as I have no hormones left…), childless with squirrels. God help America! I am indeed the cause of all our country’s problems. As the last of the baby boomers, I have one year to go before I can claim Medicare. Then I will be leeching from my country without having the good grace to die young, yet. Back in the day, my mum used to telephone me and say, “Mrs. O’Shea and Mr. McGuire both died last week. Just waiting for a third.” It always made me exasperated, whilst chuckling, as I thought my mum was being morbid. Now I know better. We have had four deaths in our street of 20 houses since April.
I was looking out my window, the morning after the last death, reflecting on how short life is. I saw what I thought was a little cat, sleeping by the water bowl. Finally, I realized it was a little raccoon. Why was it sleeping during the day? Of course it was dead. I think it might have been hit by a car and had internal injuries. Part of me is delighted that wild animals feel that our garden is an oasis in life and death BUT there is nothing like the smell of decomposition in the wheelie trash bin. I tripled bagged it but the smell still makes my eyes water. I asked Teddy what it smelled like outside and he said, “Foresty”. Covid really messed up his sense of smell.
Then there was Hurricane Beryl. Jeez, it really did a number on our township. Every street had a tree down or more. One of the houses in our street lost their roof to a giant pine tree. Our power and internet were out for two days. Many people had no power for a week or more. My hairdresser told me a funny story about one of her clients. Her husband is an insurance assessor, so a busy time for him. His company pay for accommodation (power and WIFI) even if the storm is in our area. The client sent the husband and two boys to stay in the cool hotel room. She boiled at home alone just for a bit of peace. I felt much the same and urged Teddy to drive to anywhere in Texas that had power.
So many of us have changed since the Pandemic. We NEED our home comforts like Netflix and WIFI. I tried to remind Teddy that my family didn’t even have a telephone at home when I was young but it was to no avail. Like everyone else, we lost all the food in the freezer. Mine didn’t cost that much but I had spent so long cooking all those low sodium meals. Now I am keeping the freezer half empty until the hurricane season is over (November) or we get a proper generator. The driving was a bit crazy after the hurricane as every traffic light was out. I stayed in my hot and humid bunker… We have been blessed with a week of rainy cooler weather from tropical rain storms.
Someone in our township was water rescued from their car. No. 1 rule in Texas, don’t drive into a flooded road. As you leave our international airport, you might be terrified by the 7 ft flood gauges on the roads but they come in very useful in the rainy season. At least the drought is over and we have no wildfires. My favorite place to vacation is the Yucatan in Mexico and they received much needed rain with busy Beryl. Don’t you love my positive thinking?
The actress, Jennifer Aniston, has already commented on the audacity of JD Vance’s opinion. She said, “All I can say, Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day”. She said that from her perspective of a woman who battled with infertility. She is childless with dogs. Has JD Vance thought about one of our most influential young women, Taylor Swift? She is childless, has many cats and is a Democrat. What is the world coming to? 😉
Rest in Peace wee baby raccoon. Someone loved you right at the end…
Postcards from Kerry 