Wednesday, March 14, 2012

More of the Texas Roadside in Spring

First, as they say, administrative details: that book about Barcelona I referred to yesterday is "The Shadow of the Wind", a novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. That's all. As you were.

I'm getting plenty of sleep, just none of it when you'd expect. I went to bed late Monday morning and got up well before noon, so I lost some time there. Then I was out taking pictures and got back here in time to order pizza for supper. I ate, then sat down about 6:30PM (you still with me?) to read in my recliner while I waited for Cathie to come over and watch "Tuesdays With Morrie" (Netflix), even though it was only Monday. Well, of course, I dozed off. When I awoke, Cathie wasn't there yet and I glanced at the nearby clock: seven something, where are my glasses? In a few minutes I got up and, walking past the kitchen, I noticed the clock on the microwave: ONE-TWENTY! That'd be 1:20AM, you know, 0120 hours. I thought I'd dozed for 15 or 20 minutes and, instead, I'd been out from 7PM till 1AM. (Cathie's daughter had come to town, so Cathie went AWOL.)

So that's why I was still editing the pictures I posted yesterday at 6AM. I can now confirm that Daylight Savings Time works; the sun didn't come up till 7:44. And, as I write this (8:20PM, Tuesday), I'm about ready for supper, having already napped today from about 8:30AM to nearly noon. I've already done all the pictures and written the text for this post (save this intro), so I'll splice it all together, schedule it to ship out on the morning tide, scarf down dinner, and - assuming Cathie surfaces - watch "Tuesdays With Morrie" while it's still Tuesday! Don't you love it when a plan comes together?


Prickly Pear, check. Bluebonnets, check. Little Yella Flowers, check. Grass, check. Weeds, check. Boulders w/ lichens, check. Post Oaks, do we need a doctor for these guys? Cedar, yeah, that's it. What we call Cedar here in Texas is Ashe Juniper if you ain't from here. All the Cedar in the central Texas hill country - and there's a lot of it - isn't dead. But the drought has surely taken its toll. Lots of ranchers try to kill it anyway because it competes with grasses their stock use for forage. But I like the dark green Cedar usually adds to my pictures. On the other hand, this bright rust color they add now is at least a change of pace. I wonder what'll eventually take its place.

Back the late 60s, I used to hitchhike from Kingsville, in south Texas, about 200 miles up to Austin, in central Texas. I remember one morning in early spring, my first in south Texas, somewhere around Seguin, between San Marcos and Kenedy (I'd been stuck waiting for a ride in Kenedy or Karnes City most of the night). It appeared that someone had painted all the pastures on both sides of the highway. Most of the fields were incredibly blue, and scattered about, here and there, were large areas of red and yellow. I had never seen anything like it, and I've never seen anything like it since (except in pictures). The blue fields were, of course, Bluebonnets; the red were Indian Paintbrush. I've seen yellow before, so I didn't pay much attention, but I suppose those fields were Buttercups or Dandelions. I'd like to see something like that again, sometime.

I like these Yuccas; even when they're burned up, they add so much to the landscape.

See what I mean?

I made this shot the opening picture on my Facebook page, replacing some sailors in a raft on seal hunt in Alaska. They were probably ready to come in and get warm and dry again anyway. Bluebonnets, Cedar, Oak, pink boulders, and cloudy skies. That certainly says, "Central Texas", but some Rattlesnakes, Longhorns, and Comanches would make this picture perfect.

Oh, yeah. Road Runners, Doves, Mockingbirds, and some Hawks and Eagles wouldn't be out of place. . .   I got us a Turkey Buzzard.

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