Palo Duro Canyon, January 31

I had the extreme good fortune to spend about 90 minutes with my wife in Palo Duro Canyon at the end of January. We had picked up a 575 pizza in Amarillo and had a picnic and a short walk on the canyon floor.

Red, muddy water was flowing fast in the stream. We saw a robin, two cardinals, some iridescent olive-colored wrens, and a few gregarious black and orange birds. It was sixty-five degrees and there was almost no breeze.

You know me - I loved it and started scheming:

solar powered electric conversion

We saw a few other hikers, a mountain biker, and a tangerine microbus with a dog riding shotgun. It was a great time at a great place, and my wife's sun-kissed smile made it all the better.

I hope you are all fortunate enough to find yourself in such a wonderful situation soon. I know that I sure felt better afterward.

Another inspiring part of Palo Duro is getting to see all of the structures built by the Civilian Conservation Corps back in the 1930's.

Learn more from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Learn more from Wikipedia

 It's nice to think of a time when we worked together to solve our common problems, protect natural spaces, and create something beautiful to share with future generations.

May we know beauty and hope while working to create more of both.

Celebrating Black (Dog) Friday 2017

We did it right this year. My lovely wife and I celebrated Black Friday by loading up the three dogs and heading to our favorite Texas canyon to hike some trails and hang out with the buffalo.

Mattie, Kylie, and the canyon

You couldn't ask for a better Black Dog Friday!

(Even Maya, the backpack Chihuahua, thought so.)

We only had to wait in one line!

Just a buffalo under the moon...

May you also be gifted with such great company and beautiful days!

PS. Love you, Spray!

A Quick Getaway: Abilene State Park

Who knew Abilene had a state park?

 

Get the map here

 

A few weeks ago we got away for a bit. Oh, it was nice! Some good friends had invited us to spend the weekend at Abilene State Park. It's a few miles south of Buffalo Gap and adjacent to Lake Abilene.

We stayed in a yurt (and we loved it!)

 

Inside the yurt

 

Yurt ceiling

 

It's a small place. Actually, it was just the right size for pedaling about on a bicycle. If you go, be sure to pack a bike! We did and were happy we had them. One of my favorite places in the park was the bird blind. It's maintained by local birders. We saw dove, several cardinals, and a few small wrens of some sort. I also read that the blind is a popular stopping point for painted buntings during their migration. (Note to self: Re-book the yurt for bunting season.) 

Don't know what it is, but it's beautiful.

Amarillo in Abilene

The Buffalo Wallow fishing dock

Tiny frogs bounded and abounded

and swam

 View from the smaller tower (CCC) 

The water tower

 

The centerpiece of the park is a very cool picnic area built by the Civilian Conservation Corp back in the 1930's. There's a huge swimming pool, a playground area, and horseshoe pits. I always enjoy seeing the CCC handiwork in person.

The water tower window

Things are looking up

 

Centipede outside the yurt

 

Mantis preying in the yurt

Mantis gets a close-up

 

For a tiny vacation, this place is just right. May you have a chance to get out and enjoy the world with which we have been blessed.

Lubbock Local Wildlife: Turtle Rescue 2016

So there I was Saturday morning working on the National Bike Challenge post. The phone rang. SnagIt! The Saturday morning curse kicked in. I packed everything up and hopped on the bike to (literally) check on a false alarm. I was riding on the 34th Street sidewalk (What an amazing place 34th would be for a bike lane!) Crossing the sidewalk in front of me and heading toward the busy-ness of 34th, was a yellow mud turtle. Unlike the red-eared slider and the soft-shelled turtle, the mud turtle is seldom seen around here. I don't think they are uncommon - just much stealthier than their sun-seeking cousins. She was the first I've seen in a few years, and she was just a few blocks from my house! By the way, mud turtles don't seem to care much for travel by bike.

 

Is that a great face or what? (And check out those fingernails!)

 

After dealing with the false alarm (at the neighbor's house), my wife and I took her over to the wilderness habitat area at Clapp Park. (You may remember all the Clapp Park posts from the tadpole era a few years ago.) She posed for a pic, then leapt (like a very clunky cheetah) toward the water and was gone!

Notice the speed blur - she was trucking it to the water!

Not quite a cannonball, but definitely speedy!

 

May she enjoy some local Lubbock mud and may you enjoy knowing she's around!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

PS. She smells better on the internet than in real life.

 

Bonus pic: Gecko on the house last night (2016 -Year of the Gecko!)



More Texas in Eco-News, and It's Great News!

In the last decade, it has become difficult to watch nature documentaries. You are watching along in reverie for the first two-thirds, and then you get the message. And the message is very simple. Nature is grand and glorious and staggeringly beautiful, but we had better do something soon because human beings have screwed it up royally and this majestic ________ you have been watching is almost extinct because of our greed, selfishness, and naivete. Once in a great while, there is a glimmer of hope at the end, but it usually just ends in gloom and doom.

The Texas news (from two different sources) in this post is one of those glimmers of hope.

From the Treehugger article:

A unique partnership between The Nature Conservancy, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, Conservation Fund and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has created an incredible opportunity to help rehabilitate the Gulf region. Using fine money resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the group has stewarded one of the largest single conservation investments in the history of Texas: the acquisition of Powderhorn Ranch.

And, in case you want to see the area for yourself (from the comfort of your media device,) here is the Texas Parks and Wildlife youtube video of the Powderhorn Ranch. Click here.

So, why am I so excited? First, it preserves an area where wildlife, the land, and the water can heal and thrive. Second, it is mostly funded by fines from the biggest eco-disaster the Gulf of Mexico has yet experienced - the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. From a horrible disaster comes a glimmer of hope.

From the Laura Huffman in the conservationfund.org article:

“The Gulf of Mexico is the hardest working body of water in the country, but it desperately needs nourishment. We have steadily stripped away its natural defenses, endangering wildlife, nature and the millions of residents who live in coastal communities,” said Laura Huffman, Texas state director for The Nature Conservancy. “This investment in Powderhorn Ranch protects the best of the last coastal prairies left in Texas and stitches together a network of protected lands that are vital to the resilience and health of the Gulf Coast.” 

Thank you to all of the groups who have worked so diligently to make this happen!

May the glimmers of hope overwhelm us!