a-wiggling and a-hissing

My favorite Texas snake - the hognose

Fall is fast approaching, and I am yearning to go for a hike or two in the local canyons. Since we don't believe much in mountains around here, we have to seek out their opposites if we want to find interesting hikes. One thing about fall hiking around here, it is one of the best times to see the local wildlife - especially the reptiles. They take advantage of warm sunlight and the radiant heat of the rocks, and hiking trails often offer some of the best sunning opportunites.

I have often heard that the only good snake is a dead snake, and I often hear snake stories that end with a rake, a rock, or a shotgun. We like to kill the things we don't understand. There are only four indigenous poisonous snakes in this area, and I have only encountered two of those around here: the rattlesnake and the water moccasin. Thanks to the Aggies, here is a website to help you know more about the poisonous ones:
http://vetmed.tamu.edu/news/pet-talk/venomous-snakes-of-texas

And here is some good general info about Texas snakes:
http://www.texassnakes.net/snakefear.htm

And here's a little Tom T. Hall music for you snake and/or root beer lovers out there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMxv7onpdCY

Have a great day, and all of you 18-28 year old males, be sure to read that first website closely and be careful out there!

How far do you live from _______ ?

I live smack-dab in the middle of this map. If you start at my house and draw a circle with a 3-mile radius, you will circle two grocery stores, two hardware stores, four public schools, three entirely too tempting donut shops, three very good local coffee houses, two places that collect recycling, one good bicycle shop, two gyms, three pet stores, a locksmith, four great local Mexican food places, a Radio Shack, two local gourmet restaurants, three drugstores, a post office, a health food store, two martial arts establishments, four places to refill your purified water containers, a community outreach center...

And the list goes on and on.

Why do I mention all of this? Because I need to lose weight (#$%^&#  donut shops!), I need to save money, I want to support local businesses, and I want to do less damage to the planet I share with all of you.

And all of these places are within walking or bike-riding distances.

What's in your circle?

Backyard Fauna - Gecko!

(Depending on your screen, this little guy is probably appearing larger than life!)

You got it: big eyes, big toes, bumpy and translucent skin, and the stripy tail! This little guy was in our backyard last night. We have had very few lizards this year and it made my day. He was less than 2" long and very quick. When I do see lizards, they are normally fence swifts [which I now know as Texas Spiny lizards] or five-lined skinks, so geckos are especially cool to see. (According to my little bit of googling, this is a Mediterranean gecko.)

May your day be filled with small and wonderful surprises!

Colorado Green Stuff 3 - Solar Panels

Dagnabbit! Should have taken more pictures. Sometimes you get caught up in the living rather than the camera.

We saw solar panels everywhere, especially in the more sparsely popluated areas. Sometimes it's just easier to install solar panels than trying to run electric lines to remote areas. But we also saw a great deal of solar in areas that had easy access to the local power grid. On the way to Cañon City, we saw an auto repair shop that had a very impressive solar array even though the power lines ran right across their property. The nicest surprise came as we were leaving Royal Gorge Rafting and Zipline Tours - there was a huge solar array supplying all of the electricity for the restaurant and all of the buildings in on their property. I really like doing business with places that are making an effort to preserve our natural resources.

Royalgorgerafting.net (A shout out for Dave Klein <Cline?> who was a great river guide as well.)

 

(Not a photo of us, but pretty darn close!)

 

May your day be filled with adventure and joy!

Colorado (Somewhat) Green Stuff 2 - Own an Inch of Colorado

We saw these semi trailers parked along I-25. If you go to the website, you will find a group that is working to keep a very large area of Colorado ranchland from being used as US Army artillery range and war games practice area. One of their approaches utilizes the selling of 1 inch square tracts of land to raise money to continue their fight and to develop a landowner association.

In their own words:

For your $10 you'll receive a frame-able, legal deed and you'll be supporting the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, ( PCEOC ) in their effort to prevent the Army from taking 6.9 million acres of magnificent prairie and canyon lands away from generational ranchers in order to turn the southeastern corner of Colorado into a huge, live-fire range.

So please, become a property owner, stop the federalization of Colorado's lands and militarization of Colorado's economy. By purchasing an inch of land you'll be standing with American citizens who are fighting to protect their homes and their lands from seizure by the military. You'll be helping to prevent the creation of more than 17,000 refugees and you'll become part of the most unique land-owners association in America: The Pinon Canyon Square Inch Land Association!
You will also find links for possible ecological impacts and damages that this that this expansion could cause.

Dear Reader, what are your thoughts on this group's approach to having their voices heard?

Back from Vacation - and Colorado Green Stuff

We're back - had a wonderful time - wish I had taken more pics for all of you to see.

I will post a series of things that had the Mesquite Hugger in me very excited.

First, we saw a real, live, grain bin house in Hudson, Colorado!!!

In the world of upcycling, few things are cooler than a grain bin turned into a house. My wife and I have often "designed" our dream home using 4 smaller grain bins and a varying number of shipping containers to form something like a medieval castle with a courtyard in the middle.

If you have never heard of a grain bin house, check out this link from Mother Earth News:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/grain-bins-z10m0gri.aspx#axzz2d5PXxhb7

May you have a great day and dream of round, upcycled housing!

Mesquite Hugger is on vacation

See y'all next week!