Just Getting Started

The world changed.

Then it changed again.

But we are still here.

And we walk.

Come along.

It's been a lovely week of short and long walks. We have seen a few flowers and insects. We've watched the sunrise and sunset and we have met a few new friends.

This blog is a continuation of Walk in the Park, but over time you will see how we have changed and how we have not. 

For now, here are a few of the sights from this week.

Welcome back.

The Park:

We have avoided this park of late, but decided to try and walk just a little bit and well off the paved paths.

The park workers have cleared almost to the edge of the creek. It's a nice and different walk.

The squirrels were watching us watch them.

The creek is low, but still flowing. [Looking upstream]

I started thinking about walking the creek for a very different view. [Do not tell my children.]

This Eastern Phoebe hunted at the edge of the creek. It did not call its name. It did not worry with our presence.

It's a small bird, deadly to insects.

Zelda and I have hunted fossils in the construction areas where the limestone ledge has been disturbed. Yet here was a fossil we had never noticed before. You can see the size of it by the size of the paw.

This is beyond the park. The owners have not cleared the creekside.

It appears a worker left a print in the wet concrete while building this platform under the footbridge. Would you say this will be future fossil?

High in the tree.

The Neighborhood:

This is one of the few open fields left. They mowed the edge. This milkweed survived the mow. I think it  is called "Green Comet." I have checked on it a couple of times - gently checking to see how close it is to opening and sending out seeds. I have saved more than a few seeds this summer.*

Tomatoes of the Western Horsenettle (Solanum dimidiatum) It is a nightshade and quite toxic. But they are lovely. All three of the summer nightshades are blooming and producing now - Silverleaf Nightshade, Western Horsenettle, and Buffalobur.  
 

Seed-heads of Upright Prairie Coneflowers - I gathered a number and hope I have examples of the different colors of blooms. We will see next spring.

Partridge Pea with seedpods - I suspect I'll try to grown this in a pot. The pollinators love it.

Another Park:

Zizotes Milkweed bloomed in the middle of one of the mowed fields. I have debated marking for the mowers to avoid.

It's hard to miss an Eastern Bluebird (even if it is "looking away").

There is a nice, if short, walk along the river here.

We stay on the main - level - path.

We have not headed too close to the river.

Other paths cut through the wood line and head UP the hill. We skip these.

I see no need to take the "short cut."

Ants

A sedge

Many species are looking for just this sort of shelter - the bluebird for one.

Headed home:

Sometimes we will see something interesting on the drive home. This Red-tailed Hawk waited as we turned back for photos.

It was hard to get a "good" shot, but I got "good enough."

NOTES:

* So far I have Texas Bluebonnets, coneflowers, partridge pea, and a few other wildflower seeds waiting to plant. I've also gathered a few cuttings of plants that may propagate that way including Texas Lantana and Dakota Mock Vervain. The Vervain is growing well. We will see how the others do.