Wascally Wabbit

This guy was feeding in a small clearing yesterday. He spotted me when I rounded a tree, and he struck this pose to watch. He held like that for a long time, and let me take several pictures before he hopped off. I was surprised he could balance on two legs for so long. It was steamy in the swamp; I guess hurricane Humberto is pushing that Gulf moisture in here. My busted hip is still notifying me when these tropical systems approach, but it doesn’t interfere with my playtime.

Is it fall yet?

The autumn is my favorite time of year. Yesterday I saw the first hint of it… admittedly, not a very big hint. On a quick waltz through the Bluebonnet Swamp trails, I noticed that the humidity was low, the temperature was not too abusive, and the air just had that “fall” feel to it. There was a sprinkling of leaves on the trails and boardwalks, and I noticed that things seem to have begun changing from summer- green to warmer shades of fall.

Oh, yeah… lantana

I found this at the park; see it other places occasionally. I had trouble remembering the name, lantana. It’s a good one to remember, though; they say that stuff is pretty toxic. Sight of lantana always stirs some memories for me. Back in a previous life, I saw lantana along the roadsides, on my late- summer trips to Colorado. Now, every time I see a patch of lantana, it reminds me of my annual pilgrimages to the high country.

Oh, deer me

I found four deer feeding in the field. Well, well, that makes me excited for bowhunting… it’s less than a month. I’m back out of the woods now, and it was a hot trip. I had to take my grass mowing and fence work slowly. I got a few things accomplished and I did get to play a little. I looked for animal tracks in the creek and watched for pottery shards. I got to practice with my bow, too. I’ve been “field testing” some of my camping recipes, so maybe I’ll post some of that soon, over on Campdaddy’s page. There were fresh deer droppings in the camp yard; looked like a fawn visited during the night. There were deer hanging around across the creek, too; wonder if they were the same ones in the field. I saw or heard them several times from the bluff. I only got a good look at one… a medium- sized doe. The evenings were very nice… warm summer nights, perfume of wildflowers in the air, heat lightning flickering a sky- show … stirs some memories. Lightning bugs were flashing and crickets singing all around (probably some kind of conehead katydids, but “crickets” sounds more romantic). There were several screech owls calling in the night. An occasional coyote howled and, in the distance, a barred owl was making quite a racket.