The Extinction Rebellion group uses Keybase to communicate. I guess encryption is v important so no one anticipates our next “ACTION”! Anyhow, I joined Keybase right away but I’ve been terrible about keeping up and for that lame reason alone, I haven’t been going to meetings. However, Rob and I did show up to Austin’s Climate Strike at the Capitol. I even made a sign! Joined in some chants and signed some petitions.
The surprising part about that excursion was actually on our way home as we were driving over the Colorado River on a 4-lane busy road. The traffic was stopped on the other side due to 3 horses in the way! Sure enough, the leader who was getting a horse back in line was Sam, our next-door neighbor! Quite a sight. He’s often out taking people on rides around town. This is Texas so I believe stopping traffic due to horse is OK.
We’ve seen a couple of cute little geckos inside the house. I worry for them. So I’ve setup several watering stations (like a used sardine container) throughout the house.
There’s a spider web that is reliably spun every day on our front porch. You’ll see it first thing in the morning with the spider in the middle. But by 10:00a.m. or so, it is completely gone. I learned from the interwebs (webs!) that each day these kinds of “barn spiders” will undo their webs because they get a bit tattered and eat much of the silk which is re-used in the next day’s web. I have been hoping to catch our spider in the act but I keep missing it. One time when I was set on watching her timing was delayed since she was feasting on a large insect she had caught. Also, how we always refer to spiders as female due to, I presume, Charlotte’s Web.
Learned a bit more about the guinea hen that roams the street. First, Paige reported that when she was here it chased after her when she was jogging. In order to replicate, we tried sprinting past the hen (Paige runs a lot faster than me) but he never chased me (or Rob)—in fact, he’d usually run away in fear. My theory at first was that rather than chasing her, Paige’s running triggered an instinct in the hen that caused him to join in the “flight”. Paige explained that this can’t be right—it was definitely pursuing HER! Her claim was confirmed when I briefly met the overseers of the hen (who were walking their dogs). The hen will chase people, but “nothing to worry about”. The hen is named Larry….so that’s Larry Bird! Haha seriously Larry Bird does look like a guinea hen! Also, the hen hangs out on their lawn often next to a mirror that is setup for him. I know there used to be a flock of hens but now there’s just Larry so the mirror must be comforting.
Our most recent “hike” which I now refer to has “hill walking” as Paige told me that’s how the Scottish refer to them, was to St. Edwards Park and it was so fun because it goes along a creek where there’s always a new section to explore. There’s tons of minnows of different species and sizes as well as lots of frogs. There’s swimming holes and a few other folks were swimming and of course their dogs. A lot of people have dogs in Austin which I’me sure I’ve mentioned but it deserves mentioning again. At bottom of this post there’s a “Gallery” of images from this walk.
I also spotted a baby catfish in shallow muck and I grabbed it to see it in my hand (and take a pic) but of course duh it’s whiskers pronged me and I flung it back on the rocks which was awful because I think I damaged his brain. Rob got him back swimming but I don’t think he’ll ever be the same.
Also, my pocket-guide to Texas wildlife includes Pronghorns so the fact that I call University of Texas’ mascot Pronghorns instead of Longhorns is not as silly as you might think.
I’m sitting outside writing this when it’s like perfect warm temperature with a breeze and birds and I saw in Mpls it’s like 50-something and rainy and you know this isn’t even bad yet. I’m so over that place.
We finally got rain but it’s been crazy hot and dry in August/September. The “yard” is crunchy with large cracks. The cracks interest me because they are quite deep. I’ve been taking dead bamboo trunks and sticking them down in there to see how far they go. They go far. Also, what would happen if I stuck something in there like a message in a bottle? Would it re-appear next summer or turn up in Korea in 10 years?
Also, I send pictures of roadkill to Paige quite often (and she sends them to me). It’s a thing we do. And Rob and I walk on our street often so we see a lot of roadkill. Mostly toads. I was thinking between me and Paige, we could make a picture book of roadkill. And bonus: we could make it scratch ‘n sniff!
I’ve seen more coyote on our street in the last 2 weeks than deer. These are living animals I mean.
This weekend Heather-face was in town for a family reunion and we got together, along with 2 of her cousins, on Sunday afternoon. After hanging out at a brewery, Facial got to meet Cheech before heading to the airport to make her trip complete!
Cheech not in this picture. You’ve seen her enough!
