Animals

Grasshoppers Are Cool

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Debora

This weekend’s safari trail sighting: just the llama this time.

Yesterday I showed the kids the paved trail system I discovered last week. Elizabeth said that my pics don’t do justice to the size of the power poles, so here is another one for scale:

When the kids and I moved here this summer and first started exploring, there were grasshoppers freaking everywhere. I tried and tried to get a photo of one, but they were very skittish and never let me get close enough. Now that it’s fall there aren’t as many around, but the ones I do see seem completely fearless. So I feel kind of obligated to snap a pic of every one that I find.

Is it weird that I think they’re beautiful? I love the detail on their little exoskeletons. Maybe I’ll dedicate a race of aliens to them in my book, there’s always room for one more.

Categories: Animals, environment, Family, kids, Life, trail rides, Wildlife | Leave a comment

Fall Stuff

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Debora

Anza sits at 4,000 feet above sea level, so temperatures go up and down with the sun. In the summer it’s not uncommon to get into the triple digits during the days and down into the 50 or 60s at night. Winter nights there are always cold, but winter days might feel like January or July.

DFW isn’t like that, at least from what I’ve seen so far. Summer felt like summer, whether the sun was up or not. And now that the weather has turned to fall, it has stayed there instead of getting all fickle and whimsical. Now the colors are creeping in, and squirrels are gathering acorns everywhere I look.

Signs of fall are all around.

On weekday afternoons I like to go for walks. I take a slightly different route each time and explore new streets. I enjoy looking at the houses and businesses; I just really like the way things are built here. Someone told me that the reason most of the buildings have so many different angles on their roofs is to deflect high winds and make it harder for tornadoes to get a grip on them. Someone else told me that that’s not the case, that people here just like funky roofs. Whatever, I like them too.

On yesterday’s walk I stumbled onto a dedicated system of walking and bike paths. I started out walking next to roads, but ended up on a trail that followed a line of massive power poles.

At first all I could see was those enormous poles, but by the end of the walk I barely noticed them. They’re almost kind of pretty, if you squint and tilt your head just right.

I’m looking forward to showing the kids those paths, it’ll be nice to have a trafficless place to walk that doesn’t involve driving first.

Tomorrow we set back the clocks. The spring time change feels like years ago on a different planet. So much change crammed into eight months.

I’ve begun to really miss my garden and orchard. Today I bought a young sage plant so I can have fresh sage for cooking; hopefully it will have time to get established before winter sets in. I think I’ll get some lettuce and kale seeds next, if the weather stays mild. It’s funny the things I miss and the things I don’t miss at all. If I could just find a local, organic pomegranate orchard my autumn would be complete.

Categories: Animals, environment, Family, food, Gardening, kids, Life, trees, Weather, Wildlife | Tags: autumn, squirrel | Leave a comment

Look At Me, I’m A Spider!

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Debora

The river trail where I ride Mahogany is quite the safari adventure. On yesterday’s ride we saw cows…

…and a llama.

I’ve actually seen the llama before. There’s a bridge that crosses the Trinity not far from where I keep Mahogany, and I was driving across it one day and glanced down and saw a group of horses and the llama hanging out in the river. Appparently they just roam free down there.

The weather was glorious this weekend, so the kids and I decided to explore more of Colleyville. We started out at an antique store, which had some pretty cool stuff. Texans like their taxidermied animal parts, yo. And Elizabeth spread a little holiday cheer:

That’s my girl. (And if you don’t get the joke, it’s referencing this.)

Okay, this is terrifying, right? It’s not just me?

Stuff of nightmares right there.

After the antique store we wandered around near the library, just because we like the way the buildings look in that area.

Found some random donkeys.

Then we found a park and explored that. It has a playground with this amazing thing like a giant spherical spiderweb. The kids and I reverted to age 12 and frolicked for a while.

The whole park is really nice.

We were walking around the pond and I saw what looked like the body of a dead snake in the grass. The scene went something like, “Oh look, a snake! Oh, it’s dead. Is it dead? It looks dead.” [Nudge snake with toe of shoe, snake doesn’t move.] “No, it’s dead. It — holy crap, it’s moving!” [Fumble for camera as disgruntled snake heaves irritable sigh and slithers into the water.]

Sorry for being a jerk, snake dude. I thought you were dead.

I read somewhere that DFW is the one place in the United States where you are most likely to be impacted by a natural disaster. Hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, floods, wind, everything but earthquakes. I’m probably jinxing myself, but aside from the summer heat and a few inconveniently-timed thunderstorms I’ve seen nothing but beautiful weather here. Have I just not been here long enough? Is the winter dark and full of terrors? Guess I’ll find out soon enough.

Categories: Animals, Family, Horses, kids, Life, trail rides, Weather, Wildlife | 2 Comments

Suddenly: Autumn

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Debora

The weather here has turned to fall. It rains at least once a week, usually on the weekends. This is mildly frustrating, because weekends are when the kids and I do our exploring, and we’ve been mostly limited to indoor stuff for awhile now.

Elizabeth and I went to see “Gravity,” and liked it a lot. If you haven’t seen it, and plan to, do see it in 3D. This movie is all about the visual spectacle, it’s incredibly immersive.

As we were walking from the parking lot to the theater entrance, I had a déjà vu moment. I stopped and looked around, trying to figure out why I felt like I’d been to that theater before (I hadn’t), and then I realized that it wasn’t the theater I recognized but the Italian restaurant next to it. The kids and I had met up with friends there for dinner on our road trip in 2007, and had a fantastic time. Got a nice little rush of nostalgia looking at it.

So, speaking of restaurants, this seems like a good time to mention that I have a very minor complaint about Texas, or at least my little corner of it. The Chinese food. It is not like California Chinese food. I’m not saying it’s better or worse, it’s just not what I’m used to. Okay, it’s worse. There, I said it. I miss orange chicken that tastes right and has the right texture.

But! Elizabeth and I tried Genghis Grill after our movie, and that was great. Does Genghis Grill count as Asian food? What I like about it is that I can put together the kind of meal I used to eat fresh from the garden back in Anza, and then someone else cooks it for me. Sweet!

Mahogany’s winter coat is growing in dark and glossy. I’m surprised at how well she’s doing just on pasture grass and coastal hay. No alfalfa, no grain, but she’s shiny and bursting with energy.

On our last ride we were accosted near the river trail by a wandering-loose group of horses.

Sorry for the blurry, they caught me by surprise.

Oddly enough, Mahogany wanted nothing to do with them. She just wanted to get back to her own buddies in her own pasture. I shooed the strange horses off, and they left us alone.

We’re still working on Mahogany’s reluctance to leave her herd-mates. I mean, I’m glad that she loves her new home and her new friends, but her unwillingness to EVER leave them is getting tiresome. It would be easier if we could find someone to ride with, but so far I haven’t seen any other riders out on the trails.

I don’t have any wildlife pics for this post, but I did see the biggest coyote I have ever seen a couple weeks ago. I was driving and didn’t have time to whip out my camera, but this guy was huge. Living large on suburban life, I guess.

The DFW area is such a beautiful paradox. I love that it looks like this…

…and this…

…and this.

I love the laid-back, down-to-earth vibe, and the fact that jeans, boots and tee-shirts are considered perfectly fashionable attire here. I love that most of the people, including the teens I’ve seen at my kids’ new schools, actually make an effort to look clean and wholesome rather than sexy or dangerous. I love how friendly nearly everyone is.

If I could just get some decent orange chicken here, this place would be pretty close to perfect.

Categories: Animals, Family, food, Horses, kids, Life, Road trip, trail rides, Weather, Wildlife | Tags: coyote, Genghis Grill, Gravity | Leave a comment

Hikus Interruptus

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Debora

This morning the kids and I continued our Trinity River Project by covering this bit of trail:

We had planned to hike farther today, but the rain that was forecast for this afternoon rolled in early. I don’t mind hiking in a nice autumn rain, but my camera and phone do. I guess I need a waterproof case for them now that I’m not in the desert anymore.

Before we hit the trail we stopped in at River Legacy Science Center. It’s a great little place that teaches about the local wildlife and river systems, and has some of the river species on display.

Apparently there’s a plan in the works to connect all the trails and parks along the Trinity River from Fort Worth to Dallas, but it’s complicated by the fact that a lot of the land is privately owned. It’s a cool idea, though, and since the trails themselves are mostly already in place I don’t think it would be too disruptive. I hope it works out — how cool would it be to be able to ride your bike from Fort Worth to Dallas without ever having to touch a street?

Another cool thing we found at the Science Center was a map with tiny lights that show the course of each major Texas river when you press the corresponding button. Here’s the Trinity:

There’s a spot behind the building with steps leading down to a pond, and I think they must feed the local turtle population from there, because a lot of very hopeful-looking turtles popped their heads up when we came out.

A better view of of the pond:

We saw even more turtles once we got out onto the river trail.

We got as far as this strange, abandoned bridge…

…and then it started raining, and we turned back to save our gadgets.

It’s just as well; as we were driving to our next errand the skies opened up and unleashed the sort of deluge that makes you crawl along behind the next guy’s taillights and hope that everyone doesn’t get washed off the road. That wouldn’t have been fun to hike in at all.

The rain disrupted my weekend plans with Mahogany. I might have to play hooky Monday morning and slip out for a ride.

Categories: Animals, environment, Family, kids, Life, Trinity River Project, Weather, Wildlife | Tags: River Legacy Science Center, turtles | 1 Comment