Garden Site Preparation

I am trying to determine the best site for my Keyhole garden.  The area that I call my garden is quite shaded.  So I will be taking pictures several times over the next two days to look at the sun/shade patterns.

This first picture is from a couple of years ago.  (Warning, I haven't edited the photos, so they will likely take a while to download).

See the dead limbs in the upper right corner of the picture.  That (dead) tree fell over into the yard.  I have since had it (mostly) removed.  The banana plants have mostly died since I stopped watering them every day.  The center of the photo is my old 4x4 garden with a bit of fencing around it, all overgrown with weeds.  The lighter streaks across the photo is where the sunshine gets through the trees.

Here's a photo from 2:30pm today.  The bananas have mostly died -- they're hard to see in the shadow. The green area in the center is behind the well -- I'm not using that space.  I will be watching that big bright area in the right center of the picture, though I'm pretty sure that is shaded in the mornings.

The keyhole garden is approximately 6 feet in diameter, and about 29" off the ground.   Here are the specifications from Keyhole Farms, where I bought it.

Here are some links on keyhole farming:

• The description (one of several) of making these in hot and dry areas of Africa, and in locations in the US.
• Here is an article on Keyhole Gardening in Texas
• And an article on Dr. Deb Tolman, who championed this type of gardening in Texas.

I have collected paper and phone books, lots of cardboard as well as my compost bin and some bags of dirt, compost and manure that I have around.  I also have some dried grass from a recent mowing.  I plan to use all of these to create the soil in my garden.  I bought a paper shredder, and I'm thinking of shredding the paper goods to aid in the composting.

I have to figure out how to protect the plants from the critters.  Short term, I'll probably cure some bamboo, which I have way too much of, and use that to create a support for netting....  Hmmm, I might be able to slide it between the frame and the corrugated metal on the OUTSIDE, then clip the netting to the frame...  that might work.  On the other hand, if I plan squash (next year), it is likely to overflow the garden and onto the ground.  So long term, I'm thinking of putting a fence around the area with ground-level plants that deer don't like (like lavender).

In conjunction with the set-up, I will start thinking of what I want to plant.  I'm told that in shady areas, it's best to stick with bulbs and leafy plants.  But I plan to plant squash -- the fruits are shaded by the leaves anyway.  I also want to plant tomatoes, eggplant and maybe peppers -- those will be experimental for a while.

The other thing I'm looking at is information on preserving produce -- I certainly won't be able to eat it all -- even from this small garden.  I'm mostly going to focus on freezing.

The Garden!

I have been wanting to plant another garden for some time.  In spite of the fact that I rarely cook, and have very little time, I have decided to go with it!  I ordered a Keyhole Garden kit from Keyhole farms. It was supposed to arrive yesterday, but UPS forgot to put it on their truck!  So I'm a little disappointed I didn't have the whole Labor Day weekend to work on it.  Oh well...

My brother-in-law asked me to keep him informed on how this project went, so I've decided to wake up my blog and document this little project here.  I promise pictures and more details.  But since it's not happening this weekend, I guess we will settle for this simple post for starters.

The Insurance Question

With apologies to my readers -- I have been a bit lazy of late, and not much is going on here at the cabin.  I have a lot of time to think, and this question has caught my attention.  If you're not interested in politics, you can skip this one. :-)

[Stepping up on soapbox now]

As of recent GOP Debates, the "Insurance Question" has raised it's ugly head again.  One of my acquaintances on FB posted a video from moveon.org of a woman whose brother had no job, no insurance and no "governmental assistance" because of his age (mid-late 50s).  He came down with cancer and died in a lot of pain.  The question is asked (and she admits it's a poor question, and it is), "Should people be allowed to die because they have no insurance?"

These kinds of questions, with relation to politics, really irritate me.  Why?  Because not only is it a "yes or no" question that doesn't really lead to discussion, but it is a leading question which plays on our emotions and tends to put a damper on any followup.

Obviously the answer to the original question is "No."  But this has gotten me to thinking, what is the correct question?  I think the question should be this:

"There are people in our nation who are unable to get a job and therefore, without insurance who are unable to get the healthcare they need.  Many of them are dying without treatment.  How would you resolve these issues and save these people?"

 Let me start with an aside that I believe that our world and our lives are made up of series of systems and everything is connected to everything else.  So the answer to this question is complex.

My first "off the cuff" answer to this is that it shouldn't be the problem of government to deal with this, except that it was the government that caused the problem (in my opinion).  Now, they had help of course, but ultimately a lot of the problem stems from laws that have been passed over at least the last 150 years or so.   All of these laws were enacted with the benefit of the people in mind, but some have had a negative effect on the people they were intended to help.

I think that we need to go back and review many of the old (and some not so old) laws that have been passed to see what the consequences of those laws have been and if those laws need to be completely or partially repealed, and/or rewritten.  We need to look at Health Care, and the laws governing legal practices towards doctors and medical practitioners; at the laws governing the insurance industry (especially medical).  We need to look at all sorts of business-related, economics and tax laws that effect businesses' ability to hire and retain workers.  We need to review how we deal with illegal immigrants.  We even need to look at welfare and how we deal with indigent people.

All of these issues are involved in why a person in their mid-fifties who has lost their job and insurance and comes down with a serious disease would end up dying in pain because they can no longer afford treatment.

I want, however, to reiterate one important point that I made above.  Before doing anything, we need to look at the long term consequences of any changes we decide to make.  It's called a "risk assessment."  Most of our laws in the past have been made without any risk assessments (or so I would assume), and some have had consequences that have caused problems in the long term.  But simply repealing a law that "went wrong" will also have consequences.  We need to determine what those consequences are and rework the law such that it solves the original problem without causing additional problems, and transition those effected into the new situation with a minimum of "pain."

Unfortunately, I think the possibility of any of this happening with any politician is slim to none, because no matter what anyone does, someone is going to be unhappy and the politician will feel their ability to be reelected in jeopardy.  So the other thing I think we need is term limits!  But that is another topic all together!

[Steps down from soap box.]

Trip to the Big City Today

Today, I drove into town to attend a funeral at the church where Marc and I were married.  I saw a lot of people that I hadn't seen in years.  I made it through the funeral pretty well until the last verse of "A Mighty Fortress" -- music always gets to me, and sometimes it's the strangest things... but I survived.

Afterwards, I went to the genealogy library and tried out the new camera I bought to take pictures (instead of photocopies) of the information I found.  I don't think they turned out well.  (I haven't downloaded them yet.)

On the way home, I saw the wildfire in the park -- not close to me, but closer than some of the other fires "nearby."  I looked at the odometer when I got home -- almost 100 miles round trip!

Got home and discovered... yes, the hummingbird feeders were empty!  Well... that's a day in my life.

Saturday in the Woods

So I was particularly lazy today.  I purposely slept in, and awoke to find the humming bird feeder empty AGAIN!  I refilled it, only to have it empty again by 3:00 pm.  So this time, I filled two.  I've had lots of hummers in the last few days -- I think perhaps it is the beginning of migration season.  If so, it seems slightly early.  I wonder if that indicates that we might have a particularly cold winter?

I did get out for my walk this morning, but it was a little late, so I didn't walk a whole mile.  One good thing I noticed is that at 10:00 am, my garden area was wholly in the sun!

Even though I spent most of the day inside listening to the Tri-County EMS scanner, I did notice a few interesting things.  A couple of times, I saw Grackles (large black birds) on my seed feeder.  I also noticed that my thermometer got up to 101 degrees this afternoon (for only a moment).  Then the temp dropped quickly, vacillated a bit, then settled on about 96.  Strange, if you ask me.  I wondered if a bird or something was sitting on the sensor?

Tomorrow, as I'm sure everyone knows, is the 10th anniversary of the 9/11/2001 attacks.  I have received only one email, but saw several posts on FaceBook of remembrances of the event.  While I too feel that we should "never forget," I found quickly that I am not up to reading through all the stories.  However, my choir sings tomorrow.  I think the song I have chosen is appropriate to the day, both for the lessons of the day, and the remembrance of the tragedy.  It's the song It Is Well.  The person who wrote the song had lost his daughters in a tragedy at sea, and yet, with God's help is able to go on with his life.  Here's a link to a version of this song sung by three young siblings that one of my choir members sent me.

"When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll.  Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, "It is well, it is well, with my soul." 

 

Wildlife on the Homestead

I have a lot of wildlife in my little woodland sanctuary and that is a concern when I review my plans for developing a garden and livestock (probably chickens at this point).  Since we've cleared the area, the deer have been munching on my bananas, the squirrels have been eating the birdseed and several other animals have remained unseen, but I know they are there.

I will have to protect my garden and livestock from the animals listed above and from raccoons, possums, skunks, armadillos, coyotes, and possibly foxes.  Oh, and wild pigs!  I'm afraid this will be a case of "if you build it they will come!"

I visited a friend for lunch today, then ran some errands on the way home.  Driving through the country, I saw something I don't often see:  a dead coyote on the side of the road.  Sadly, I drove around the corner and saw another one!  I think the combination of the drought causing scarcity of food and water, and the fires to the north of us are likely driving animals this way.

Hummer Wars!

On the positive side, I probably have a dozen humming birds around my feeder.  I filled it up this morning and it's almost empty now (about 5pm).

The fires in Texas are a big concern right now.  I am particularly worried because I not only have a lot of dead trees, but a lot of dead brush.  Fortunately, the fires are about 30-40 miles away (maybe closer "as the crow flies").  But still everything is so dry.  We're in the path of the smoke, so things are a bit hazy, and you can smell the smoke from time to time.  Weather Underground has the option to select "fire" from their radar maps.  You can also have it show the smoke in the area.

Here's a really Impressive Video from Texas Parks and Wildlife.  It's labeled as "Scary" and it is, but not in a horror movie sort of way.  The whole video is 50 seconds, and shows the fire moving right across an area of ... maybe 50 feet?  I'm not a good judge of distance, especially from a video, but wow!  You can see the trees that are NOT dry are surviving well enough, but those that are go up like matchsticks!  Scary, indeed.

I have a couple of trees that are dead from last year (or before) that are going to be cut down -- hopefully today.  One is where it would fall on the garden/yard area and another is over the driveway.

Dead tree at the front of the driveway

Another tree that is dead is the one where my driveway splits off to the house.  This tree partially blocks the view to the house, so I hate to lose it.  It will be complicated to cut because the power line is in the way (click on pic to see the powerline).  However, this winter, I plan to plant several brushy type trees to create a "hedge."  I'm hoping to get fruits and nuts from the hedge, if the birds and squirrels don't get them first.

Dead tree at the back of the driveway

Here is a picture of the dead tree at the opposite corner of the circle driveway.  I'm not going to cut it anytime soon, but it's sad to see it go.  And below that are other trees that have died or are dying along the pipeline right of way.

Dead trees along the pipeline ROW

This morning is starting off cool again like yesterday.  When I checked around 8:30 am, it was 65 degrees.  The hummers are out -- I've seen 5 or 6 the last couple of days.  Tried to get some pictures, but they move so fast.  My biggest problem is squirrels in my bird feeders!  And when I scare them off, they launch off the feeders scattering more seeds than they eat!

Dang Squirrel!  Sitting below the bird feeder.

I wish I could get started in my garden.  I'm waiting to find the buried electrical lines, and the water line as well, but I may just have to guess at that.  Need both of these to determine where to set the fence posts.  I want to have raised beds, but I might just put in amendments and such in the areas I want.  I can't afford to spend much more money until I get a job.  But the cooler mornings are really nice.

It's been almost a year since my last post.  Several things have happened since then, and my life has changed significantly.  I've decided to get my blog going again, but it will be less about birds and more about my "Cabin in the Woods."  Part of my problem with the previous blog was the time it took to edit the photographs so they would load quickly (and the birds would be visible).  Well, my old computer died, and I bought a Mac.  Surprisingly, it did not come with photo editing software (or if it did, I haven't found it).

I did not mention it in my last post, but Marc was not well on that trip.  His health continued to deteriorate.  In March, we "officially" learned that he had Pancreatic Cancer, and he passed away the day before Easter in April.  Needless to say, things have been ... well, different.  My neighbors, family and friends have been wonderful and very supportive and I'm grateful!

I'm planning to turn my Cabin in the Woods into a homestead.  I'm going to plant a garden (with a fence -- the deer are already eating Marc's bananas!!).  This will be quite a challenge, because besides the animals (not just deer), the area is largely shaded.  I'm also considering getting some chickens, so I'll hopefully be more self-sufficient.

Before of the area where the garden will be

I'll still talk about birds some (not just chickens!), but I'm planning to make this more a journal of the homestead.  This is the area where the garden will be.  The "lump" in the center left is the "old" 4' square of garden with it's fence.  It was "mowed over" by the tractor.

  

After of the same area.

Here is the "after" version.  If I have chickens, the coop will go by the tractor shed, now clearly visible in the photo.  Of course, I no longer have a tractor, so I may need to call it something else.

Galveston/High Island September Birding Trip

We just returned from a quick trip to Galveston and High Island. As a birding trip, it was a bit disappointing, though we did add three new birds to the Life List (so that was really good). The bird below is a juvenile Red Headed Woodpecker. For some reason, I thought I already had that one (maybe I hadn't written it down).

I was a bit disappointed in High Island's Smith Woods. I guess we just go there at the wrong time of year. The site was so grown up, I had a hard time getting to the major water area. Most of what I saw were Neotropic Cormorants (and an alligator). There was some sort of hawk which I heard, but was unable to identify. And, of course, this woodpecker, which was the highlight of the trip.

We travelled across to the Bolivar Peninsula across the Ferry -- one of my favorite things to do. I kept seeing a lot of birds that I did not think were Laughing Gulls. One might have been a Bonaparte's Gull, but I couldn't be sure. This bird, caught flying, is a Sandwich Tern. I knew this was a new one for me, as I hadn't recognized the white tip on the bill.

This pic is not the best quality, but the bird was flying high and far away. It's a juvenile Magnificent Frigate Bird! My friend Susy had seen one at Galveston several years ago, and I have been wanting to add this to my list ever since. This one, along with 2-3 others were flying off the Bolivar Peninsula coast, closer to High Island than to the Lighthouse end.

Back on the Ferry... we kept seeing sea mammals (I tend to call the dolphins, but I believe that in Galveston Bay they are actually Porpoises). Every time I would see one, they would go under again before I could take a picture. I was a bit surprised to see that I had actually captured a few on film. I also have a lot of pictures of blank water. :-)

In Galveston, we drove down Strand Street and back up Harborside. Some of the businesses have changed, but things looked mostly the same. We drove out to East Beach, which was a bit of an eyeopener. Along the road to the official "East Beach" there used to be several eating places and bars. Now there is nothing (thanks to Ike, I'm sure). There are signs marking the area as a future wildlife preserve. Not surprising, this is where I took most of the rest of my bird pics.

My favorite is this Reddish Egret. These birds are not overly common, compared to their white cousins and the Great Blue Heron. I saw more than one of these on the trip, but this one was a real ham. He was obviously chasing a fish or something.

Of the rest of the Egret family, my favorite is the Snowy. I think it's because they have black legs, but bright yellow feet. And like most Egrets and Herons, have that wispy quality to their feathers. This Snowy was across the road from the Reddish Egret.

Thursday - Birding Aransas on the Skimmer

Sorry, I've been delayed on this last post of our Fulton/Rockport trip. On Thursday, we joined Captain Tommy Moore on the Skimmer for a water-side view of the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. It was a great trip (as usual). We didn't see a lot of Whoopers, and those we did see were at a distance, but they all decided to fly, so I got a few good flight pics. It's early in the season, and last year was particularly bad for the whoopers (mostly due to drought and shortage of blue crabs). I think they lost 23 birds last year.

On the way to the refuge and on the way back, we often see a lot of other birds -- I was able to add three new birds to the life list -- I even have pictures! (Some are not so good). One bird we saw a lot of and that is new to our list is the Dunlin -- they seemed to be everywhere. I got this great pic of one flying.

We also saw Royal Terns (as opposed to Caspians). The main difference is that the bill is more orange than red. This is another new addition to the life list. I love their "hair do's" -- reminds me of Groucho Marx.

And the last "new" bird is the horned lark. These were at a bit of a distance from the boat and they were running across an open stretch of land, so the pic is not so good -- but it works for documentation. ;-)

Captain Tommy is a great birder, with a great sense of humor. He makes a point to identify all sorts of birds along the way -- not just the whoopers. For example, he reminded us that the American Oyster Catcher is misnamed. It's not like it's all that hard to "catch" oysters.

Kingfishers are common around water -- though I'm more used to seeing them inland. They have such a prominent crest shape that they are easily identified on a post or wire, but not necessarily when flying. Fortunately, I saw this one on a post first.

Something new that I learned from our esteemed guide. There are two kinds of cormorants in our area: Double Crested and Neotropic. The differences according to Sibley's are mostly a little white at the corner of the eye. I wasn't particularly sure how to tell them apart. Captain Tommy pointed out that the Neotropics are darker and smaller. There are both in this picture.

If you've viewed this blog in the past, you'll know that I'm especially fond of birds of prey. Most of the "hawks" that I saw were at a pretty good distance. At first I thought this bird was a hawk of some sort (seen from a distance without optics), but it turns out it's a Black Crowned Night Heron. I've seen one before, but this is my first chance at a photo.

Usually, we see a lot of Ospreys in the area. We saw a few, but most were far away, flying or the boat was moving. This was my best osprey shot of the day.

But my best sighting of the day -- even better than the flying whoopers (IMO) was this Peregrine Falcon. This one was on a nesting platform, so I'm hoping she has a nest there -- but maybe it's just a lunch stop.








Okay, I saved the best till last. We saw about three sets of whoopers this time around. One set was a family. The bird with the brown splotches is the juvenile.

And finally, we saw a pair of whoopers, who also flew. Here they are, below.

Wednesday at Port Aransas

Wednesday morning we drove out to Port Aransas to visit their Birding (and waste management) Center. OK, they share a parking lot -- but it's really a nice place. When we were coming in, we were told there was a lot of Red Headed Ducks -- but if they were, they were in a huge group at the far end of the pond.

There were a lot of Teals (both blue- and green-winged) and a lot of turtles, but other than that, not a lot of the birds we usually see. In this picture, you see a couple of Ibis, a lot of turtles, and a bunch of "brown" ducks -- they might be redheads, but I couldn't tell.

We did see one Spoonbill flying over (too quick to get a picture), and there was some sort of heron off in a corner "dancing" around, but I could not get a clear picture of that one either.

However, of the pics I got of some of the birds, this is my favorite: a male Blue-winged Teal in his breeding plumage, among rippling water with stray feathers and a great reflection.

This is a Ruddy Duck, whose breeding season is March to August. You can see that his blue bill is almost back to gray (no, it's not all mud).


I took a pic of a Ruddy at this same place back during the summer. Who knows, it might even be the same duck! But you can see that he is much brighter and his whole bill is blue!

We often see Nutria at Port A -- this time, we only saw one and he was a small one. They are often considered pests in many parts of the world (like Louisiana). I wonder if they're edible? (Marc says they're pretty nasty -- they're like rats.)

Fall trip to Fulton, TX - Tuesday

Well, we finally made it back to the coast to see our favorite coastal birds, and whoopers. We got up early in the hopes of catching the afternoon birding boat tour, but they didn't sail on Tuesday afternoon, so we drove around a bit. I took lots and lots of seagull pictures, but they're pretty much all the same, so I'm not including them here... We did get some interesting shots, though:


In addition to the seagulls, I took several pics of Brown Pelicans -- my favorite sea bird. This is a good shot of an adult coming out of his breeding plumage. I think this was taken by the Convention center, where Marc likes to feed the gulls.

As we drove further down Fulton Beach Road, almost to the Kontiki resort, we saw this interesting trio of birds:

From left to right, a Snowy Egret, a White Ibis and a Little Blue Heron.

Here's the view from the back. It took us a while to figure out the ibis, as he had his bill tucked under his wing!

Across the street from this location are two ponds, which will usually yield an egret or heron. This one was standing at the side farthest from the road when we went by, but on the way back, he had moved closer to the middle, and was giving us a showy walk. Not sure whether to call this "Walk this Way" or "Walk Like an Egyptian". Either way, with his neck jogged to the side and his toes curled, he makes an interesting sight.

Which Pics?

My church in Pattison, Texas has an annual German Sausage Dinner the first Saturday in May (this year, that's the 2nd -- if you're in the area, it's served between 11-2, come on by!).

We always have a silent auction and I usually print and frame a couple of pictures to donate. I find that some pictures go better than others, and I'm wondering if you all could help me by suggesting any photos that you might be willing to buy (no, I'm not asking you to buy anything, but if you were, what would you choose?).

I'll probably do 3-4 shots, and I'm seriously considering the Krider hawk in the post below and possibly the Swainson's as well. I love pelicans, but they don't seem to sell well. I might pick one of Marc's Whooper pics, or a good Caracara, if I have one (I'll have to look again). If you have any you particularly like, please comment on this post and let me know.

Thanks!

Update: Here's the Caracara pic I'm thinking of...

This will need a bit of editing (there was also a vulture in the original). I find that I need to do the editing at the camera store, as I can't get the size right with my photo editing software, and it defaults to 72 dpi (yes, I can fix that, but it's a pain).

Birds of Prey on a Gloomy Day

OK, I know that I promised the whoopers, and I was trying to update my posts in the order that the photos were taken, but I'm behind, and today was a "good birding day".

The weather has been gloomy and overcast all day, but we wanted to get out of the house, so we made the "loop" down Woods Road -- our favorite birding locale. The birds were low to the ground -- sitting on fence posts. We saw this bird first. It took me a while to identify it, but I think it's a Swainson's hawk. When it flew, I could see the mostly white underside, with a dark "chest".

Almost exactly across the street on another fence post was this beautiful Krider's Red Tail Hawk.

CORRECTION: This is a juvenile Swainson's hawk. Thanks to Jonah for setting me straight!

Marc finally honked the horn to get it to fly, but I missed that shot. He flew a ways down the fence-line and was there when we back-tracked, but those shots were too far and turned out blurry. This will probably be one of my Photos for the silent auction at this year's Sausage Dinner.

Around the corner on Hwy 359 we saw another of our favorite local birds -- a Crested Caracara. The bird is looking directly down at the camera -- it has a very intense glare!

Here's a close-up so you can see its face!

November Fulton Trip -- Mostly Shore Birds

I focused on the pelicans in my previous post, and I will do a special post on the Whoopers that we saw on the trip, but we see a lot of other birds, and some are really special!

Every time we go to the coast, Marc loves to feed the seagulls -- they are excitable birds. Taking shots of the feeding frenzy can produce some great vignettes, like the one below.


In Fulton, there are a lot of wetland areas, full of herons and egrets. Here is a great, reflective shot of a Great Egret. He (or she) has caught something -- I'm not sure if it's food, or just a reed and maybe lunch got away.






This pic of a Long-billed Curlew was taken from the Skimmer, Captain Tommy Moore's boat, in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Another great reflective pose. These birds are rather large, standing 23 inches. Sibley's says this bird favors drier habitats, but I guess this one is an exception.

This Ruddy Turnstone was posing for me. This is the non- breeding plumage. I have a shot of one in breeding plumage in my post of one of our first trips to Port Aransas. If you click on the link and scroll down below the Wilson's Phalerope, you will see the extreme differences in breeding and non-breeding plumage.


This little guy is a Spotted Sandpiper -- again in non- breeding plumage. (He gets spots during breeding season -- what a surprise!). This was another bird for the life-list.

Pelicans

I think of all the sea and water birds, Brown Pelicans are my favorites. They are much more colorful and prettier (IMO) than White Pelicans and a lot more interesting. They hunt from the air, diving down into the water head-first to come up with dinner. This shot was taken on our November trip (continued from below, just a few months later :-). I think it is one of the best shots I've taken -- I didn't have to do any adjustment except resizing to upload here.

This is the same bird, shortly after takeoff. I left most of this picture, including the Laughing Gull in the water, just to show you how large these birds are. And the Brown Pelican is the smallest of the Pelican species.

For contrast, here are a couple of White Pelicans. The one on the right is showing some of his wing-tip feathers, which adds a bit of contrast, but really, I think the white pelicans are rather boring, and plain. You can see, however, that they like these rocks as a perch.

To give the White Pelicans some credit -- they look really nice when they are flying. Black wingtips seem to be common on a lot of white water birds -- pelicans, cranes, ibis, storks all seem to exhibit this trait. I think these flying pelicans contrast nicely with this lovely cloud, and with the perched pelican below.