The Lord God Made It All

Category Archives: Nature

Cows

March 15, 2010

This past weekend, we took a few country drives. As usual, we passed fields of cattle.

For some strange reason, we came across some very friendly cattle.

This herd seemed to be composed of primarily yearlings.

They were exceptionally curious. Most cows seem to bolt away from the fence when you walk up.

In this pasture, there was this adorable newborn.

He prefered to stay with his mommy, who watched us warily from a distance.

Then yesterday on the way home from church, we passed this cattle farm in Celina. I noticed something odd about the cows.

They were moving.

No, actually, they were running.

I wondered if these cows rarely saw a car. They were coming straight for us.

Most of these were longhorns. Obviously.

This one had the biggest rack.

Also posted in Baby Animals, Family Outings, Objects of Interest, Spring – 0 Comments

March 11, 2010

With the coming of March, spring contests with the last vestiges of winter. I love this time of year because the play of the weather is more active now than it is at any other time here in Texas.

Take last Monday, for instance. After hours of drizzling rain, the skies cleared, leaving behind a rain-washed world of beauty.

There were even rainbows.

This is a little horse farm about a mile from my house. It’s one of the last farms in Fairview that hasn’t been sold to developers yet.

Looking into Wilson Creek Valley. My home is on a ridge just above the old creek.

I can hardly wait for spring to come in full force!

Also posted in Clouds, Spring, Weather – 0 Comments

Reflections on a Sunset

March 10, 2010

Also posted in Spring – 1 Comment

February 13, 2010

Most of our winter days look like this. Or worse - we might be under nimbostratus. At least when I took this picture, there was some variation in the sky.

A lot of variation when one took a closer look.

However, a few weeks ago, we had a spectacular sunset. I was sequestered in my room and unable to walk outside, but I grabbed my camera anyway and climbed up on my desk. There’s a mighty good reason why my bedroom has double windows facing due west.

The sky was clear and cold - a perfect contrast to the clouds which appeared to be on fire.

Here’s a different kind of exposure. I love playing with my camera settings!

Sunsets really have to be watched because the colors fade rapidly.

Beautiful, simply beautiful.

Also posted in Clouds, Weather, Winter – 1 Comment

Winter Wonderland

February 12, 2010

Yesterday morning, I awoke to a strange sight in northern Texas - a winter wonderland. Mom came up and got me up extra early so I could see the snow while it was still blue in the low light conditions. Well, we seldom get snow (and certainly never like this!) so I decided to venture forth and snap a few pictures while I had the chance.

Here we have a flock of robins passing overhead.

For some odd reason, we have thousands of robins amassed in huge groups that rival the winter gatherings of blackbirds. I’m not sure why, exactly. Either I’ve never noticed this before, or it’s never happened. I would prefer to think the latter.

My Silver Maple tree is actually silver!

This is my pathetic attempt at a snowman. It fell over.

Abigail trying to build a snow fort. The snow wasn’t deep, which is why the snowballs are so muddy.

We put out seed for the birds, and instantly had flocks of sparrows at our beck and call.

Here is Mr. Cardinal. Notice his chickadee companion to the right.

Mrs. Cardinal.

The mockingbirds weren’t too happy with the constant snow. This one kept ruffling his feathers to rid himself of snowflakes.

So did the sparrows.

It snowed all day and all through the night…

This morning, we had almost a foot of snow. This is Mom’s magnolia tree. Somehow, magnolia and snow just don’t seem to go together well in the same sentence.

It was unbelievable. So much snow. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life before.

Sure we are under threat from Global Warming! I’d like to see those “experts” explain why we are having record low temperatures in Texas this winter.

This is the last family owned farm in Fairview, and it probably won’t stay that way for long. I’m glad I got to see it like this before the developers get ahold of it.

This is the best snow picture I took all day today.

Talk about a winter wonderland! Ever driven through a tunnel of snow?

Looking into what Kathy and I christened “The Hundred Acre Wood” as children 20 years ago.

I was surprised to see water still flowing.

Later on in the morning, we walked over to the golf course to go sledding. Here’s Abigail by the fence.

Emily breaking a path through the snow.

Here’s the golf course! It looks like its been covered with vanilla ice cream.

Abigail is pulling my father’s old sled from when he was a boy. It still works, even though it must be nearly 40 years old.

First on the agenda was to pack down a path for the sled.

Kimmy’s up first!

Whee!

Matthew got impatient waiting for his turn, so he decided to just summersult down to the bottom of the hill.

Probably not the best idea.

We took pity on him and gave him the sled.

He didn’t fare much better.

Abigail in the act of throwing snow at me.

Emily is ready for takeoff!

No, Matthew is not jumping out of the way. He hopped on behind Emily, and then failed to stay on the sled.

Kimmy after a particularly fast go.

Mom and Dad joined the fun briefly before heading into the comfort of the indoors. We younguns lasted a lot longer, of course!

I wish it would snow more often in Texas.

Also posted in Birds, Cardinal, Family, Family Events, Winter – 2 Comments

Today’s Pictures

December 23, 2009

It was a lovely day today. Crystal clear blue skies and soft, cotton clouds wafting on a warm, wet southern breeze.

All I had to do was close my eyes, smell the rich, grassy scents on the breeze and imagine that spring was just around the corner. Hard to believe that Christmas is just barely two days away.

Of course, I know it won’t stay that way. We’re due for a nasty cold front in the next day. But for now, I’m enjoying this warm reprieve from the cold.

Every last, cloudy bit of it.

I caught this jet racing through the clouds and was astounded to find that my camera can zoom close enough that I can read the letters on the tail.

This was also taken on zoom. Doves are very fearful birds and hard to photograph at close range (unlike mockingbirds, which are fearless).

Even with me standing 30 feet away, this one decided to take off.

As I wandered around the property, I was startled to find this gall hanging down from one of our red oaks.

It’s huge. I’ve never seen one this big, much less at this time of year.

Despite the bleakness of the season, I was able to find many interesting subjects for pictures. Really, the merits of one season or another depends on the mindset of the person involved. If you go through life determined to find beauty, you’ll most likely find it. If you go through the winters bemoaning the loss of the spring, winter will seem just that much bleaker. I was amazed at how interesting the leaves were once I got down close to them.

Even the tiniest of dried grasses became beautiful once I began looking for beauty in them.

All I need to do to satisfy my craving for green is bury my face in a bush of cedar twigs. Mmmmm! Cedars smell like green.

One flower that blooms year round in Texas is the dandelion. These seemingly insignificant flowers are the most tenacious of all. We’ve had weeks this month below freezing, and I found dozens of these little beauties poking their golden heads above the tree litter.

Dandelions are an important source of nectar for bees during the winter. On warm days, it’s not uncommon to find a few honey bees buzzing happily around a cluster of these.

After the dandelions are pollinated, they close while the seeds mature…

And then open into a ball of fluff.

The feathery ends of the seeds are quite interesting - almost like little flowers themselves and so soft and silky!

The seeds are anchored into the base of the flower, loosely of course because the wind is needed to pick them up and carry them away.

They are commonplace, but dandelions have a unique beauty.

Ordinary things can really be beautiful.

The birds were gorging themselves on whatever they could find. They’ll barely feed during the cold snap. Here is Mrs. Cardinal in our cedar elm.

And a little sparrow in Bonnee’s tree.

I spotted this little butterfly on a dandelion.

This is with the zoom on my camera…

…and this is on the super macro setting.

This little butterfly was unafraid to have my camera lens poised only a few centimeters from his probing antenna. I was really surprised.

He even allowed me to pick him up on my fingertip.

Can you spot the mockingbird in this photo?

Here he is!

He seemed a bit affronted by my close proximity. I don’t think he liked the camera.

For all that, he’s awfully cute!

Also posted in Birds, Today's Pictures, Winter – 1 Comment

December 19, 2009

I miss green.

Really I do. I love the russet colors of autumn, but about December, I really start missing green.

The only thing green in December is evergreen trees. And the only plentiful evergreens in Texas are Eldaricas and cedars.

We have a lot of Eldaricas in our neighborhood.

And cedars. BIG cedars.

These Eldaricas belong to our neighbors. They have graciously allowed the little ones to play on the cushion of sweet-smelling needles under the trees.

Eldaricas are excellent sources of pinecones.

One thing’s for sure: we have a lot of blue and white in winter, even without snow.

In Texas, “snow” never actually comes to the ground except in rare instances. It stays aloft, tantalizing observers.

This is strato-cumulus.

And this is a light fan of cirro-cumulus.

Long sweeps of cirrus look like they’ve been painted on a blue dome.

Blue is pretty. But I miss the green.

Also posted in Clouds, Weather, Winter – 0 Comments

Homestead Heritage - Garden

December 4, 2009

Here are a few photos from the garden Homestead Heritage had on display. There were all sorts of winter vegetables including Chinese cabbage and asparagus, but what interested me the most were the blackberries. Actually, that’s not correct. What interested me was how they had the blackberries set up. The plants - two to a section - were supported by posts and wires. Sprinkler system type hoses were rigged between these wires. It was a very efficient way of doing blackberries.

They also had a few rows of grape plants. We already do a few grapes ourselves, and I think we’d like to do more in the future. Thankfully, the Texas climate is very condusive to raising grapes.

Best of all, they had a row of Sea-Island cotton. Kathy and I, now that we’ve gotten into spinning, would like to grow our own cotton.

At Homestead Heritage, they grew the cotton, spun the cotton, wove the cotton, and made…

… this dress. I don’t think Kathy and I will ever do something that sophisticated, but we would like to do something similar. Except I’m not into weaving. I would like to knit/crochet my own kitchen linens.

Also posted in Family Events, Family Outings – 0 Comments

Homestead Heritage: Herb Garden

December 2, 2009

One neat thing about Homestead Heritage is that they have actual workshops and gardens laid out for the public to see. This is the herb garden, which was a lot bigger than one would think an herb garden would be with plants I had never even heard of.

Mom and I were very interested in this part of the fair because we would like to be able to grow all our own herbs for the family. We spent a good 20 minutes walking around examining the structure of the beds. Some were edged by wood, others by stone. I prefered the stone.

I also liked the wild, overgrown quality of the beds. They were well tended to (by that I mean there were no weeds) but by no means perfect. Each plant was allowed to grow according to its nature without being pruned or pinched to a desired shape.

I was reminded of what my mother told me about the English gardens she had seen during her winter abroad. Over there, the gardens are very overgrown and wild.

This is just about the largest bush of rosemary I’ve ever seen. You wouldn’t believe how good it smelled.

These herbs have been cut and are ready for processing.

These are wreaths ready to be decorated. I’m not sure what plant they are made out of.

Here is one in process. The herbs and flowers from the garden are dried and inserted into the wreath. They also took old glass bottles and placed dried plants and flowers in them for display. Regretfully, I forgot to take pictures of those.

I wish my best friend, Elisha, could have been there to see the herbs. The entire time I was looking at the display, I kept thinking, “I know she would just love this!” Elisha has grown an herb/flower garden for the past couple of years and I’ve enjoyed reading about her work in her letters. Once I returned home from vacation to find a little vase of spearmint flowers on my desk that she had left as a surprise for me.

Maybe I need to learn how to make these myself.

Also posted in Family Events, Family Outings – 2 Comments

Rio de los Brazos de Dios

November 30, 2009

South of Dallas, there is a river which early Spanish explorers named Rio de los Brazos de Dios. Translated, this means “The River of the Arms of God.” Legend has it the river recieved its name because the explorers that first found it were about to perish for lack of water. Today we know this river as the Brazos. It is the 11th longest river in the United States at 1280 miles from its source at the head of Blackwater Draw to the mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. The Blackwater Draw (formerly called the Anderson Basin) is an extinct riverbed near Clovis, New Mexico. Two archeological sites have yielded important finds such as fluted spearheads, bone weapons and other tools used by the ancient Clovis people during the Ice Age. Investigations have revealed evidence of human association with traditional Ice Age animals such as the Colombian mammoth, camel, horse, bison, sabertooth cat, and dire wolf.

I love rivers with histories like that. Gives one goosebumps to stand on the banks and realize the age of such a landmark.

The Blackland Prairie around the river seemed to me particularily rich and fertile.

All around our campsite were farms on the gently rolling hills, spaced irregularily between wide floodplains that drained into the Brazos.

The hills were fun for driving.

Like the local Dallas prairie, the land had an abundance of cedar trees. This female tree was magnificent.

I noticed that there were more live oaks near Waco than Dallas. And they hadn’t been planted in landscapes. These were naturally grown live oaks, the best kind of live oaks.

This picture unfortunately didn’t turn out like I wanted to because Dad was driving at 50+ mph. That big tall tree with the light leaves to the right is just about the tallest Sycamore tree I have ever seen. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw so many sycamore trees. There were hundreds of them.

One thing was for sure - the woods were just as jungly and tangled as at home.

I even spotted a monkey.

First glimpse of the Brazos river.

On the path, we found where centuries of erosion had exposed layers of rock laid down by the flood thousands of years ago.

I was so thrilled with finding this geological formation that I climbed closer to get a few pictures. Kathy just about went into conniptions when I did that because I have an internal tear in my abdominal wall. Don’t worry - I was very careful. Ironically, climbing about did nothing to injure me further. Instead it was something else completely innocent. But I’m getting ahead of myself.