Back in the Saddle Again

Metaphorically, the title means that I am back in Texas again, but the actual picture of being “back in the saddle” comes from a day on the Cape when I chose to use my dwindling funds on a trail ride rather than a whale watch. I love whale watches, but I have been on at least 40 or so, plus ones I led back in my Sea World days, so saddling- up was a good choice. 

But that is not what I am here to write about.  Mostly, I want to restart the writing engine.  It seems I can’t look back and write about the myriad of intersections with nature that happened during my 6-week trip, until I close the chapter on the trip itself, by saying I am home again.  

 

 Back in Texas; the heat has arrived, each day in the high 90’s now, the katydids once again fill the entire night with their lovesick calls, the flowers are toast and the grass is crispy.  Welcome home.

 On the plus side, the Queen butterflies are rising like clouds from the Blue Mist flowers that crowd around the gazebo and the population of birds at the feeder has at least tripled with the young that were successfully raised this spring.  Last year, I remember the Scrub Jays nesting but hysteria followed when squirrels made off with their eggs.  This year perhaps they invested in better security system, for a very noisy, comical-looking, group of half-fledged jays are at the feeders and the bird bath much of the day. 

The Golden Fronted woodpeckers also seemed to have raised a number of gawky looking young and the whole family has discovered that hummingbird food isn’t just for hummingbirds.  Also humorous to watch, as they try to fit their large bodies, 11 ½”, on the small rim of a feeder designed for a 3 ¾” bird. 

Without the myriad of cats that the previous owner had, the squirrel population has taken off.  And I am glad to see that since my “Greek austerity program” went into effect, they no longer look threatened with Type 2 diabetes and are sailing through the trees with ease. 

 The young ones tumble in and out of the ivy that climbs up these huge Live Oaks and are in constant motion. They have their own dried corn hanging in the trees but still they like to make a dive for one of the feeders that they can spill food out of, and, just moments ago, I was watching a young one consider if such a daredevil thing seemed worth the pay off.  As of yet it is only watching from a tree as an older one repeats this Evil Kneival move over and over again.

I do have good intentions of writing about the trip, for it was beyond gorgeous everywhere I went, but we all know how the “tyranny of the urgent” works. The first day’s home saw me reenacting “Ba, ba, black sheep. Have you any wool?” as “Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full” of dog hair were vacuumed up from the rugs. Plants, inside and out, that had tried to survive the heat and the care of a pretty busy husband needed a lot of TLC.   Still, in the afternoon heat, I can either splay out as the squirrels on the deck are doing, or get to writing.  Lets hope I do the latter.