Some things I found, on returning home to Texas

I have been home for a few weeks now and here are a few snippets of what I found:

Crossing through East Texas, I amazingly found a lot of Kelly green grass. It must have rained while I was gone and it is stunning how fast the chlorophyll machine kicks into gear when water is added.  I was trying to take a picture of it without risking stopping on a highway and got myself into a little trespassing incident.  After taking a turn off and not quite finding the world as lush as I had hoped, I asked my, not-to-be-trusted GPS how to get back to the road.  Quickly she came up with a route for me to follow, which I foolishly did, even though the turn she recommended led directly into a private ranch.

 It crossed my mind that perhaps there are “sacred pathways” as there were on the Cape that are still allowed to be traversed by the public.  It gave me a great close up of some huge cattle, a nice change from all the goats I see in our area but after chugging down into a valley that clearly was part of the ranch, along came a ranch hand in a jeep who let me know, no, this is not a valid way back to the road.  More amused than angry while I showed him my GPS he helped me turn around and exit as I came. Texans are nice people.

At home I woke for the next few mornings to the sound of what I think is a Western screech owl.  They don’t sound like a whinnying horse as the Eastern screech owl does but the sound I heard matches up the recording on the Cornell site.  He has stopped by around 4 am on three different occasions.  This clumsy walking cast really keeps me from hobbling about in the trees looking for any tell tale owl pellets.  They would be pretty small and hard to find I would think.  Still, that’s my guess and I am sticking with it.

All the black-crested titmice kids of the summer are adept at all devices now, birdbath, feeders, etc.  I occasionally see them all exiting the hole in the tree where their nest was. Interestingly, I have read they love to crowd together in old tree cavities, sometimes packed so tight that some suffocate!  Yikes, I should post a warning outside the hole of what I think the capacity is.

Because my husband put more junk birdseed in than sunflower seed the house sparrows have laid claim to the jasmine-covered fence again.  Right out the window they make tons of noise, hold lots of beach parties in the birdbath that always empty it of water and engage in other gang activities.  I saw 7 of them on just a few branches all preening together the other day.  They are the most gregarious of birds. 

Hummingbirds are still here and it is the season of looking for them to be “fattening up”.  I really don’t think I have a keen enough eye to spot if some have added a few grams since I last saw them.

Likewise all the gangly looking scrub jays are fleshed out now and also making a racket especially when I have just put a new corncob in the holder in the tree. Ostensibly it is for the squirrels but the jays often get to it first.

The only sad thing that has happened though, is that for some pretty unknown reason I have fallen right back into my own, newly-created-since-I moved-to-Texas, SAD disease.  Depression that comes out of nowhere and robs me of my ability to think or create.  SAD indeed.  Could it be that I taste fall in New England and then return to heat and humidity and that makes the brain go haywire? Who knows, but I do hate it.  Last year getting reprogrammed for joy took three months!  It always seems to follow a marvelous time away.  Either then, I should never leave Texas or never return, one or the other! 

I am flying back to NE in three days, and should be deliriously happy but the joy robbing brain drain is blocking the normal emotions.  Hoping for the best though, a miracle would be nice.  The world will be beautiful, the grandchildren will be seen and please, oh please God, may that reconnect what has come undone. Blogs, or the lack of them may give you a hint at how I am doing.  Praying for the miracle.