In my role as a wannabe trapper I’ve grown accustomed to being outsmarted by raccoons, who have frequently escaped with the bait without being captured. However, I’m now being outfoxed by an actual fox. Here’s what happened last night: I didn’t catch footage of the sardine abscondishment, but the tin was missing in another video… Continue reading Outfoxed
Category: Texas Hill Country
A New Year’s Day Surprise: Ice Flowers
New Year’s Day in the Texas Hill Country was a cold, dreary, and breezy one. Temperatures hovered in the 20s for most of the day, and the sun never made an appearance. It was a good day for staying inside, eating black-eyed peas, and watching football. That was basically my agenda for the day, until… Continue reading A New Year’s Day Surprise: Ice Flowers
Building the Perfect Beast
The power of reason, the top of the heap We’re the ones who can kill the things we Don’t eat … And now the day is come Soon he will be released Glory hallelujah! We’re building the perfect beast — Don Henley [1984] With apologies to Mr. Henley, who likely didn’t anticipate his lyrics would… Continue reading Building the Perfect Beast
Hiking Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve
In 1969, a wealthy visionary named J. David Bamberger — co-founder of Church’s Chicken — bought 3,000 acres of land in the Texas Hill Country a few miles south of Johnson City. Over the next few years, he increased the size of the ranch to its present 5,500 acres. In 2002, the Bamberger Ranch Preserve… Continue reading Hiking Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve
Another day…another skunk. This time, with 100% more me.
I woke up around 4:00 a.m. a few days ago (hold your snark; you’ll be old someday, too), and detected the unmistakable odor of skunk. I found this a bit unsettling, but not enough to get out of bed to investigate. I rolled over and went back to sleep. A few hours later, I opened… Continue reading Another day…another skunk. This time, with 100% more me.
Pepé Le Pew Deja Vu
Alert Gazette readers – and, really, aren’t you all? – will recall that I successfully, if foolishly, released a trapped skunk a couple of days ago without incident other than an elevated heart rate. I decided to give the trap a night off, but re-baited and re-armed it last night. I figured that a trapped skunk… Continue reading Pepé Le Pew Deja Vu
Skunk Works, or — “Do you smell what I smell?”
Alert Gazette readers know that I began documenting my critter trapping adventures last summer. Since then, I’ve caught armadillos, raccoons, possums, and one pretty stupid cat. The captive count has ballooned. In fact, I had to expand the Critter Capture Scorecard to accommodate all the new “guests.” Here’s the latest version: Uh…notice anything different about… Continue reading Skunk Works, or — “Do you smell what I smell?”
Stranger Things in the Back Yard
I haven’t had much activity on the game camera lately, possibly due to the fact that the batteries were dead. Once I figured that out, I replaced them and set the camera on a step on our back porch, facing out into the yard. When I downloaded the images this morning, there was our neighborhood… Continue reading Stranger Things in the Back Yard
Nature…as I see it
One of my goals in retirement is to spend more time with my camera, doing some creative things with it and Photoshop. I’ve managed to check off a few projects on a rather lengthy list, so yesterday I grabbed my macro lens and ring flash and went hunting. Here are some of the subjects that… Continue reading Nature…as I see it
Paging Dr. Dolittle (or “Is someone building an ark?”)
I’m not a parent so I can only guess at the accuracy of what I’m about to say. I suspect that at some point in every child’s life, they realize that most of those dire parental threats (“If you don’t behave, Santa isn’t coming.” “Your face is going to freeze like that!”) are idle, and… Continue reading Paging Dr. Dolittle (or “Is someone building an ark?”)