Category: West Texas

Rites (and blights) of spring

Spring has sprung (despite the temps in the 30s yesterday morning), as evidenced by the return of hummingbirds and barn swallows. The latter will apparently try to take up residence in the same nest they built on our front porch last year, provided they can run off the wren squatters – which, up until the… Continue reading Rites (and blights) of spring

Fort Stockton Photos

We were in Fort Stockton over the weekend and I carved out some time to wander through a pasture to take some photos, and then snapped a few at the nursery owned by my brother and his wife. Since the pasture was once part of the Permian Sea, can we call this mesquite stump “driftwood”?… Continue reading Fort Stockton Photos

Riot (Florally speaking)

In the midst of a brutal drought, and on a day of 100+ degree temperatures, wildflowers still find a way. This image is a composite of three photos of the same plant I found growing in the pasture west of our neighborhood, taken at different focal lengths and slightly different angles. I overlaid them in… Continue reading Riot (Florally speaking)

The Midland County Courthouse and Illogical Architectural Sentimentality

The planned Energy Tower now has its own Wikipedia page, so it will inevitably be built, because they can’t put anything in Wikipedia that’s misleading, right? That means that a large number (or small number or a handful or one-or-two) Midlanders will be inconsolable over the demolition of the now-vacant county courthouse occupying a full… Continue reading The Midland County Courthouse and Illogical Architectural Sentimentality

The Uglification of West Texas

It’s no secret that our region is the beneficiary of an economic boom of historic proportion, due to a perfect storm of high commodity prices and technological advances that have unlocked significant oil and gas reserves that were considered by most to be unrecoverable a decade ago. The benefits of this boom are easily enumerated:… Continue reading The Uglification of West Texas

Yard Art Follow-Up

Yesterday’s post about the cheesy lawn animals apparently struck a chord with some of you fellow rednecks art connie-sewers. I’m happy to see there are other serious patrons of yard art out there. In particular, I enjoyed hearing from Dale Thompson, an intrepid Gazette reader who enclosed some photos of an occupant of his back… Continue reading Yard Art Follow-Up

West Texas from Above: The End

Scarily observant Gazette readers Katie Hilburn, Gregg Ulvestad, Jon Wheeler, and Mark Springer correctly identified the final aerial photo in the series as the area around Hogan Park in Midland. The small body of water directly beneath the “fish” (which is a pond at Hogan Park Golf Course) is part of the wonderful nature preserve… Continue reading West Texas from Above: The End

West Texas from Above: Part 8

Incredibly eagle-eyed Gazetteers Gregg Ulvestad, Lisa Blake, and Les Blalock recognized foto numero siete in our series as..well…as a number of things, all of which were correct although not precisely the answer I was seeking. That’s my fault for not being more specific. The photo is of the Penwell area, a few miles east of… Continue reading West Texas from Above: Part 8