“Extraction”

ESPatch Oct 26, 2013 4 comments

We have a lot of ripening Mexican limes in the Patch this year but very few satsumas.

Last year this little tree produced a bounty…

…this year we have 4!

Each one the size of an orange.

Lots of fall color right now, salvias, celosia and my

Gollum-Smeagol-smeagol-gollum-14076891-960-403

thryallisises are all going strong.

Mexican leucantha really pops against a dark backdrop,

Behind the bush sage is a rambling rose pass-along from Lori at http://gardenerofgoodandevil.wordpress.com

and in front, the exploding strands of basket grass, mist flower, rosemary and artemesia (or is it artimesia)? I can never seem to get this right.

Street-side sees a torrent of bamboo muhly.

I often see UPS delivery dudes swept away in this green water tsunami, especially when the wind is blowing.

I really must get to that horrendous flagstone someday.

Ornamental grasses are also on form at the moment,

Lindheimers muhly and

burgundy fountain grasses illuminate with a low setting sun.

A steady stream of monarch butterflies have been filing through the Patch this week on their migration to warmer climates, this duranta is a popular landing point for a nip of nectar.

Monarch butterflies are one of the few insects that can cross the Atlantic, these are usually butterflies that
have been blown off course, or caught in hurricanes while attempting to migrate from North America to Mexico.

This one will not be making the crossing.

Finally:

I was very happy when he finally pulled out his first loose tooth. It had been bothering everyone for some time now, rolling around the bottom of his jaw at inappropriate angles every time he would speak.

With a little iPad bribery and the prospect of obtaining some shrapnel (courtesy of the tooth fairy) he wasted no time on the extraction.

Halloween

Inspirational Image of the week:

Peter Root’s Ephemicropolis – A City of Staples

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Root-Ephemicropolis-6

Root-Ephemicropolis-3

Stay Tuned for:

“An English Werewolf in Austin”

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intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“One Man’s Treasure”

ESPatch Oct 13, 2013 4 comments

The latest nerd-centric activity that has swept through the Patch involves a cell phone, GPS and some local travel and walking in sometimes remote locations to hunt down an illusive Geocache.

A typical cache is a small waterproof container with a logbook and some toys or trinkets, they can also contain items for trading and some trackable artifacts. This one we found locally is a ‘nano’ cache and only contains a rolled up log sheet.

After downloading the Geocaching App you pick what treasure you want to hunt down using GPS to get you in the approximate location.

Our treasure hunt took us into a local graveyard.

No I don’t think it will be down there.

Good exercise this Geocaching.

We honed into the location and started to look around.

And we continued to look around,

and around.

This part of the process can make you look like you should be in a state hospital wandering aimlessly around and around head down. I personally caught my self mumbling at one point around the twenty minute mark.

It took us half an hour to locate it and there was no trinkets or treasure at this particular find just a rolled up log book to sign, but someone was a very happy cacher.

Back in the Patch:

The light quality has started to have a wintery feel this past week.

Bamboo Muhly and tropical looking loquat catching some rays.

My Mexican firebushes

Hamelia patens

are living up to their name

You could warm your hands up on these in colder climates,

and behind these, the slender unfurling panicles of Lindheimers muhly

Muhlenbergia lindheimeri

a great native, and a good softer alternative to the flesh slicing pampas.

This soggy toadstool says it all.

With our recent rains they have been popping up everywhere.

When the sun came out so did the anoles and lizards.

I got very close to this usually skittish and very fast Texas spiny lizard,

Sceloporus olivaceus

those long toes are adept at climbing trees.

This was a large one, about a foot in length. Its body temperature must have been low which allowed me time to get close with my camera. The spiny body coloration blends perfectly with the bark and lichen on our large trees.

I will leave you with this sobering image…

Yes, my strobilus finally detached itself this week.

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It had been lolling around looking sad for weeks now with just a few fibers keeping it attached to the sago palm. I decided to perform the delicate surgical procedure myself and trudged off to my shed for my hook saw and gloves.

I am thinking of mounting it to a wooden frame and hanging it up in our hallway.