“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.

images

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.

Stay Tuned for:

“ Extraction”

All material © 2013 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Stop Larking Around”

ESPatch Apr 16, 2013 8 comments

I don’t know why but I seem to have more than my fair share of strange goldfish escapades. This latest one had me scratching my head, something this goldfish could never do, because this goldfish had been…

…been…

…decapitated!

It also had had it’s tail removed. Brrr.

This cold blooded (ahem) murder was made all the stranger due to the fact that I located the corpse on the side of this bird bath that was looking particularly unattractive being full of post oak catkin sludge, and now apparently a random fish part.

Now I know Kumo has a fondness and a reputation for finding and lodging the odd rotten fish-bit around his collar, but this time I am quite sure he had nothing to do with the crime.

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/2012/04/exploding-goldfish/

I know this as when confronted with something and he is guilty, his expression morphs into something like this:

Not that I really thought he could catch a fish, expertly filet it’s head and tail then position what was left strategically on the side of my birdbath.

Gollum I can only assume this is Gollum’s handiwork, perhaps he was looking for some water to wash the fish down?

Moving Along:

Seedpods from my stargazer lilies…talk about bizarre.

What did you expect?

Lots of firsts this week in the Patch.

The first tropical bloom from this butterfly iris.

The first croaks and visitations from our Gulf coast toads,

and the first flowers on my lizard’s tail,

Saurusus cernuus

also called breast weed as it has historically been used to treat inflammation of the breasts and other portions of the body.

As the greenish seeds develop, the “tail” takes on a wrinkled appearance, hence the common name.

Lizard’s tail has distinctive heart-shaped leaves and a curved raceme with many white, inconspicuous flowers.

lizards tail

The flowers have a sassafras aroma to them very similar to Hoja Santa.

A great pond plant but keep it in a container as it spreads aggressively by rhizomes.

This ‘Black Pearl’ ornamental pepper provides some great shade color,

with its eerie iridescent purple-pink flowers.

Larkspur are also just starting to open up this week.

I recall shaking some spent larkspur plants over this bed last year, no shortage in here now!

African hosta,

Drimiopsis maculata

has enjoyed our recent rains.

I divide these every year and dot them any place I have space.

More inconspicuous flowers.

This plant tolerates part sun, light shade and even deep dark shade.

Here is my first line of porch-defense against mosquitoes this year:

Lemongrass.

I am interested to see if this deters them.

Critters observed in the Patch this week:

Bee-Fly

Bombyliidae-Hemipenthes eumenes?

And to finish a very small Mygalomorph hiding under some leaves I was clearing out, perhaps a baby tarantula?

Stay Tuned for:

“Bare-Bones”

All material © 2013 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.