“Up In Flames”

ESPatch Dec 7, 2013 2 comments

Mist flowers did not bloom as long as usual this year but they still had their fair share of visitors, like this

American Lady,

Vanessa virginienis

Note: The small white dot in the orange of the forewing distinguishes American Lady from the Painted Lady.

Another frequent visitor to the mist flowers are these little iridescent metallic bees or

Agapostemon texanus

or is it angelicus?

I don’t know.

Loquats also have an abundance of flowers this year,

flowers

I think they liked our wetter than usual Autumn.

flowers

Our recent freezing temperatures have ushered in some strange activities in the Patch.

faces

When faced with prolonged periods of time indoors we usually resort to Monopoly and arguing, but the latest trend is the cutting-out of magazine mouths to while away the dark and cold hours.

I took advantage of the latest cold snap to put our Christmas tree up, with plenty of help, naturally.

This is an activity that traditionally has me coated in an 80-degree sweat as I fight to a) get the tree into the house and b) wrestle it into its stupid base, tightening those irritating metal prongs that I am convinced are too small to even reach the trunk of the tree.

As promised here is a slow air fitting for the cold, dark weather we have been experiencing of late.

Grab yourself a glass, adjust your volume and put in some earplugs for “The Dark Island” and the reel “Miss Girdle”.

It got so cold the other day,

I burnt my own strobilus!

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/2013/07/trouble-with-the-old-strobilus/

Well it has been looking a bit peeky for a while now,

then I noticed this oozing out of the center of it:

Enough was enough.

It was onto the pyre with the old strobilus.

Moving very quickly along…

Cigar plant is heating up in the cold,

as are the celosia, and up until this week so were the canna lilies.

The bold color,

its foliage looking like flames,

what a difference a week can make.

Drum roll and…

and as for my Hoja Santa…

…well, lets just say that they now look decidedly unwell.

In contrast my satsumas look about perfect, it was time I gave one a go, and by I,

I mean him.

There was some trepidation going into the annual tasting ceremony but the satsumas were apparently off to a good start. There was a nervous thumbs up in the middle but the end notes were an obvious let down – a bland blend of unsweetened chewy fruit with a distinct hint of grossness.

Ah the disappointment.

Oh well,

there is always next year.

Stay Tuned for:

“He’s Checking it twice”

All material © 2013 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
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.

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.