TimesToCome

Today I wandered down to the Big Thicket National Preserve I heard they had some batches of wild carnivorous plants growing there.

The preserve is so large (90,000 acres ) that the trail for the pitcher plants is several miles down the highway from the office as is the sundew trail which is about half way between them. I drove down to the pitcher plant trail first. It is off 4850 which is off 1943 off of 69/287 in Warren Texas. The last part of the drive is on a loosely packed sandy road for a few miles. I was glad I traded the Lincoln for the suv thingy. I’m sure the Lincoln would’ve gotten stuck. I was sliding all over the road. Which may be why I was the only person on the trail and why is is worth the trouble. The pitcher plants were just barely still blooming and there were thousands of them along a mile or two trail on a boardwalk.

The sundew trail ( 1910 off 69/287 Village Millis ) was much easier to get to and slightly more crowded. There were pitcher plants and sundews along this trail which was about a mile long. So if you are skittish driving your car down the other trail you can see all the carnivorous plants here. The sundews were ready to bloom but not quite there, perhaps in another week they’ll be blooming.

While I specifically went to see the carnivorous plants I also took a walk around the Kirby nature trail ( off 420 off 69/287). The only critters I saw were lizards puffing up red balloons under their chins, just in case I got any funny ideas.

The mosquitoes were not bad, I didn’t run into a single one, but it’s clear it had been dry there for a while.

If you are looking to see wild carnivorous plants it’s worth a trip. If you are looking for wildlife there are better choices around Houston where you will certainly see some.

This appears to be love bug season down there. By the time I got back to The Woodlands the car was covered so bad you couldn’t see out the windshield or read the front license plate. The car wash charged me extra to remove all the bugs.

The yard is coming along. We’ve planted new shrubs planted out front, away from the house and dug out that gravel pit out back. The lawn guy brings me the mulch and sod soon. He was going to come Monday, but down here, Monday really means some time next week. We’ve added in a butterfly bush, a manderville, and lots of little things like hostas, daylilies etc, where I ripped out all the shrubs.

The rain’s been coming every couple of days and I haven’t had to water since early this month. It’s also been a tiny bit cooler. The electric bill wasn’t near as bad as I thought it would be for June and June was hotter than this month so that is good. The cost per kilowatt hour is about 75% of what it is back in Mass.

We’ve ventured out a little bit into Texas, leaving The Woodlands in any direction except dumps you in Texas. I can tell the native females from non-native. I haven’t yet found tells for the men. The women here wear a ton of pancake type makeup, same as they do on the west coast. I don’t know if it is to protect them from the sun or because of previous sun damage?

I’ve tried passion fruit and papaya, I didn’t like either. I understand the papayas are like banana trees, they are really herbs, have a crop each year and grow fast. I thought it would be fun to grow the trees anyhow and they are supposed to be easy. We’ll see, I dumped the seeds in some dirt in a pot out back, they should germinate in a couple of weeks.

The kittens are holy terrors and I’ve been spending lots of time the last couple of weeks socializing them.

< loop >

switch
:: play tip-the-orchid
:: brawl on top of the laptop
:: walk on kitchen counters
:: brawl on top of office chair
:: chew on wires
:: climb up window blinds
:: rip open unopened cat food bag
:: brawl on bed when people are sleeping
end switch

yell ‘no’

chase offending beast with water bottle and spray

< repeat >

Fortunately they have been staying in the back yard so I can occasionally pitch them out.