Last Friday, the weather was gorgeous, so I decided to do a little editing on the bed next to the brick patio. It had become overgrown with monkey grass (liriope) which was pretty unattractive and was harboring snakes (both good and bad kinds). I pulled out all the monkey grass (filling a 34-gallon composting bin…
Category: Nature/Outdoors
Summer in the Yard
Not too much going on in the yard this year. The advantage of working from home is that I can water as needed, so things look better. I only took on one small project. My back gate became unhinged (much like a significant minority of the country) so I had to do some repair work….
(Belated) Greetings from Machu Picchu, Perú!
Doesn’t feel like I’ve caught a break since I got back from Perú in October, but here are some photos from Machu Picchu.
Testing, Testing
I got a new camera for the trip to Perú in September and have been playing around.
Spring
Things are coming along in the garden.
Year Ends and Odds
Just some random photos from the past month…
Greetings from Scotland (Part 3 – Isle of Skye and Glencoe)
So after Inverness, the next destination was the über-tourist mecca in Scotland, Loch Ness. We started the day at Urquhart Castle, which is about as picturesque as it gets. The entrance/visitors center is extremely well situated into the landscape; when you get to the castle, the buildings and the parking lot are completely camouflaged. …
Paradise Lost
So, my neighbors put in a pool. My outdoor sanctuary is gone. Partly it was a self-inflicted wound; they needed our permission to tear down the fence and destroy a good part of the yard so they could get the backhoe in. Every lawyer I know told me I should have said no. I knew…
An Owl
Three weeks ago, the City of Austin cleared out some of the dead trees and underbrush directly behind the house. That also cleared out a substantial area surrounding the two giant live oaks behind us and created a perfect space to hang the owl house. I’ve had this owl house for five-or-six years, but apparently…
Summertime
Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to hike in the greenbelt behind the house. A nice dry, hot July day – it was great. And I got two fantastic purslanes from the Natural Gardner.
The Runcible Existentialist 