Swallowtail Pipevine

       MyMrMallory spotted it first, then I, and eyes as wide as saucers, stared at it. He stopped the truck, and I still amazed by the beauty of this butterfly, jaw dropped, composed myself, then raised my camera to take its picture. 

   

Buckeye

The tree that Charlie planted two years ago flowers every spring.

Soon to Bloom . . .

. . . and I wait with enthusiasm . . .

Poppy-Mallow After a Rain

Puccoons for Ysabel

I dedicate this photograph I took yesterday to Ysabel. 

Asteraceae, a Yellow One

       I've discovered, of late, that flowers take more time to research, much more time than birds. Thousands of one family of flowers may exist, leading to thousands of pages to peruse, delightfully, and time-consumingly! Below, I show a drop-covered daisy in my garden after a rain fall, a whopping (for these parts) one-and-a-half inch of moisture. 

       

          Now, back to the books to discover which astereceae this one is.

Sphinx Moth

The native plants that Paul introduced to my garden already bloomed and attracted insects and birds.

Bluebonnets, Scissortails, and Checkerspots

      Spotted my first Scissortail flycatcher. I also spotted bluebonnets in a large area, larger than last year, of bluebonnets, so early in the year.

Milkvetch.

Checkerspot on a daisy, with a bluebonnet in the background.

Locoweed

Astralagus mollissimus

Puccoon

               (Lithospernum incisum) The Lady Bird Johnson center. 

     Interestingly, the puccoon waits until late in its season to produce seed from a second flower, this one tiny and not easily seen. I learned this bit of information from Anne, with whom I gave a lecture at garden club about wildflowers. Intrigued, and seizing upon any reason to view flowers, I traipsed back to the countryside in search of the puccoon. I returned with the images below.

Puccoon growing in cactus.

Puccoons growing around rocks with lichen. 

       Puccoons grow in sunlight, very little water, and in sandy or clay soils. The image below shows the environment where the puccoons thrive at this time, March, while other plants remain dormant.

Daisies Out and About

      I haven't wasted too much time traipsing to the countryside in search of flowers. In early spring, it helps to hop out of the car and wander away a bit from the road. Tiny flowers emerge unseen, otherwise. The flowers I found this morning do not grow more than an inch, and some barely a half-inch across.

Above, the Blackfoot and Huisache daisies. Cattle and deer like the taste of them. 

Stork's-bill.

A horse named Festus (I think) munching on native grasses (and daisies, if any, yum). 

In the background, the mesquite has not yet awakened from its winter slumber. 

Cowboy Jordan

        Jordan's skill at lassoing cattle appears flawless. 

      This last image, particularly, shows the finesse Jordan needs to lasso a calf. He waits for the un-suspecting calf to step with its back hoof inside the loop Jordan has placed on the ground. All the while, his horse collaborates, a partner just as skilled in cattle-catching.

Coneflower

     "It's a purple coneflower," said Charles as I walked in the door. He showed me his textbook in which he had found the name of the flower that baffled us until he looked inside this book in particular. The flower can have purple or white petals, his Hortus Third explained, and lives in Texas.

     And here is a picture by Yertle8 on Amazon of Charles' authorative texbook, a five-inch thick book, highly recommended for those of us interested in plants.

Cow Poke Cow Catcher Club

       I grew up hunting for food at the market and reading stories set in the old cowboy days of the southwest. Today, when I watch cowboys branding cattle, I am awakened by the significance of their work. The beef at the market? They raised it. The stories about the old southwest? They still live the lifestyle. Cowboys, known as "vaqueros" in Mexico, worked long before Texas became a state.
       My observations are that most cowboys are stoic and gentlemanly; they are humorous and playful; they are great story-tellers, too. And they are sensitive, though they wouldn't show it.
       Clay tells me they love to have their pictures taken, though they wouldn't show that, either.
       "Don't cowboys smile?" asked MyFriendFrances, attempting to coax a smile out of them as they posed for a group photo after their morning's work. A slight lift of one side of their lips and there they had them, the smiles.

MyFriendFrances brought out her flash unit to bring light under the hats of Clay and the other cowboys.

First, they have to catch a calf. Sean prepares to lasso one of them. 

Cowboys hold the calf while Clay medicates and Stephen brands.

Sometimes, a calf gets away.

Sometimes, too, they have a moment to play.

After medicating and branding, cowboys release the cattle into the pasture.

Stephen and his fine horse at the end of the day's work.

This is the photo MyFriendFrances set up with her flash unit, making the colors look rich.

And this photo I took under natural light, then brought up their faces with the dodge tool in PhotoShop.

Power Lines and Power Plant

      Near Vernon, Texas, sits a power plant. Over the years, power lines around it have increased in number . . . and size.

BirdBathCam

      Placing a camera on the bird bath yielded satisfying results, including the discovery of another species in my garden, namely, a White-throated sparrow. Here are the highlights of the images:

      In the files I looked at this morning, I saw the following species come for a sip of water:

Blue Jay

American Robin

Goldfinches

White-throated Sparrow

Housefinches

Cedar Waxwing

Grackle

House Sparrow, male

White-winged Doves

Starlings

Red-winged Blackbirds

Cardinal, male

Cardinal, female

Juncoes, Oregon, Pink-sided

Pine Siskin

      The images show honey bees and squirrels, too, my dogs, MyMrMallory, and Nati as they walk by.