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By Amber, on January 4, 2011, at 10:00 pm (Unrelated blog note: Today I received the replacement for the earrings that originally arrived missing pieces! Customer service was awesome, as expected. You can see them in my photo of the day!)
There is a large pecan tree on the farm that gets a lot of attention during its leafless, winter months. When we were there in May, a severe thunderstorm (with so much hail that it piled up alongside the road!) broke a huge branch off of it. Fortunately the tree seems to be still thriving.
I spent a while sitting beneath that tree with my biggest lens and my teleconverter, spying on the woodpeckers that were hanging off the branches at various angles as they tried to get at the pecans. Maybe a woodpecker is a woodpecker is a woodpecker, but I took so darned many pictures that I have to dump a bunch of them here or my time will have been wasted. Also, it will make me feel better about the fact that a bee crawled up my shirt and stung me.
More after the jump, including one bird that is not a woodpecker and a photo that makes me laugh! See if you can guess which is which. Continue reading Winter farm birds
By Amber, on January 2, 2011, at 10:00 pm We’ve made it around the sun once more! I’m looking forward to seeing what 2011 brings. This year I’ve decided to attempt the ever-popular photo-a-day challenge, so you’ll see my latest results in the right sidebar. Hopefully this will also give me some daily practice using some new photo tools. I have a new Wacom tablet so I can fine-tune my editing skills, and I am likely having to switch software to use it. I used Photoshop for years, but the version I had stopped working a few years ago so I switched to GIMP. I have liked GIMP a lot, but I haven’t figured out how to make the tablet work with it, so I am trying to migrate myself back to Photoshop via the version that was included.
As I mentioned in my last post, we spent a few of the last days of 2010 at our favorite Hill Country farm. The first full day was rainy so we just stayed indoors or on the screened porch, reading and snacking. The next day started grey but dry, so we pounced on the opportunity to walk the property and eventually it cleared up into a nice day.
The goats were happy to see us, in their own odd way. Goats are a little like cats, in that they want your attention badly, but will act completely indifferent almost as soon as you grant it.
There were a couple kids so young that they still had bits of umbilical cord hanging from their bellies. They are adorable to watch, playing and leaping around, but if you get too close they will run off to find their mothers, crying pitifully all the way. I couldn’t get closer than about 10′.
The animal that was probably the happiest to see us was the donkey who was corralled away from all of the other animals. From talking to one of the caretakers, we learned that this donkey killed a goat and is being secluded until one of the other animals gives birth. Usually the donkeys are just marginally interested in us until they determine that we don’t have any good snacks, but twice this donkey actually RAN toward us for attention (until the caretaker dropped off some fresh hay, and then we were old news). I have to admit I felt a little sad that he seemed so lonely.
The one animal that could not have cared less about our presence was this malcontent cow who spent all day, every day mooing and chasing her two donkey pen-mates out of whichever area she currently deemed hers. I tried to touch her because she looked really soft, but she wanted nothing to do with us.
I’ll put the rest of this post behind a jump because I’m only about half done! Continue reading Happy 2011!
By Amber, on December 30, 2010, at 11:50 pm Just got back today from some of this:
And a lot of this:
A good way to close out the year. Highlights from this trip to come. Have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve!
By Amber, on June 3, 2010, at 10:00 pm Here is the last batch of creepy crawlies from our Hill Country trip:
This little spider may be my favorite picture from the whole trip. He was hiding behind our porch lamp.
 Wait, nobody told me there are tarantulas in Hill Country!
 Oh. Nevermind.
By Amber, on May 27, 2010, at 10:00 pm You didn’t really think I was done posting insect pictures from the farm, did you?
Just one more set to come…
By Amber, on May 23, 2010, at 10:00 pm One of my favorite things to do when we visit Hill Country is to stalk the farm with my macro lens, in search of insects and spiders. I’ve made it no secret that I love insects, but I’m also fascinated by discovering the tiny details about them that we seldom take time to notice.
Okay, a butterfly is technically not a baby, but this one is brand-new all the same!
 Anybody know what this is? I’ve identified some similar nymphs but none quite match.
 This guy turns into…
 …the pipevine swallowtail. Just emerged and stretching its wings!
 Praying mantis babies, smaller than a pinky nail.
Credit goes to Mark for spotting the emerging butterflies during our walk. He’s an excellent photography assistant!
By Amber, on May 20, 2010, at 11:39 pm Who doesn’t like to get up at 5 AM on a Sunday to run around the woods in a helmet, bike some trails, run again, bike again, run again, and then crawl through a mud pit? Nobody, that’s who!
 Don’t we look excited??
Muddy Buddy has been an annual tradition for me since 2003 (minus 2008 when Mark and I were busy moving to TX), when I first learned of it and informed Jes that we would be participating. One year she went so far as to break her collarbone to get out of it, but my good friend Dan stepped in and wore our ‘Tough Broads’ team name proudly. She came back the next year under threat that I would personally break the other one if she got hurt again, or something like that.
Then Mark came on the scene and became our cheering section:
Until one day Jes moved to Colorado and passed the torch to Mark. We did our last (well, his first) VA Muddy Buddy in 2007, skipped 2008, and did our first TX Muddy Buddy in 2009, in Austin.
We pretty much decided that 2010 would be our last Muddy Buddy for a few reasons. Most importantly, I just don’t look forward to it all year like I used to. Maybe I am getting old, but I have several other ways I would like to spend a Sunday morning (hint: they all start with ‘sleeping’). Also, I kind of made a resolution to stop doing things that stress me out. See: 10K runs. There’s also the cost. I think when Jes and I entered in 2003, it was something like $80/team. Now it’s almost twice that. For a crawl through a mud pit and a t-shirt? And there isn’t even a swag bag anymore, even though the sponsors get bigger and bigger? You need $100,000+ per event for ‘race development,’ when the course is almost exactly the same every year? I love you, Muddy Buddy, but I’m starting to feel used.
So we decided this year would be our last hurrah, which was the primary reason for our Hill Country trip and pretty much the only motivation that pulled us out of the warm bed at our rental cabin at 5 AM. And when it was over, we cleaned up, chowed down, and took a nap.
By Amber, on May 18, 2010, at 10:00 pm We spent an extra-long weekend in Texas Hill Country, visiting some old friends:
It was pretty exciting, as far as relaxing weekends away go. On Saturday night we arrived to torrential rain and hail (very loud on a tin roof). We had to ford a couple small rivers and drive over snowdrift-like mounds of hail to get to dinner. They abated by the time dinner was over, though the hail remained on neighborhood lawns well into the next day.
Last night we were expecting another large storm, this time with 1-2″ hail, so we decided ahead of dinner that we’d park under a tree when we returned. However, we returned to find that a very large branch had fallen off one of the big, old pecan trees on the property, so we took our chances and parked in the open after Mark hauled the enormous limb out of the driveway.
I have to say, what passes for excitement on the farm is still relaxation for these city dwellers. I wonder whether our jobs would miss us…
By Amber, on February 21, 2010, at 10:00 pm When I was a kid, my family drove to South Carolina every summer for a week at the beach. I can imagine that it’s probably a massive challenge to minimize the whining and fighting between kids during a 12-hr car trip, but my mother is a master of the art of the bribe. My sister and I were each allowed some magazines and a new tape for our walkmen, and we couldn’t start using either until we got onto the highway. After that, once an hour, we were given a wrapped surprise — usually candy, a puzzle book, something like that. And I’m not ashamed to admit that I loved it when she surprised me by resurrecting this tradition when we drove from Albany to Maine in September 2009. :)
Now that I’m married, most of my roadtrips are with Mark. We usually just listen to NPR, but I always have crosswords or sudoku on hand in case I need emergency entertainment. And when we stop for a bathroom break, I’ll sometimes buy candy (admittedly, I always have seasonal candy in the house, but roadtrip candy tastes better!). Since we started visiting hill country regularly, we have found the ultimate rest stop.
Having spent many, many hours of my life on I-95, the NJ Turnpike, and the Garden State Parkway, I am familiar with a wide array of rest stops and convenience stores, and it is my expert opinion that Buc-ee’s is the Cadillac of convenience stores. It inspires well-earned, passionate praise. Do you know what you get on the NJ Turnpike? A dry, shriveled hotdog and a restroom that makes you want to take a shower. Do you know what you get at Buc-ee’s? Fresh kolaches and bathrooms that they brag about on billboards. The billboards, by the way, delight me because they remind me of all of the crazy South of the Border billboards that we kept track of on those childhood trips to SC. Except, when you finally get to Buc-ee’s, it’s not a creepy, cockroach-infested temple to food poisoning. Okay, maybe I never ate at South of the Border, but one detour through it was enough to persuade me that I didn’t need to.
Our usual Buc-ee’s picks are fresh jerky for Mark and fudge for me. It’s a beautiful thing when you enjoy the journey as much as the destination.
 From left: peanut butter & chocolate (top) and butterfinger (bottom), dulce de leche (x2), cookies & cream (x2)
By Amber, on February 16, 2010, at 10:00 pm We spent a long weekend at one of our favorite places, a little farm in Texas hill country:
 Things are pretty laid-back at the farm.
 The locals know how to have fun…
 And they’re always ready to welcome you:
 We couldn’t let the animals have all the fun — we played a little, too:
 All vacations come to an end, and we eventually had to ride off into the sunset (until our next visit).
 I believe in giving credit where credit is due, but if you don’t already know exactly where this farm is, then I ain’t telling, because its booking availability is essential to my inner peace. Sorry. :)
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