Texts and Treks

          After a few brutal weeks of schoolwork, I went on a much needed trip out of town this last weekend. I met up with my dad and some of my uncles and cousins to go pheasant hunting in North Dakota. It was relatively spontaneous in nature and one of the most fun things I have done in a long time. This was my first time hunting and we couldn't have gotten luckier with the timing - we maxed out on birds each day! We stayed at my cousin's family friend’s farm and he had established numerous hunting spots throughout his properties by planting sunflowers, corn, canola and other pheasant food.            We had five dogs who were all extremely well trained for hunting birds and a total of fifteen guys. This trip was super special, not just because it was my first time hunting but it was great to spend time with my dad and extended family. We are all older now and I don’t see my parents and family much anymore. In addition,...

               On Monday, I went for my weekly walk along the Trinity but unfortunately wasn’t exposed to any new forms of wildlife this week. I snapped a few pictures of the local animals that I see on a regular basis now, but aside from what is pictured below (Blue Heron, White Heron, Turtles), it was relatively quiet that morning. Although the wildlife didn’t catch my attention as it has in the past few weeks, I found this walk to actually be rather informative.                We're living in a relatively stressful time right now between the pandemic, my senior year of college - searching for jobs and a plan for next year, election season and a full class load. To say it lightly, there has been a lot on my mind recently. Throughout the course of this semester, I have found that walking, especially in a natural environment, has a profound calming affect which allows me to completely clear my mind...

            Once again, I went for my walk on Monday morning around 10 AM down by the Trinity river. I have come to really enjoy my weekly walk along the Trinity. It reduces any stressors that I have about the week ahead and reminds me that there is more to life than textbooks and tests. It is especially nice to see how many people have found the same experience to be uplifting. Every time I walk the trail there are always people riding bikes, running, or just walking and enjoying the scenery. It is an extremely peaceful area to spend time in the mornings and it sure does brighten my week. I walked for about an hour, hoping that I would come across some wildlife that I had not yet seen before.   For quite some time, I could only see the same birds, fish, and turtles that I had already seen down at the river previously. I snapped a few additional photos, as seen below, of the several white herons I saw perched around the water. As I continued wal...

       Over the course of this semester, I have grown extremely fond of walking the trails by the Trinity river in the early hours of the morning. It tends to be more peaceful in the morning and as a result, more wildlife can be observed from the trails. I was on my walk this weekend and I noticed a large, white bird standing on the bank of the river. As I walked towards the bird to get a better look, it dipped its head in the water and flew a few hundred yards down river. I decided to continue walking, in hopes that it would cross my path once again.      I continued walking and eventually found the bird, perched on the riverbank like I had once seen it before. I slowly walked toward the bird in an effort to get a better glimpse and a picture of it. As you can see below, I was much luckier this time. As I was taking a picture of the bird an older gentleman approached me and said “those things are so cool.” I said “yeah, I know right?” He then went on ...

              I went down to the trinity river this weekend, similar to last, but I decided to walk the opposite direction. I was curious to find out what I would be writing my weekly blog on and quite frankly, I was genuinely surprised to gather as much material as I did. Once again, I saw two turtles perched on a log, basking in the sun in the middle of the river – see photo below. In addition, I came across something I have never seen occur before, or at least never noticed to this degree. I would not have guessed that going a different direction would have brought such a different, unique form of nature.             As I walked and continued searching, I stumbled upon a section of trees that seemed to lean away from the Trintiy at almost a 90-degree angle, parallel with the ground. It is not uncommon to see trees lean slightly, in one direction or another, but I have never seen trees ...

     I found a stream close to campus last week and decided to follow it on my walk this morning. Eventually, I found myself walking next to the Trinity river and was honestly surprised to see so much wildlife in and around the river. At the beginning of my walk I even saw a fish jump out of the water just for a brief moment. The most interesting part of my walk was when I noticed a few turtles perched up on a fallen log. I started walking down a steep hill to get closer to the turtles and hopefully catch a more detailed glimpse at what they look like. I got to the bottom of the hill and as I was about fifteen feet away, the turtles dropped off the log, one by one, into the Trinity river.       I’m not entirely sure what type of tur tles these are but I assume they would be snapping turtles. I was so shocked by the fact that I actually saw turtles that I didn’t get a chance to look at them up close. From what I could tell, however, they were both about...

     I went for a walk on Saturday morning and wound up at an intersection between McPherson and McCart avenue. I stood there and looked around for a few minutes, wondering if I could spot something interesting to write my weekly blog about. I quickly came upon a creek, tucked away off the side of the road that was about fifteen feet wide. I climbed down to the creek to see if there were any animals inside and unfortunately, the only living thing I saw was a blue dragonfly. I was lucky enough to snap a picture of the dragonfly - it can be seen in the photographs below, perched on top of a rock.          I have nev er really examined a dragonfly in Texas up close, they are considerably larger than any other dragonfly I have ever seen. Aside from the dragonfly, I only really noticed trash scattered throughout the surrounding area. Granted, this was water runoff pouring out of drainage pipes so I can’t say my expectation of finding living creatu...