I've Never Been So Glad

I've never been so glad to see a dandelion
West Odessa, Texas

First dandelion of 2010. Hello gorgeous.

A Contrast of Weeds

"A Contrast of Weeds" 1,2
West Odessa, Texas

For Monday's Creative Roundtable, we'll be discussing "Thinking Outside the Toolbox." With multiple contributors, we'll be sharing stories about using tools in innovative or nontraditional ways. Hope you'll join us, adding your comments about tools you've used creatively.

(Weeds are definitely in my toolbox.)

Winter Garb 2

"Winter Garb 2" another unknown plant in its winter dress
Morgan Marsh, West Odessa, Texas

Winter Garb

"Winter Garb" unknown plant,
February 4, 2009 (last year)
Race Field, West Odessa, Texas

The weather forecast is mild weather the next few days, in the low 60s. I'll be visiting my two citizen science plots, Race Field and Morgan Marsh. Joy! I'm going to keep a lookout for this plant and bring some of its stems home. I want to take a look at its structure with my hand lens, and maybe try to get some extreme macro shots too.

I wonder what this plant is? It's impossible to look it up in my Texas plant books which only identify plants during their blooming season, not in their winter garb. In order to find out what plant this, I'll have to watch it until it grows again.

That's got me thinking about some kind of simple, ecologically sound staking system. What I want to do is to mark plants like this one so I can follow them throughout the seasons. This morning I remembered I have some dyed wool yarn which would be organic and visible. Rather than staking the plant itself — I don't want it showing up in photos — I'll look for long twigs lying on the ground to stake nearby, tying the wool on them.

Which brings me to my next question: Wonder how long before I begin to see my wool markers in the decoration of nearby pack rat nests?

Links:
In this Wikipedia article on pack rats, I learned some pack rat nests in the Southwest US have been carbon-dated to 1,000 years old, with recent research dating some to 40,000 years! Pack rats are a common desert mammal and their nests, called "middens," are interesting in their own right. Besides natural ingredients like mesquite, yucca, and cactus, it's not uncommon to see middens decorated with beer cans, bones, and scat.

Who Are You

"Who Are You?" Little dry weed like salsify, but much smaller
Morgan Marsh
West Odessa, Texas

I don't know what this plant is. It would be rather easy to identify if only it were summer and assuming it were blooming. In its current winter form, I'm drawing a blank except it reminds me of salsify, also known as goatsbeard, but on a much smaller scale.

This plant is from a nearby acre lot I'm calling "Morgan Marsh." It's not a true marsh — nothing like that near me — but rather a low-lying area that accumulates extra rainfall, sometimes floods, and because of that has a diverse collection of wild plants. I've recently adopted it, meaning I'll go once a week to take photos of the plants, bugs, and critters that make it home. It's my "citizen science" project, a suggestion Burr Williams of the Sibley Nature Center often gives nature enthusiasts.

For a personal challenge, I'd simply like to learn to recognize local plants in not only their summer appearance, but their winter one as well. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Links:

• Sibley Nature Center serves the Llano Estacado, an area spanning almost 40,000 square miles of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. A map of the Llano here.
• J.B. Calvert has an interesting write up describing the Llano.
• As an example of Citizen Science, there's TexasInvasives.org an initiative to manage non-native invasive plants.
  
• If you are interested in what might be available in your area, try Googling your location plus "citizen science" to see what comes up.
  

Fire and Ice

"Fire and Ice" 1, 2
January 1, 2009
East Loop 338, Odessa, Texas

I'm still plugging away at backing up photos to CDs. It's sort of fun going through old photos, weeding them out ("weeding," get it?), if I didn't it would take three times as many CDs and time. Goodness gracious, I do take a lot of photos of the same exact stuff, over and over. And over. I must enjoy it or something. :P

A Touch of Weed Frost

"A Touch of Weed Frost" 1, 2, 3, 4 (Click any to see larger)
January 4, 2010
My Home, West Odessa, Texas

And to complete the picture of Jack Frost's work today — frost on weeds, of course! One day I'll know their names for certain as well. For now, I know the first is part of the amaranth family. The third is from the morning glory family, quite a surprise to me, as it was growing wild behind my shed and I had no idea.

A banner day today. One, two, and three sets of wandering through a frosty wonderland. Heaven.

A Hare's Breath

"A Hare's Breath" 1, 2, 3, 4 (Click any to see larger)
January 2, 2010
West Odessa, Texas

Yes, the expression actually is "a hair's breadth." But for these pictures — of tenacious, diminutive hanger ons — I imagine a single light breath of a hare could send any one of them far from home.

These are more alley shots, my new unlikely favorite destination. I'm still meandering West Odessa's alleys, enjoying their hidden treasures, and saving gas. For the most part it's a place I can poke my camera at all manner of subjects, at my leisure, without making anyone uneasy.

I say "for the most part" because there are some who do take quite a lot of notice of me. Dogs.

Yesterday I was told off by a grumpy unkempt lady who didn't like hearing her dog bark at me. Interestingly she began with, "Can I help you?" but didn't mean to help me at all. "Ten minutes is enough," she scolded me, the length of time she figured her dog had been at it. Perhaps she had been trying to nap?

I would have explained about the great light at that time of day, about how I was hoping to capture the way weeds were glowing, even show her a shot or two on the LCD, which in my experience usually softens even hard cases who are suspicious of my intentions. But something about the way her hair was standing on end all over her head said she wasn't the receptive type. So, I only said I'd be done in just a few more minutes. Then she cooed to her dog, "It's okay, precious," and went back inside. Her dog barked at me for another ten minutes.

And it was in that (second) ten minutes I took the first photo above.

Do you go to great lengths for the just right light? Perhaps you'd also enjoy one of these past posts ->

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Two Photographers at Dawn

2010 With Flourish

Collage of my photos, made with the free image software Gimp 2.6

Thank you to all my visitors in 2009. It's been my pleasure to share my corner of the world with you. Here's to friendships, blogging buddies, and kindness galore. Happy New Year.