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.
  

Old Ephedra

"Old Ephedra" 1, 2, 3, 4 (Click any to see larger)
West Odessa, Texas

Do these plants look 200 million years old?

Of course, these three specimens (the two on the left are the same plant) are not anything near that old, but they do have a long lineage as members of a class of plants that goes back to the Triassic period. Ephedras, of which there are about 40 species worldwide, are unique enough to have their own genus, family, and order.

As you can see, they don't have leaves, but rather conduct photosynthesis in their stems. Ephedra is a small, sprawling perennial shrub, prefers dry climates, and reproduces by cones. The appearance of cones explains one of their common names, "jointfir." Ephedras are also sometimes called "Mormon tea," prepared as tea and used medicinally by American natives and settlers for everything from colds to syphilis. Another common name is "clapweed," although I believe the poor souls who used it continued to suffer.

According to the Sibley Nature Center, there are three common species of ephedra locally: Ephedra torreyii, ephedra coryii and ephedra antisyphillitica. I'm not sure which I have pictured but next time I talk to founder and director Burr Williams, I'll ask if he can distinguish them in these photos. The Sibley site has lots of information and photos of ephedras, depicted in a great variety of environments and throughout the seasons. As always, the center is a valuable resource to me and countless others in the Llano Estacado.

The funny thing to me about ephedras is that it's not one of the plants commonly known here, although it is plentiful. Granted, it's not showy, so perhaps that's why. I'm thinking with some pruning, it could be a nice xeroscape specimen. Its flowers are tiny and stunning in macro. When spring comes, I'll share some close-ups with you.

Links:
The University of Arizona Geosciences department, focusing on its pollen
Wikipedia's Ephedra genus article (mostly above my head)
Very informative article by Susan E Meyers of the USDA National Forest service (pdf)
More than 50 results for ephedra on the Sibley Nature Center site.

Escape into Fencescapes

"Escape into Fencescapes" 1, 2, 3, 4
January 11, 2010
West Odessa, Texas

It was a beautiful day here today. Only as the sun slipped down did it get cool enough to wish for a sweater. I spent a mostly stolen, blissful two hours out taking photos.

I found another yucca without pods but rather aerial plantlets instead, which I'll post in a FB album for the Burr Williams Sibley Center crowd. This one was very green and thriving. Wonder if I planted one of the plantlets how it would reproduce when it matured? By traditional pods or plantlets?

For some reason, I was especially enchanted with taking portraits of our local species of ephedra today, which I'll post here tomorrow. Or perhaps if I could just get my act together, post on my nature blog, Leaves of Eve. I should gather up information about ephedra, from my books and online, and begin fulfilling my one of my 2010 goals, pursue a more dedicated nature self-education.

I saw a woodpecker — not the red ladder back kind maybe a yellow flicker gilded flicker northern flicker. That in addition to the normal crowd of critters: a cactus wren, gray cardinal, several horses, even a miniature horse, goats, a dead dog, several living dogs, a cat sunning itself atop a gazebo like some kind of funny finial, and a red-tailed hawk hunting over a field.

But what do I show you today? The delightfully weird landscapes I saw in a metal fence.

(Do I seem less weird if I say I see nature in them, too? A face, a tree, a baby bird, and clouds.)

Sun Dried Tomato

"Sun Dried Tomato"
Antigone's Tomato Garden
West Odessa, Texas

A sun dried cherry tomato to be more exact, still on the vine.

I Got Ink

"Forever Love" 5"X 5" acrylic on canvas by Debi Cates

No, none on my body. This is a prototype of some tattoo-inspired pieces I'll be painting to sell at our local seller's corner for Valentine's Day.

This reminds me of my Dad's tattoo. He got it back the day when only sailors got inked. He was 19 years old, in the Navy, in the Phillipines. And it doesn't take too much to assume he had probably partied pretty hardy during some shore leave. He had just the one, classically located on his upper arm, a heart with a ribbon going across it, my mother's name on the ribbon.

Misspelled.

Oh, Dad. If he were alive, I'd call him up Sunday morning and tease him unmercifully about that.

Quiet Corners

"Quiet Corner" 1, 2
West Odessa, Texas

I'm sure there was plenty of traffic noise, people talking, dogs barking, and other cacophonies going on while I was taking these photos, but when I look back on the experience I remember nothing but the sound of my own breath. And the sound of the light. Except I suppose light doesn't have sound. It just seems like it does.

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

Time to Back Up

"Time to Back Up" 1, 2
January 11 & 12 2009
Ranch Road 1601, Crane County & Master Gardener's Compost Demonstration Garden, Odessa, TX

How far behind am I in archiving my photos to CDs? I'm just now backing up January 2009 photos. Bad me. I hope you have done a better job. If not? Get crackin', misery loves company!

That's So Wo Wo

"That's So Wo Wo" 1, 2, 3, 4 (Click to see full image)
West Odessa, Texas

Sometimes things in West Odessa are not all delicate weeds with soft focus backgrounds. Sometimes things in West Odessa are, well, just so Wo Wo.

Wo Wo? Sounds like the word "woe." Twice.

Remember back when the comedian Jeff Foxworthy did his "You might be a redneck" jokes? It's very much like that. My favorite of his is "If your porch collapses and kills more than six dogs, you just might be a redneck."

In West Odessa, we might add our own version, "If Jesus sits in a chair on your front porch, you just might be Wo Wo." And if you take photos of Jesus sitting in a chair? I'm afraid to know the answer.

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 Touch of Tree Frost

"A Touch of Tree Frost" 1, 2
January 4, 2010
My Home, West Odessa, Texas

Frost on my Afghan Pine (Pinus eldarica) and on the branches of a neighbor's Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis). Both trees are very drought tolerant and the willow is native to Texas. The Afghan pine was my little living Christmas tree in 2001, decorated with nothing but red cayenne peppers from my garden. Now it's all grown up, a real outside tree.

A Touch of Passionflower Frost

"A Touch of Passionflower Frost" 1, 2
January 4, 2010
My Home, West Odessa, Texas

A photographer's delight — a delicate touch of frost on everything this morning! Here it is on my passionflower vine (Passiflora caerulea).

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

Mr. Elkins Does His Own Laundry

"Mr. Elkins Does His Own Laundry" 1, 2, 3, 4 (Click any to see larger)
January 2, 2010
West Odessa, Texas

I met Mr. Robert Elkins today. I made my acquaintance by simply saying, "Don't see many people hanging up laundry any more." And he agreed. He explained he doesn't like using his electric dryer if he can help it.

Mr. Elkins is a West Odessa resident, here more than 50 years. He worked the oil fields before he retired, worked as a roughneck and then a driller. I asked him who he worked for. He answered, "Everybody." I chuckled. I shared with him that I understood that too well. When I was a young bride, my roughneck (a "chain-thrower") husband had 13 W2s the first year we were married. Mr. Elkins smiled and agreed that's the way it was.

You couldn't give Mr. Elkins a million dollars for any one of his eight dogs, not that he believes in selling or buying dogs. They keep him going, he told me. His favorite is Pepper, the smallest. I asked why and he said because she is always cheerful and had never met a stranger. Right on cue, she rolled on her back for me to pet her little belly. Still, he didn't intend to have quite so many dogs. Take, for example his newest dog, Amber. Amber belonged to a neighbor, but the neighbor was gone for weeks at a time and she was left starving. We both shook our heads at that, two dog-lovers with ten dogs between us.

I made a new acquaintance today. Mr. Elkins does his own laundry, but this afternoon I helped him hang up the sheets.

Like stories about old timers? Me too. Perhaps you'd also enjoy this past post ->

Black and White Or, The Barber Who Doesn't Want to Be Famous

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.