My Office [pic-heavy]

[LastPoet]

Awesome pics PT. Fossils are made by the devil into fooling us that evolution happens. That's what the stupid say.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Spring's in full swing now. Flowers are blooming and the reptiles are out of hibernation; trees are leafing ... and the visitors are getting more numerous.

East wall of the canyon, covered in new buttercups.

A nest of caterpillars, species unknown to me.

An ironclad beetle.

A juvenile diamond-backed watersnake, probably the same one pictured above from the other day.

Little brown skink.

Cottonmouth, about 2' long, in the Pool.

The Pool Trail, beautifully verdant.

Another view of the Pool Trail.

Nature recycling: a sycamore growing out of the stump of a bald cypress.

A blotched watersnake, quite far away from water -- about 200' uphill from Hamilton Creek.

[polar bear]

Very Cool...Thanks!

[Thumpalumpacus]

[Thumpalumpacus]

So, some of y'all may have heard about the flooding we've had down here in Tejas. It has been heavy but not dangerous here, though we have had a couple of tornadoes on the ground near the Preserve. We've taken a beating as far as the trails are concerned, so we've been closed, and are in damage-control mode.

It started 10 days ago, with about an inch of rain, which filled the waterfall up.

Should have known something was up when I found this yellow-eared slider looking for high ground.

The frogs, like this Rio Grande leopard frog, were out and about.

The creek was up a little ...



... and then on Saturday night we got 4.25" of rain in eight hours throughout Hamilton Creek's watershed, which is 25 sq mi.  All of that water came into the creek, which was running whitewater Sunday morning as I drove in. It had to go somewhere.

The railing in the middle of the pic, under the Mexican sycamore, stands three feet high ... and it was only about 6" above the water-level.

The creek was up several feet as well, obviously.

... and had enough current to do this to our footbridge.

This is the Pedernales River, about six miles downstream from the Preserve; it picked up about 25' in one night.

... and this is the river at Hammett's Crossing, about ½-mile from where it enters the Preserve.  There's about four foot of water over the bridge at the far end.

We disturbed this guy while we were cleaning up the trails today -- the maintenance supervisor almost clocked this water moccasin when she threw a big branch into the creek right over the bushes he was hiding in.

eta: I don't know why those pic-links are showing up in the middle of my post. Sorry for the technical difficulties.

[ignoramus]

If that is "nature", I'm staying indoors thanks!
Those animals scare the shit out of me!

You are a demi god!

[Minimalist]

I might re-think my opposition to guns with all those snakes around.

[Saxmoof]

But where do you keep your stapler?

[Thumpalumpacus]

Nah, the snakes just want to be left alone -- dinner and a nap in the sun is their big thing in life. Let them have that, and everyone stays happy.

[Pyrrho]

Nah, the snakes just want to be left alone -- dinner and a nap in the sun is their big thing in life. Let them have that, and  everyone stays happy.

That has been my experience with them, too.  Also, given that they eat mice and rats that we don't want in too much abundance, it is good that they are around.