After doing chores and some shopping on Saturday, we went on a little drive to explore some of Houston county. I really love our town and the surrounding area. There are lots of cool old houses, quaint shops and beautiful churches in town, plus ponds and forest galore out in the country.
First we drove to Houston county lake.
Yep, warm enough for water skiing and jetskiing. The lake had these beautiful houses all around it. This is a little big for us to canoe on but there are several smaller lakes nearby, too.
We saw tons of beautiful wildflowers. I am going to have to get a book on the trees and wildflowers of Texas, because I don't know very many and it's driving me crazy! Thankfully, I do know poison ivy, poison oak and wild grapes, so when we went for a little walk, we didn't have any trouble staying away from the first two.
We stopped at the Weches Overlook in the forest. We weren't really sure what we were supposed to be seeing. Maybe the simple fact that a hill exists in this part of the country is cause enough for celebration. (Weches is pronounced Weeeeches, like the way Jane Seymour's character screams "Richard!!" in Somewhere in Time.)
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And *Red Letter Day!* we saw some great birds. One of the reasons I was so overjoyed about moving here is the birds. I knew I would be adding a lot of species to my life list, and I was right. I have added 6 so far. My favorite to-date is this beauty:
The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (image from Cornell Bird Lab). This bird is about the size of an English sparrow (those brown birds that you see in parking lots) but its tail is long and gorgeous. I tried to get a picture of the one we saw in flight but it turned out poorly. I was so excited to see it! I made Dave turn around and we spent about 5 minutes (that's looong for a bird to hold still) under the power pole where it was perched just oohing and aahing. Yes, random stranger who almost drove off the road staring, we look at birds. We like doing it. Sorry you've never seen someone "birding" before.
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The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (image from Cornell Bird Lab). This bird is about the size of an English sparrow (those brown birds that you see in parking lots) but its tail is long and gorgeous. I tried to get a picture of the one we saw in flight but it turned out poorly. I was so excited to see it! I made Dave turn around and we spent about 5 minutes (that's looong for a bird to hold still) under the power pole where it was perched just oohing and aahing. Yes, random stranger who almost drove off the road staring, we look at birds. We like doing it. Sorry you've never seen someone "birding" before.
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It was a great day. We all can't get over how green it is here. I caught Jed staring out the window with his mouth open, trying to take it all in.
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