Waiting and waiting....

I was not too keen on a fire assignment in East Texas because I would be a dozer swamper. Nothing glamorous about it; walk alongside a bulldozer as it plows a line around a wildfire to prevent it from spreading. Ideally, I would prefer the tortuous firefighting of the mountain west, even west Texas but a job is a job. Because of recent rains the fire prospects are low but give it time because temperatures are hot and getting hotter. Today was a heat index of 105 degrees. I am working out of Kirbyville, TX at a Texas Forest Service office. Nestled among long leaf pines (Pinus palustris), the understory is maintained by prescribe burning as is evident by burnt and stunted yaupon (Ilex vomitoria) and wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera) as well as oaks (Quercus viginiana, Q. nigra, Q. falcata) and sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua). As a result the ground layer is dominated by royal fern (Osmunda regalis var. spectabilis )or a mix of forbs and grasses; the dominants of which are sharp blazing star (Liatris acidota) and big bluestem (Andropogon geradii).

Where the ground is not maintained the habitat returns to its pre-disturbance floral climax on the forested perimeters. I see a zebra swallowtail alighting on a blazingstar for nectar and attempt to move in further for a better photo op. It is a skittish beauty; moving away from my advances until I stop to wait for it to circle back to me. It gets no closer than ten feet. The black swallowtail is more accommodating.

Moving further down slope I encounter a wetland nearly void of water. Here the floral community changes to represent freshwater emergent and submergents. Some of which are familiar to those back home – spike rushes (Eleocharis spp.), centella (centella erecta), and my favorites, umbrella sedge (fuirena spp.), meadow beauty (Rhexia virginica), blue waterleaf (Hydrolea ovata) and water willow (Justicia lanceolata). I notice a significant present of Japanese climbing fern (Lygodium japonicum) on the ground. It has the capacity to creep up trees and when dry can act as a "ladder fuel" to draw fire up in the canopy. Moving along I encounter the water and seeing as how it is still present in this drought the flora changes also to reflect plants that can withstand permanent inundation. Here I notice the yellow surface flowers of bladderwort (Utricularia gibba) and pick it up to reveal the tiny submerged "trap door" nodules which capture microscopic invertebrates. I was hoping to see other carnivorous plants such as pitcher plants and butterworts but the soils here are not acidic enough. Water tolerant tupelo (Nyssa spp.) towered over mid-story buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) and titi (Cyrilla racemiflora). I may not have sighted the other carnivores but almost as special at my feet was a plant I’ve only seen after it senescence – yellow eye-grass. More than likely Xyris louisianica. My photo did not do it justice as only a few flowers were emerging. Xyris is the only genera of the family Xyridaceae represented in North America.

Safey Tips

Back to the field with gusto after recovery from my foot surgery. And with it the stratches, bugs, heat, humity, cuts, aches, pains and accidents. Here’s a couple of tips:

1. Spraying invasive plant species with a wand that is attached to a 50-gallon tank of herbicide on a UTV (Utility Terrain Vehicle).

Don’t allow the hose to have too much slack that the vehicle rolls over the hose and pulls down on the wand and your hand while you are holding it until it crushes bloody grooves into it.

2. Using a post pounder to drive t-post into the ground.

When lifting up the post-pounder after you are finish with the t-post make sure the cast iron pounder is away from the body and not over your head where you might lose your grip and it falls on your head.

3. Keep your separation-anxiety-ridden dog well medicated. Otherwise it will attempt to jump a fence and misjudge landing on the row of spikes which could put a 5 inch gash in the underside of his hind quarters. Surgery is just as expensive as for humans.

The Yard - April 2011

It’s that time between spring and summer with temps hovering around 80 degrees and low humidity for this area – 35%. The winter/spring plants (spiderworts, Mexican buckeye and hairy phacellia) have seeded out and summer plants are flowering. A senior fella down the block told me that several women on the block are mad about my yard. This leaves me perplexed considering they are surrounded by sterile St. Augustine grass with a compliment of non-native crape myrtle and Chinese tallow trees. Granted the view from the road may leave one wondering if my yard is an overgrown lot but a look interior would allay that notion. I have defined paths with borders and a semblance of order. My favorite skullcap – Scutellaria ovata is blooming and has expanded over the years. Never weedy and always beautiful I wish it was the dominant plant in my back yard.

This area of the coast, much like the rest of Texas, is in an extended “draught” but my natives are holding their own. Not to say some may wither under the oppressive summer sun but by in large they will be thriving without water when the rest of the block is expending thousands of gallons of water to keep their lawns green. Scarlet sage (Salvia coccinea) will do fine if it remains in the shade as will the beauty berry. My Texas Wild Olive (Cordia boissieri) is in full flower mode and loving the lack of rain. Not a true olive, it is in the Borage Family and is a denizen of the Texas border with Mexico. Plants in the Borage Family include Forget-me-not and Comfrey.

I have 4 Texas persimmons (Diospyros texana) and 2 common persimmons (diospyros virginiana). The Texas persimmons flowered in March and are now producing fruit. For the first time one of the common persimmons is flowering. I believe persimmons self-pollinate. All the fruits are edible. The red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) flowered in February and the fruit will mature all summer into November. The leaves will drop by July. Red Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) is a hummingbird magnet at points in the front yard.

The sedum I found those years ago in the hills of San Antonio is cascading over the rock walls. It took a few years to identify it because it’s not listed as occurring in the U.S. I found out what it was when I looked over a list of plants of Mexico – Sedum diffusum. Therefore it’s a new record in the U.S. and I need to get this published.

As I look out my bedroom window I see birds relishing the overflow of the filling of the bird feeder – grackle, cardinal, bluejay, mourning dove and English sparrow. On occasion a hawk will perch in the trees but I don’t know what species it is. No doubt this area is like a bird buffet to it. The nest box I put in the tree was on the verge of habitation by a non-native starling until I lessened the diameter of the entrance. I’m not sure if a Carolina wren or chickadee took advantage of this. Due to the lack of rain I must refill the water containers every 3 days.

A brief vacation

For 12 years or more I’ve made the drive up to Lubbock to see Joshua Carpenter during his spring break. A journey made more imperative due to his absorption in video games. In the past we would hit the road to New Mexico to dig for minerals, sled down sand hills and hike in snow at 11,000 feet. Time was not on my side as I only had 4 days available to see him. Good enough to disconnect him from the Xbox. This week he was in the doghouse as usual with his mom Andrea so it took a certain amount of cajoling to get her to agree to take him overnight to Raton where we were to meet up with Rob Graham whom I’ve known for 31 years; having met at the Univ. of Texas in 1979.

The drive consumed 6 hours, leaving a couple of hours to find a suitable hiking site. This was a bust, even after crossing over the mountains to Colorado. It seemed every bit of land was off limits. In the end we resigned ourselves to exploring a parcel of open woodland behind a hotel only to retreat when coming upon a transient camp. Rob arrived later at the Best Western with the news that Sugarite State Park was outside the city; the only direction we didn’t take. While Josh was enthralled with the boob tube Rob and I ventured out for a spot of beer only to find one bar open on this St. Patrick's Day. A noisy atmosphere with a band and a couple of beers. This is the hotspot of Raton. Seems like there's nothing else to do here except drink your life away.

In the morning we ventured out to make the most with what little time we had. At the visitor center we were greeted and given hiking advice by the park’s law enforcement officer; a female that paused between instructions to spit a wad of saliva into her dip bottle. Whatever works!

With ice still on the fringes of the lake this area at 5000ft was still in the throes winter dormancy. Josh brought his unicycle and was as adept on the snowy, icy trail as he was on asphalt. My 10 year old Catahoula/boxer mix felt like a puppy again; bounding in the snow and sniffing throughout the dead grass for traces of rodents. An hour later we parted way as Rob returned to his home in Grand Junction.

Joshua's dyed his hair red in deference to his cousin Tristan who is a hemophiliac.

Aha Moment

It was Saturday morning. I'm lying in bed garnering enthusiasm to exercise when Motorhead joins me to peer outside the window at a grackle in the front yard. I see the intent in his eyes, a prisoner of his genetic desire to stalk this avian prey. Then it dawned on me, Felis sylvestris, the former Latin scientific name of the house cat, now replaced with Felis catus. Felis? Felix the Cat? Sylvestris? Sylvester the Cat? Sure enough, a little research proved my assumption. The naming of Felix the Cat originated from its creator Otto Messmer. Felix from Felis. In this same vein the legendary Friz Freleng named Sylvester the Cat from Felis sylvestris.

We watch the birds a few minutes more. Motorhead (Felis catus subspecies motorus) walks outside to roll in the dirt and I start the day's exercises.

Spring Has Sprung

In previous years my harbinger of spring was the blooming of lyre-leaf sage (Salvia lyrata) but that interpretation has changed. With the passing of the great freezes of 2011 my candidates for spring's entry into this year is the flowering of Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica). Of the past 11 years in this dung pile town I have experience only two frost kills after I started my spring/summer garden on the 3^rd weekend of February. Next two weeks' sowing: snap beans, summer squash, cucumbers, carrots and come April tomatoes and potatoes.

This is time when the front door stays open for Motorhead to come and go as he please although he nags me to lead him outside now. Mosquitos are around the corner but for now all that enters the house are crane flies. In the past catching and eating these insects was a treat for Motor and Doobie. Motor spends more of his time outside now. In the day he sleeps which gives me solace that more songbirds will be spared. Not that he was adept at catching them anyway. Looking around the yard one week after torching the non-native plants I see the survivors and they appear just as numerous as before however a number of natives are flowering; all forbs except for the eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) which flowers before its leaves appear. Not far behind will be Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) with leaves that emerge in January and suffered no ill effects from the hard freeze. Spiderwort and violet oxalis flowers died back but reappeared again within two weeks. I'm dismayed at the proliferation of bedstraw throughout the yard but over the years dwindling in number after relentless weeding and torching.

A Broccoli By Any Other Name

I had success this winter with lettuce, greens and Broccoli despite the repeated hard freezes. Broccoli took frost burn on the leaves but rebounded this week with temperatures in the 70's. My spinach didn't pan out; producing only 5-6 plants that are now over ran with Scramble Eggs (Corydalis curvisiliqua). As I surveyed the plant I spotted my first floral head and like many more to follow became dinner tonight. Broccoli (Brassica oleracea) is in the mustard family – BRASSICACEA. Nearly all mustards that grow wild in Texas are cool season plants. On occasion I'll come across a species of Lepiduim in August. In higher altitudes mustard species are common in the summer. In my transient days in the forests of New Mexico I regularly plucked water cress (Nasturtium officinale) from the rivers to augment my beans and ramen noodle dinners. Broccoli is one of several cultivars of B. oleracea, a native of Europe. Over the centuries the species has been grown to enhance a specific part of its body and this cultivar was given another name.

Cultivars of Brassica oleracea:

Broccoli and Calabrese

Califlower

Cabbage

Brussels Sprouts

Kohlrabi

Kali

Collard Greens

Savoys

Frost Weed

Frost Weed (Verbesina virginica) is a flower in the Sunflower Family. It ranges from Texas to Florida and north as far as Pennsylvania. At times of subfreezing temperatures the sap will freeze and expand and the resulting pressure splits the main stem open. I've seen this before in the bottomlands but never took a photograph of this event. Following the recent cold snap that paralyzed a large portion of the country I walked in my back yard to find frozen sap on my dormant frost weeds. Frost Weed can grow to 6 feet.  With its 50 - 100 or more blossoms Frost Weed  is a good plant for bees but is a prolific seeder and can get weedy. 

Said it better than I ever could

On the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth the conservatives and even NPR are perpetuating his myth.  NPR is kowtowing to the republicans in the House of Representatives because they're scared of losing funding.  I expected NPR to have more stones.  Oh well.

Reagan in One Word

Mean

By CHRISTOPHER FONS

Ronald Reagan was a rat from the beginning. He was a bad actor, snitched for the House Un-American Activities Committee, he shilled for General Electric, and then represented the reactionary forces in the 60's that saw an opening to role back the New Deal and the Great Society as well as the gains of the individualist movements (free speech, civil rights, black power, gay rights, feminism, etc..) of the latter part of the 20th century. He did this by appealing to the American people's worst values; mysticism, selfishness, racism, and extreme nationalism. His was a slick George Wallace, a right wing populist sans the OVERT racism. But we all knew what he was talking about when he talked about "welfare queens," crime and lawlessness. He and Mike Deaver understood that the white ethnics and southerners who were the backbone of the New Deal/Democratic coalition could be split off from blacks and Jews and their labor allies by talking about social issues and taxes. It worked, particularly in the areas of the country where the industrial economy was in decline. Thus the creation of the Reagan Democrat. In the south the process was already underway when the Democratic Party embraced civil rights.
Internationally he allied himself with the most right wing reactionary killers in the world. In Southern Africa they allied with apartheid supporters, supported the prolonged imprisonment of Nelson Mandela, and funded the UNITA killers in Angola. In Mozambique the RENAMO forces that Reagan funded at the time were known to be the most vicious killers in the world. Funded by the US and South Africa their main goal was to terrorize the entire Mozambique population because they had chosen independence and a left wing government.

In Central America and the Caribbean the late 1970's were a time of hope and struggle for human rights and liberation. The Reagan clan said that at all costs, hundreds of thousands of lives and devastated societies, the movement against dictatorship would be crushed. They won. Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Grenada, and the region as a whole have returned to their traditional subservient role in the world economy with the requisite dismal life expectancies, infant mortality, and lack of economic opportunity. In Afghanistan the Carter and Reagan administrations helped create 9/11. They sought out the most reactionary Islamic forces to fight the Afghan government and the Soviets including Osama bin Laden. Their thuggish medieval allies would eventually prevail which gave hope to some of the most reactionary people on the planet. Which is the main reason for Al Queda's success. Billions were given in aid in the name of anti-communism, Reagan's clarion call.

Anything in the name of anti-communism.
The big lie is that he hated "big" government. This was and is a propaganda tool the right wing populists use. They actually use government to discipline the population and redistribute wealth upward. You need a strong state to do this. He increased the size and scope of government not the opposite. Reagan was an expert at this. They claimed that tax cuts got the economy going. Actually the effect of their policies was to lower taxes for the rich and powerful and raise them for working class. State, local, city taxes, fees, tolls, etc... all were raised as result of Reaganomics. Funding for the poor decreased and monies for upper class folks (this was done through tax policy and direct subsidy) and corporations radically skyrocketed giving them the ability to invest where-ever they wanted to in the new Reagan/Thatcher deregulated world. He also represented the massive assault on organized labor that gained steam in the 70's. He and his masters wanted to eliminate the power of labor unions at home and abroad. He saw them as an impediment to unchecked capital accumulation and he did everything in his power, including destroying PATCO, to lessen the power of workers. This development is probably his most long lasting, the fall of the Soviet Union had less to do with him than is claimed.

I had to cringe yesterday when NPR was hailing Ron and Nancy for their "courageous" outspoken views on public health in regard to stem cell research. These are people, because of their bigotry towards gays, stood by while the pandemic of AIDS germinated under their powerful noses. They actually blocked monies for AIDS research and purposefully down played the devastating potential of AIDS. They were in a position to do something, they did nothing because of their bigoted views. In the near future millions will die around the world because of their deliberate negligence.
His legacy is a powerful one. He represents the counter-revolution that we are going through throughout the world. His world was a Hollywood vision of individualism, if you just work hard enough you'll get ahead. From Soweto to Managua millions of people died and will die because in his crony-capitalist world power is highly centralized in private hands and capital trickles up because the state is on the side of the powerful and if you step out of line don't be surprised if El Mano Blanco, a Central American death squad helped by the CIA, puts a cap in your *ss.
In a word, Ronald Reagan: mean.

Christopher Fons lives in Milwaukee and runs the Red and the Black website.

Back and Busted

Been somewhat remiss on my postings. The dead of winter, plants dormant and same old, same old. Now a few plants are emerging; the frontline that will provide pollen in February for the bees. All "blues", the guiding color in the spectrum bee are attracted to this early season. One exception though, the pinkish hedge nettle (Stachys drummondii). Just a name and not a true nettle but in the Mint Family (Lamaceae). The Stachys are the first of the mints to bloom in my yard followed by the skullcaps (Scutellaria spp.) and Beebalms (Monarda spp.) from March to June. The first of the Stachys, S. drummondii is my least favorite as they tend to get invasive and and unappealing to look at after dropping their leaves. Having smothered most of them in areas of my yard I walk a fine line between personal taste and providing for the bees. Next the mouseear betony (S. crenata) emerges but not as prolific. 

 

Outside town a field is populated with the non-native Smooth Hedge Nettle (Stacys arvensis) but I've yet to see it in my yard. 

 

 

 

 

 

Both skullcaps emerge about the same time in April-May and both share the same scientific name - Scutellaria ovata but one is a subspecies: ssp. bracteata. I don't know where the latter originated from but they are both commonly known as Heartleaf Skullcap. My favorite and last to bloom is ssp. bracteata. For years the same 5x5' plot of these skullcaps has returned under the magnolia. I wish they were just a tad more invasive. Photos this spring. Today I noticed the first of many spiderworts blooming and will continue thus until peaking in early April.

I'm back, so what's busted? My foot. Last week I decided after over a year of tolerance to have an operation to remove a benign tumor on the bottom of my left foot. For over a year my body ached as it subtly compensated for the pain in my arch. This lead to continuous muscle aches and particularly a nagging lower back pain that wouldn't heal following the beating it took during the gulf oil spill bird grab. To my amazement the pain decreased by ~90% in my lower back after the surgery even though I am subjecting my body to new resistance by now walking on crutches and preforming nearly all my daily chores and exercise, only taking twice as long to accomplish them. I still have no pain where the tumor was removed. That is until I hit it accidentally when it's not in the walking boot. Two days after my operation, I felt well (and cocky) enough to walk on the side or heel of my foot with the walking boot. Worked out fine and I pushed the limits on this foot until I was admonished by my doctor's assistant that I nearly popped the stitches open. That sufficiently scared me enough to follow doctor's orders and stay off the foot. Now relegated to the daily frustrations of living without the use of one leg and it's a real drag but only temporary as I hope the stitches are removed in a week. I changed the bandages and observed that the incision is sealed but surrounding it is a subcutaneous blood bruise, much like that of a black eye. I don't think this poses any danger to the foot and will dissipate in time.