Baymule’s Journal

[fuzzi]

Anybody know what kind of bird these babies are?

View attachment 119220

View attachment 119221

View attachment 119222

I don't know for sure, but iNaturalist said probably in the Phoebe family. That's good, they are flycatchers!

I think they might be Eastern Phoebes.

Eastern Phoebe Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

One of our most familiar eastern flycatchers, the Eastern Phoebe’s raspy “phoebe” call is a frequent sound around yards and farms in spring and summer. These brown-and-white songbirds sit upright and wag their tails from prominent, low perches. They typically place their mud-and-grass nests in...

www.allaboutbirds.org

 

[Mini Horses]

Eastern Phoebe.....per my Lens program

 

[Baymule]

Goldfinch?????

No, parents are a drab brown

 

[Baymule]

Baby birds fledged yesterday afternoon! I was sitting outside on the porch just in case they hopped out of the nest, I could grab them before the dogs did. The one out on the porch beam, just took off flying! It landed on the coop, then flew to the fence.

It didn’t flutter, hit the ground or anything clumsy, it just took off flying! Soon another, then another and finally one was left. It took off flying too. The parent birds flew all around encouraging their babies to follow. They all disappeared in the brush on the property next door.

 

[Baymule]

DD and family came in last night, left this morning with their dogs!

 

[fuzzi]

DD and family came in last night, left this morning with their dogs!

 

[Baymule]

Yesterday I went to a Texas Parks and Wildlife presentation at the Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/wma/find_a_wma/list/?id=10

It is 11,000 acres dedicated to wildlife and the environment. It has a lot of unique areas like the bogs, where there are pitcher plants, a carnivorous plant that attracts insects, then traps them inside and digests them. Some of the insects actually flew away when we cut open the plants!

We wandered on a sandy hill, a brittle environment with little nutrients in the soil. The oak trees looked small to me, but were estimated to be 100-150 years old. Grasses were Little Bluestem, a clumping grass and various others. We drove on roads, stopping to look at the micro environments. It was truly a look back in time before bahia and bermuda grasses took over east Texas.

They are restoring turkeys, both Rio Grande and Eastern wild turkeys. They are also restoring the wild Bob White quail. Bob White calls are but a memory of my childhood, when they were everywhere. Bahia and Bermuda grasses both form a tight sod, Bob White quail need clumping grasses with the bare spots in between, runways for them. The babies are the size of a quarter with tiny toothpick legs, there is no way they can struggle in the tight sod of introduced grasses. Then add in fire ants, quail are ground nesting birds. They get attacked by fire ants. Toss in hundreds if not thousands of feral hogs and you have the perfect storm of disaster for quail. Over 700 hogs have been trapped in this wildlife area so far this year.

I saw a nest of red ants and pointed them out to the biologist. I told him and the other attendees that I felt like celebrating that nest of native red ants because they weren't FIRE ANTS.

It was HOT. Texas, scorching, unforgiving HOT. I was dripping sweat, soaked in sweat and not even a breeze was stirring. We all brought our lunches and after lunch, there was a slide presentation and more information about the management area. It is named after a biologist that was murdered by poachers in 1950. Land was bought in parcels as it came up for sale. It is fenced in barbed wire, which doesn't keep out the hogs.

It was a very interesting day, I was glad i went.

 

[Baymule]

My area has had a lot of rain. This flooding is along the Trinity River, about 40 miles from me. All rivers in my area are flooded, out of their banks.

My place is wet, but the road is holding up.

 

[Mini Horses]

That is a terrible situation for those homes! Needless to say many have lost everything

And it's not just homes, it's businesses, economy, tragic and long term rebuild.

Stay safe!!

 

[Baymule]

It has rained at least a quarter inch every single day, this on top of the 10” of rain I got over a week and a half. Humidity and heat takes all the want to out of me.

Yesterday I went to Lufkin, bought a dress, sandals, and a bikini. I bought the bikini to motivate me to do workouts 3 times a week. I took a picture and sent to my friend and almost daughter, Sarah. No, y’all can’t see it. I’m going to Greece September 2026 with her and her family. She is on a diet to lose weight and we both are working on becoming bikini babes for our trip. My attitude is, Do I KNOW those people? Will I ever see them again? Nope. Even so, it is great incentive to diet carefully, exercise, workout and try to be healthier and in better shape. I found Reels on Facebook, sent them to myself and I play them while I do my feeble attempts to torture myself.

They practically all say , “Do 100 of these every morning on an empty stomach.” Each Reel has several exercises promising to fix everything wrong on one’s flabby body. Including FUPA! I had no idea what the heck a FUPA was, but if those exercises eliminate FUPA, count me in! Turns out I don’t have a FUPA, but heck, I’ll do it anyway.

Without COFFEE?????

So far I have not sprung out of bed, chomping at the bit to torment myself. I’m a more heat of the day under the AC sort of person. And I haven’t made it to 100 on ANY of those exercises. It’s hard to even get to 40, in some rare instances I make it to 50. And this is the so called easy stuff.

I also bought 3 of those athletic bra tops that women wear to the gym. Have any of you ever put one of those on, then tried to take it OFF? That’s when you find out that you will be wearing it for the rest of your life. A contortionist might be able to get the darn thing off, but not me. I dang near dislocated both shoulders, strangled myself, I dunno HOW my foot wound up in it….. A pair of scissors came to my rescue and from then on, I had a phobia of exercise attire.

I found 3 of those with a front ZIPPER! YES! I can do that! So now I put on the zippered de-strangler and a pair of shorts to do my exercises. I don’t know if it helps, but it sure worried the Anatolians when I ran outside for a moment. They sniffed this strange creature over VERY CAREFULLY.

Carson gets extremely nervous and worried when I lay on the mat to do the floor exercises. He hovers over me, drooling (thanks Carson) wrinkled face with concern. I’m sure he would call 911 if he knew how.

I also developed BINGO WINGS! Horrors! Yes! There are exercises for that too. Also do 100 of an array of 5 or 6 exercises promising that if you do 100 every day, you will have attractive muscled arms, instead of the flabfest I now have. How did that happen anyway! Nope, haven’t made it to 100 on those either.

In all reality, I have noticed a downward spiral of lessening strength and stamina. A side effect of birthdays I suppose. I’m not going to drive 25 miles one way to a gym 3 times a week, paying for the honor of looking ridiculous among the sweaty fit, and paying gas money to boot. I have 15 months to get fit and I bet by then I’ll be able to hit the 100 mark. Y’all wish me luck!