A bat on the side of the Old Main building at Freed-Hardeman University
Following two photos: Fossilized dinosaur tracks at Dinosaur Valley State Park, Glen Rose, Texas.
Category: nature
The Phelps Trail Bridge
This is an old abandoned bridge in Chickasaw State Forest (Tennessee). I took these photos in February of this year.
Ice in the Pines
I took these photos in Henderson, Tennessee, in January of this year. Hopefully they will help you feel cooler in the summer heat.
A Night in the Forest
Apparently all the recent rainfall has saturated the ground, leaving the forest floor still damp.聽 Even the trusty pine needles won鈥檛 catch, and I am left to fend without fire.聽 Not that fire is necessary.聽 The evening is fine, and my meagre meal does not require heating.
The light fades, and the sun falls below the horizon, although I myself cannot see it for all the trees.聽 With no electric light and no burning light, I have no reason to sit in darkness, so I might as well prepare for slumber.
Settled in my sleeping bag, I gaze up at the small patch of sky beyond the highest branches.聽 The ever-present stars have not yet made their appearance, and the birds have ceased their merry music, content to let the insects begin their songs.聽 You see, the forest is never without music.聽 And what music!聽 It is almost a racket to our refined ears, but it contains meaning for the insects.聽 None seems to have any consideration for any other; each one chirps and buzzes with all its arthropodal heart, never imagining that it should hush and let the song of another be heard. Read More
Navigating the Rippy Branch
This week I was set free from the university because of the Thanksgiving holiday, so I was able to travel home to Texas and spend time with my family. Today was the last day of this break since my sister and I are heading back tomorrow, so today my father and I went to Lake Mineral Wells State Park in western Parker County to go canoeing. I wish I had pictures to show for it, but we didn’t bother about taking the camera with us this time, so I shall have to describe it with words.
Lake Mineral Wells, like most lakes in our grand state, has only existed since a more linear waterway was dammed up by people who needed drinking water. It was the fortune of Rock Creek to be dammed in 1918, so that the folks across the county line in Mineral Wells could use it as a water supply. It’s a nice enough lake, as lakes go, but we were bound for Rock Creek, since floating around a lake in a canoe is simply not as interesting as navigating a creek or a river.
There were some kind folks who allowed us to embark from their campsite along the lake, and from there we headed across the short distance to the mouth of the creek. We had some difficulty with the stiff wind blowing us repeatedly into a stand of ominous cattails, but we finally made it into the creek, where the water was more tranquil. The last time I had been up Rock Creek was in the summer, so now in the late fall things were hardly as vibrant as I remembered them. Read More