Back Yard Gardening – From My Backyard
September 16, 2013
Optimism, Philosophical, Photography, Travel butteflies, goats, texas, windmill 2 Comments
Not my garden, from a garden in the central part of Texas. I took my 400 mm lens and my handy 18-200 mm zoom but did not expect t need my macro lens….Oh well. I did manage to capture a few decent butterfly shots with my big lens…. Beauty is all around us, we just sometimes need to slow down and really look!
Enjoy
TTFN
Bishop
September 14, 2013
California, Photography, Travel Arroyo Hondo Bridge, California Coast, Highway 101, Santa Barbara 2 Comments
I am always looking at the countryside when I drive, usually to the dismay of my wife. On a recent trip to see my mother up in Los Osos, CA, I was driving down the California Coast to LAX to fly back to Houston. Today I was without a passenger to watch over me. The farms, vineyards and vistas along the way are part of my distracted driving issues…..Hun, if you had been with me I would have agreed to let you drive, honestly! If only I could pick up my little backyard farm plot and drop it off in the Santa Maria area or anywhere north to Cambria Pines I would be a happy camper. At least I can dream!
One spot that has always caught my eye on the drive along Highway 101 is the Arroyo Hondo bridge, part of the “old” Highway 101. Today was the day to stop and look around. Several things caught my eye…the bridge was one and it always had, The other was the sunlight in the bristles of some local vegetation. So, here are a few shots to capture what caught my eye. Enjoy.
Arroyo Hondo bridge from the highway side with the train tracks in the background. Converted to Black & White
Arroyo Hondo bride in B&W viewed from the beach side.
Converted to black & white.
I love the way the light gets caught up in the bristly head.
TTFN
Bishop
September 12, 2013
California, craft beer, Family, Photography, Travel, Vegetables Baywood Park, Baywood Park Farmer's Market, Los Osos, Morro Bay, Morro Rock 2 Comments
Following my class reunion in Bakersfield on the 31st of August I drove over to my Mom’s place in Los Osos, CA. Nice change from 98 F to , what the locals considered hot, a pleasant 81 F. Her list of honey do’s was short. I had a dead potted plant to deal with and a few drip sprinklers that were misbehaving. My work done I could concentrate on just visiting with mom, she has been very lonely after losing her best friend and husband, Ed, a few years ago. She does have a good deal of spunk, she teaches/facilitates a Tai Chi class in her little community three days per week. It as much a social session as it is a physical activity session. The women benefit from both.
Mom likes to nap in the afternoon and I will usually slip off for some sightseeing or picture taking. The weather was amazing, hot for the locals but so perfect for this Houston boy. I walked across to Sweet Springs Nature Preserve for a few photos….nice view of Morro Rack and the estuary at the south end of Morro Bay. I then walked on over to Baywood Park. It runs together with Los Osos! Baywood Park is a nice picturesque location where I have captured some nice sunsets as well as shots of locals & visitors. (Click on any image to see it enlarged)
A panoramic crop looking toward Morro Bay – Taken from Sweet Springs
Across the water to the Baywood Park area – taken from Sweet Springs
Baywood Park sunset – From in front of the coffee shop
My timing was right! The farmer’s market was in full swing and the streets were full of people. The diversity and quality of produce grown along the Central California coast is amazing! I wandered up and down the main aisle crowded with shoppers. I didn’t buy anything as I was leaving early the next morning and Mom didn’t need anything at the moment. The little coffee, breakfast and lunch spot near the water was full of visitors. I found something to my liking there……they now serve beer. Two on tap, the Firestone 805 and an IPA from a local San Luis brewery. FYI, if you stop by the Back Bay Café in the near future some of my photos may be hanging on the walls. Yee Haw!
The crowd enjoying the day at the Farmer’s Market
Wonderful colors
Great Selection
Squash with blossoms attached and Brussels Sprouts. Looks yummy.
The day before during her usual nap I drove over to Morro Bay showing up just in time to catch a few laps of a sailboat race. The route was not long but it did involve some changing obstacles. Fishing boats coming and going, tethered boats, kayakers making the trek across to the dunes and the harbor cruise boat. The there was the old guy in his little day sailor, oblivious to the race, looking very much like I would in a year or two……warning to my kids, I like the image of me emulating this old guy!
That is me I a few years!!!
The tourists flock to the massive Morro Rock at the harbor entrance. This time of year is a great time to be entertained by the otters feeding in the boat channel. It seems that they know that people are watching and strike a pose as the tourists snap photos. I brought several lenses so I put the 400mm lens on to get a little more up close and personal. They are handsome creatures.
Smile Mr. Otter
I then had to fly home to Houston to see what damage the heat and humidity had wreaked upon my garden. The stellar plant(s) in my garden right now are the sweet potato vines. Not sure if I will have lots of sweet potatoes but the vines have overwhelmed the area. My job today will be a massive haircut with the string trimmer for the runaway vines.
I dream of a few acres somewhere near San Luis Obispo. I would have a slice of gardener’s Heaven!
If you like my photos and would like to have one or two please check out my refurbished web page at; http://pappadecker.smugmug.com/
Hopefully the redesign will be easier to navigate!
Sunsets are in this folder; http://pappadecker.smugmug.com/Outdoors-and-Wildlife/Landscape/Sunsets
TTFN
Bishop
May 27, 2013
California, craft beer, Strawberry, Travel, Vegetables 1 Comment
Link to my beer blog post…..a mix of growing and beer! – enjoy
http://wp.me/1qlvz
TTFN
Bishop
May 5, 2013
Photography, Travel ducks, Herons, kayaking, wild hogs, wild pigs 3 Comments
Decided to take a day off from the garden and paddle on the river and lake by the house. I took my big lens, 80-400mm zoom and the Nikon D200. Just to be safe I brought it along in a water tight roll-up sack. I launched at Kings Harbor, right in the middle of our development in Kingwood, TX, 25 mile NE of Downtown Houston. There are an abundance of water birds of all types so my primary objectives were, 1. To paddle for a bit and 2. Take some photos.
Little Blue Heron….I did an internet search. Did I get it right?
Great Blue Heron
I was drifting up a little bayou on the southside of Kingwood Country club not 300 yards from the fairway bordered by some very nice homes. My friend John Hazle lives about a very healthy dive with a Big Bertha from where these photos were taken. I was following a Great Blue Heron and a Little Blue Heron when I spotted something odd!
I saw a tan lump, looked a bit hairy with black spots. I lowered the camera and drifted a little closer to determine what it was. Then it moved and attached to the lump was a pig snout. Oh boy! The wild hogs are creeping into the neighborhood! A moment later a big hog steps into the picture. He was big, he was ugly and he is way too close to home….albeit closer to Mr. Hazle’s home than mine. Yuk, yuk! My first thought to be honest with you was to figure out where I could set up a tree blind and put an arrow into one of the hogs….I also have to admit that seeing them active like this during mid-daylight hours is a bit odd.
The little tan lump I first spotted had friends!
Oh Yeah….A big ugly – could be a boar but my guess, based on size, would be a sow with a couple of juveniles.
Anybody seeing sausage? Probably 40 plus yards away…too far for me to shoot. I need about a 20-25 yard shot to feel comfortable.
I paddled around to the back side of the island to see if there was evidence of more hogs but didn’t have any luck. I need to check with TPWD to see if bow hunting would be allowed in this area. If yes, I see a pig roast in the near future! I managed a few more keeper shots. I really need to do this more often. There so much to see along the river and lake shore!
Coming in to land.
Exploding up off the water. One of these days I will catch this in focus……it was close to being in focus!
Cruising and skimming across the water – another Great Blue Heron.
A Killdeer and some young out of focus in the foreground.
TTFN
Bishop
April 11, 2013
California, Photography, Travel 7 Comments
Freshening the look of my blog with a recent photo taken on the Central California Coast around Morro Bay and Los Osos t a couple of months ago. I have captured some sunset and evening images that I find pleasing to my eye and hope they are images that you can enjoy too! This area of California has always been one of my favorite areas to visit and wish that I could afford to plunk my “backyard farm” down in the vicinity….I can always dream can’t I?
Sunset and wildlife.
A mid day image looking out across the bay toward the dunes.
Wide angle look at the sunset.
As the sun drops the sky picks up the reds and softer colors as the light fades.
From the Sweet Springs Preserve near Los Osos
Sunset and Hobie Cat Los Osos, CA
http://pappadecker.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Sunsets/Los-Osos-Baywood-Park-Sunset/26758276_7XD9CV
TTFN
Bishop
March 8, 2013
Healthy Lifestyle, Memories, Photography, Relationships, Travel, Volunteerism Avon walk for Breast Cancer, Bald eagle, coyotes, hiking, Lake Houston Wilderness Park, wild pigs 5 Comments
The wild side of Houston could certainly be found , Downtown, Midtown, Montrose, Washington Avenue and Rice Village to names few. No, the wild side I am referring to is on the north end of Lake Houston and specifically up the East Fork of the San Jacinto River including Peach Creek and Caney Creek. I had visited the area several years ago and have followed the news of it’s transformation, an ongoing transformation. More on the transformation later. My daughter Lisa is prepping for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer here in Houston April 20th and 21st. It is a challenging trek and she has 5+ weeks to get ready for it. She lives near our home in Kingwood. Kingwood is blessed with an amazing maze of trails through the greenbelt and woods surrounding the community. I suggested we try branching out and explore the Lake Houston Wilderness Park. http://www.houstontx.gov/parks/ourparks/lakehoustonpark.html
Our first visit was late Sunday afternoon the third of March. We chose the Ameritrail, a 10 mile loop if done in it’s entirety. Due to waning sunlight we wanted to get a few miles in and explore a little. We followed the blue dots on the trees delineating the Ameritrail for about 2.5 miles then spun around and returned. It was a well maintained trail pretty much following Peach Creek. Peach Creek finally joins up with Caney Creek and becomes Caney Creek until it joins up with the East Fork of the San Jacinto River. Sunday’s walk was brief but whetted the appetite to do the entire loop. I carried my big heavy camera and lens, Nikon D-200 and the 80-400mm Nikon lens, a very heavy load …. I promised to better equipped to carry my gear when we returned. The park is home to a handful of wintering Bald eagles and I was hoping to be lucky enough to capture a shot or two.
A view along Peach Creek
Beautiful Peach Creek adjacent to the trail.
Yesterday, the 7th of March Lisa and I prepared to tackle the full loop. We gathered our gear, I took the big camera again but used my camera back pack. In the top pouch I included my Nikon J1 with telephoto zoom along with the standard lens. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to capture wildlife with the D-200 but I will share a shot that happened quite by chance. The only wildlife spotted on our previous jaunt was a single doe standing off in the shadows watching us. Our second trip was quite a bit more exciting.
Our first glimpse of the wild side was a single coyote the slowly meandered into the trail in front of us. Both cameras were safely tucked away in the back pack, darn! The coyote stopped in the trail, casually glanced our direction a went 0-60 in about 2.2 seconds. I decided that I needed to be better prepared so for the remainder of the hike I kept the J1 in hand with the telephoto in place. A bit later a very large shadow of a bird passed over us. I quickly looked up and there was a Bald eagle soaring by at a quick clip. The wing span is breathtaking – it appeared to be 6 or 7 feet across. The trees limited both picture taking and viewing but for that brief moment it was awesome!
the 5 mile bench where we ate our sandwiches Halfway through the loop.
We should have been more patient breaking for lunch….. a half mile or so along the path was a beautiful small lake ringed with Cypress trees.
The camp site on the bank of Lake Isabel
A wide angle look across the lake from the fishing dock.
One of the many large Cypress trees ringing Lake Isabel.
One of the other critters spotted on the fishing dock
While hiking I kept pointing out to Lisa many of the patches of torn up ground due to the rooting nature of the wild hogs. I also told her not to worry, they are seldom seen during daylight hours, preferring to rototill the soil in the dark of night. Not long after our stop at the lake I spotted another coyote lurking in the brush off to the left of the trail. He spotted us but slinked away, not like he was running away. It looked more like he was trying to hide in the dense brush. A moment later I saw a wild pig step out in the broad trail in front of us. I managed a picture or two but really wish the other camera had been in my hands. It turned out to be a sow and she was followed by 8 or so piglets. I missed the shot as they were strung out chasing momma across the trail but got a little piece of them in one photo. Lisa said they were so cute! Not sure I agree. I think the coyote had a pulled pork meal on his mind.
The wild sow on her way across in front of us
The piglets emerging from the left in hot pursuit of momma
We finished the long walk tired, a little confused due to the lack of trail markings on the return loop and ready to sit for a bit. My app logged our trip at 11 miles. It was a good jaunt. I guessed correctly on the trail that diverges from a long section of two track back to the nature center. What I discovered when chatting with the young park ranger was that they are in the state of finishing a lot of work to finalize trails, facilities and markings. Campgrounds are not yet finished in some places and the archery range has been cleared but is planned for some time in the future.
We visited the Kingwood Farmer’s market on our return home but that will be another story…..
If you would like to help Lisa Decker and the Avon Breast Cancer Walk ….Follow the link….
http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk/Houston?px=6400511&pg=personal&fr_id=2180
TTFN
Bishop
March 6, 2013
berrries, Gardening, Travel Baton Rouge, LSU Rural Life Museum, museum, plantations Leave a comment
A few weeks ago I sneaked in a quick trip to Baton Rouge. I have wanted to stop by this museum and exhibit for several years. When we visit our son at LSU in the Baton Rouge area we usually stay at he Fairfield Inn off of Essen Lane just across the street from the entrance to the Rural Life Museum and grounds.
I only allocated 2.5 hours and would like to have had that much more! I had put my camera bag together prior to making the trip but left it on the kitchen table …… not much use to me that way. The photos were taken with my iPhone….I need to upgrade; I am using the iPhone 3 – several generations “old”.
The museum area has a good number of period buildings and quite a bit of plantation life history in artifacts as well. I had pictured cotton as being the dominant crop but it was grown along with lots of sugarcane. The outbuildings included a facility for boiling the sugarcane juice, several homesteader cabins, plantation kitchen, blacksmith shop, slave quarters, corn cribs and more.
The museum is filled with the details and images of the slave labor used in both the cotton growing and the sugarcane growing. The work must have been hard and the hours long. There is a section of the museum that delivers a “no punches pulled” look at the slave trade.
The Rural Life Museum has several examples of homesteader dwellings and they are simple yet well-built structures. I like the Dog Run style – two separate rooms with a breezeway between them covered by a common roof. Photo below.
I stopped and took a good look at the strawberries being tested by the LSU folks on the property grounds….FYI, several big botanical gardens are also located on the sprawling property. I need to find a source for the beautiful berries I saw growing….I kick myself for not snatching one as no one was around…..couldn’t do it so I left wondering about the taste! It is University of Florida development for winter strawberries that has all of the commercial properties and still retains a very good sweetness.
http://www.visitbatonrouge.com/lsururallifemuseum/
http://appl027.lsu.edu/rlm/rurallifeweb.nsf/index
Very large and early strawberries.
Winter Star strawberries
A cotton patch.
Now those are real mud tires.
An old feed trough hollowed out from a log.
More of the notching og the logs.
The notching to join these logs was intriguing.
Very interesting chimney construction.
Dog Run style building, living on one side and cookhouse kitchen in the other.
Log building and farm implements. Must have been back breaking work.
Homesteader’s house
Where they boiled the cane juice
One of the many old buildings.
Cook House and kitchen garden.
A cloche that obviously was very old. The glass had begun to pick-up that purple tint as it ages.
I really loved hte brick work here. This was on the overseers house.
Blacsmith shop
Frog gigs….too cool!
No need for Crossfit operating this washer!
Now that is an egg carton!
Civil War period plantation wagon
Old horse drawn cutter
September 28, 2012
California, Gardening, Memories, Travel Baywood Park, Camarillo, gardening, lettuce, Los Osos, Morro Bay, Santa Barbara, Succulents, vegetables 5 Comments
I was out to California last week and spent a couple of days over at my mother’s place in the little quiet town of Los Osos/Baywood Park. It is just a short jaunt to Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo from her house. I finished the trip with a drive down the coast to my daughter’s home in Camarillo. That was nice, I spent time with all three grandchildren and was able to see the baby bump of my great-grandson tucked away in the womb – can’t hardly wait for February!
Mom had a list of about 12 items she needed some help with and I worked my way through the list. Some items involved technology issues, i.e., resetting the phone date & time, drafting instructions for printing photos from her computer, scanning and making copies – the stuff that an 83 year old wants to do but this tech stuff is still mystifying….as she says, “Kinda like magic!” I was able to get my hands dirty with repotting some of her succulents and moving the heavier pots around the place. I am so envious of the growing environment she is blessed with. Mom is doing very well and is back to running the Tai Chi class for about 14-16 women in her development 3 days per week. She is a pretty perky old gal and sharp as a tack. During her nap time I got to wander out and take a few photos.
September 22, 2012
California, Gardening, mulching, Philosophical, Photography, Travel almonds, carrots, dairy, lettuce, melons Leave a comment
I mean that in the nicest way. I am in the Golden State for a bit of work and then off to the coast to visit my Mom. Her to-do list has grown to two pages. I am keeping with the gardening theme as several tasks deal with re-potting and replanting! I get spoiled on my California visits….you can find a twig, stick into the soil, add water and it will grow.
Oh, there are some draw backs – this is the time of the year in and around Bakersfield when they are defoliating the cotton and the shakers are knocking the dust and almonds off the trees. The air is thick. I have also noticed that there is a familiar strong scent all over town. I grew up a little south of town near Larson’s dairy. This familiar scent reminds me of time spent across the road around the dairy….There is an earthy component in my Larson’s dairy memories but I am afraid that the proliferation of the mega dairies that have invaded the Kern County landscape have permeated the south end of the San Joaquin Valley with a scent that has gone beyond the earthy farm scent it is an odor…..it has begun to stink!
Shift gears – the good things are abundant….I drove over to Mom’s place through the Cuyama River Valley – truck loads of carrots were heading down to the processing facilities in and around Bakersfield – I passed through probably 10’s of thousand of acres of carrot fields….many just harvested and others dense with lush tops crowded into little green furry hedges. Melons lying in the fields leftover from the recent harvest, thousands of burlap sacks bulging with harvested onions waiting for the trucks to roll through. Sprinklers shooting the high arching streams of water irrigating the fields spreading across the valley floor in a seemingly endless vista. And yes, the big guys are here too – Grimway Farms and William H. Bolthouse – in the next week or two look at the label on a carrot bag…..I just drove by what you are eating now! (US based readers and maybe Canada too).
Los Osos, the bears in Spanish, is where Mom now makes here home….the cooler weather is home to the lettuce, cabbage, parsley and flower growers….I will try to shoot some photos today or tomorrow for another post….Pumpkins both large and small are peeking through the dying vines in the fields now…..beautiful, dark black rich soils contrasting with the greens, yellowing leaves and bright orange of the pumpkins! Should have stopped then but I was on a timeline to catch a sunset!
Looking across the bay in Baywood adjoining Los Osos.
Lovely evening….I was one of dozens at water’s edge watching the sun put on it’s evening show – free of charge!
TTFN
Bishop
From My Backyard 