‘Nature’ Category

  1. The spooky tree

    March 27, 2006 :: 8:14 pm

    Out walking on Saturday, Doc and I discovered a tree we’d never seen before. It’s right on the other side of the creek from us.

    I’m pretty sure it’s a mesquite tree, although it’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen. The trunk is probably 3 feet in diameter, and it’s incredibly gnarled and twisted. There are big thorns on the lower branches, but none that we could see on the upper ones. The bark is twisted too, and in some parts looks like it was shredded and then glued back haphazardly on to the branches. It’s spooky. It’s beautiful.

    I went back after dark and took some pictures.

    Category Creepy, Doc, Nature | Tags: | No Comments

  2. she’s got eyestalks! she knows how to use them! or maybe not

    March 9, 2006 :: 9:52 pm

    check out this crazy thing!! the zz top of lobsters…

    it’s so crazy, in fact, that they created not only a new species, but a new genus and family as well (remember the taxonomy? King Phillip Came Out From Going Swimming… Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species)

    it’s also blind, although it appears to have eyestalks… or maybe those are feelers. i also like how the family name kiwaida comes from kiwa, the goddess of crustaceans in polynesian mythology.

    Category Nature | Tags: | No Comments

  3. nature, only weirder

    October 10, 2005 :: 9:45 pm

    thanks to rich for this link… just like nature, only not.

    Category Nature | Tags: | 1 Comment

  4. nature at work

    October 6, 2005 :: 9:33 am

    From the Associated Press today:

    Python vs. alligator in swamp

    MIAMI, Florida (AP) — The alligator has some foreign competition at the top of the Everglades food chain, and the results of the struggle are horror-movie messy.

    A 13-foot Burmese python recently burst after it apparently tried to swallow a live, six-foot alligator whole, authorities said.

    mom always said to chew my food thoroughly; guess this is why.

    Category Nature | Tags: | 4 Comments

  5. tasmanian tigers

    September 28, 2005 :: 9:56 pm

    thylacines, or tasmanian tigers, are creatures that would haunt your nightmares, if only they weren’t probably extinct.

    imagine an creature that is rather dog-like with hints of cat, about 5 feet in length, with a very long thick stiff tail that it uses in the same way a kangaroo does, a tiger-striped back end, and rows of razor sharp teeth in a long snout with jaws that can open 120 degrees.

    oh, and it’s a MARSUPIAL.

    freaky, huh?? this photo is not retouched.

    i just watched a little quicktime movie that was taken in 1933 at the hobart zoo in tasmania, and now i’m feeling all uneasy. i think it’s the jaw action that freaks me out most of all.

    Category Nature | Tags: | No Comments

  6. not the end of summer

    September 25, 2005 :: 11:05 pm

    hurricane rita took an unexpected turn to the east and mostly passed houston by. they thought it would make landfall on top of galveston, so they evacuated galveston and parts of houston as well.

    mom and dad boarded up the south side of their house, moved a bunch of their stuff upstairs, and outfitted the pantry under the stairs as their fortress. i was trying to convince them on tuesday to just come up to dallas and stay with us for a few days until it was over.

    luckily they decided to stay. people were heading north out of houston in such incredible numbers that it was taking 12 hours to go 50 miles. people turned their cars off and simply pushed them along the roads. thousands ran out of gas in the tangle and they had to bring in tankers to refuel cars.

    eventually they reversed all the highways and opened up the southbound sides for about 100 miles of northbound traffic.

    i don’t even think that houston got much rain, if any. it was just windy.

    yesterday it blew through dallas. it was actually really windy here (maybe 25-30 mph?) and about 4:30 p.m. the power went out while we were at the movies. it was during a crucial scene in “corpse bride.” amazingly enough, no one panicked even though the theatre was pitch black for about 10 minutes before the power came back on.

    we got no rain whatsoever. the forecasts had all predicted it would rain saturday through tuesday, and be maybe 78-85 those days. instead, today the thermometer on my shaded porch registered 104.8 degrees F at 2:15 p.m.

    indeed, this is not the end of summer. it is, as they say, “unseasonably warm.” it’s motherfucking hot and i’m sick of it.

    the city of houston is asking residents to return home in quadrants, and not all at once please. i can’t imagine how horrible the southbound traffic must be now. i’m glad mom didn’t listen to me.

    Category Nature, Weather | Tags: | No Comments

  7. poison ivy!

    :: 10:49 pm

    i seem to have contracted poison ivy. the rash runs up the underside of my right arm, and then again in the same place on my side where the arm meets it. it itches like crazy. i thought at first that it was an angry spider that had gone on a biting rampage up my arm in the middle of the night, but the blisters don’t really look like bites.


    luckily, i seem to have a pretty mild case.

    i guess i brushed up against a plant at some point. where? no idea. i walk from home to the bus stop each morning now (and the reverse in the evening) so maybe there is a plant overhanging the sidewalk somewhere along the way.

    okay, i have to go scratch now.

    Category Health, Nature | Tags: | No Comments

  8. hurricane clouds

    September 23, 2005 :: 4:39 pm

    Hurricane clouds rolling in. i am right at the edge. waiting for 569 bus. feels tropical. clouds rounded and grey.
    -Katy-

    Category Nature, Weather | Tags: | No Comments

  9. a snake! shriek!!

    August 24, 2004 :: 9:23 pm

    when you’re swimming in the sea, and an eel bites your knee
    that’s… a moray

    so brittney and i are taking a swim exercise class at richland college, along with her friend karen, twice a week. our first class was yesterday. things were going along pretty well, and we had been moving in various bicycle and paddling and jumpingjack moves for about 45 minutes, when karen started shrieking and splashing around.

    the teacher, who was teaching class from the ground so we could all see what she was doing, zipped over to where karen was flailing around, and then turned to the rest of us and shouted “SNAKE! CLEAR THE POOL!!”

    you’ve never seen twelve women fling aside their foam pool noodles (not to be confused with foam poodles) and swim so fast for the edge — it was like the olympic 100 meter dog-paddle-for-your-life competition. it turned out to be just a stupid little garden snake, but it kept chasing karen around the deep end until they fished it out with the pool net.

    class ended early. i ended up with this weird red speckly rash all over my body. it faded after a couple of hours. doc said it was snake hives.

    Category Friends, Nature | Tags: | No Comments

  10. Roaches check in, but…

    July 9, 2002 :: 9:18 pm

    Dear guys at tackymail.com,

    I read the card for “Bee Brand Insect Spray” in which you mention “The Roach Museum: Roaches check in, but…” (http://www.tackymail.com/html/bugpaint.htm) and thought you might like to know that there is an ACTUAL cockroach museum. It’s located in Texas, where apparently not only do we grow ‘em bigger, we also kill ‘em and stick pins in ‘em and put ‘em in glass display cases. A friend of mine went on a first date with a guy who took her to said cockroach museum. As you might imagine, they’ve broken up.

    And they have a website! http://www.pestshop.com/

    Anyway, I thought you might get a laugh out of it. Thanks for a great website!

    -Katy

    Category Nature | Tags: | No Comments

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