My private retreat in Temple, deep in the heart of Texas- September 2, 2006

Ok, so it’s not Yellowstone. My first stop is my 200 acre place in central Texas. I’m always amazed at the diversity of nature so close to civilization. I’m less than 10 miles from Temple. A Shell station is less than a mile from here and there are farm houses in sight in all directions. And yet as I approached the pond where I occasionally retreat I see a pair of hawks, several cardinals, a few turtles and numerous dove as well as other birds. Other times I’ve had fish for dinner, but not tonight. Those are pork chops I brought along with me on the mesquite fire. I did try cattail tubers from the edge of the pond. I won’t say they were good, but they were different and now I’ve tried it. Perhaps if I’d have been thoughtful enough to bring some butter…


In the morning I see squirrels come down for a morning drink and a beautiful sunrise. Normally I would never see these things, but the call of nature drug me out of my sleeping bag just in time. I see raccoon tracks. Other trips I’ve seen and heard coyotes, rabbits, egrets, ducks, quail.

Oh well, it is just a quick stop to drop off some things I thought might be more useful here than in storage. I finally got moved out of my apartment on Friday. What an ordeal! I hope to never go through that again.Until I feel good about that… no permanent residence, therefore no moving.

Today it is off to visit my son in San Marcos and perhaps take in the first Texas State football game of the year.