During our walks we often spot strange ball-like things hanging from trees. The look a lot like less-furry versions of Tribbles (from Star Trek).

 

At first I thought they were the spores from trees, but they are actually something called Ball Moss, and are often found attached to Oak, Cedar, and Elm trees.

As an added bonus, there is some bird (might be a grackle) that makes exactly the same sound as a pissed off Tribble (the screech they make when meeting a Klingon).

In addition to the Ball Moss, there are a number of oaks that have Spanish Moss hanging from them. In some places it’s quite dramatic:

Evelyn and I took a walk down the Shoal Creek Greenbelt again today. This time Ev took her camera, so there are a bunch of new photos available. You can find them here: Shoal Creek Greenbelt.

I’ve installed some new anti-spam software which should remove the need for me to moderate comments. Previously each comment was sent to moderation (for me to approve) before it got posted. That’s why you’d see a delay between when you posted and when it showed it. Send me an e-mail if you have any problems adding new comments. As before, you have to enter your name and e-mail address.

The second, more minor thing, is how the links on the right-nav work. The Photos and Other Blogs links will now open to new windows/tabs. No more holding down the shift-key.

Going to the Wimberly Glass Works turned out to be quite an experience, since at first I thought I was going to see the Gallery of the store only. I was pleasantly surprised to see they had an area connected to the gallery where the glassmakers worked.

When I crossed the threshold into the workarea, I notice that they had set up seating area for guests to see how these beautiful glass artworks are made. Of course, with camera in hand, I quickly got a spot that allowed me to take some pictures of this process.

I took so many pictures that I had to figure out whether to upload them individually or do something else. I then realized as I was scrolling through them that hey, I can make this into a still video. Extactly what I did.

I made to version one at 10MB size and the other at 37MB size. It’s never the same as in person but at least it gives you an idea. I hope you’ll enjoy the footage. It’s about 3 minutes long.

Here is the large (37 MB) version of the file, in mpg format: Wimberley-MPG
Here is the small (10 MB) version of the file, in wmv format: Wimberley-WMV

(Ron says: If you’re a Windows user, stick with the WMV. It’s grainer, but it starts streaming right away. You’ll probably have to sit an wait for the gigantic MPG to download.)

Today Evelyn went on a day trip to Wimberley, TX. It was sponsored by our apartment complex & the Assistance League of Austin. I’ve started uploading some of here photos. You can check them out here.

The big talk on the bus was the excitement over the new Texas self-defense gun law. Previously you could only shoot-to-kill in your home; anywhere else you had to retreat from a criminal attack. Now you can use deadly force “without retreat” in homes, cars, and workplaces. This was done, in part, to prevent the families of criminals from suing victims. As one article put it: “Sympathy for violent offenders runs low in Texas, underscored by its busy death row.”

A couple of weeks ago I was flipping through old photos at the Antique Marketplace, located about a block from our apartment. I like looking through old photos and postcards because it gives you a taste of the local history. The only problem is most are unmarked, so you often don’t know what you’re looking at.

I was going through one batch and saw some that looked to have tropical scenes. I flipped them over and found, amazingly, that they were scenes from Puerto Rico! I went through the whole stack and came up with 6 PR ones in total. Each of them had a short description, which was a real bonus. In addition, they all had US Army Censor stamps on the back, so we could pinpoint the age to around WWII. Even better, the Normandie Hotel seen in one of the photos was built in 1939, so we know we’re in the correct time period. Very cool, indeed! 

They are small scale photos (about 2×3), so we picked up some frames and mats. Evelyn did her magic, and the results can be seen below. Unfortunately, our scanner is in storage, so I can’t offer better views of them.

On Saturday morning Evelyn wanted to go for a walk. She tries to get us to walk every day, but it’s hard dragging my hermit-like self out of the apartment. However, it was a beautiful day, so I agreed.

During my neverending search for onions (see Bat Cave Trip), we had spotted a park. It was located near the end of our normal walk, near a grocery store. (We are located at 5200 north. We normally walk down to 38th street.) So, I figured that would be a good place to check out. At the least it would be a nice place to sit and relax before heading home.

We got to the park and it was really quite nice. A bit of history, too: It’s the location of a massacre (always nice to see on your relaxing walk) and some pools (filled with natural springs). We decided to walk around a bit and saw that the trail headed south. Cool, I thought. We’re always trying to find new places to walk. (I love to walk, but hate dealing with cars. Same deal with riding my bike.) So, we headed south.

After crossing a non-busy street, we encountered a sign. Lo-and-behold, we were at the northern part of the Shoal Creek Greenbelt. For those of you stuck in Chicago, a greenbelt is a large section of land designated for public use. They are long, narrow (or, not so narrow) streches of land that are used for parks, trails, and other public use. There are several in the Austin area, and they are a big reason why Austin is often called “a city in a park”.

Now I had a challenge! The sign had a nice arrow pointing toward “Town Lake”. Being the hydro-guy that I (now) am, I knew this meant the Texas Colorado river, located in the heart of downtown Austin.  So on we went.

As we headed south we followed Shoal Creek. It’s dry in some parts, and flowing in others (depending on recent rains). It’s a very pretty area and you quickly forget that you are in the heart of the city. At around 31st street the trail ends and you need to walk on a side-street for about 2 blocks. Some very nice houses here, with some interesting designs. At around 31st and Lamar (a major north-south street–think Western in Chicago) the trail starts again.

The section south of 31st street is very cool. Lots of Buda limestone (remember: pronounce it like “beauta..” like beautiful) on the east and Del Rio Clay toward the west. Very cool limestone formations. It’s supposed to be a mixed trail (bikes and hikers), though I would walk my bike through this section (otherwise I’d lose my head). You’d never know that you are sitting in the middle of a city, that’s for sure.

When you exit this very pretty area you come to a park, running from about 29th street through 24th. You have frisbee golf here, plus it’s a non-leash dog area. As I mentioned in the past, Austin is a very pet friendly town. Tons of dogs and cats. This section of the trail is full of dogs, though they are all happy and sniffing. In other words, if you are afraid of dogs, don’t be. (On our way back a big pitbull barked at us. The owner apologized. Not to say that everyone is so cool, but it does show you how many people think down here.) Evelyn was in heaven.

Toward the south end of the park we encountered more frisbee golfers, some people throwing mini-horseshoes, an art class out painting, and several film crews. Certainly and electric group! Onward we traveled! I would not stop until the trail did.

Twisting and turning we headed south. Finally, at 12th street, we (or should I say, Evelyn) decided to stop and eat. We looked around a bit and Evelyn chose Thundercloud Subs (right at Shoal Creek and 12th–one block east of Lamar). We had not been in there before, but we were hungry. Yum! Yum! I had a meatball sub, and Ev had a avocado and roast beef. Nice small place. Cool staff, and excellent subs. (We are lucky enough to have one about 2 blocks from our apartment. Now I have another place to eat out.)

Now well fed, we continued south, entering the downtown area. The garbage in the creek increased, but it was still a nice walk. It was interesting to see the mix of big new construction with old single family homes. (It shows how much Texans value property rights, which is nice.) We continued on, and encountered a power plant, creek crossings, and bits of very old railroad tracks.

Finally, Town Lake was in site. Horray! From 5200 north to the zero line in Austin! Horray! The area around Town Lake (Colorado) was much busier, with tons of walkers, bikers, and everything in-between. Lots of fishermen, too. (Evelyn, in her friendly way, found out that there was a carp fishing tournament in progress.)

I was proud: To have walked from ”up north” all the way down to where Shoal Creek empties into Town Lake. Success! It was very cool, to have walked through the heart of a city without having to deal with crappy traffic. It’s one of the reasons why I find Austin to be a very interesting city.

Now, of course, the only problem is walking back home!

(Ev didn’t have her camera at the time. Not her fault, since she didn’t know I’d be dragging her 52 x 2 blocks. We’ll take it on our *next* Saturday walk, so you’ll be able to see some of the really cool sights in Austin.)

I’ve been experienment in designing a frame that uses LEDs in random patten flashing on and off similar to the stars twinkling at night. I’ve done some google searches for something like this but have not found any so I built my own.

Tell me what you think?

Here’s a picture of it.

and a video here: Video of Twinkle LED Photo Frame

At long last I have finally purchased a Dutch Oven. Basically, it’s a big wide two-handled pot made of enamled cast iron. They are often used for slow cooking. I’ve held back for so long because (a) I thought my stock pot did a good job, and (b) the good ones are way too expensive ($100+).

A while back Cook’s Illustrated rated some, and found the Chefsmate brand to be a good mix of price ($40) and features. The only trouble is, it’s only found at Target (and usually only at Super Target). I’ve keep a lookout for one for years, but never saw them in the store. The other week Evelyn spotted one and I snagged it.

While it’s Chinese made, and not classy like a Le Creuset, it does a fine job. I’ve been very happy with it and have used it a lot more than I ever used my stockpot. The enameled cast iron means that it’s pretty easy to clean up, and stuff doesn’t stick–yet, you get real nice browning because of the iron’s heat retention.  I’m making all my soups, stews, and slow-cooker type stuff in it. Plus, it’s oven-safe (the lid handle is okay as long as the oven isn’t over 350 degrees).

If you are looking for it at Target, it is unboxed and red and in the kitchen area near the other pots and roasting pans. It’s $39 and worth the money. The only trouble, as I mentioned, is that it can be hard to find. I only found it after a 4th try at the local Super Target and even then they had only one on the shelf.

Below is a pic of the Le Creuset model. The Target one has a smooth top and a little different handles. The damn thing is so hard to find you can’t even get a pic on the internet, and it’s not on the Target site. I love the Le Creuset stuff, but it is so expensive, especially when you’re a cook on a budget. I’m glad I got my All Clad pots when I was rich.

Evelyn was nice enough to take a photo of the pot. Here it is. Note that it’s orange-ish due to the lighting. In reality, it’s red like the one above.

Photos of our Bracken Bat Cave trip have been posted. You can use the Photos link in the right-nav, or just click here.