Adventures with Nauga

Back story: Nauga was adopted in March of 2011. At the time, she had a litter of four pups and the shelter, Grand Companions, had asked if we wanted a puppy. We do not do puppies. But having a soft spot for nekkid dogs, we came home with the mother of the batch. Ming is now Nauga. Lo, I think, was the father (he looked like Naug, but black with a white mohawk). Pups were Han, Leia, Chewy and Yoda. Three fuzzy, one nekkid.

Fast forward to about a month ago. Grand Companions called to ask if we knew anyone who would want Leia. Leia? Leia. The pup, now somewhere around two years old, ended up coming back to the shelter.

Here's the photo they circulated:

 So after a friend in Kingsville (Katherine) expressed interest and a bit of "meet the granddog" ensued (our dog's offspring is our granddog, no?) ... and eventually a meeting was coordinated. On Monday afternoon, Leia was delivered to Alpine from Fort Davis. Tuesday morning - original RoadTrip day - Leia was brought from Alpine to Marathon by a friend (Lauren!). Due to technical difficulties (dead car battery), the date was pushed back one day.

Anakin is a house pup, all 90+ lbs of him. He has three beds, a few gallons of drinkable water, a window a/c unit and bright or dark rooms in the house that are free for the napping. Nauga, when unsupervised, has a kennel. It's cushy, sure, and the a/c is there... but it's just not comfy or well watered for an all-day affair. 

Kennel in the back seat, harness in the front seat - Leia rested comfortably while Nauga kept an eye on the passing scenery.  Below, stretching their legs at the park in Uvalde - wish I had a better angle; Leia has loooong legs!

The video below is shortly after Nauga saw (and ignored) her 'life' Great Kiskadee in Del Rio after Leia was safely transferred. Also, since Leia doesn't really work as a name, Katherine is taking suggestions!

More photos may eventually follow - chaos on the porch and such, but for now, we're recovering from a long day yesterday!

shoestring; shoes on a string

I am not a shoe enthusiast. I do not collect shoes. I dislike shopping for shoes. I barely tolerated flip flops until college - prior to that I was a wearer of socks. Shoe tolerance has always been iffy.

The recent influx of additional flops into my life caused me great distress. Crafting angst occasionally sneaks up on me and Something. Must. Be. Done. As was the case with the soulless flops (ok, they had souls, just very worn ones that didn't do well with thorns or gravel), I needed to get the flops up from the furry corners of the house and into some sense of organization. Closet space is precious, over-the-door solutions sometimes prevent closing doors that need to be closed... dilemma.

Maybe putting nails all along the hallway, with a flop on each nail would work. It's barn wood in the hallway and nails wouldn't be noticed. Actually, it's so dark that they wouldn't be easy to see - and empty nails could snag if you brush against them. No luck. More agonizing. But the idea of getting flops off the floor wouldn't leave me. Even keeping them in pairs - I've never been one to have a pile of unmatched shoes...

At some point around 2009 I had a hanging toilet paper storage system all figured out; I've been too lazy to do anything about it since the move. Add flops. Somehow it could work.

Ingredients:
1 nail
ball of yarn - lengths will vary per set of flops
1 pencil per set of flops

So I hammered a nail into the wall behind the living room/kitchen door and stared at it. Some dark green yarn that didn't have a designated project was located. A super long chain of crocheted shoe-string was created. The Vibrams are just hooked on the nail at the top.

Crochet skills (if you can even call making a chain a 'skill') are not even required for this project. I just didn't like how thin the yarn was. Starting with a small loop at the top - to go over the nail - I tied a long loop (maybe 6 inches long) just below the nail. After hooking a pair of flops through the loop and securing them with a pencil, I moved down another 8-10 inches and tied another long loop. Added another pair of flops and kept going...

If the loop was much longer than necessary, I doubled the loop back on itself.

If the loop was too short or just right, I'd just slip the yarn through the straps and secure with a pencil.

To make the project super-exciting, jumbo colored pencils - the color swirl kind! - were used to secure the flops. Creative shoe storage has never really been an intentional part of my life - but if flip flop storage can be vertical, out of the way but convenient enough to use frequently... and looks weird but not hideous... I'm all over it.

Texas Rat Snake dilemma

Friends on facebook who have been following this adventure know that it started with an update:

BEST HUBBY EVER!! Brought me a Texas Rat Snake =D Yes, Sky, it is has been taken into custody until further notice. My sewing tote will need to be laundered after this, though.

 ...Sky Stevens was tagged in the note because last time the snake - this snake? - was found and identified, there was a bit of hesitance on the actual identification. Texas Rat Snakes (Pantherophis obsoletus lindheimeri) aren't supposed to be here. And they're certainly not supposed to be startling guests around town; that's how they get killed. And we don't want that to happen. They are NOT venomous and they eat House Sparrows among other things, what's not to love?

So Friday morning, when a handsome fellow showed up while I was at work and presented me with a lovely Texas Rat Snake, I was thrilled. It was alive, well fed (check out the lump in its belly!), gorgeous and definitely 100% Texas Rat Snake.

Snapping a few photos, the question soon became: how to keep it until 1) ID is confirmed by someone else, 2) it can be released where it won't return, since returning means eventual death, 3) ???

Not working at a pet store is kind of a down side - we end up with enough birds going to rehab that we probably should have some empty cages around. But while rehab birds can - and should - go into dark cardboard boxes lined with paper towels, well, that sounds like a recipe for escape with a snake. Canvas tote bag, it is! Sewing projects don't need a tote anyway.

Canvas bag courtesy of Irene Trudell, Texas Rat Snake courtesy of Matthew York, hand modeling and identification confirmation courtesy of Craig Trumbower. We have awesome neighbors.

Back to the snake - if it's the same individual that was found a few months ago and released a few blocks from the location... it's still healthy, bright eyed and well fed. Meal favorites are suspected to be House Sparrows, since it was caught among their nests last time.

A few less-than-flattering portraits of the lovely critter, held gently but firmly by Matt:

The patterning is really quite something when the photo is enlarged - most of the scales are edged in a bright, bold orange-red color! This photo also highlights the less-mouthy and more-stinky end of the snake... you can see where the ventral (belly) scales go from being double to single; and the cloaca is right where that transition occurs.

 To keep the discussion brief: these snakes don't belong here. They like to climb trees and eat baby birds... heat and humidity are part of their lifestyle. We're just not in their range. But shipments of plants, trailers of supplies, plenty of trucks and trailers and room for stowaways... most of the traffic out here comes from the direction of Dallas, Austin and/or San Antonio. Prime habitat, really.


 

The blue stripes are Baird's Rat Snake (Pantherophis bairdi) - most of Texas is shaded brown, where Texas Rat Snake is supposed to be found. We're also in the range of the Trans-Pecos Rat Snake (Bogertophis subocularis), but that's another story entirely.


Back to the quandry -
Texas Rat Snake of full-tummy has been upgraded from canvas tote bag to spacious tupperware digs; lovely cavern of overturned dog bowl and deer antler for ambiance. Spinach tub, trimmed down for a pool... filled with roof-caught rainwater. This whole featherless-bird housing issue is strange.

Well, now what? We have neighbors who occasionally head to San Antonio who could release it - but how good are the odds of survival? Better than a bird's would be, I have to assume. If released around here, eventually it will probably be killed by a person. Even if suitable enough habitat - like Post Park - could work, it stands a chance of interbreeding with locals and we have friends doing DNA work on snakes out here that would not be thrilled. A captive life would be cushy but... we like things to be living as naturally as possible. Does it have mites/ticks/other things that it could transmit to other populations? It is already here and probably still has whatever it came with - but is that a big issue with reptiles?

These are the things we are musing over. For now, a large plastic tub on our porch has a fat, healthy Texas Rat Snake as a guest. And it's a safe place until further notice.

Return of the bike flops

In May of 2011, there was a lovely post about Bike Tire Flip Flops. Last time we saw them on the blog, they looked like this: flop + glue + tire.

And that lasted all of perhaps two months. School kicked in and "real shoes" became part of the routine and my crafty angst was pent up for... a while. I kept looking at the curled tires, still glued securely at the heel of the blue flops, and wondered where I went wrong. Surely other glues would end in similar results. Gorilla glue 'eats' foam - a hard lesson learned working on the solar car project. Sewing would be a cool option if I had a needle that could survive bike tire stabbing and if my fingers could manage. Smashing nails into the tire edges to make holes was an option, but thick enough thread? Oof. Staples might have crossed my mind, but fleetingly.

July of 2012 rolled around - school finally done - new flops are on my feet. Black Teva Olowahu Mush. But I feel I've betrayed the old flops. Original black Teva Olowahu pair dates from 2004 and blue Teva Olowahu pair dates from 2005. Blue fared a wee bit better in sole condition, the black ones are beyond shot - but they did sneak to CA for the wedding that required a dress.... without sole improvement. On the return trip, I bought the new ones. And it started to haunt me.

Glue? No. Tried it and failed.
Sewing! My poor fingers. What threat to use? What needle? How to get through the tire?
Staple gun?
Staple gun.
STAPLE GUN!

Thankfully, after a few walks around the block with the dogs, both shoes are still intact. I'm glad there was enough flop-sole thickness left around the edges to hold the staples. And I'm sure when these come apart, I will dissect them... and make more staple holes around the edges, glue the sole to the shoe, alternately staple through the tire/sole where some holes are and make sure there's a consistent pattern of staple holes (without staples) around the edge to sew through. Sheesh!

then and now

Randal Davey Audubon Center, Santa Fe, NM

August 2009




July 2012

Marfa Public Radio, one more time!

I'll add a note when the archived version of "Talk at Ten" is posted, but until then: Matt and I were on Marfa's NPR station today! It was almost a year ago when we were last on to discuss drought impacts on birds - this time the news was much better. Hopefully folks will check out the Gage Gardens (which is recovering from a good bit of hail damage) and otherwise investigate the festival, which is now less than a month away!

Trudell, York, and West on Talk at Ten

...and while we're promoting everyone and everything, check out Kenn Kaufman's post about his summer plans! Coming up: Birds and Butterflies in West Texas

(crossposted from the other blog)

It's not a t-shirt!

Last weekend I attended a wedding in California... this is impressive because I pretty much never make it to weddings. Even local ones. But this one I would not have missed for the world. It involved two of my favorite people on the planet - one I've known since June of 2005 and the other who has been a delightful pen-pal since May of 2010 - and I may have heckled them mercilessly until they started dating each other. Not that the heckling stopped there, but you get the idea.


































Anyway, since moving to Marathon, there has really been no need for formal things. Shoes, clothing, or otherwise. But I'd hate to be the Texan in jeans-and-boots (with cowboy hat!) among otherwise civilized northern Californians... even if I did take a shower first.



Insert pile of creativity:

* Silk "scarf skirt" from thrift store
(gift from neighbor!) in sewing pile

* tank top with matching straps
hours of frustration, then defeat

* random bra (last worn in 2003, saved
for the occasional formal situation!)

* safety pins. seven of them.

* oh, and a necklace made from a
beer bottle and ribbon scrap

(*pair of shorts to keep chapstick handy)


Here's the front of the "dress" ...which is really the side of the skirt. The skirt sash is ruched (sp?) a bit and is supposed to wrap around the waist, to tie at the side zipper. On the dress, the zipper is at the back.

















Thankfully the sash was SUPER long on both sides, so instead of one bow in the back with an awkward gather (because ruch / ruched is a spelling quandry) in the front, everything wrapped all the way around to tie in the front. A bow was kind of ridiculous, but a plain double knot worked.

















Scandalous.

One pin above each bra cup - attached securely to the skirt, NOT the bra - ideally to minimize breakage/snappage/damage to the non-stretchy skirt, so the bra could move a little bit... and one safety pin above the back strap on each shoulder strap (same idea - 'floating' pin).

















Add a pin to keep the skirt's sash-loop-thing from slipping out of the back of the dress... and one more to keep the bra strap on that side from slipping out of that loop while trying to put it on (not utilitarian so much as a convenience), and one in the front of the bra to keep the skirt from trying to slide down and put excess strain on the pins holding it up at the top of the bra cups... for a total of seven pins.

I only sneezed once, but the dress did not self-destruct! Success!

And if you remove the pins, you've got a skirt. And a lovely, autographed, purple bra that probably won't be worn for another many years.

Oh, and the wedding? Also a success.  <3

Save the date!

X-posted over at our big bend blog -

Guess two members of this larger team effort....
I'll spot you Kenn Kaufman.