General ramblings

As you may have guessed from the last three posts, I have been having fun with my new phone. Alan actually posted the one before this (beers in the garden) - his first ever blog post! Don't hold your breath for another one, unless I leave my phone unattended... It does video too, as you can see from the one with Alan shooting. Pretty cool.



RANT: Shops that assume you're a criminal when you walk in the door. I've gone into Shop X a hundred times and today they wanted me to check my bag at the door. The same bag as I've gone in there with 99 times before. I carry a smallish messenger bag; it's not even big enough to hold a laptop in. No way am I going to let them hold onto it when it contains my entire life. There's a few shops around that want to check bags but this is the first time I've had it for this bag. Gave me the right ire, that did. (No, they didn't get the bag.)


RAVE: The US Postal Service. Simply because they offer such civilised services. Such as holding your mail if you go away for a while (this will be handy during Alan's sabbatical), re-routing your mail when you move for a whole year (for free I might add, as opposed to the UK's Post Office which charges up to around $200), and also for picking mail up from your mailbox as well as dropping it off, if you're on a rural route.

This is what the little mailbox flags are for, to tell the mail carrier there's something to collect. Old news to most people I'm sure, but it took a little while for this to sink in when we first arrived. So, I'm dense...

The pick-up is great when you know what the postage is i.e. for ordinary letters but they have moved to a size/weight combination charging system here so for anything bigger it's safer to go to the post office.

I'm still not sure why mail seems to take an age to get here from the UK, when it goes from here to to the UK in seemingly no time at all... Must be differences in customs or something.

Drink time

Beers in the garden.

Alan shooting

A true pair. Bang!

Alan and Jo after shooting

At a private game ranch outside Austin.

I've got a new phone, a Sony Ericsson K850i. It's brilliant. Until I added this paragraph, this blog entry was posted entirely from my phone. How cool is that?!

Creature round-up

We've been living in the country for over a year now, and have seen lots of different creatures in the garden and surrounds.

Here's a round-up:

Mammals
Deer (of course) and at this time of year; little deerlets!
Giant mutant rabbits (hares, probably)
Cats
Dogs (escaped)
Raccoons
Foxes
Squirrels
A mouse
Alan thinks he saw a Groundhog (unconfirmed)
Armadillos
Bats

Reptiles
Green Anole Lizard
Racerunner Lizard
Ground Skink
Red-striped Ribbon Snake
Rough Green Snake
Unidentified yellow/brown Snake
Frogs (several and varied; unidentified)

Spiders, Insects etc
Scorpions (lots of these)
Crablike Spiny Orb Weaver Spider
Black-and-yellow Argiope Spider
Wolf Spider (loves to hide in piles of paper in the garage)
Jumpy Spiders (red, black; blue/green eyes; twitchy)
Black Widow Spider (Alan saw it just after we moved in)
Daddy Long Legs
Giant Walking Stick Insect
Ground Beetles
Ironclad Beetle
Grasshoppers
Crickets
Gladiator Katydid
Florida Leaf-footed Bug
Giant butterflies
Humming Bird Moths
Cicadas
Swallowtail; and others, all impressive)
Dragonflies (assorted colours and sizes)
Glowbugs
Mosquitoes (gits)
Dobson Fly
Wasps (Paper, Black, Red, Yellowjackets and lots of nests around our house)
Fire Ants (double gits)
Little Black Harmless Ants
Carpenter Ants
Ladybirds

Birds
Red-winged Blackbird
Peacocks
Grackles
Cardinals
Painted Buntings
Western Scrub Jay
Black-crested Titmouse
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Black-throated Hummingbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Woodpeckers
Mourning Doves
White-winged Doves
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Robin
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Roadrunners
Egret
Killdeer
Geese
Mockingbirds
Swifts
Crows

Now by this point you're probably wondering where the pictures are. I figured this has all got a bit too much for a simple blog post so I have made a new website for all the critters: Jo and Alan's Wildlife Repository All the pictures are on there. Some have been on this blog before but there's a lot of new stuff too, especially birds. Hope you enjoy it.

Still here

I have been absolutely inundated with a whole request to keep this blog going, so here are a few random pictures from the last few months to prove we are still alive.

The Wiener Dog Races in Buda are known worldwide, amongst dachshund owners, anyway. The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile shows up, of course:


Here are some racing dogs:

Their owners are just out of shot on the right, beckoning and enticing their dogs to come to them.

Here's a bedraggled little mouse right outside Borders bookshop in the middle of the mall. I took this and then encouraged him to retreat to the adjacent flowerbed, thinking he might have a better chance of continued existence hidden in the shade.


These succulents are in the next subdivision to us. They stand about 15 feet tall and are very impressive.


The South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival is held in March. Couldn't resist taking this shot!


This is a Skink that we found in the middle of our living room. The paper is about 5 inches wide. We have seen skinks outside at the bottom of the house walls, I guess this one got lost.



The roadside verges get covered in flowers during a Texas spring. It's really lovely to see so much colour popping up everywhere. These pink flowers are pretty numerous.


A small bird has decided to make her nest right next to one of the roads in our subdivision. She has been there for a good three weeks or more now. I think she is a Killdeer, named for the call they make.


I went to Austin Zoo and as well as the animals you pay to see, there are hundreds of lizards running about too. All different kinds.


They have put pedestrian islands into the centre lane on South Lamar, which means one can now stand right in the middle and get this shot of Austin with slightly less fear of being squished. Which is nice. I always wanted this shot but was too chicken before...


These are the doors to Matt's El Rancho Mexican restaurant, further down South Lamar. It's really good.


Finally, we have a truck that showed up at the shooting club recently. Alan took one look and asked if there was a big market for chastity belts...

(The curious can click here)