Tag Archives: Hill Country State Natural Area

4.20.12
Oh my god I just realized that Austen’s birthday is in four days. what to send him? Check out beautiful downtown Bandera tomorrow when I leave but oops it’ll be Sunday..will I want to leave before noon? Who knows!

Am sitting here under the trees at Hill Country State NAtural Area in Bandera, Texas, hearing an odd sounding bird. I look up and a little red guy is hopping through the trees like I’ve never seen before. I brought every guide book under the sun along so I’ll try and figure out what it is….

The Park Ranger was just here, helping fill up the air in my tires. Last night at a rest area I looked down and saw one very low tire. Put in my seventy five cents at the gas station for air and that got it from 20 psi to about 50, not enough, so I was registering at the park headquarters and mentioned I had a low tire and the Ranger said ” You should have asked him ( the ranger who just left) but she raised him on the color combos & easy makeovers and he shadowed up with a tank of air which he depleted and is now refilling with a promise to return. He returned and told me the bird is a Vermillion Flycatcher that loves the bugs and seed around horses and stays here year round.

I never saw the female Vermillion Flycatcher pictured here (or maybe I did but didn’t know it) but the male was EXTREMELY eye-catching!

I arrived at around 9pm after a stop at Cabelas in Budapest (thats pretty funny what the software does to Buda) and I bought Fireline for beading, clip on sunglasses and a little Gorilla tripod. It was of course dark and Rio, Zoloft and I fumbled around, figuring things out along the way. Zoloft’s answer to everything was to howl – at the noises in the woods, at the 200 feet away sleeping neighbors, at critters in the night. More about that later. I ate old slimy cheese and crackers, mixed an individual bottle of wine with a can of club soda and tried to sleep. Hahaha. Z kept up howling at everything. Every once in a while Rio neighed, emptied his bladder with a gush, pooped or moved around.

The next morning one of the Rangers came by, asked how I’d sleep and when I hesitated asked me if the turkeys had bothered me? That’s what Z had kept at bay!

Thunderstorm approaching…Hear the first rolls. and yes indeed it rained.

I was worried about Rio out in the elements with the storm coming.

The ominous clouds approached with deep, rolling thunder.

I put my cot,my chair, my footstool and my dog into the back of the horse trailer only to discover that it leaks! Right in the middle onto the bed and chair. I kinda fixed it with pink duct tape, a plastic bowl and a ziplock bag, which worked the best. Need to get a sheet of plastic to tape up the length of the leaking cross bar so it funnels that rain to the edges if it rains again. I got photos. And even video footage of the event.

Oh my god it’s nine or so at night and the incredible stars have come out, none of which I can see with the iPad on. I’m going to see if I can get some night photos. The answer is no, not with this machine.

Took Rio and Zoloft to the top of the mountain, how beautiful. A little hairy with all the rocks but that horse is a trooper.

My first “hold the camera up and get a picture of yourself!” photo on top of the mountain. A hard-earned but delightful view.

Look carefully for Rio…..We made it all this rocky way up together but the last six-foot climb was not horse friendly, so he stayed behind and let Zoloft and me conquer the top!

This is a copy map from Texas Parks and Wildlife, slightly cropped, with my comments added in pink, blue and yellow.

Called Hill Country Equestrian Lodge at the top to get a referral to a farrier.  She referred me to Scott with something-something-Horseshoeing, with whom i left a message. The new Easy Boot Edges (essentially, slippers for horses so that you can keep them barefoot and just put their boots on when you ride them on rough surfaces) that I put on Rio seem okay but one fell off and I just don’t want to have go worry about it. Here’s what they look like:

An Easy Boot “Edge” model. What every horse needs 🙂

Talked to Billee who seemed okay, and thought of Katey who was with me the last time I was there. Zoloft is sound asleep. What a dawg, that’s a tough climb!

Going to turn off the lights and look at the stars. I want to get in the habit of getting up early, taking a siesta and going to bed early. Exercise or ride early or late, bead or sleep midday.