News from the Edge of the Woods

Here in Texas we have been experiencing drought conditions for several years.  Area lakes and reservoirs have been extremely low for several years.  Well, we have also been praying for rain for several years and the good Lord has answered our prayers....in a mighty way.

We received more than nine inches of rain during the month of April, which was wonderful.  I have lost track of how much rain we have had so far this month (more than 12 inches though), suffice it to say it has rained almost every day this month!  A lot.  A whole lot. Just yesterday it rained 1.6 inches, AGAIN.  The day before that we had 2.2 inches of rain.  And the day before that.....you get the picture.

Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful for all the rain we are having.  Thank you Lord!  Now a few days of sunshine interspersed with the rainy days would be nice.  Needless to say, most all the area creeks, rivers, lakes, reservoirs are overflowing with wonderful water from above!  It is so awesome to see that, after the years of drought!

The creek below our place, aptly named Dry Creek, is not dry today!  When we saw our mail carrier drop off our mail and head down toward the creek bottom, then a couple of minutes later here he came back up the hill in front of our house, we knew something was wrong!  So Tom and I drove down the hill toward the creek and this is what we saw.....

Dry Creek has overflowed its banks and is now flowing across the road, also at the top of this photo you can see the tree that has fallen across the road.

I am standing on the little wooden bridge, looking downstream, the trees in this photo grow along the top of the embankment bordering the approximately 12-feet deep "V" that is the creek.  I videoed this powerful rushing water filled with forest debris, but I can't upload the video to this blog.....

Next we drove around to the road along the back side of our property, which is further downstream, and oh my goodness the rushing creek is covering the bridge and the road!  That is the bridge in the foreground....underwater! 

It is amazing to stand there and see the awesome power of rushing water, carrying tree branches and anything else in its path downstream!

 

 Tom is depicting "scary warm water".....

 I went back later in the day and the water is receding but look at how the rushing water has washed away the roadway leading to the bridge.....

 

Lake Tawakoni is the nearest reservoir to us and it has really benefited from all this rain.  It began to flow over its spillway for the first time in 8-9 years!

 It sure brings out the local fishermen.......

 

It has been a challenging year for Tom's gardening. 

 ...but surprisingly, last evening Tom slogged thru the mushy ground and did his first garden pick!

Beautiful veggies!

 

We celebrated a couple of my friends having another birthday...

Jeanne (with Gill)

 

Also, my friend Mary Ann celebrated a "milestone" birthday!

 

This is the incredible sunset from Memorial Day!

 

 

15th in Ft. Worth!

Tom and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary on April 29!

We traveled to Ft. Worth and spent the night at Marriott's Towne Place Suites near downtown.

The next morning dawned cool, clear, and sunny so we decided to walk the one and a half miles to the Ft. Worth Water Gardens.

 What a unique engineering/architectural feat!  Three different types of water pools, in a spacious park setting, right downtown across from the Ft. Worth Convention Center.

This incredible waterfall pool that you can actually walk down into the center of was amazing!  Can you see Tom walking down into the center?? 

 It was quite mesmerizing to sit in the middle of all that water falling around us!  Quite loud also with that much water crashing down!

This pool was completely surrounded by tall water walls, cypress trees, and hundreds of cypress knees!

Such a peaceful area!

 The landscaping throughout the Ft. Worth Water Gardens was spectacular!

We were impressed with how beautiful the entire downtown area was; very clean and nicely landscaped.  We were walking thru about 9:00 a.m. so the streets were not very crowded yet. 

 I liked this downtown parking garage with shrubs/trees growing on each level, really disguising it.

 Of course we walked though Sundance Square....

                                      What a great public area!

 Wow, what a great start to our day!  An almost three mile walk following our awesome breakfast at the hotel!


                                    Interesting downtown bridge....

Back in the day, this was the watering trough for horses and livestock!

We experienced a bit of "culture" at the Kimball Art Museum.

 We did not enjoy the Kimball near as much as we did Ft. Worth's  Amon Carter Museum of American Art which we had previously visited on another trip we made through Ft. Worth.  

Next we headed out to the Ft. Worth Nature Center.  One of the largest in the country, this tranquil nature center boasts 3,621 acres of forests, prairies, wetlands, along with 20 miles of hiking trails.

 We chose the Riverbottom Trail for a short walk....

 ...following the banks of the West Fork of the Trinity River...

...enjoying the views of wetlands and birds...

...while inhaling the sweet smells of Spring...

...from masses of honeysuckle growing along the path.... 

 ...and the abundant privet along the river bank.

 The trail was very well maintained and we saw a few people either hiking or enjoying the river.

There were remnants from the 1930's...old CCC structures along the roadway in several locations.

Lots of bluebonnets and other wildflowers were growing near the Nature Center's entrance.

We were so blessed with a gorgeous weather day for our adventure in Ft. Worth on our 15th anniversary!  MAKING MEMORIES!

Ouachita Trail Hike

April 6th - April 9th

I went on a four-day hike on the Ouachita Trail in Oklahoma. 

The plan was for Stephanie "Tundra", Jennifer, and I do this hike together, however due to health issues with both of my hiking friends, I ended up going alone.

Thankfully, on the third day, my friend Mary "Titmouse" met me in the afternoon to hike the last 6.8 miles with me!

I wrote a detailed journal each day and took lots of photos and you can access that at http://www.trailjournals.com/erma