Texas Wildflowers

The last two months have been filled with talk of wildflowers, and when they will peak for the best viewing. There are websites devoted to roadway loops, called Bluebonnet Trails, where you can drive along and see meadows of wildflowers. The websites have postings by the public, as to where they've seen the best wildflower display. For our area the best show of flowers was between our RV park and Johnson City! As part of the Spring flower excitement, several communities hosted what some called a Wildflower Festival and others a Bluebonnet Festival. Due to lack of rain there weren't the meadows full of flowers we'd hoped to see, but still a nice sampling. I don't know the names of most of these flowers, but enjoy the show!


These are Texas Bluebonnets. They provide a wonderful contrast for the brighter flowers.


The Texas Indian Paintbrush steals the show in my opinion!


The Indian Blankets are pretty. In these wildflowers, you can definitely see where the hybrids you buy in the stores originate from.


Sweet!


Ahhhhh!


Wow!


Interesting! It's called Antelope Horns.


Cute little sparkly puff balls. If I identified it correctly online, this plant is called by these three names: Sensitive Briar, Bashful Briar, and Cat's Claw.


This is a Rain Lily.


Coreopsis, I think.


Nice lavender color.


Poppies? Primrose?


They come in white, too.


Hope you enjoyed the show.

Taxes From Afar

This is our second year of filing taxes while out of Michigan, and with the added complexities of closing a business, and work in different states. With today's technology it's no problem. Roy says the process goes like this:
1. Send business receipts and W-2 forms to the tax service we've used for years.
2. The tax service Emails us a form to authorize them to file our taxes online.
3. We print-out the form, sign it, scan it, and Email it to the tax service. We have a scanner/printer.
4. The tax service Emails us a voucher to send with our check to the government.
5. A few days later a package with paper copies for our records arrives in the mail.

No problem, but coming up with the money! Ahh, another tax year behind us! :-)

Local Communities

Roy and I are slowly getting to know the local communities. It's hard to capture a city with a few pictures, but here are a few glimpses

This appears to be the original downtown area of Marble Falls. It has the cute shops like so many revitalized downtowns, and lots of artwork displayed on the streets. The main business strip of town has the normal hustle-bustle of mini-malls, chain stores, and Wal-Mart. Marble Falls is approximately 25 miles from our location and is where we've been going for our major shopping trips. The next few pictures are of Fredericksburg. It's about 30 miles from us.

You enter Fredericksburg on a main boulevard lined with several large hotels. The community looks polished, upbeat, and inviting to tourists. In the center of town is this large stone library and next to it is the courthouse.

This picture doesn't do justice to this interesting ornamental tree on the library grounds. The trunk and branches are totally smooth and appear barkless. You might get a better look at it by enlarging the picture. I'll let you know what it is when I find out. Across the street from the library is the stone fire department building and park pictured below. Many homes and businesses in this part of Texas are build with stone.

Beyond the center of town are a few blocks of tourist shops and then out to Wal-Mart on the edge of town. We've decided we may do our big shopping trips to Fredericksburg, as we can combine business with being tourists. On our way back home we spotted a ranch with the largest camels I have ever seen. They were so tall and long necked looking when feeding that they looked like a cross between a giraffe and camel. Now that was a sight! Below is a picture off the internet of what I guessed them to be.

This is an Arabian Camel or what is also known as a Dromedary. The picture doesn't do justice to how truly tall and magnificent they are. I'm anxious to get back to Fredericksburg to take another look. I'm curious if they are being kept as pets or if it is a business. Exotic animals seem to be common in this area.

Pets

Otis has a girlfriend! That's YC (ie. Yellow Cat) on the picnic table. She is a feral cat that has become domesticated. She lives outdoors, but has a home with some long term residents at the RV park. Odie walks a long distance each day to YC's home to see her, and she runs out to be near him. Love is in the air!

Below is a cute picture of Sugar and Prin caught quickly while they were wrestling on the couch one morning! The bond those two have is amazing. You can see why Sugar had to join the family! Below is a picture of Roy and Charles, newly nicknamed DB for Daddy's Boy! No more wild cat, just a full fledged lovebug! Charles still doesn't show any interest in stepping foot outdoors!

What a crew! Life on the road with our furry family has worked out great!