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Showing posts from February, 2020

Uncovering History

No matter how many times one searches for and finds some evidence of a certain aspect of history, there is always something more to find.  One might think of this like the tip of the iceberg. Sometime last year, we stumbled upon a book in the side room of the museum in Seguin. This side room looked more like a storeroom than it did as part of the museum's main room.  Poking around on the shelves we noticed a stack of books, all the same title--there might have been ten of them all--- neatly stacked up with the bound edge facing out so we could read the title.   It was a self published book Stagecoach Road. It looked like history as we flipped through the book, so we bought it.  And, it turned out to be an interesting account of farm life in the area to the west of Seguin, Texas during the early 1900s. After reading the book, one thing led to another and we toured the area of Stagecoach Road, still named that on maps.  From records, we learned that there were only two roads conne

Endangered Species

Paleo scientists tell us that there are more extinct species of once-living organisms than there are living ones.   Nearly twice as many extinct as alive.  That in itself says that most of us should be looking over our shoulder for causes that might result in our own demise. This thought came to mind when we took up the task of writing about rare and unusual plants in central Texas. We often link the loss of habitat to the endangerment of a species.  The poster bird of central Texas that is so often cited in this regard is the Golden Cheeked Warbler. It only nests in a few counties in central Texas and it makes use of strips of ashe juniper bark to line its nest.  It is an elusive bird, most people have never seen it, but more have heard its call.  This bird does not come calling at your bird feeder like a Northern Cardinal.  Another example, this one in bold contrast to the Golden Cheeked Warbler is the Great Tailed Grackle.  This is the black bird that patrols the parking lot of t