The Alpine Wildlife Weekend

The city of Alpine, Texas, hosted what they called  Wildlife Weekend: Bats, Bears, Bighorns back in January. I am a bit late in telling you about it, but it is worth a story, late or not. On Friday, January 31, I drove to Alpine which took me through Seminole and...

Lazbuddie is One Hundred Years Old

Back in 1882 Parmer County was a part of the XIT Ranch. In 1902 Mr. A. Laird bought 10,240 acres of the XIT land that became known as the Star Ranch. In 1924 Andrew “Buddy” Sherley purchased eight sections of land that included the Star Ranch and its...

The Gymnocalycium That Kept on Blooming

Gymnocalycium is a neat little cactus native to South America, mostly found in Argentina, but sometimes found in Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil. Sometimes nicknamed the chin cactus because the rounded ribs often have a “chin” below the areoles. The...

The Yucca and Cholla Dilemma

Back in 2009 I made two trips to Cibolo Creek Ranch near Marfa, the first time to learn about taking pictures with Wyman Meinzer, the second to plant cactus gardens for the ranch with their native cactus. On one of those trips they had just grated their roads. This...