The folks up north might call it an UNBELIEVABLE apparition !
Walking back from a bit of dirt movin yesterday I was trully surprised to See a Red Bud tree bustin out with new springtime blooms !

I am pleased to show you the very first of the " SPRING TIME IN TEXAS " picture series for the 2009
season. . . .



I DID have another Perd find about twice the size of the one I'm holding up but I was concerned it would block out too much of the main subject !



Red bud trees are traditionally very early starters and will probably regret being THIS early [ Didnt the groundhog say there was more winter to come ? ]

It is a bit early I think For trees to be start up spring ops. But yesterday afternoon I did observe my honey bees bringing pollen back to the honey factory they operate.I am not sure where they are gathering it from. They have not been trained to locate flint.

Here in Austin County the Sweet Acacia (Huisache), Lemon and Apple trees are blooming. The White Ash and Cedar Elms are all budded out and the first Purple Martins have arrived.

Leonard, I hvae just a little left of the honey. Great stuff!!

L, Dem bees might be collecting south as far as Waco !

Red, Thats a good report, The more signs of spring warming the better !

Trav, WHAT is just a little bit left of the honey pot ?

Geo, Washed, still a grey tone, translcent only around the edges.

The bad news in this happy season. . . . The fireants will be thawing out and are usually ravenously hungry
after the winter hibernation .

Hal, I'd say just enoguh for about a dozen breakfast biscuits. This is my unofficial request for more honey. Straight from the hive!

Hi Hal,
Nice Perd & springtime photos, when the redbuds are in FULL bloom here in SE KS, thats a sure sign its time to hunt Morel Mushrooms. Our peak for them here is April 10-20, I know they grow in OK & no doubt into Texas, you ever look for or pick them, as they are DELICIOUS!!! Heres a pic on an example of what they look like from here in Wilson county, KS:

John

John, I love it [ the picture, not the fungus !]
That is really a great quality pic, between clarity, depth of field and the structure of the subject, it just about leaps off the monitor screen in 3D.

Maybe later this spring you can combine a Flint N Food pic of the same plant with a newly found
G-10 Saint Charles Dovetail sticking in it !

Happy hunting

nice pics guys. Keep 'em comin'

Hal, Okay, I guess you havent tried morels, cause you'd be craving them if you ever tasted em. Ask Michelle about them, if she lived in Ohio, I know folks there hunt the mushrooms every spring, I have talked to people from Ohio that did hunt them. I am sure they range into Texas, but have never heard anyone mention a word about them, I know Chrisners place even looked like they could grow there, when I was there years ago, how about it, ANY of ya'll from TX ever find Morel mushrooms??????? later, John

John, You have led me to ANOTHER "Centex suprise find". . . after your last transmission I Googled
MOREL MUSHROOMS IN TEXAS, , , ,

You mushroomers are as nutty as flinters !! 40,400 results ! I only checked " MORELS.COM/TEXAS"
Opens up with a bit of a chat room/forum.

Talking recipes, secret finding sites, one guy accusing another of trying to mislead another
poster to reveal his favorite dig location.

and lots more....

These people are out of control !

Now the surprise is that a cold snap has not arrived in CenTx to slow the very early spring growth spurt !

Here is a flowering plant in Travis county that will eventually be 97% covered in pink flowers.

The one single fully developed flower seems like a scout that the others " inside" had sent to see
how things are going in the outside world



The Ensor is just for scale at 1 3/4 inches

Still no suprise, just a running update. In spite of pretty cold morns, Spring has sprung. Note the new shoots on this pic taken the last day of FEBRUARY 2009 !



PS; The flint was the best of day find [ thats not a broken tip ~ ~ ~ G - 8.5 Triangle ]

Geo.....what kind of fossil is that????

I've found a few in the creeks around here but have no idea what it is or how old. If anyone knows please respond.

Thanks,

Cody

Exogyra Cody. . . Upper Cretaceous

They are very old * ancient oyster shells, if you find a pearl with it, it could be as big as a quarter.

SH....thanks for your response.

Another nice find on Yesterday's dig. . . . A white, ornamental Pear tree just a bustinout with blossoms.
Also a blossom sized white Perd !



I was just organising a closeup of the Perd and blossoms when a honey bee came in for a refill...
Heck with the Perd....that could well be one of Leonards flock of bees [ upper right in pic ]

The schroom pictured is supposedly a culinary type of shroom. We don't know anything about the GUD ones, as that's another offlist topic.

Well, here's an update on the same floral plant shown above, two weeks ago. .
FROZEN, , , Deadern Otzi the iceman !



Surface find in the rain for scale , , , 3 1/2 "



As Otzi might say " shore hope it dont get that cold again this year !"

Well Mother Nature's surprises continue after being slowed down by a cold snap !
The following is a pic of my very first blue Bonnet sighting of the 2009 sring season. It was just one single plant on the backside of a particularly ugly
throw pile.
In just ONE DAY. It's amazing what 4 inches of rain and a warmish morning can do !



I left the dig around mid afternoon [ 80* temps ],
They were out next to the roads. . . . . . BY THE MILLIONS !

What a beeutiful pic !

FUNGII ALERT

John F posted a pic of a Morel mushroom from his area of Kansas. [ see above ] I just noticed, today's date is slam bam in the middle of the best season there !

GOOD NEWS for diggers that cant make it to Kansas this week [ avid surfacers will probably have all the best ones in the bag already ]

Mesick Mi, is billed as " THE MUSHROOM CAPITAL OF THE USA ". .
Their local diggers have organised a MUSHROOMFEST, on May 8 to 10th. Full info; ; ;
MESICK - MUSHROOMFEST.ORG

Wonder if the city fathers have ever considering changing the name of the town ??
When you pronounce it s l o w , it sorta sounds like ME SICK ! Maybe not the best words for a mushroomfest.