New blog: backyard wildlife posts moved

Lots of wildernesss, not much water. That's been the state of this blog lately. So I'm doing some housecleaning and moving the backyard wildlife posts to a new blog: The Abilene Trail Chronicles.

I'll add photos and new posts this evening. Lots of cool stuff going on in our Oak Hill backyard these days.

Schaumberg, who are you?

I don't really need to know, but I am curious. Send me an e-mail, or post a comment. I don't think I know anyone in Schaumberg, Ill.

Baton Rouge?

Belize -- hey Mike. Hope to see you sometime in the next year or so.

Mexico! Hiya Mel. Hope married life and the art world are both treating you well.

I'll get something fresh up here soon ... weekend weather here has been gruesome, and I've been busy at work. But ... I have a Cub Scout "polar bear" campout coming up this weekend, maybe a Hill Country road trip next week. Surely there will be something blog-worthy in one of those.

In the meantime, go check out Hornetbear's site. He's been fishing. Or go see Steve over at The Sneeze. Dude's hilarious. His "Ask Dr. Michael" series, from a previous webzine effort, is one of those things you read and think: "Man, why didn't I think of that?!"

In other news, keep an eye on the weather. There are rumors of a Siberian cold front headed this way at the end of next week. Some of the long-range forecasts are predicting sustained sub-freezing temps as far south as the Yucatan.

If that pans out -- and I sure hope it doesn't -- it could be disastrous for our burgeoning snook fishery. Not to mention mangrove snapper and speckled trout.

My links ...

Okay, people; click on a link every once-in-a-while. Please. I don't get paid for them.

The linkees didn't ask to be linked ... in fact, some of them may be horrified to find out they are unwittingly associated with me.

First of all, the "TexasMix" link -- KTXN-FM out of Victoria, Texas -- really will take you to the best radio station on the planet. It's some sort of genius format only they can do: Larry Joe Taylor and Brian Burns segue to Van Morrison and Dave Matthews Band which leads right into Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett with a little Jimmy Buffett thrown-in to keep the Parrotheads happy.

KTXN plays more Austin musicians (Darden, Bob, Marcia, Trish, etc.) than any station in Austin. Check it out.

Okay ... reviewing my links, there are some you can actually safely skip, unless you're shopping for a new kayak or you want a fishing report. But check out Radio Lab: those folks produce some really interesting shows. And Ira Glass and This American Life -- freakin' hilarious stuff.

Oh, and visit Hornetbear's Haus o'Anglin'. He posts some great photos, and he's pretty damned funny. Too cool to e-mail me back, apparently, but what the hell ...

I'm not even going to make this easy for you by linking the sites in this post. You're gonna have to make the trek over to the right side of the page here and do it yourself. Go. Now.

Who reads this thing?

My mom, for one. After that last post I got an e-mail from her: "Are you depressed?" (yes) "Are you quoting someone?" (yes -- the narrator in Moby Dick) "Are you okay?"

Yes, Mother, I'm fine.

The best blogging, I think, is writing that is close to the bone ... by folks who allow their most personal and specific thoughts and struggles illuminate a common human condition.

It takes a lot of courage to do that. Wendee does it sometimes, but she also says she's a "heart on my sleeve kind of gal ..." I spent some time reading a blog a while back that was all about the dating travails of four 30-something single women. It was hilarious.

I don't think I'm quite there yet.

And of course, for me, blogging is (in very small) part marketing ... my book publisher reads this. My magazine editor checks in. God knows who else.

I have a subscription to Google Analytics, and it gives me some very basic aggregate information -- don't worry, I can't tell all that much about who you are; but I can make some guesses. And some of the data are pretty interesting.

For instance, apparently someone from Jasper, Texas, checks in pretty regularly. I've been to Jasper, and it's a pretty small town. A small, pretty town in fact.

And I have more than one reader -- or one reader who uses more than one computer -- in Lake Mary, Florida. Don't think I know anyone in Lake Mary, unless it's one of my Snook Foundation friends.

Key Biscayne, Florida: thanks for checking in, Lisa. And thanks for checking my facts, too!

Aransas Pass, a regular visitor, might be Dean, or it might be another TKF regular.

Gaocun, China? No idea. San Diego? Huh ..... Here's one: Palatine, Illinois. Regular visitor, and I'm pretty sure I don't know anyone in Palatine. But thanks for visiting!

Referrers are pretty predictable, for the most part ... some folks get here from search engines, some from links on message boards or friends' blogs ... I had one the other day from "teencumshots.blogspot.com"

No thanks. Really. I'm really hoping that one was completely random.

But people -- some of them people I don't even know -- say the nicest things, too. Here's one comment I got the other day from I-don't-know-who:

"I have been reading your blog for a while now and really enjoy the way you write, you have the uncanny ability to transport your readers to the place and time of your adventures. Keep up the good work it brings joy to more people than you probably realize."

What a wonderful compliment! Thanks so much.

Anyway, in case you're wondering, here's the breakdown:

I've had about a thousand visitors since the last day of October, 2006. A whole bunch of you come back more than once, and I thank you. I hope you'll continue to find something useful, or entertaining, or at least a little bit interesting here.

Over the life of this site so far, an average of about 11 folks pop in each day. Lately the average has been a bit higher -- about 30 each day.

Most of you live here in the States, but I've also had visitors from: Canada, the UK, Spain, Germany, South Africa, Denmark, Italy, Belgium, Columbia, Argentina ... and a handful of other places.

A good portion of you read the three latest posts, or one of the three latest posts, and go away. But a whole bunch of you really liked the fly fishing post (kinda funny, because really I was just trying to be slick and avoid giving a fishing report), and the article about fishing with Patrick and about restoring an old sailboat were pretty popular, too.

Anyway, thanks for stopping in. And, really Mom, I'm okay.

About this blog ...

I'm not sure if it was the first time a manatee showed-up, or if it was the raggedy pair of flamingos on the back bay ... it might have been just at the moment I realized I had not heard a human-generated sound in half an hour.

It occurred to me, then, that the broad, salty basin that stretched out before me ... connected to another to the north and yet another to the south; separated from the vast Gulf of Mexico by a thin ribbon of sand and grass ... it occurred to me that this place is no less a wilderness than a remote corner of the Rockies or some sere desert landscape.

Some areas on the Texas coast are truly remote. Out of cell phone range, with little or no human traffic in a given day ... far from comfort and convenience. Other places just appear to be that way, unless it's a weekend or there's a nationally televised fishing tourney in town.

But for all the buzzing about of outboard-driven boats, or the lazy wheeling of Navy trainers in the sky above ... people are only scratching the surface.

Above and below, and -- especially -- at the edges, strange and wonderful life abounds.

Bull sharks as large as a man glide above the bottom, feeding a million-year-old hunger. Dolphins frolic and hunt and chatter and sometimes come over to check-out the bipedal stranger in their midst. Crabs forage in the spartina marsh, and wild hogs wade the shoreline. Alligators lie in wait in the mud and, overhead, a frigate bird soars, watching a noisome flock of laughing gulls as they dive on a school of bay anchovies.

There is great beauty here, and mystery and sometimes just a little danger.

It is, to my mind, truly a water wilderness.

So ... this blog is about that. About the place where I grew up and return to as often as I can. It's also about other places in Texas, places that are different or beautiful or just a little bit wild.

Texas boasts more than 3,700 named streams and 15 major rivers. In some places, these waterways are truly wild, by any definition. In others, they bring a little bit of the wilderness to neighborhoods and back yards. Streams -- especially in areas where residential and agricultural development is booming -- serve as corridors for wildlife, and it is there you are most likely to encounter the wild side of Texas.

This blog also is about how people -- I and others -- think about and use and enjoy that water wilderness. There will be a lot in here about fishing and kayaking, because those are ways I often interact with the environment.

It's an opportunity for me to ask questions, and seek or propose answers, about some things I've been pondering for a while or maybe just popped into my head today.

It's also is a place for me to gather some stories I've written at other times for other publications and put them all in one place. So there's some old stuff in here. Maybe it's stuff you've seen before somewhere else.

No doubt I'll go completely off-topic from time to time and post the most inane thoughts about things that have nothing to do with Texas waters or the natural history of Texas at all.

That's because, well ... it's my blog and I can do that.

Anyway ... hope you enjoy it. Have a question or complaint or topic idea? Shoot me an email. Want to say something nice, or even not-so-nice, about a post? Leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by.

About me ...

I was born in Nacogdoches, Texas, but moved back with my family to the Coastal Bend at the age of 3. After a few years in Ingleside, we returned to Rockport, where both my parents grew up. I graduated from high school in Rockport in 1987.

Growing up in Rockport, I often felt deprived -- no skating rink, no mall, no McDonalds; later I realized what a blessing that was, as I spent my free time instead exploring the peninsula, fishing, hunting, sailing. It was the foundation for a life-long interest in the goings-on at that imprecise, shifting boundary between land and water.

The next years included a liberal arts education at the University of Dallas, a year of religious life in New England, a couple of years in the world of politics in Washington, D.C., Army deployments to 13 different countries ... marriage, fatherhood, divorce.

I've lived in Rockport for an extended period again, and hope to get back permanently one day.

Currently I am a news writer for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, based in Austin. Along the way I've written for Texas Fish & Game magazine (where I was boating editor), Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine, Texas Outdoors Journal, Gulf Coast Connections, Lone Star Outdoor News, Texas Sporting Journal and scores of other publications.

I am currently at work on "Paddling Texas," from FalconGuides, and a major series on coastal kayak fishing for Texas Sporting Journal.