Flamin’ Hot Field Report

Prairie Notes #188

August 1, 2022

01) Flamin’ Hot Field Report

02) Meet Our NEW Website

03) New Species - July

04) Trails Project Report

05) PrairieSky / StarParty Report

06) Sisterhood On the Hills

07) Don’t Forget to Look Up

08) Prairie Proverb - Henry Donald Young, Sr.

01) Flamin’ Hot Field Report

I almost titled this issue: “Despite the heat…” because I’ve used that phrase quite a bit this month. The summer of 2022 reminds me of 2008 and 2011, when we had similar, extreme conditions. (Check out the archival, August Prairie Notes for comparison.) As my dear old Dad used to say, with dramatic emphasis on the third syllable:

“It’s un-mercifully hot and drier than a powder-house!”

I say, it was so hot in July that I could feel the flames of the Sun licking at my hat. Hotter than a pepper sprout, said Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood. And, as Mr. Gershwin said, “What about youuuu???

All living things at Tandy Hills are feeling the effects of the “D” word. The drought continues. Not a drop of rain in many weeks. By mid-July, I observed a total of four plant species blooming, and they were kind of scraggly: Narrowleaf Indian Breadroot; Narrowleaf Gumweed; Roundhead Prairie Clover; False Gaura. Instead of swarms of Dragonflies, as is usual in July, I saw only a handful. The lack of Mosquitoes, a diet staple of Dragonflies, may explain that. There were noticeably fewer insects in general than usual. Same with birds.

On July 4th there was a medium size fire in the NW edge of the park. Fireworks, no doubt. Un-controlled burns are not good but the fire will aid that prairie. Amazingly, a few Compassplants (Silphium laciniatum) survived the fire. The only water I saw was in an old, city water department manhole valve, hidden off in the woods on the west side and it didn’t look too inviting.

Despite the heat, a large group of young people from FFA Texas volunteered to pick up trash at Tandy Hills. They were in town for their annual convention and did service projects at several Fort Worth parks. The group managed to collect 950 pounds of trash in a 4-hour period on a very hot day helping keep Fort Worth and Tandy Hills, beautiful. We are VERY grateful for their service.

Quite a few other humans visited Tandy Hills in July. Read more about that in #06, below. Meanwhile, I’m hoping for prettier pictures next month or the month after. Until then, these photos tell the story of what it looked like at Tandy Hills in the month of July.

DY

02) Meet our new website

By now, you may have noticed the new website. This is a big deal. We had to switch to a new web platform because the old one had basically, expired. To compound the problem, our good friend and multi-talented volunteer / webmaster, Jen Schultes, has retired from website development and management. She created the old website back in 2010.

Before parachuting to a renewed focus on her artwork, Jen connected us with David Wilson-Brown, who designed the new site and will manage it. David has done an amazing job updating the website. You can learn more about the talented Mr. Wilson-Brown, HERE:

https://www.davidwilson-brown.com/about

Change is good, someone once said, perhaps grudgingly. We are still learning the new “language” that comes with a new web platform so bear with us. Moving all the old content to the new site has been a formidable job. It’s still a work-in-progress so, as you scroll around the site, let us know if you spot anything that needs fixing.

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03) New Species Report - July

Nothing much to report this month and no photos of interest. The species count rose by three, on technicalities, bringing the total species count to 1717. You can access the Tandy Hills Project page on the iNaturalist website, HERE:

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/tandy-hills-natural-area-stratford-...

04) Trails Project Report

Yet another new trail / reroute was created in the blistering heat of mid-July. The S&S Trails crew really earned their pay. The new trail replaces an old, heavily eroded trail on the far north end of the main trail near I-30. It snakes through an Oak and Juniper forest, with switchbacks in a gentle grade. This dense area has rarely been explored. It's not yet finished but you can still check out the progress up to point. The crew will be back in September to try and finish up the project.

05) Prairie-Sky / Star-Party Report

Despite the heat…50 people and 10 astronomers showed up for PrairieSky / StarParty, on July 9th. A cloud-shrouded moon and a stunning sunset were the rewards. Next event is August 6. Come early to check out the new trails. All ages welcome. No dogs, please. Here's a note from Fort Worth Astronomical Society rep, John McCrea:

“For our August 6th FWAS/Tandy Hills star party, we will have our favorite summer constellations. The center of our galaxy can be found in the constellation, Sagittarius (the archer). Also, visible will be some of the well-known constellations such as: Scorpius (the scorpion), Lyra (the lyre), and Cygnus (the swan). The remaining are Ursa Major, Cancer, Virgo, and Hercules. The summer triangle (Vega (25 LY), Deneb (1,411 LY), and Altair (17 LY)) will be visible. Vega will be at its highest point of the year, almost on the Zenith.
The sun will set about 8:23 PM on August 6th. The moon will be a 9-day old waxing gibbous and will be in Scorpius (the scorpion). The planet Saturn (♄) will be in Capricorn (the Goat), rising about 9 PM, and about 825 million miles away. When we view Saturn, and other distant objects, our telescopes will become time machines and we become time travelers, providing a look into the past as Saturn was, about 1 1/4 hours earlier.”

— Fort Worth Astronomical Society rep, John McCreaurce

06) Sisterhood on the hills

Despite the heat…on July 16th, one of the hottest days of the year, 60 women hikers took to the Tandy Hills for a near 5-mile hike. The organization, unassumingly named, Sisterhood Hikes & Such, was started up in 2021 by Tamara Henderson Pickering. The group is all about, “encouraging women to move, connect and grow through nature, adventure and community.”

The hikes are open to women 16+ years and all fitness levels. My hat is off to these women who braved the heat and the hills to gain a new appreciation of Tandy Hills. You can learn more about them on their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Sisterhood-Hikes-such-107251251754824/

07) Don’t forget to look up

When hiking at Tandy Hills, always remember to look up occasionally. I did on a sweltering July 25th evening and this is what I saw up in a tree. It's probably a Western (Texas) Ratsnake skin, maybe 6' long. I assume the tree bark facilitated the shed. Ratsnakes have been observed recently in the area.