Journal archives for June 2019

June 13, 2019

Colorado outlook part 3 and other outlooks

I am still in the search for some more places to go to in Colorado. I was on iNaturalist a few days ago and was scanning through projects that might be tagged with that state. I was able to find quite a few linked to a few places in Aurora. I am hoping to make it to a few of those places for it is right near some of our vacation spots that we want to go to. I can't find too many other museums but my brother now tells me that he wants to explore the mountains. Glad he wants to do something other video game related stuff for a change. I am thinking about going to Rocky Mountain National Park. That would be a great place to take him. We have a few more weeks but I think we will just go to the visitors bureau and look for things to do that way. You can just bet where I like to look when I go to one of those. I am always looking for the natural areas. Sure I like to check out other things to but I am more interested in parks, museums, zoos, and aquariums. I am looking forward to this trip. If all goes the way it should we will be heading out the last day of June and into the first week of July. When I get back I am doing a lot of volunteer work but I also want to go exploring Caddo Lake again and a few more wild places in Texas before I head back to school in August. I am really looking forward to getting over 9000 by the end of my summer. I aam doing great so far and predict that I will make my first 10,000 this year. So far I am at 7255 which is a lot more than I thought I was going to get at the start of the year. Still looking forward to getting that Dragonhunter and a few other cool things before the summer is over. I will hopefully take more day trips and things just to keep my mind going. I am wanting to do a lot this summer but I am also volunteering a lot of my time to give back to my community and teach kiddos about nature and wildlife. This summer is going to be my most adventurous one iNaturalist to date. Last year I didn't get out much in June or July so this year that is going to change. I am really looking forward to all the stuff we have planned. It is going to be fun and exciting.

Posted on June 13, 2019 08:37 PM by galactic_bug_man galactic_bug_man | 0 comments | Leave a comment

June 20, 2019

An unexpected trip down south

Well looks like I will get another chance to try and locate a Dragonhunter once more. My aunt went down to San Marcos for a class but didn't comeback with a lot of the stuff she went down with. Ssssooo! We have to go back down and retrieve it. I started to look up sightings of Dragonhunters and have seen a couple of recent observations from 2018 but one has really caught my eye from earlier this year. So I am going to try and go to a few of the areas around and see if I can't track down this species in San Marcos. I don't really have much for that area so it would be kind of cool to see what else I can find down there. I don't think we will do the same trek like we did last time but it would be nice to visit some of the local parks and the areas the majority of the Dragonhunters have been found. Maybe I should wear my Dragonhunter T-shirt just for the heck of the hunt. I don't wear it much only on special occasions when all I do is strict Dragonfly hunting. I am getting closer to finding one. I have seen a few Clubtails around down there. I am hoping it will be a successful hunt of course we have our main objective but still if we get there early enough we will be able to go to a few of the places where I am finding little pockets of them. So until next time to the hunt or as the Jem H'adar say one Star Trek Deep Space Nine Victory is Life!

Posted on June 20, 2019 12:46 AM by galactic_bug_man galactic_bug_man | 0 comments | Leave a comment

June 24, 2019

Colorado Trip update

Well it is confirmed we will be leaving on Friday of this week for Colorado. We are so excited to be going on this trip. I am hearing a lot of good stuff right now about the northern states being all bloomed out so I am hoping for the best results on this trek. I am looking forward to all the sights and sounds once again. Rocky Mountain National Park seems to be one of the big spots that we want to visit along with other places around Denver. We will go to springs for a little bit but we only have so much dough for this trip which I totally get. We are going to have a great time I am sure. I am hoping to score some very neat types of wildlife.

As far as gear I will not be able to bring my beat sheet. However this might interest some of you that I will be taking my stick and will use my net as the sheet. It may have a smaller opening but heck I am very resourceful. I have my aunt's binoculars and mine but we still have yet to track down a pair we have been looking for a while. My mom never got to use them but we still need to find them for the trek. I have only a few books in a bucket to wedge under the seat. I will have to trade places with my brother in the back seat so I can get to my stuff easier. I have my net and my backpack ready to go with extra Petri Dishes. I have my choices of clothes that I will wear for the trek. I also have my vest and my new hat that I will be wearing for the few days we are up there. No trip is complete without my iPod I have to listen to Rocky Mountain High at least once when I get to Colorado while we drive through it. I will also have my headlamp for some night reading. I have that Star Trek novel I need to finish. I have most of my stuff already to grab and go. We will get road snacks before the trek.

It has been a long time since we have been though Colorado but it is going to be a lot of fun to travel around up there once again. Love Colorado for many reasons and I hope to rekindle some of those old memories once again but along the way make new ones too. I have iNaturalist in my corner now and part of the memories will be the ton of animals, plants, and fungi I will be able to track down and photograph. I have all of our cameras ready to pack up and ready to go. I may do some iNatting before the trek just to stay in practice and get a few more things but during this trip I don't think we would want to leave anything un photographed. I went there in 2007 or was it 08? I can't really remember but I didn't have this wonderful app to track my numbers but this time I will be ready for anything. We are going to make a few pit stops along the way. My brother wants to go to the Volcano in New Mexico. That will be a great place to go and get a patch and some photographs. I will be on the look out for some really cool patches and things while I am not this trip. I will even be looking for some very cool fossils to buy. I can't seem to go to Colorado without buying fossils from Rock Shops and things. I am doing a favor for a neighbor and he paid me fifty bucks to watch his chickens while he was on his trip. So I will use that as my vacation money. I think I have a little bit more in my shark bank that I can use too so I will be able to by a few things along the way. I am looking forward to this trek. I will be on facebook throughout the few days I am up there to go tell where we are at and what we are doing. It will be a lot different since the last time we were there but still it will be another adventure of a life time. So I have a lot to do until Friday but I assure you that it will be well worth the wait. So next we meet I will be going into a few of the highlights from th trip. I will also be posting pictures on Facebook, Instagram, and make a big play by play blog post on my Tumblr. So until next time here's looking at you. This is Zachary Chapman AKA galactic_bug_man signing off.

Posted on June 24, 2019 01:42 AM by galactic_bug_man galactic_bug_man | 2 comments | Leave a comment