Monthly Archives: September 2016

Yes, so it’s been a bit quiet around here, but that’s because life at the Triffid Ranch continues to amaze. The Sarracenia are now all coming out of summer-induced dormancy, and our unusually humid August means that they’re both larger and more colorful than usual. At the gallery, the process of making new enclosures continues, with new ones planned for Heliamphora and Roridula displays to go along with the Nepenthes. With all that going on, apologies for the lack of immediate updates, and things aren’t going to get any less intense for the next few months.

For instance, last Friday, my plans for September 23 were reasonably easy. Do the laundry, vacuum the house, shave the cat, and otherwise recuperate from a very intense week. That was before Amie Spengler of ConDFW let me know that the Alamo Drafthouse Richardson (one of my favorite movie theaters, mostly because of its policy of kicking out any patron using a phone or tablet during a screening, with no reprieve) was hosting a full movie party around a screening of Little Shop of Horrors. At this point, laundry can wait, and anyone in the mood for repertory cinema this Friday evening is welcome to come out both to view plants and to meet the giant Sarracenia leucophylla that will be the host for the evening. It’s bad enough that the plant and I will be a horticultural Penn & Teller, but the hilarity for people who know me went to “prolapse-inducing” when they discovered that I get to be the Teller.

Surprisingly, that’s not all. It’s also time to note that after years of shows in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, it’s time to expand outward. This time, it’s a trip to Austin for the Blood Over Texas Horror For the Holidays bazaar on November 13. It’s a one-day show, but after hearing for the last two years about how Blood Over Texas was the next best thing to Texas Frightmare Weekend, as well as one of the ways that Austinites dealt with the impending holiday season, it was time to jump in. Details will follow, but until then, know that after years of Houston, Austin, and San Antonio customers wishing that the Triffid Ranch could get closer, you’ve got your wish. And to quote one of the great philosophers of the Twentiety Century…