Boggy Thicket - Where Did You Get That Name?

For the last 30+ years, we have lived on six acres in northeast Harris County, Texas. That's the county that contains (most, but not all of) Houston, but we do not live in the city. Arguably, we live close enough to Houston to commute - we did for years.

Northeast Harris County marks the southwest corner of the Big Thicket, which stretches east to the Louisiana border.

Our little piece of it lies between Luce's Bayou and the east fork of the San Jacinto River. According to Google Earth, we are 97 feet above sea level, but the water table, even in dry years in just below the surface.

We learned when clearing the property years ago that just driving the tractor over the same track several times in a row would bring water to the surface, and could get you stuck! Just as important as axes and chainsaws was a come-along capable of pulling an 8-N Ford tractor out of mud up to the axles.

I try to keep about two acres looking like yard and the other four are totally wild - haven't touched them in years. Right now the woods look pretty ragged; still bare from winter and quite a few trees down from Hurricane Ike. It will take another few years for the blow-down to break up and rot, but another few weeks and the green of spring will cover all the the blemishes like Estee Lauder.

After a particularly cold and wet winter, the ground is totally saturated right now, so when I started this blog the other day, the name just seemed to fit.

I always thought that naming a farm or ranch smaller than a half-section was embarrassingly ostentatious, and I would have never have considered naming our little spot. Do you think I just did?