Sassy & Sweet Notes

Honey Bee Swarm Update (with better photos!)

Took more photos of the honey bee swarm this morning, with the BIG camera (instead of the point/shoot camera). Click on the photos for a larger view.

You can really see the largest comb they've been working on!

Amazing to watch...

Honey Bee Swarm Update

Ten days ago I posted that we have a honey bee swarm in a tree here on the farm. Well, they're still there, and they've been 'buzzzzzy' making a honey comb! I snapped this quick photo today, and will try to get a better photo tomorrow. It was real windy today, and most of the photos I took today were SUPER out of focus.

See the yellow honey comb, towards the bottom of the swarm? I believe there are three comb sections. The one that you can see a portion of, I believe, is the center comb. There is a much shorter one on the left side that I've seen a portion of, and I believe there is a third one on the right side of the swarm.

I'll see about getting more photos tomorrow!

Honey Bee Swarm

Alan and I were out in the pasture this evening, and as we were walking back up to the house I just about walked under a tree, right under this temporary honey bee swarm. ZOIKS! (Click on the images for a larger view.)

Good thing I looked up and saw it when I did! I was about 6' from being directly under the swarm, which hangs about 10' above the ground in this hackberry tree. A bit too close for my liking!

We'll be keeping a very close eye on the swarm, and the farm, to make sure they don't decide to set up a hive in one of our buildings. Yikes!

Learn more about temporary honey bee swarms here and here...

Bzzzzzzzzzz!

August ... hot.

It's still blazing hot here on the farm. 107 as I write this. Looks like another 107 day tomorrow. Followed by 105, and then day after day of more miserable heat. We *might* get below 100 on August 26th. Forecast for that day is 99. I'd better get out the scarves and mittens!

Last year in August I had beautiful zinnias and sunflowers blooming in the garden, and loads of cucumbers and zucchini to pick.

This August is quite different. No butterflies in the garden, and certainly no beautiful zinnias or sunflowers!

How dreadful.

 

August.

The month of August in the 2011 On the Farm calendar features butterflies! I love photographing butterflies, and they tend to be plentiful when the wildflowers are blooming and the flowers are blooming in the garden.

I should be enthusiastic about the changing of the calendar month, but August isn't exactly what I would consider to be my favorite month. I have no doubt that we'll see all 31 August days at well over 100 degrees. By mid-September we should see a bit of relief, but personally I'm rootin' for OCTOBER! Come on OCTOBER!

Stay tuned for the 2012 calendar details in the next couple months! It promises to be a good one!

August.

Horn Worms Make Great Duck Snacks! (Video)

This year the bugs are out of control in the garden. Today I went on a tobacco horn worm hunt (which I've done three times previously earlier this month)!

Real life gummy worm duck snacks! *grin*

If you have trouble viewing the video on the blog (or want to see it larger), you can check it out here on YouTube.

Quack, quack!!

Brief Garden Update...

And I say brief, because, well... there's just not a lot to report on. As you can see, the heat, lack of rain, and bugs have done a fine job of bringing our summer garden to an end. There is a tomato plant in the blue tub on the right of the photo. It has yet to produce any tomatoes. There's also a large tomato plant at the back of the garden that has yet to produce a single tomato, either. Just too hot for the flowers to set.

The tomatoes in front of the chicken house are doing their best... the front bed has given us 2 tomatoes. The back bed has given us LOADS of them, and has been by far the best producing bed this year. And don't let those bright green zinnia plants fool you -- they look like they're doing good from a distance, but when you look closer you can see that the grasshoppers have eaten off all of the bloom tops. No flowers. Just naked stems.

There are three okra plants, not quite knee high. (You can see them in the first photo, just to the left of the blue container.) I've clipped a quarter pound of okra off of them, total. Hopefully they keep on producing, because if we can't even grow okra in Texas, there's something seriously wrong... There's one pod there now that needs harvesting. The okra gets watered daily too, but is fairly wilted down in the afternoon from the heat.

The aphids won the battle on the cucumber beds... ...and the patty pan & eight ball zuc bed. I left a couple of the fruit in the bed to fully mature, so I can pull some seeds from them. I thought it might be interesting to see what they produce next year.

The pepper plants are loaded w/ little peppers, but they don't manage to get much larger than a golf ball before the heat shrivels them up. And this is with daily watering.

Here is what is left of my beautiful zucchini bed.

And when it's 106*, I feel pretty much like this.

The rattlesnake pole beans that I had such high expectations for never really made much of themselves. Of course, the grasshoppers chomped them down faster than they could grow... eventually I just stopped watering what was left of the bare stems. And how about those "sunny" sunflowers in the background along the fence... aren't they cheery?

The garden is loaded w/ garden spiders, so at least they've been successful this year. (See the little male garden spider on the backside of her web? Alan noticed him in the photo.) If the little fella is lucky, she won't kill him for being on her web..... ha!

Here is a grasshopper. I could take at least a thousand photos of grasshoppers, and not repeat a single critter. When I walk through the garden, they bounce off of my head, ricochet off of my shirt, zing past my ears. (JKinColorado, care to walk through the garden w/ me!? *hehehee*)

There are praying mantis everywhere, all various sizes and colors. This guy is nearly 3" long. I like his camo!

Time for another dip in the pool... Bottoms Up!!

The Nightly Lockdown! (Video)

I decided I would take some video clips last night while I was locking up the chickens. Join me in the fun!

If you're having trouble viewing the video here on the blog, you can check it out here on YouTube.

Happy FRIDAY!!

An egg-eating SNAKE!

I went out to lock up the chickens tonight (like I do every evening) and to make sure water containers and feeders were topped off. The ducks were quite upset, giving me all kinds of attention. Lots of quacking and carrying on. I have a duck that's been broody, and we've been nursing a sore foot pad on her, so I've been letting her sit on some eggs so she doesn't feel like she needs to be running around the chicken yard all day on her sore foot pad. Even she was off of her nest, quacking, and was quite upset about something.

I looked over at her nest and saw a RAT SNAKE had come through the chicken wire nearly 3' up the side of the fence and was investigating her eggs! No wonder she was so upset!!

Since our snake issues began, I've been carrying a two-way walkit-talkie so I can get Alan's assistance as needed. This certainly called for some much needed assistance! I voiced over the radio for him to grab my camera and come to the chicken yard, that there was a snake thinking about eating a duck egg!

In just the few minutes that it took Alan to get out to the chicken yard with the camera and his headlamp, the snake had already chosen his meal and was working on swallowing it.

Here is a series of photos for you .... since we had to experience this, it's only fair that you do too!! *grin*

I never thought I'd see this in MY chicken yard!! Duck eggs aren't small, or delicate, either! They easily fill the palm of my hand, and have a VERY tough shell.

We let the snake get the egg all the way swallowed, and then Alan placed a paper feed sack in front of the snake and with a long garden stake, encouraged the snake to go into the bag. At first it thought about escaping through the fence, but there's just no way it would have fit through 1" chicken wire having just swallowed the duck egg. It changed it's mind, and just like that, the snake was in the bag. Alan poked down the top of the bag, rolled up the top edge, and we went about the process of relocating the snake near a big open field and pond.

What we found interesting was that while the snake was working on the egg, and while the snake was in the bag while we transported it, it was shaking it's tail and mimicing the tail shake that a rattlesnake does. But this was just a rat snake ... trying to be extra scary, I guess. Believe me, it was scary enough just the way it was. What we also found interesting is that in just the few minutes that it took us to get to where we relocated the snake to, we couldn't even tell that it had swallowed that huge egg! Whoa!

Yesterday morning I saw another hog-nosed snake (only maybe 3' long one) in the zucchini bed in the garden. I'll be watching for that one to show up again, too.  Jeepers... enough snakes already!!

 

In other LESS CREEPY farm news...

...Alan sold three of the calves today to a local fella. He may come back for Stanley too, when Stanley is old enough to take off his mama.

See ya later Popsicle, Riblet, and Harry (Dumbo)!

Io Moth Caterpillar

Yesterday evening, Alan and I were out in the garden (smashing cucumber beetles!). I turned to walk away from him and he told me to stop ... said that I had something on my, uhhhh, bummmm. With his gloved hand, he picked this fella off of my pants.

And I'm so glad he did! See all of the pokey tips? Those are stinging spines, filled with venom!

ACK! Imagine if I'd sat down not knowing what was on my backside!!!

This is a Automeris Io caterpillar. Read about them here and here. If you see one, do NOT touch it without gloves! It will cause you pain!

Remember my run-in with the puss moth caterpillar? Same type of thing.... ouchy-wa-wa!!

Alan ... my HERO!

Oh, and I got stung on the arm yesterday by a yellow jacket wasp. Ouch! That SMARTS!

Hog-Nosed SNAKE!

This evening just before sunset I was making my rounds through the garden. I heard a rustle in the leaves between two of the raised beds. Usually rustling in the leaves is caused by toads, but it was a bit early for toads to be out. I took a look around the edge of the raised bed and saw THIS!

"Ooooooooooooh, ALAN!!!!" Thankfully he was outside and could hear me calling his name and came to see what I needed. "Umm, help please!"

Just a couple of weeks ago (when I was reading about rat snakes after our last snake encounter) I read something about hog-nosed snakes and seeing the large black spots on this snake rang a familiar bell (though I remembered them as being called "pig-snouted" - HAA!) I never thought I'd SEE one! Especially so soon, and so CLOSE!

Alan stayed in the garden to keep the snake from slithering off, and had me get an empty feed bag and two long garden stakes. He set the empty bag down in front of the snake and using the long stakes encouraged the snake to move forward into the bag. He got the snake in the bag just like THAT! Lickety-split! In fact, I only got three photos taken before the snake was inside the bag, out of sight.

These snakes are not harmful, but they REALLY like to eat toads, and I rather LIKE the toads in the garden because they eat BUGS! And toads are not SCARY, like snakes! So we relocated this snake to an area near a large pond and a large field, away from homes. It just hung out in the grass when Alan dumped it out of the feed sack.

And then it flared it's spots at me when I took it's photo ... ack!

I don't really like snakes, at ALL...  Stay outta my garden, you SNAKE!

Breakfast!

Found this cute little, not much more than 1" long, Praying Mantis (my favorite garden bug) in the garden early this morning, having breakfast. Looks to be the last of a cucumber beetle.

Don't be shy, have another bite! In fact, have another BEETLE!

I found the mantis on a zucchini plant leaf. There are loads of mantis in the garden, which is a great thing to see. They eat lots and LOTS of bugs!

The grasshoppers are starting to do lots of damage to the bean bed, and I'm seeing some grasshopper damage on some of the rattlesnake pole beans. You'll probably laugh, but last night, between 11pm - midnight, I spent about an hour in the garden snipping grasshoppers (and other bad bugs) into bits with my garden snips. They don't move so fast at night, and are easy prey as they sit on top of leaves, on the trellis wires, etc. Mwhahahahahaaaa!! Makes me feel so EVIL! *grin*

The pumpkin plant is a good distance from the garden, at the end of the drain field. Growin' good!

The cucumber vines are LOADED with blooms, and I'm finally starting to see female flowers and itty bitty cucumbers. Now let's hope the pollinators do their job for me! There aren't enough hours in the day for me to hand pollinate the cucumber flowers.

The Juliet tomato plants have big clusters of tomatoes, like this one. This one got so heavy and kept resting on the ground, so I had to give it a little support tie to keep it up off of the soil. I wish it wasn't quite so HOT here ... we'd have even MORE tomatoes than we do! High temps like we've been having keep flowers from pollinating, and tomatoes don't set. Bummers. But the plants have lots of tomatoes that it needs to put energy into growing, so all is not lost.

Here is Shorty, checking in on the okra plants. I have to keep them wrapped, or Shorty (and the armadillo) dig them up. Shorty is such a good helper. Eventually, when the plants are bigger, I'll remove the netting and the tomato cages.

And he thinks he's so handsome. I agree. *grin*

SNAKE!!

1:30am: I was just about to step up into the chicken house to gather eggs for the last time today and say good night to the chickens....when I saw the tail end of a SNAKE slithering onto the shelves that are in the feed storage side of the chicken house. And it was a BIG SNAKE! I dropped the (empty) egg basket and ran to the house to get Alan.

"Alan, I need your help in the chicken house, PLEASE!"

We grabbed extra flashlights (but not the camera, grrrr!) and headed out to the chicken house. We found the snake coiled up on the bottom shelf, right next to a hammer, the garden trowel, and various other items. It was a very large adult rat snake, quite capable of swallowing a whole egg.

Alan tried to encourage it to go into an empty feed sack, but it wasn't interested in his efforts and made its way to the back corner of the chicken house, behind all the garden shovels and rakes, bags of feed, bags of wood chips, partial rolls of chicken wire, and then some. Bit by bit, we moved everything out of the chicken house, until finally Alan could see the snake in the corner.

After a bit more effort and a few escape attempts, the snake went into the empty feed sack. Alan rolled the top of the bag closed. We were going to relocate the snake to the middle of our pasture where there's an old dead tree, but I decided that wasn't far enough away. So, we took it to the far end of the pasture and Alan set it free.

Rat snakes are good snakes to have around, but myyyy oh myyyy, I don't want them (especially that large of one) in the chicken house! As it was making its way to the back of the chicken house to get away from us, we could tell that it was easily 6 feet long.

Just yesterday afternoon I saw a smaller rat snake leaving the garden. It was only about 2 feet long, and not nearly as intimidating as the one we dealt with tonight. You can bet I'll have my eyes peeled from now on, on the lookout for SNAKES!

Cabbage Loopers

I could just cry! This morning when I went out to water the garden, I found several of the zucchini plants had been "attacked" and turned to "lace". Every single leaf on several plants now looks like this. While I'm sure the damage didn't REALLY happen overnight, it appeared to happen that quickly -- the plants "appeared" to be fine yesterday. Clearly they weren't.

It took me a bit to figure out what caused the damage -- I was looking at the eaten away leaves and only finding little black sandy looking particles (which I now assume are the turds of the critter that ate the leaves). I think I identified the problem on a nearby leaf. Cabbage Loopers. Little green "inch worm" type caterpillars that feed on the bottom side of leaves. They follow the veins of leaves, eating away the fleshy part of leaves. Clearly, we have an infestation.

I've got to get some BT, ASAP! ...it's too late to save all of the plants, but I can try to save those remaining. Unfortunately, they attacked my "late" crop of zucchini, the plants that were to provide zucchini well into fall. Some of the plants hadn't even provided their first zucchini yet.

#@%&@#$&!!

108. Seriously.

Today's high was suposed to be 104. But it didn't stop there. 108 is the current temperature on our back porch. *ugh!* It was 100 degrees at 10:30am when I stepped out to check on the chickens. And I'm guessing it will be 100 degrees at 10:30pm tonight, as well. It just doesn't cool off here. We are currently under a heat advisory. No kidding!

We've got hoses strung out around the farm so that we can water down all the shaded areas of the critter pens in hopes of giving them a cool (cool being a relative term) place to rest. Thankfully, they seem to enjoy our efforts. Lollie the rabbit got dipped in a bucket of luke warm water (the water never actually gets "cold" out of the hose, or out of our indoor faucets in the summer) and he really seemed to love it. I have filled the chicken water containers three times today. It's hot.

However, we're hoping that tomorrow is the last of the triple digit temps for us. Tomorrow's high is listed as 100 (I have no doublt it will reach a few degrees more than that), but the rest of the week looks to be in the low to mid 90s. What do you know... a cold front! Cross your fingers and toes for us!

In happier news, I took some photos today! This pretty butterfly (one of several) was busy drinking nectar from the zinnias when I went out to check on the chickens.

It flitted from flower to flower, looking for nectar.

There are quite a few zinnias blooming in the garden, so it had lots of flowers to choose from.

Such a pretty butterfly!

I'm still feeling sickly, but seem to be getting a bit better. I'm not coughing as much, and I have a bit more energy than I've had for at least a week. Thanks for all of your get well wishes ... seems they might have done the trick!

More Wheelie Bug Friends

 
Some of my sunflower leaves look like this. Caterpillars and grasshoppers are my best guess as to who would do such a thing...

 
I knew there were at least 5 wheel bugs living on one large sunflower plant near the pool, so yesterday evening I relocated two of those wheel bugs to the sunflowers growing near the chicken coop and garden.

 
The sunflowers near the garden are about 8-10 feet tall now, and look like they're going to get a bit taller before they open into full bloom. These wheel bugs have their work cut out... eat those caterpillars!!

 
This one decided that I didn't put him in the right spot...

 
...so up, and over to the next pant he went.

 
Perfect. Now go find a snack!

 
More zinnias opened up, and they're bright gorgeous colors! I love the orange ones...

 
...and the pink ones, too!

 
I have a red velvet sunflower full of blooms, too! In fact, this flower is blooming on the same plant that the first wheelie bug lives on. He's doing a good job of keeping it pest free!

one HOT day and i quacked up

 

This evening I took my camera out to snap some photos. My first stop was to see what the ducks were up to. It was about 97 degrees, and just as I expected they were lounging in their pool in the shade. Can't say I blame them ... it was H-O-T!

 
When I'm in the yard with the birds, I get attention. They are always looking for handouts and it is not uncommon for me to leave their yard with muddy duck bill prints on my toes, knees, and pant legs, or if I kneel down to get eye level with them while I take photos, I get duck bill prints on my bum, pant pockets, elbows, etc.

 
Today I interrupted nap time and it took them a little longer to snap into snack-searching mode. But they didn't disappoint.

 
Normally when I take photos of the animals I use a zoom lens and don't have to get as close to them to get photos as I did today. I'm usually 5 or 10 feet from them. But today I had my macro lens on the camera (which does not zoom in or out), so I had to get pretty close to the birds in order to fill the frame of the photo like I prefer to do. I was about as close to the ducks as it actually appears in the photos.

 
Actually, I should say that they are as close to the CAMERA as they appear...

 
...and this is why I use clear filters on my lenses when photographing animals -- to protect the high dollar glass of my Canon lenses. Slime can occur. They are particularly fond of the camera strap around my neck. It gets lots of nibbling while I'm trying to take photos.

 
And not just from the ducks ... the chickens get in on the excitement, too.

 
After leaving the chicken yard, I stopped at the sunflower to see if I could find my Wheel Bug friend. A couple times a week since I relocated it to the red velvet sunflower I check the plant over to see if I can find the bug. Surprisingly enough, nearly every time I look I spot him!

 
I put this critter on this particular sunflower on July 2nd when we met for the first time. I am really surprised that it's still taking up residence on the sunflower, and that I can find it! They're a very shy bug, so I'm always surprised to see it.

 
More and more zinnias are blooming. This pretty orange blossom opened within the last couple of days. I think it's lovely!

 
And the echinacea is blooming nicely, so I took a photo of it's amazing flower center. These things are so poky!

 
See ya next time, Wheelie!

 
Say cheese and quackers!

Time to get out of the heat!

Hornworms and Blight

I was hoping to have something crafty finished to post tonight, but not quite yet... stay tuned. In the meantime, let me tell you about a couple of little problems I'm having in the garden.

 
#1: Blight. I'm battling it, like lots of other tomato growers. Blight starts out as spots on lower leaves, and then quickly spreads to other areas of the plant eventually causing entire branches to yellow and fall off. In the above photo, my oldest and affected plants are in the upper right corner. You can see how yellow and sickly they are. Poor things.

Prior to this week, I was very diligently going through the tomato plants and snipping off any affected leaves and disposing of them properly. But this week I put in a few extra hours at work and my tomato plant diligence fell by the wayside. This evening, I made a point to get out there to clean up the plants as best as I could (even completely removing some of them). It wasn't pretty -- blight is devastating to plants, quickly. I've got some younger plants in different areas in the garden, and have ordered a couple of organic products that help combat blight. Hopefully they work, or no more tomatoes for us this year. 

 
#2: THIS! Not sure what THIS is? Let me tell you ... THIS is a Tobacco Hornworm, and it ate nearly every leaf off of one of my tomato plants, and about half of every one of the fruit. (By the way, you can see the blight spots on the plant...terrible...)

 
This hornworm was at least 3" long when it was scrunched up, so the full body length had to be at least 4". It was HUGE! I had never seen such a thing before, and it's one of those things that when you see it once, you never forget it! As you might imagine, I ran to the house to get the camera, and Alan.

 
When I found it, it was busy busy busy snacking away at one of my tomatoes. Look at that! It ate nearly half of that little green tomato, and would have surly moved on to others.

 
Don't you think it kind of looks like a manatee? Or a walrus? And the markings on it are really something! All of those eyes... kind of eerie, don't you think?

 
I learned that you can tell the difference between a Tomato Hornworm and a Tobacco Hornworm by two things. They both have a "horn" on their hind end, but the Tomato Hornworm's "horn" is black, and the Tobacco Hornworm's "horn" is red, like this one's. Also, the Tobacco Hornworm has these white stripes on its sides, where the Tomato Hornworm has "V" shapped markings on its sides.

 
He wasn't too sure of Alan and me.... he stayed in this slightly upright position the entire time we were there and I was taking photos.

 
This hornworm no longer lives in my garden... hopefully, you don't find one living in yours!

 
Other than losing one of my cucumber plants to what I think is wilt caused by cucumber beetles and larvae, everything else is growing nicely! One of the organic products I have on order also helps reduce cucumber beetle issues as well... they are the #1 pest in the garden, now that the hornworm has been evicted!

Hello Toad... and Roly-Poly Family

 
Every night when I go lock up the chickens for the night, there's a big toad in the flowerbed in front of the chicken coop. Apparently I put the little metal garden dish in just the right spot.

 
Tonight I remembered to take the camera with me and snapped a few photos. Each morning I dump out the water so it doesn't become a hatching pool for mosquitoes. As I water the flowers during the day, it collects fresh water for the toad to enjoy at night.

 
As you can see by the murky color of the water, she tracks in quite a bit of mud in the process. If you look closely, you can see the mud on her back and the backs of her eyes. Wherever she hides during the day is in a cool, muddy location. I think she's trying to tell me she's done having her photo taken. *grin*

We have so many toads here, but unless you know where they burrow down during the day, you'll only see them at night. The come out to feast on bugs, which we have PLENTY of! I wish the toads would eat MORE!

 
We have hundreds...thousands of Roly-Polies around the chicken house. The ground just crawls with them. Quite frankly, I find it a bit creepy. I would rather have thousands of Roly-Polies than even just a handful of Rabid Wolf Spiders! Unfortunately, I have both. We had some rain this evening, and the wood chips by the door of the hen house are damp. Roly-Polies can be good to have around since they help break down decaying matter, but they can cause problems in gardens (flower and veggie). They like to eat newly started seeds and plants, making them a nuisance.

 
The chickens are NOT interested in eating them, and I can't convince the ducks to eat them either. Can't say I blame them ... they're kind of a weird little creature.

 
Did you know that Roly-Polies (really called Woodlouse) are Crustacea? They are! And they breath through gills, so they have to be in an area that has moisture (not like the toad bath...) They're like shrimp, crabs, and lobsters! Crazy!

Do you have Roly-Poly bugs at your house? Do you call them Roly-Polies?

A New Creepy Acquaintance

The clouds were getting dark and heavy, and we were expecting a quick (and heavy) rain shower, so I ran outside to make sure the windows on the chicken house were shut. That's when we met....and I knew it had to be a photo moment *back to the house I ran*.

 
I've never seen such a bug before! It was nearly 2" long, and had a beak-like thing on it's narrow face. I certainly didn't want to TOUCH it, not knowing what it was... so I snapped about 40 photos, then ran back to the house to see what it might be and to escape the rain.

 
Turns out it's a Wheel Bug, a TRUE BUG, and a STINK BUG! This ought to REALLY creep out my sister, Melissa. She has a very strong dislike for the stink bugs that are native to the pacific northwest.

 
At first, I think the bug was a little threatened by the gigantic black Canon eyeball staring it down... See the red on it's hiney? That red spot is popping out of what what looks like a little trap door, and is how this particular bug releases it's "stink". I didn't notice any odor, so they must not be as pungent as the stink bugs up north.

 
I learned that it is known as "the assassin" insect because of how lethal it is to its prey, using that big red "beak" to inject enzymes into things like caterpillars and basically suck their guts out! Far out! And it's a good thing I didn't touch it ... according to online sources, the bite from this bug is painful and takes a long time to heal. ...yeah, I'd believe it!!  It crawled, very slowly, and not very gracefully, along the leaf stem of the sunflower.

 
The large saw blade-looking disk on it's back was really cool looking! I just kept thinking how prehistoric this thing looked!

After I finished reading about the bug online (yeah for Google!) and after the rain let up, I went back out to see if I could find the bug again. When I did, I slipped it into a little box (without touching it) and relocated it on the tall sunflower that's out in the garden. It will have all KINDS of good things to snack on out there! Bon Appetit, my new creepy friend!

PS: I found a video on YouTube that a fella posted that shows one of these bugs on his bee hive ... cool stuff! Check it out!

the garden does grow.

 
I continue to be amazed at how well some of the things in the garden are doing, considering the heat we're experiencing. While most of the country seems to be getting rain, rain, and MORE rain, we continue to be hot and dry. Did I mention hot?! Yes, hot. And dry. Hot and dry. We do have a 30% chance of rain for the next two days, but 30% isn't too favorable for our area. We don't get too excited unless we see 60% chance or greater. But, cross your fingers for us. We sure could use the rain. My zinnias are finally blooming!

 
Just a few right now, but more to come!

 
I'm finding it an ongoing challenge with the veggies. Some are fighting to survive the heat, and others seem to be enjoying it. The two pickling cucumber plants I have are doing really well, so I planted a few more.

 
Not sure what happened with this little fella...

 
There are fruits of all sizes on the plants, and it's nice to see them thriving!

 
The new beans I planted are coming in nicely. A row of bush, and a row of pole beans. I also planted some Cow Peas, which I've never grown before. Grow beans, grow! We've got room in the freezer for you!

 
This is the area of beans and cucumbers that I planted most recently, and it's the area I'm having issues with the armadillo. Every night the armadillo turns over 6-12" of soil (thankfully, always in about the same location), and every morning I put the soil back in place. So far, he's only turned over two small plants, but a few others haven't come up ... I'm wondering if he swiped the seed!

 
I've never grown cantaloupe before, and I'm happy to see it doing well. There are actually a few little itty bitty melons on the vine!

 
I planted several kinds of pumpkins. So far, the mini pumpkins and the Big Max plants are doing the best. The others are up and growing, just not as quickly as the Big Max. The tomatoes aren't putting on a lot of fruit, and I think it's due to the heat. They flower, but only a few tomatoes form. The fruit we are getting is good, but there's just not much of it. I think I'm going to have to start hand pollinating a few of the zucchini plants. There don't seem to be many pollinators around, and either fruits are showing signs of poor pollination, or aren't forming at all. The plants have a huge canopy of leaves, so I cut back some of the oldest, largest leaves tonight hoping that if the few pollinators that are around can SEE the flowers blooming, they'll be more likely to VISIT them! If I still don't see results within the next week, I'll be out there with a Q-tip tickling the flowers.

 
Back near the pumpkin mounds I also put in a few more zucchini plants. Yellow, and Crooknecks. They were slow to get settled, but are now growing nicely.

 
Not everything is doing as well, though. The peppers are sad, and I'm struggling with one of my cucumber plants. The new growth on the plant is good, but the lower leaves on the plant are yellowing, a sign of too much water... so, now I water it less. But it wilts in the heat. So, I moved it to a location that gets a bit more shade. It's still looking a bit sorry, but hopefully it picks up a bit. Maybe it needs more nitrogen... hmm.

 
The oodles of grasshoppers hanging out in the garden are doing a large amount of damage to the plants. Over the past few days, I've been "hand picking" the little buggers from the sunflowers, zinnias, and tomato plants and feeding them to the chickens. Not the most enjoyable thing to do, but it's the best way I know to lighten the swarm without using chemicals. And the chickens LOVE grasshoppers!

 
Of course, I took some photos first. *grin*

EXPLICIT PHOTO WARNING

 
I even saw some hanky-panky in the bean patch! Ack! We don't need any more grasshoppers!

 
Here chicken, chicken... I've got a snack for you!

Dragonflies

When I was watering the garden this evening, I noticed there was a large number of dragonflies in the air above the chicken yard. They were feeding on small bugs and were coming to rest on the wire of the tomato cages. I took my camera out to see if I could get some photos. I didn't know if they'd sit still long enough for me to get any good shots, especially since I would want to get fairly close with the camera. But it was worth trying.

I thought I would share some of my favorite photos from this evening.
As always, you can click on the photos for a larger view.

 
The light in this photo looks much "cooler" (as in, temperature) than it really was today. It was sunny and about 95 degrees, but a small cloud passed in front of the sun, creating this cooler blue-cast light. I like the blue cast it put on the tomato cage wire and the body of the dragonfly.

 
I was really surprised how close they let me get! I was using a 100mm Macro lens, and to get a shot this close to the dragonflies head, I was much less than 12 inches from him.

 
All of the photos I took today were hand-held, meaning I didn't use a tri-pod of any kind to support the camera. I had to hold very steady to ensure good focus. And boy was it hot in the evening sun - and windy!

 
I was amazed at all the colors when I really got to looking at the dragonflies! Some had blue-black bodies, some were black with yellow stripes... some had black eyes, some had iridescent colors.

 
They all had beautiful wings, and it was very cool to see all the detailing in the wings.

 
For some reason, they really enjoyed resting on the wire of the tomato cages.

 
Most of them preferred resting on the vertical upright of the tomato cages, and rarely ever used their long hind legs to "hang on".

 
I noticed that most of the time, they landed on the wire so that the wire cast a shadow across their head. I don't know if this was intentional, or coincidence...

 
Some of them were more tolerating of me than others... this one sat still for a good long while.

 
I'm glad I took the time to see if I could photograph these fellas. Not only was it a neat experience having so many of them around and hearing them fly, but also having them be so trusting of me to allow me to get so close. And I have some fun photos to remember them with, too!

 
I've been asked many times recently about the camera that I use for my photos. I have an old blog post from 2007 that gives details on just that topic. You'll find it in the Categories list on the right, under the title of Photo Gear. Hope it's helpful!

Two Toads (video)

 
Last night when I was out locking up the chickens for the night, I saw this Gulf Coast toad trying to break into the new bean patch. I have the raised garden bed that the beans are planted in wrapped with bird netting to discourage the raccoons, armadillo, cats, chickens, and dogs from making a mess of the newly planted bed. It seems to be giving the toads fits, too! When the plants get a little bigger, I'll lift the netting so the toads can enjoy bug snacks in the bean patch.

 
I ran to the house to get my camera to see if I could capture it on video. Not only did I catch one toad tryin' to bust in, but it's little buddy too!

We have lots of these toads on the farm. There are a few that gather under the pole light at night at the top of the driveway. They're REALLY fat -- good eattin' under the pole light that attracts all those bugs at night.

Copperhead

+ porch = TROUBLE!

 
Alan found this Copperhead snake on the porch when he went out to slip something into the mailbox.

Ooooooooh no, Mister Snakey-Snake ... this is not the place for YOU!

Want to know more about this fella? Check out Wikipedia's page.

Cicada Season Begins...

 
We have a lot... and I really do mean A LOT... of bugs/spiders/creepy crawlies here in central Texas. And I'm not too fond of many of them. Hardly any, in fact. I like the butterflies, dragonflies, fireflies, and oddly enough, Cicadas.

 
Alan spotted this one pulling out of it's shell on one of the uprights under our back porch and called me outside to take photos. It is the first one we've seen so far this year -- soon, the air will be filled with their crazy "buzzing" sounds.

Puss Moth Caterpillar

I got stung on the neck today by a Puss Moth (ASP) caterpillar.

All I can say is, OUCH OUCH OUCH!

It feels like I've been hit in the neck and lower jaw with a fast moving softball...and the pain just continues to linger.

I'd volunteer for a wasp sting over this nonsence ANYDAY!

Update: It's nearly midnight, and it still hurts! Not as bad as earlier today, but jeez, enough already! Benedryl spray seems to provide the most relief (it's not itchy, but rather a deep ache and burning sensation), and an Excedrine took away the aching pain in my lower jaw. I tried to take a photo -- most of the photo is out of focus, but you get the idea. Gross.

Another view...

I decided to share another photo of this morning's web...it was a lovely piece of art. Next time you're outside on a dewy morning, watch for webs!

Morning Web

Alan always finds cool things for me to take photos of - he's a good scout! This morning he showed me this spider web covered in little pearls of dew. It was certainly photo worthy!

It's kind of damp here today. More of a heavy fog than anything else, but it made some pretty webs this morning!

BIG Moth...

This moth was on the side of the garage this morning, under where the yard light is on all night.

From the end of his nose to the tip of his wings he is at least three inches long. Maybe even a bit longer.

Can anyone tell me what kind of moth this is?

He's beautiful, for sure!

Edited to Add: Jenn/Mike suggested a Sphinx moth... doing more research on it, I think Mike's right! In fact, I think it's a Waved Sphinx Moth. Give me five, Mike!

Edited AGAIN to add: Barbara, you posted your Waved Sphinx Moth comment at the exact same time I posted the above edit!! Ha ha!! How fun is that!! JINX! =)

Look, Mom! A TOAD!

Alan's parents probably think I'm crazy... we'd just pulled into the driveway after driving home from the Dallas airport to pick up Alan's mom, Sue. It was dark (almost 10pm) and lightly raining.

I was just going to quickly run into the house to get Sue some eggs when I saw this toad hopping in the lawn. My mission instantly changed from fetching eggs to catching Toad! I just HAD to catch him (her?) and bring him inside for a photo shoot!

He was singing to me while I held him -- you can see his throat all pooched out in the photo of him in my hand.

His skin was damp from rain, but once he dried off his skin felt rough, like course sandpaper. And his eyes are so COOL!!

After the photo shoot, Alan took the toad back outside and placed him in a safe place where he could go about his toad business.

How fun!

SaltMarsh Caterpillar

I've been keeping a Photo a Day (PAD) gallery for a couple of weeks and it's going pretty well! I haven't missed a day yet! But it was getting pretty late in the day today and I still hadn't taken any shots. It was looking like I might have to get creative indoors after sundown.

But thankfully, Alan spotted this really BIG SaltMarsh Caterpillar on the honeysuckle vine! This fella was certainly photo-worthy! In addition to this photo, there are two more photos of him in my PAD gallery. Check him out!! He's got WILD, crazy hair!!

While I think these are really amazing to LOOK at, I don't want them crawling on me. Ewww!! We left this one on the honeysuckle vine.

PS: There's a link to my Photo a Day gallery on the right side of my blog page. I don't write on my blog about each daily photo I take, so you might find some surprises in the gallery if you haven't been there yet! =)

I was brave! (sort of)

It's a nice day here, so I thought on my lunch break I'd mow the lawn. We keep the mowers in the big garage with the tractor, and there are big sliding doors that open. It's dark in the garage and there are always black crickets milling around in there, so I'm always a bit creeped out when I'm in the garage.

When I got to the big sliding garage door and went to open it, I saw the legs and body of a VERY LARGE spider in an area of the door that's down near the ground where the light comes through the door. And when I say VERY LARGE... I mean HUGE! Thick legs, big abdomen -- I was convinced it was a tarantula. It had to be. It was too big to be anything else!

Alan keeps some poison in the utility room, so I ran to get it. There was NO WAY I was letting that spider run wild around the farm. ACK! I don't like killing things, but come ON!
**creep out moment!**

When I got back to the garage with the poison the spider was still on the door. I was kind of grateful and kind of freaked out at the same time. If it hadn't been there, no telling WHERE it would have gone and I wouldn't have been able to go in the garage again for months. But, knowing it was there and knowing that I was about to spray it with poison, I was freaking out about what it might do. I chose a path to run from it, if I needed to run.

I shook the can, aimed, sprayed, and the poison hit the spider. Nothing. It didn't even budge. So I sprayed it again. Nothing. Hmm... I read the can -- yup, it was poison and should have done the job. But oh MAN... it didn't even move! That meant I was going to have to move HIM! 
*creep out moment!**

There is a rack for garden tools next to the door so I grabbed a pitch fork, and again chose my path for running from it if I needed to. I poked it with the pitch fork. Nothing. So I poked it again.

OMG!! It moved, and it fell to the ground!!

I think my scream is still echoing in the garage...and my foot miraculously missed being skewered by the pitch fork. I regained control and then got to looking at it laying there on the ground, not moving. And that's when I realized it was a *bleep bleepin' bleep* PLASTIC SPIDER!!!

All I can say now, is SOMEONE IS IN SOME SERIOUS TROUBLE!!

Edited to Add: Later, I told Alan I thought I saw a tarantula in the garage. He said "the plastic one in the garage door?"  Uh..YES! He said it was there when he bought the farm. ...hmm...

I'm still traumatized.
But the lawn is mowed.
And I need a martini.
Maybe three.

Wild Mud Turtle

I thought I'd get out and get some photos of wildflowers today, but I haven't yet...for a couple of reasons. It's too warm and humid. And it's windy. Not very good reasons, but they're all I have to work with. Oh... and I'm doing laundry. That's a good reason too, ...right?

Alan was out doing some weed-wackin' earlier and came across this mud turtle near one of the trees in our front yard. He brought him up for me to see, and take photos of (of course!)

We figure this turtle is on a mission to get from one area of water to another. He's got a long way to go if he's looking for natural water around here! He stayed tucked into his shell the entire time we watched him. He was pretty large for a mud turtle. Alan says he's the largest one on record here... nevermind that he's the ONLY one on record here! Haa!

I think turtles are cool! And I'd MUCH rather have turtles around than spiders or snakes! EW!

NOT for the Squeamish!

OMG, SEND MORE BOOZE!!
Normally, I wouldn't be such a lush. But, I've had cause for indulging heavily in the sauce lately. First the arm, then the tetanus shot, and now THIS!

Alright... so, my blog was supposed to be all about nice, pretty stamped projects. But lately, I'm finding it more like assorted Animal Planet programming. Sorry girls... it will get back to stamping - I PROMISE!

But first!

Rabid Wolf Spider. Ever heard of one? No? Consider yourself LUCKY! I've seen one. Minutes ago. Too close for my liking. It was on the back porch - where the carcass of a large dead spider HAD been...which is now GONE! Alan said he thinks she ATE IT!! *GASP!* When you consider the size of this RABID spider, you'll wonder why it bothered with the dead spider when by the size of her, she could have eaten a cow!

Alan did caution me about these spiders when I first moved here. (Notice he waited until AFTER I got here...hmmm) He said they carry their babies on their back, so if you (EW!) step on them, the babies likely won't get squished, but instead will flee from the mother. Where you ask? Good question! Anywhere they can go! Which, is usually onto your SHOE! 

*I feel faint* 

After seeing the size of this RABID spider, no way, nuh uh, no sirrrreeeee would you EVER get me to squish it with my shoe! GROSS!

*ew, I've got the willies!*
So, wanna see it? You'll have to click on this itty bitty picture for a bigger view ...

Keep in mind, if you don't like spiders (and I DON'T like spiders) you should view this with extreme CAUTION! It's SCARY!! When you look at the picture, you'll see a lot of reflective dots on its back. Those are the EYES of her babies! See the lighter colored spots? Those are the butts of the babies! EW! She must have at least 50 of them on her! AGH!!! CREEEEEEEPING ME OUT!!!

Oh ya, and I should mention...the white thing in the bottom right corner, is a packing peanut. It's at least 1" long... (but I didn't take time to measure it)

I told you, she's so big she could eat a cow!!

I'm so creeped out...
Alan said I better not have nightmares tonight.
Who's he kidding!? 

I have to go take a shower.
I have the willies.