Summertime Blues....

It's been HOT here.

And, dry.

But, there is still squirrel patrol.

But, she just never can catch them...

That's a good thing.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

This and That on Thrusday...

Yesterday was drizzly, all day.

8-365

The day before, the low was 12F.

Yesterday, it was 39F

And, today it was 54F!

As they say....If you don't like the weather in Texas,

just wait a minute.

Whitewing Dove

After a bit of fog this morning, the day has turned out to be 

beautiful.

Squirrel harassing Maggie

I got out and took a walk around the back.

The creek isn't running much.

It's quit coming over the cart path and waterfall.

It stops here, in this pond area.

It must soak into the ground here.  

Looking back from the pond, through the Deer Grove, to the house,

you can see that the rye grass is still green.

This tree, which didn't make it through the drought,

fell a while back.  When we had the Halloween Flood,

the water rushed through here, to just beyond the first upright

trees you can see.  WAY to close too the house, for my comfort.

Back up to the house....the sun makes the bottle tree look like stained glass.

The hummingbird feeder our oldest granddaughter gave me for my birthday

dropped its feeding tube.  But, it still makes a pretty ornament.

Makes 'stars' on the siding.

9-365

From the other side, the sun shining through it is just beautiful....

like the day.

***********

7-365

By the way...here's my offering for #7 of my 365....

silicone potholders.  A gift from our daughter.

I love them.

*******

'Til later...

Take care...

~~Linda~~

Whew.....

It's HOT!!

But, hey....it's AUGUST in Texas!

Stay Cool
Have a Great Weekend...

~~Linda~~

The Great Ongoing Battle....

So, OK...these guys are cute.  But, we have an ongoing battle with them.

Whatever road block we throw up for them on the feeders....

They find a way to get around.

On top of the trees being stressed and losing leaves, the squirrels 'trim' off small branches.

We spend a lot of time cleaning all this up.

But this is too much. 

This is six feet up, on the fence around the veggie garden.

They drag the tomatoes off the vine, and chomp a big hole.

I think a bird did this.  It was still hanging on the vine.

Yep, that doe is expecting to have a bite, too.

Both sides of this have holes pecked.

I know...we could put netting over it all.  But, that's just too much trouble for me.

I'd rather whine.

So, this is our solution.  

As soon as there is enough color, we let them finish on the window ledge.

I know they'd be better if they ripened on the vine.  

But, we at least get to have some.

The heat is causing less and less to set.  We'll be buying them again soon.

But, for now, we'll enjoy these.

And, we'll keep fighting the battle.

Uh, yes....those are dancing flowers.  Why do you ask?

Have a Great Weekend...

~~Linda~~

What's That, You Say?...

There's a cold front coming?

When?

Are you sure about that?

Ah....no more triple digit degrees......

Some nice cool nights....

Will it be a good thing, Mommy?

Woo Hoo!!!  You bet it'll be a good thing, Kid.

This is gonna be NICE!

Now, if we can just get some rain.

Have a safe and happy Labor Day.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

Hangin' in There....

Stay cool...pray for rain.

Have a good weekend.

~~Linda~~

Baffled

I suppose anyone who lives near a tree has squirrels who come to visit. We have many of these little guys.

We also love to feed the birds. But, one of our feeders has rather larger openings, and the squirrels can get their little 'hands' in and throw the seed everywhere. So, we thought we'd be clever and get a baffle. That's a device that's supposed to keep the little critters off the bird feeders. Ours is plastic and slick. So, they can't get their little claws into it to hold on. Well...these are clever little creatures and apparently we didn't place our baffle quite right.

Holding on with his back feet, this little guy simply reached down, and pulled the baffle up.

Jumped down onto the roof.

And, voila....free lunch.

So, we moved the feeder further from the tree trunk....they can jump from there and land on the feeder...and put it on an extra hook, to make it too far to stretch.

So, now the squirrels don't empty the feeder in record time......but, the grackles do. Any suggestions for that???

As the saying goes....it's always something.