More Puddles...

It rained again, last night.  Another quarter inch.

I like it.

We had several of these guys out in the back.  Looking for that early worm?

I was going to dig in the new Driveway Bed today.  But, now it's too muddy. 

It'll have to wait.  That's ok...we need all the rain we can get.

So, I played around with some photos and posted on
my photo blog.  It's fun to play with pixels.

The sun's out now.   It won't be long before the soil will be dry enough to dig.
All kinds of fun things to do.

Hope you're having fun where you are.

Happy Gardening...
~~Linda~~

The Greatest Painter...

After the storms moved through on Wednesday, the skies were cloudy most of the day.

Late in the day, the clouds parted, just in time for a beautiful sunset.  

The sun painted the fairway across the street, with shades of gold.

Nature is the Greatest Painter.

Have a Great Weekend...

~~Linda~~

Some People Feel the Rain....

Others just get wet.

                                    ~~Bob Dylan

Well folks, we've been doing a little of both.

We had a little slow, steady rain, yesterday.

Then, last night, we had a lot of rain and some wind...and, a lot of noise.

The creek is flowing, for the first time in over a year.

You can hear the roar of the waterfall from the house.

It's hard to get a picture that does it justice.  Lots of wet, slippery rocks.  That big rock you see in the center, is probably six feet across.  It's at the bottom of the falls...about 25 feet down.

I could maybe get a better shot from across the creek.  

But, I'd have to wade through this to get there.

That's just not going to happen.

This pond is where the creek turns.  That wall on the left used to go all the way across.

They had to open it up a few years back.  It was holding the creek back too much, 

and water was getting way up in people's yards.  We weren't here then.  

I think I  might have panicked.

From this point, if I look right, I can see up the creek.

To the left, you see it flowing down to the falls.

It's moving along pretty fast.

It moved fast down the Rio, too.  And, this gunk stopped it up.

Grass clippings from the golf course, dirt....what a mess.

That makes this part of the Rio back up into the driveway.

And, that sometimes lets water get into the garage.

I got to sweep water out, this morning....how fun.

But, I won't complain too much.  The wind got high, but no damage.

We've had worse water in the garage.  Not sure what we're going to do to stop that.

To the east a short way, there was real flooding.

So, we were lucky here.

And, having almost three inches of rain, after none for so long, is 

wonderful!

I'm glad I got the weeds out of the veggie garden in time.

Hope you got some lucky rain.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

Monday, Monday....

It's been really busy around here, for the last couple months.

As you can see, I've sort of let the veggie garden go.

The weeds have taken over.

The Sugar Snap Peas are blooming.  Hard to see with the weeds.

I can't remember the name of this weed.  I guess it doesn't matter.

You can guess what I'm doing on this Monday, Monday...

Yesterday, these two came walking down the street.  By the time a grabbed my camera,

 they were a couple houses away.

After a long internet search, I determined they're Egyptian Geese.

They're not native Texans.  But, seems Egyptian Geese were imported to be 

decorative birds, and some decided they'd just take off on their own.  

I read that they like to hang out on park ponds and golf course water hazards.  

Mr. P. first saw them on the pond by the clubhouse.

Don't you love those pretty pink leggings, and those burnt orange tails.

Quite the dressers...

Off to get rid of some weeds.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

Decorating with Wine...

Recently, Ally at Garden Ally, reported on a meeting of
Austin Organic Gardeners, where Lucinda Hutson spoke about recycling wine bottles and corks.
Ally is using wine bottles to edge a flower bed.

We've been using bottles as decorations here for a while.
I was a bit surprised that some people around here, had not heard of bottle trees.
They make a pretty ornament for the garden.  And, we can only hope that they live up to legend,
and capture those evil spirits in the glass, to be destroyed by the morning sun.

Sometimes, the bottle tree is the only thing 'blooming' around here.

A while back, Pam at Digging, wrote about visiting Lucinda Hutson's garden.  And, she showed
how Lucinda used wine corks as mulch around her bottle tree.

What a good idea.  I had a large cookie jar full of corks I'd been saving for years (you just never know when you might need a whole jar of corks), and more being added frequently.
And, the Tree Bed...where the bottle tree is...doesn't allow for much to grow....shallow roots.
And, it's not good to put too much soil on top of those roots.
So...CORKS...how clever.
And,  good for the environment...less for the landfill.

So, while you're having that nice glass of wine, you can be collecting decorations for the garden,
and helping out the environment.  That's pretty cool.

We'll keep trying to do our part.

Do you use wine bottles or corks in your garden?

Have a Good Weekend...
~~Linda~~

Eating Mistletoe....

We're having a beautiful day here, today.  So, I went outside to practice a bit, with my camera.

There was all this rustling in the big Cedar Elm in back.  I used the zoom on the camera,

as binoculars.

The Cedar Waxwings have arrived.

They were really chowing down on the berries on some mistletoe.

It's always interesting to me, that wildlife can eat things we can't.

Mistletoe berries would make us quite sick...if not worse.

But, these guys seem to not be bothered by them.  In fact, they're quite content.

I've always thought of Waxwings as harbingers of Spring.

They usually came to the Mulberry trees behind our old place in April.

That was further north....about 200 miles further north.

So, what does it mean that they're here in January?

Hope you're having as beautiful day where you are, as we are here.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

Foliage Follow-Up..January, 2011

We're having a warm, cloudy day, today.

Time to get out and take some photos of foliage,

and join Pam at Digging, for

Foliage Follow-Up. 

This lettuce has given us some color all season.  It's pretty tasty, too.

Another edible that we use for decoration...Kale.

Feverfew....again, just for decorations.

These have never bloomed for me.  But, they held up last summer, in that awful heat.  

And, as you can see...the cold doesn't seem to bother them.

The color is really good, too....really pops on a cloudy day.  

Wonder if deer would leave it alone?..hmmm

On the front porch, this Japanese Holly Fern is looking good.  

It likes a drink more often than some.  But, it's holding up to the cold.

It's protected here, from the cold.  And, the deer haven't touched it.

The deer haven't bothered the Squid Agaves, I got back in the fall.

Maybe I can take the large stones...meant to hold them down, so the deer don't pull them out...

and replace them with pebbles for a mulch.

They don't bother the Dusty Miller.  They have eaten pretty much everything I've planted with it.

Sometimes, you just have to go with the flow.  

This pot looks good with JUST the nice gray foliage of the Dusty Miller.

The Yucca Rostrata, in the redone Island Bed, looks good.

Rosemary is always a good foliage plant in deer country.

And, Prickly Pear....they'll eat it, if they get really hungry.

I keep some agaves covered with 'cages'.  They've taken this cage off a couple times.  

But, they haven't done anything to the agave.  

A couple others, they've tried to pull up, after they removed the cages.

As you see,  they can do a job on one.  Not being mean or anything....but, I hope this hurt!

It's not dead.  Since it's in the Front Bed, I'll replace it with one from somewhere else.  

It should come back.

The Veggie Garden has things going on.  Brussels Sprouts, Chard and Beets.

Ignore the weeds.  I have.  But, it's time to get out there and get them out.

They're blooming...which means seeds...which means more weeds...which...you get it.

There is more foliage here.  Not much blooming.

And, there is a lot of work to be done.

Guess I better get to it.

Drop on over to Pam's and see some pretty Foliage Follow-Ups.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

Taking a Walk....

Yesterday, I showed you the beautiful moon peeking through the trees, on a cold, crisp morning.

The day ended in the 70s.  So, we decided a nice walk was in order.

Come along....

A little off the regular path, I went to see how the Small Pond was looking.

This pond was completely dry, all last summer.  But, look!  Water!

The small bit of rain we've had over the last couple months has paid off.

Ducks were enjoying the water.
I have several bird books.  But, I couldn't find this guy in any of them.

Down the road a bit, you get a pretty good view of Old Baldy.

Now, I'm not sure how this hill with trees can be Old Baldy...but, that's what they tell me it is.

It's also called Prayer Mountain.  It's owned by a religious group.  They've put in a stairway to the top.  

We haven't done that, yet.  The view must be wonderful from there.

Along the road, we can get a better view of the sunset, than in our tree covered yard.

It was quite a nice one, even without many clouds.

Back home, and we're greeted by one of our ever present visitors.

Look at how green we are.  Funny...this was brown and dry all summer.

Now, winter and a little rain has brought out the grasses.

We had a cold front slam in overnight.  

Today is blustery and cold....25-30 degrees colder than yesterday.
Don't you just love good old Texas weather?

Good thing we took that walk yesterday.

Have a Great Day...
~~Linda~~