more yard work and encounters with the local wildlife

Work on the drawings have been set aside since I finally got my butt moving outside. Wednesday I raked all the pecan tree debris from under the azaleas around the tree, watered them, spread fertilizer, laid down a thick layer of pine bark mulch, and watered them again. I had my second snake encounter of the year when I went to turn on the faucet. A 3'+ ribbon snake was resting there against the house and took off like a shot around the corner and into the shrubs there. It was so fast no way I could have gotten a picture even if I'd had my phone on me which I did not. First time I've seen one of those out here. (Ribbon snake picture from the internet.)

Then I did the four azaleas and the camellia alongside the west side of the house but instead of pecan tree debris, it was oak leaves, and had another encounter with wildlife. I opened a new bag of mulch and after scooping out several handfuls this guy emerged.

I don't know if it had been in there since it was packaged or if it got in at some point through the quarter sized hole in the side but I have never seen a striped lizard like that out here either.

I still have one azalea to do but I ran out of mulch which I got yesterday. After lunch on Wednesday I took a volunteer of the Texas star hibiscus to a neighbor that I dug up last fall and wintered over til it started to sprout new growth and came away with some magenta petunias and some hollyhocks.

Thursday, of course was my SHARE day but after lunch I finally cut back the banana trees and did some watering. It is so dry here because we haven't been getting any rain but also because it's been windy with exceptionally dry air like around 19% humidity which is almost unheard of and so we are also under a fire watch burn ban.

Friday more weeding in the day lily bed which I had started last Monday, more watering, errand running, one of which was getting the mulch, also taking the recycling and hunting for an on/off switch for a lamp cord. I have a small one but it's too small for the gauge of wire. This is all about finally getting the chandelier hung as a swag lamp instead of directly into the ceiling. I finally had the wire, the clicker switch, and the plug so Rocky got one end of the wire spliced to the chandelier wires and the plug on the other end then cut the wire where I want the switch to be and realized that the clicker switch was too small. So now I'm trying to find a bigger clicker switch. They're available, just nowhere in this little town or El Campo which means a trip into Rosenberg. But in my search, I was sent to an electrical company here and the guy says that only half the wire is cut for that switch so now I may have to get new wire and start over.

Last weekend I had two other encounters with the local wildlife...this green frog

and a little garden snake.

Today, more work in the yard weeding 

and getting the last azalea fed and mulched and watering, filling the birdbaths and turtle pond. This dry wind just sucks the water out of everything including my already dry skin. It's looking like it did when I was doing the river guide thing in the desert. Lots of lotion is being utilized.