Saturday, April 9, 2022

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.



17 comments:

  1. I wonder if the lizard was a hitchhiker. What was the origin of the bag? You don't fool around when you get out there gardening. I felt a bit tired reading about it. Envious of the snake sightings though. We have them but usually all you see is grass swaying side to side as someone dashes away

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    1. Well, the weeded area in the last picture is the result of three days work. And the mulch is from a local company (about 100 miles from here).

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  2. That was a lot of work. It appears that we will be spending time killing off the day lilies we didn't get out last year. They are persistent little buggers. The ribbon snake is very pretty, and who doesn't love a green frog?

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  3. Yes, you only cut one wire. Of everything I never knew, I am surprised I remember that, and have no idea how I learned. Fifty years ago electrical wire for lamps used to have two wires held in separate casings. You slid the knife tip in the groove to cut apart the separate wires, then cut one wire in half and put on the switch. The intact wire lay in one through and through channel, the other in a channel with metal prongs that pierced the cut wires and completed the circuit in the ON position. How's that for TMI!

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    1. And that is exactly right. So now I have to get 10" more of wire or else splice the other side of the cut wire.

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  4. I love your little critters. I hope you have no just released a pregnant invasive species onto your property though! The odds are very low.
    I've got so much weeding I should be doing. The crocosmia has taken over where the rice plant was removed. And of course, the rice plant is coming back. There's also the glory bower, bamboo, chenille plant and other unidentified invasive plants popping up everywhere.
    I think I'm about to give up.

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    1. I don't imagine the lizard is an invasive species as the mulch is from a local Texas company about 100 miles from here. I'm going to try and get stuff planted today.

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  5. You do see some interesting wildlife there. So surprising to see one in the bag of mulch. Hope your planting goes well today and that maybe there will be some rain in the future there. We're expecting a whole week of rain here. Pretty crazy since we haven't really had any since January.

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  6. I am too afraid of snakes to enjoy seeing one that big. I get it from my Mom who was too afraid to go into the snake house at the zoo so she would wait outside if we wanted to go in and look.

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    1. I'm sure you know that snakes are way more scared of us and all they want to do it get away.

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  7. Amazing wildlife encounters. Thanks for the pictures. You are determined with your weed efforts. There's only one dangerous type of snake in Germany, a viper, rarely life threatening because it has very little venom, but we used to be scared of it when we played in the woods as kids.

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  8. I want to put lotion on just having read that - ha! Can't wait to see the chandelier - and I always love when you share your wildlife.

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  9. If you enjoyed last week's wind, I'll bet you really got a kick out of the weekend. It was blowing so hard today (Sunday) that I thought it was going to blow me over a time or two. I finally got out to see some bluebonnets and such, and my goodness -- I went into the area between Sealy and Chappell Hill, and there were some sights! You've reminded me that I need to talk to my apartment maintenance crew, to get them to repair the bottom of my front door. I think over time it's rotted away from so much water. In any event, I walked out one morning and caught a little snake coming it, and the occasional palmetto bug strolls in, too. I mind them more than the snake, actually.

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    1. If I weighed 20 pounds less, it would have blown me over, no joke. My neighbor says we had gusts of 50 mph. I've found three snakes in my house over the years because I don't have a screen on the back door and I'll leave it open when the weather is nice. Fortunately it was 2 small rat snakes and a green snake. I'm with you on snakes and palmetto bugs.

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  10. You are privileged to have this ongoing contact with wildlife, and I am sure you know that.

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  11. You make me tired! I am clearing underbrush around my She Shed. Years of leaves decomposing, and the ground underfoot does not feel solid. I do not want to encounter a snake. Rattlesnake are in abundance here.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.