Any of the photos surrounded by blue can be viewed larger.
This morning, Feb. 24, 2004, as I was taking the kids to the bus and to school, this was the view that I saw. I just had to come back and take a picture of it.
We had a big ice storm in February 2003. Here are some pictures of it.
This past Spring, I was out and about in the yard taking some wildflower pictures:
Well, since I put up the tarantula pictures, I thought I'd also share some of the other critters we see quite often around the house. First, here's another one I don't particuarly mind, but can be a bit of a nuisance. I believe this to be a Checkered Garter Snake (Thamnophis marcianus). I found a picture on the The University Of Texas at Austin Herpatology web site. Anyway, they're non-poisonous, so we don't kill them. This one was found where most are found at our house, trying to get in the garage. I also have found them around wood piles and recently found two small ones in my back garden while weeding it.
Now, here's a pest I wish would be wiped from the face of the earth. I haven't really figured out what good purpose they serve other than eating roaches. This is the one pest we kill inside or outside without hesitation. This one, I found on the ceiling in the kitchen. It is one of the larger one's we've found in the house, although we've found larger outside. This is a scorpion for those not familiar with them - you're lucky!
Here's an icky one. Larry found this one night while out watering some of my gardens. It's a female Wolf Spider (Rhabidosa rabida) that is covered in baby spiders. When I would spray her with the water and babies would fall off, as soon as the water was gone, they would all scurry back on her. I actually thought it was pretty disgusting, but we let her go on her way. I have since learned through web research that these spiders are quite beneficial to gardens.
I've been waiting 3 years for this!!! Last night, Larry found a tarantula on the wall next to the back door on the exterior of the house. I wouldn't want one crawling on me, but otherwise, as long as they are where they belong and not in the house, I love tarantulas. Here's the one we found last night.
We also have pretty, mamalian wildlife around the place. Here is a picture of a whitetail deer I took. She was in the pasture with the horses. They jump the fences at will. They are really beautiful, but, they also love roses. So, I have a constant battle to keep them from decimating my rose bushes. Currently, I'm loosing.
One of my hobbies is gardening. Larry has been building me gardens in our little rocky paradise. Here are some pictures of my gardens. I try to use native plants which attract hummingbirds and butterflies and require less water than non-native plants. I really like the native plants we have around here, but I also love roses. Unfortunately, so do the deer. But, I have some roses to show off, too.
By the way, one of my favorite places that has to do with gardening and roses in particular is The Antique Rose Emporium. For wildflowers, especially, I love Wildseed Farms in Frederickburg, Texas. Both these places are well worth a trip to see.
These are pictures of my roses first. I have three shades of red, one pink, one lavender and one yellow in my West front garden. The Lavendar is very fragrant. Wish I could share that on the web, but, alas, that technology has not been yet invented. The yellow has very strong branches and absolutely gorgeous flowers. The pink has the most delicate double flowers. They are a miniature of what I think of when I think of roses. They are all wonderful in their own ways. The colors are beautiful to look at. I don't cut my roses and bring them in. I haven't figure out how to keep them alive inside as long as they will last outside on the bush, so I prefer to enjoy them on the porch instead of in a vase.
This is the garden Larry built for me Spring of 2002. He dug that huge rock out of the pasture with the truck. The rock is so big that almost 3 feet of it is in the ground! It makes a great centerpiece for the garden and conversation piece when I show the garden off. If we didn't live in a drought-prone area and get our water from a well, I think I'd make a fountain out of that rock. I have added more to this garden lately, but it's been a chore trying to keep the deer out. New pictures will be coming soon.
These are some pretty flowers we had in the yard in the Spring of 2002. We had a very dry Winter, so most of the bluebonnets I planted didn't grow, but I'm hoping for a better crop next year. We had a very wet Summer in 2002 with Spring rains not coming until July, but we had record amounts of rain for July at between 25 and 30 inches in our rain gauge. This year hasn't been so nice. We've hardly had rain and our wildflower crop was very poor.
This garden is on the back of the house and faces North. This is early in Spring 2002 before all the rain. After the rain, it had been taken over by the Mexican Fire Bushes. I've since taken them out, planted a rose and very recently some pintas and some salvia. I need a new picture of this garden for 2003.
Here are a couple of neat shots. One is the view and the other is a shot of the moon I took one night.
© Copyright 2000-2008, Martha Crocker