Greater RoadRunner

I can't believe I actually photographed this guy.  This is a Greater RoadRunner, a member of the Cuckoo family that sprints all around the Texas landscape.  I say sprint because they are able to run up to 15 miles per hour and habitually stay on the ground which makes it very difficult to capture them on camera.

I was sitting at my desk the other day and this lovely critter appeared on the wall outside my office window.  I quickly grabbed my nearby camera and took as many shots as I was able to.  These were all taken through glass so they aren't as clear as I'd like them to be.  I'm just grateful I was able to get these shots at all.  Hope you enjoy :)

Summer Tanager

Look at this beautiful bird!

We were at our ranch house over the 4th of July weekend and this male summer tanager visited us all weekend long.  He *loved* the oriole feeder and the grape jelly we put out for them.  Such a gift to have this beauty flitting about :)

Tomato Worms

GRRRR...tomato worms are a thorn in the side of every gardener I know.  They camouflage themselves so well that they are nearly impossible to find.  And they can strip a tomato plant overnight.  But over the years, I've discovered a pretty sure fire way to find these buggers and eliminate them from my garden.

Look for the poop...

Then look up and follow the stripped, eaten vines...

And I'll bet dollars-to-donuts you will find the culprit, happily munching away. 

This guy was huge!  At least 4 inches long!  And really creepy looking too :/

I found three worms this size in my tomato plants this morning using this method.  Let's just say these guys didn't make it home for dinner :)

Summer Birds

These beauties have been visiting my feeders all summer long.  I actually have two nesting pair of Painted Buntings and many (many) lesser goldfinches.  I haven't been able to capture an image of the female bunting but I'll keep trying.  Just thought you might like a glimpse of these lovely creatures. 

Bullock's Oriole

We were at our ranch house a couple of weekends ago, and this gorgeous pair of Bullock's Orioles, male and female, stopped by to visit us.  They do frequent our feeders in the summer months and they found great pleasure in drinking from the hummingbird feeder!  I looked in my Birds of Texas bird book and I'm pretty sure these are Bullock's Orioles, the first spring male and the female.  Aren't they beautiful?!

Neat, huh? :)

Lemon Tree is Blooming Again

Y'all know how prolific my lemon tree was last season.  I bet I got over 80 lemons from that tree.  No kidding.  And I used or gave away nearly every single one.  I lost a few to frost over the winter; but only four or five, so that's not bad.

Well, the tree bloomed out again and it is full of tiny green lemons-to-be!  All I did to revitalize my lemon tree this spring was to scoop out a good bit of the top layer of soil, maybe 1/3 of the pot.  I made a mixture of equal parts of fresh potting soil, compost and Medina Growin Green granular fertilizer.  I added that to the pot, mixed it in real well and watered it.  Seems to have worked because it looks great and is full of blooms!
 

The bees had a really good time pollinating all the beautiful blooms :)

And look at all these tiny new lemons!  The tree is living out by my greenhouse.  I was going to move it onto the back patio, but it seems really (really) happy in that spot.  It gets lots of sun, but some afternoon shade from the greenhouse and lots of cool breezes on top of the hill.  I think I'll leave it where it is!

 

It looks like I am in for another bumper crop of lemons!

And check this out...as I was photographing the lemons, I noticed these two walking stick insects hanging out on the underside of the leaves.  They are so well camouflaged that they are very hard to see.  But I'm always looking closely at my plants/trees, etc for signs of bugs/critters, both good and bad!  These guys are really neat and they are beneficial, too.  They eat the bad bugs that create havoc on my plants.

Anyway, I was really glad to see these strange but really cool looking bugs on my lemon tree!

Molting Gecko

I love living in the country :)  You just never know what you'll find out your back door.  A couple of days ago, I was sitting in my office and I saw Laci sniffing something on the ground, obviously very curious.  So of course I went to investigate.

It was a molting gecko!  

 

She didn't hurt him or anything.  She was just trying to figure out what this was :)  It made me giggle.  I picked up Mr. Molting Gecko and set him in the grass to finish the task at hand.