The Hardiest Wildflowers

by Susan Rozmiarek
We just had a whole month without so much as a drop of rain, plus scorching temperatures up near 100 degrees. I am amazed that even under these conditions, there are a few wildflowers blooming around our house.

This is a Two-leaved Senna plant. Notice how the ground around it is all dry and cracked. All the ground around our house was scraped when it was being built. We haven't dared to try and plant any grass or anything else due to the weather. Yet, there are a few tough plants like this one coming up. Hard to believe.

Firewheels, or Indian Blankets. These start to come up in early spring just after the bluebonnets start blooming. They last much longer, though. They have practically all gone to seed now, but a few are still around.

The very aptly named, Mexican Hats. There are several clumps of these in our yard, although most are almost done blooming.

Finally, we got a teeny bit of rain but it was less than half an inch. Still, it must have done some good, because several of these Wild Petunias were blooming along the edge of the driveway a few days later.

First Snake!

by Susan Rozmiarek
We had our first encounter with a snake out here. I was walking out the front door in the morning and saw a large, ~4.5 foot brown snake whipping across the front yard at high speed toward the house. In hot pursuit was a very bold (stupid?) mockingbird who was swooping down and pecking at him. When he got to the house he tried to climb up the rock side but couldn't. I ran in to grab the camera and holler at the boys to come and look. (I was positive he wasn't venomous due to the shape of his head) When we got out he was hiding in a corner behind an old propane tank up against the garage door.

He was pretty mad at being disturbed. He's raring back to strike at me here. I would have loved to have teased him a bit from the end of a long broom handle, but with the boys present I didn't want to set a bad example. They need to learn snake safety since I'm sure we'll run across more snakes out here, possibly poisonous ones.

After a bit of Googling, I determined that this guy is a Western Coachwhip. Apparently they are very aggressive when cornered and can inflict a nasty bite. I hope my curious dog doesn't encounter him.

Communing with Nature

by Susan Rozmiarek
We have lived here out here exactly one month now and one of the things we are enjoying is the abundance of wildlife in the neighborhood. I love trying to identify birds, bugs and flowers and there are plenty to be found right around our house. Here are a few of the critters we've spotted:

There are always hawks flying around here. I'd hate to be a small mammal with these guys around. I was able to snap a photo of this one on our power line.

We see deer every day. They are often in our yard early in the morning and in the evening. The spotted fawns are especially cute. Our dog is usually too lazy to chase them out. He's going to have to start doing his job if I ever hope to have a garden.

The boys discovered a bush in the front yard that was covered with walking sticks in the evening. Some of them were quite large. This one was on the house the next day. Notice the bird nest started between the beams. Some house finches were working on this but have since quit. Just like me, they have trouble finishing projects that they start!

I was out ridng my bike around the neighborhood and saw a jackrabbit. I don't know if this is the same fellow, but this one was near our house a few days later. Ed was able to get a picture of him through the window. We think that he is a Black-tailed Jack Rabbit.

Here is another interesting bird I've spotted, a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. It has a long tail that looks like scissor blades.

There are also many, many types of wildflowers growing all over the place. Perhaps I'll devote a separate entry to them.