Dilemma

I've got a problem.

Wasps. Probably carpenter ants, too. I've spotted both on and around the house (outside).

James doesn't like wasps. I'm okay with them. However, I'm beginning to see how they could become a bigger problem because they're currently scoping out our garage for nest sites. Not good.

I don't like pesticides.

Last year, I'm pretty sure I saw a toad with only one eye. Which means a birth defect. Not good.

Time to do a little research. I'd better HURRY.

Any suggestions?

Live owl cam in Austin

Hey, it's time to check in with Cathy and Bob Howell of Austin. They have a live camera on their eastern screech owl nest box. So far, their female hasn't laid an egg yet. It is SO COOL to watch! In the last two years, their owls have been ahead of ours, family wise. We had baby owls in 2009 but not 2010. Since an owl has been roosting again in our box, we're hoping to have little ones again. They are FUN to watch once they start climbing up the box and peeking out (check out our photos from 2009).

Mystery bones

James found this jawbone in our front yard. Anyone care to guess what furry animal it once belonged to? (Help?)

Wildflowers are here!

Indian paintbrush in the Meadow...

Prairie verbena....

Across the street in our neighbor's yard, mountain laurel...

A dogface on a laurel bloom....

Bluebonnets!!!

Yellow evening primrose

And while you're admiring wildflowers, you never know what else you might spot, like teeny tiny spiderings, dispersing along a community dragline.

Lost Ladybug Project sightings

Coccinella septempunctata

(same as above)

Harmonia axyridis

This evening, one landed on me, and James spotted the other! I just uploaded these images to the Lost Ladybug Project. 



UPDATE SEPTEMBER 20, 2011–Rebecca at the LLP recently posted my images on the Lost Ladybug Project. Cool! "Your fantastic Olla v-nigrum photo is going in the CALS (Cornell Ag & Life Sciences) newsletter soon!" she wrote me. Even cooler! 

She owl

James saw our screech owl roosting again this evening. I grabbed my camera this time. Maybe we'll have little ones again this spring!

The mean side of nature...

Couldn't tell you when but one recent day I noticed my arms itched just a tad. Hmmmm, bed bugs? We just gotten a new comforter for our bed. I didn't think any more about it. Until the next morning, when I noticed the itchy places were starting to look....well.....a little like a rash. The NEXT day, I KNEW what I had....POISON IVY!

Been there, done that. At least twice in my history. "Well, at least it's just a mild case,"I told James. "I've had WORSE."

Yes, much worse. This one's been itchy but not unbearably so. Except for one night...at 2 a.m.

I'm pretty sure I must have met up with poison ivy on our 11 acres. I was out there with James last week, hacking grape and smilax vines. I guess there must have been a poison ivy one in there, too. Except seems like I should have a really, really bad case if our encounter was THAT close. Oh, well. I'm just gonna let it run its course. I bought some anti-itch gel Sunday, and that's helped. 

Another day I'll tell you what it's REALLY like to have a yucky case of poison ivy!