Not a pretty face

 Look what showed up in our back yard last Friday....a not-so-lovely turkey vulture (Cathartes aura). I think it was after a tiny snake. Even though they ARE ugly, I find turkey vultures to be quite personable and fascinating. 

Cool wasp

 Here's a great golden digger wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) on our Texas kidneywood. I photographed some for the first time last September.

Blooms before the storm

 Lantana 'Fiesta'

 Three-lobed rudbeckia

 Rock rose

 Snapdragon vine

 Salvia

Prairie fleabane

My yellow garden spider gal is growing!

My Spiderman spider gal

So today James and I drove the mayor of Blanco around the county. True story. Except that's not THE story. My story is this jumping spider lady.....

I was stopped at a highway intersection south of town when I spotted a little jumping spider on my car windshield. Oh, no! I knew I'd be picking up speed soon, too! While I waited for traffic to clear so I could make my turn, I tried to distract and direct the spider toward my window, but no go. She only ran the other way a bit. So I turned and drove down the highway, following James and the mayor in the lead vehicle. Behind me was a Blue Bell ice cream truck. Could my spider friend hang on? If she didn't, she'd surely fly right into the truck windshield behind us and....**SPLAT!!** 

 Hey, wait a minute....you already know how this story ends....

ANYWAY, I kept driving, and she kept hanging onto the windshield with her super-strong feet. (Jumping spiders have scopula, which are dense brush-like hairs on the bottom of their feet that adhere to surfaces and allow them to climb up vertical surfaces and walk upside down on surfaces, too.) 

Along the way, I rah-rah-rahhed on her behalf. 

"Hang on, baby!" I said, over and over again. "Hang on! Just a few more miles! Don't let go! Hang on, baby!" I gripped the steering wheel really hard. This was stressful, you know. Life and death. My spider girl just HAD to make it!

At one point, the odometer topped out at 64 miles per hour. I figured Mr. Blue Bell on my bumper could just deal with it. And who knew what  James was thinking waaaayyyy up ahead. 

Finally, we turned off on a farm road. I could drive a little slower. Which I did. Then, finally, our caravan turned off onto a caliche ranch road. As soon as I could, I stopped and jumped out of my car with my handy-dandy spider catcher container (a white aspirin bottle) that I keep in my purse for just such occasions. 

And I did it! I caught my Spiderman spider girl safe and sound...but missed the electric gate. It clanged shut. Which left me on the other side. But I was happy. I had my spider girl safe in hand. James and the mayor showed back up later. Back at home, I released her in our back yard, then took lots of photos of her.

So that's my little story about my Spiderman spider gal that hung onto my car windshield with super-duper strength and stamina. Isn't she just amazing? And beautiful, too!

Heartleaf hibiscus in bloom

Our little heartleaf hibiscus is blooming! This was a gift from Melody in San Antonio, who attended our 2016 garden party. It came with the stowaway swanflower vine, which I also love. Nearly 10 years in our Wildscape, we had a heartleaf hibiscus, but it died. I hope this one survives for a long, long time.

Snowberry clearwing egg

The other day, I was out front when I noticed a snowberry clearwing moth trying to nectar on our coral honeysuckle vine that has yellow blooms. Only there weren't any blooms, only leaves. She was visiting the leaves. 

"You need to go to the back yard, sweetie," I told the moth. "We have lots of flowers back there." THEN I realized what she was doing....DEPOSITING EGGS! See? They look like tiny green pearls.

Seed container

Look what I bought (used) to hold my seeds! Works pretty good.