Still more rain....

.... and flash flooding.  But thankfully, not right here.

I woke up in the middle of the night, around 2:00.... couldn't sleep and I had no idea why. It just seemed like there was a weird energy in the air.  Can't explain it, but that's what it felt like.  I've had that sensation before... when my husband and I were looking at houses.  We'd go into a house with a realtor and I had to get out of the house quickly because I felt like I couldn't breathe.  "Bad energy in there," was always my reason.  My husband took me seriously... the realtors always looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

Last night when I couldn't sleep, I just decided not to fight it and I spent some time at the computer and even more time with a book.  The rain started while I was awake and it came down in buckets. We didn't get thunder, but there was indeed a rumbling in the air that wouldn't quit. I just kept reading, and then got out of bed before the sun came up.

The rain continued all morning long, and then the afternoon turned sunny and warm.  I spent part of the afternoon picking up the branches that had fallen from the pecan trees during last night's wind.  Those trees are massive, but the smaller branches are delicate and even a gentle wind can send the bare branches falling to the ground.  As I've been doing since we moved here, I pick up the branches and toss them onto the ever-growing brush piles around the property.  I've lost count of how many nails I've broken with those blasted pecan branches.

The hawks sit patiently on the fences near those brush piles, waiting for small birds and mice to come out from inbetween and under those piles of branches.  The brush piles are there for the safety of small animals, to give them a place to nest and hide, but I think the piles attract the hawks because they're smart enough to know that little animals make their homes in all of those branches... especially when the grasses start growing up and around them.

A nice surprise from all of this rain we've had..... the waterfall at the edge of the creek down the road is once again making a joyful noise.  The creek-bed itself is rather wide and very deep, the precipice is narrow, and the water that goes over the edge there comes from a very thin but very long creek that runs along one of the nearby properties.... and the sound of that rain-water rushing over the edge is just so beautiful.  It's been nearly a year since we've heard that hidden waterfall.  When I drove down the road later this afternoon, I stopped my car and opened the window.... the water was running over that edge in a contented rush, and I heard cardinals chirping in the woods.  A little country-road surprise that not everyone has discovered.

More rain.... more snakes....

It rained practically all morning long today.... another good pouring-down soaking rain that put even more water in the pond.  Last week's rain brought the turtles out of the woods and they were sunning themselves on the rocks in the pond.  Today's rain thoroughly covered the rocks, so I didn't see the turtles but I'm sure they're all still out there.  Five at last count.

When it stopped raining and the sun came out, I went into town for errands and grocery shopping. As I was carrying packages from the car to the back steps, I saw a green and black ribbon snake sunning itself on the courtyard. Oh goodie. It was just a small one, but that's even worse because there's never just one or two snake-babies around.... there are a lot of snake babies and heaven only knows where the other ones are that I didn't see.  I repeat..... Oh goodie.

J and I walked this afternoon..... and on the way down our hill, right near where the road turns, there was yet another snake.  This one was in the road, and looking right up at us.... another small one, but one we'd never seen before.  J did some Internet searching and found out it's an 'eastern hognose.'  Just goes to show you that snakes don't abide by the rules..... Texas is not on the east coast, last I heard.  This particular snake wasn't too pretty (as if any of them are?) and the colors were weird... black and red and brown, and its large head wasn't in proportion to the rest of its body either. Once again, it was a small snake....... which means its siblings are probably out there in the woods somewhere.  That particular one looked at us and then slithered off in the direction of my pond.  Once again.... Oh goodie.

Crows.... we have crows....

Large black crows are now out in the yard every blessed day. They come along every year around this same time, looking for pecans ripening on our trees.  My husband will blast them with an air-horn when they get to making too much noise. The sound of the air-horn scares the cats, scares the barn swallows and the bluebirds, and scares me, but doesn't do all that much to the crows.

The crows are smart..... they will walk along the grass underneath the trees, all the while looking up at the branches. When they find a clump of pecans, they fly up to that branch, pick off a nut, and then fly out to the road with their prize.   With the pecan in their beak, they bash it onto the pavement of the road until the shell cracks...... and then they munch on the nut pieces.  This process is repeated until they've had their fill of pecans and fly off into the pasture to hunt for something else.

The squirrels are also pecan-hunting at this time, but they're not as loud nor as obnoxious as the crows.  The squirrels can easily bite into the pecan shells with their teeth, and sometimes they will hang upside-down on the trunk of the tree, dropping the pieces of shell on the ground and just eating the nut.  More often than not, either Mickey or Gatsby is out there watching the squirrels eat the pecans.  Gatsby stays up on the porch and watches from a distance.... he's a smart cat and knows that he'll never catch one of those squirrels.  Mickey is the more hopeful of the two cats..... he will sit as close to the squirrel as he can get, sometimes having to dodge the falling shells... almost daring the squirrel to come down to the ground so he can chase it.

I will be hearing the screeching of those crows from now till after Thanksgiving..... same goes for my husband's air-horn.

Spiders R Us.

I hate spiders. The only thing I hate worse than spiders are scorpions. The funny thing is that I hardly ever see a scorpion outside the house.... the scorpions are always inside, the spiders are usually outside. Welcome to my Insect World.

Just before dinner-time, I remembered that I forgot to water the yellow marigolds. I try to water them every day unless it rains, because they're planted in a very shallow circle of dirt around the fountain, and that spot gets broiled in the afternoon sun.  So there I was, just about to bend towards the hose, and there's the biggest banana spider I've seen so far.  Had I not been paying attention, I would have walked right into the web and the spider would have been splayed across my left knee.

In that particular spot in front yard, there's been a banana spider web all summer long.  First it was high above the water faucet, near the peak of the first floor roof line.  I left the web where it was because it was far enough above my head and out of my way.  The spider stayed there for weeks and weeks, and I checked its whereabouts each time I used that faucet for watering the marigolds.

Then the spider decided to relocate about a month ago.... she re-built her web on one of the sago palms..... at knee level, but away from the water hose and the faucet. Fine. I left it there, and again and again, I kept checking to see where that spider was before I used that particular hose.

It rained in the middle of the night on Saturday.... so I didn't bothering watering plants yesterday.  But today, the sun was out, it was a lovely day, and those marigolds needed fresh water, and so did the fountain, which the bluebirds and barn swallows use for their daily baths.  (We don't have a water fountain, we have a tri-level birdbath.)

I came within an inch or two of walking right into that spider web this afternoon. Scared the daylights out of me.  I looked at that spider, sitting right in the middle of her web....... and I knew it had to go. Where would she build her next web?  Right across the front or back door?  "All's fair in love, war, and spider-webs," I told the banana spider.

Back I went to the other side of the house.... and I came back with the can of wasp spray. (I've yet to see a can of spider spray.)  I sprayed that spider as she sat on that web.  Cruel way to go, let me tell you..... and I had to watch her till her last twitch, just to see where she landed so I wouldn't step on her. (I don't step on spiders, living or dead. I can't stand the crunching sound.)

I used the broom to destroy the web after the spider met its Maker....... and all remnants of that particular spider and the web are gone now.  My apologies to E. B. White and Charlotte.

Welcome to the zoo....

As I type this, I can hear an owl outside..... his hooting sounds are so close that I think he's up on our roof.  When we first moved here and heard the owls, I thought it was a very soothing sound, like the cooing of doves. But then I learned how mean and diligent owls can be when they go hunting at night.

I don't know which of the smaller species are preferred by owls, but they will grab onto any small animal that's outside at night.  They swoop down and grab their prey with their talons, and then they fly upwards with their catch and then drop them to the ground... again and again.  Pick up the prey, fly up high, drop it to the ground... repeat.... repeat... repeat... until whatever they have caught is just dead and broken up and way beyond saving for anything but an owl's midnight feast. (They don't tell you all of that in the Disney stories.)

Earlier this evening, we heard a pack of coyotes howling out on the property.... they sounded so close, as if they were right up in the front yard.  Coyotes typically howl at the moon when they've caught some poor animal, as if they're announcing their dinner-time to the world at large.  We used to keep Gatsby outside all night long, but I've been bringing him inside...... he sleeps in the TV room with Sweet Pea, and I think Gatsby appreciates having a good night's sleep without having to keep one eye open for night-time predators.

I'm still not thrilled that we've had to make Mickey an outside cat..... he's out on the property during the day, but I close him up in the garage at night.  Heaven knows I've made it very comfy for him in there... he has an entire work-counter all to himself, with his food and water dishes, plus two pillow-beds, and even an enclosed bed that I fashioned out of a large wicker basket.  He can walk thru the little doorway that goes into the fenced-in chicken coop, and he can look at the stars or get some fresh air... so he has both spaces all to himself during the night.  Mickey seems to be quite content, and not worried at all about his living arrangements.  I'm the one who worries, even though I really do know he's safe and secure in there during the night.  Safe from coyotes and raccoons and bob-cats and cougars..... but if a snake wanted to get into the garage (or the coop) I would imagine it would find a way into either place.  I just try not to think about that too much.

At the party last night, we were talking about the night-time wildlife here.  Bob-cats and cougars.... the cougars have longer tails and are much bigger than the bob-cats.  Then we have foxes..... which we've seen right in and around our barn.  And the coyotes, which everyone has seen and heard on their properties.  Everyone has deer on their property, and about the only bad thing you can say about the deer is that they'll eat every delicate leaf and plant in your garden.

Welcome to the zoo.... welcome to our country world.  And today, all day long, was so beautiful and quiet.... you could hear the wings on the barn swallows as they flew from tree to tree....... there wasn't much of a breeze today and it was just so quiet and serene outside.  But as soon as day turns to dark, all the predators come out to play. 

More wet stuff from the sky.

We woke up to the sound of thunder and rain in the middle of the night.  Pouring-down rain, lots of thunder.  I think it started around 3:00 this morning and it lasted a good long while.  From the upstairs balcony, I can see that even the shallow end of the pond is filled to the brim now. Usually, the water rushes in through that shallow part and it runs right to the deep side of the pond.  After last night's rain, the entire pond is rowboat-worthy, if anyone had a mind to do that. (Not this girl, thank you.)

The weather yesterday was sunny, warm, and picture-perfect, and very much like Spring.  I call this time of the year The Second Spring because all the roses and azaleas are in bloom again, the butterflies and dragonflies are out in force, and the yellow-jackets are just all over the property.

Our Halloween party was last night.... friends came in costume for a potluck dinner and hours of laughs and conversation.  It was very nice of the weather gods to provide such a beautiful day yesterday..... all of those great costumes would have been soaked if that pouring rain had started at party time. 

As we drive around the towns up here, all of the pastures are green and lush.... unlike other years when everything was brown and brittle by the middle of July.  We've had more rain than usual this season, and while the pouring rain is sometimes more than the smaller back-roads can bear, the fields and pastures are just drinking it all up.  And the frogs..... after the rain comes the symphony of frogs, and you have to be careful where you step in the morning because there's bound to be a frog right in front of your feet.

Mouse... mice...

... and these aren't Disney mice in cute little outfits ready to sew up a ball gown for Cinderella.

The first mouse today was very small, on the garage floor. Mickey Kitty must have found it sometime during the night and he killed it.  This is about the fourth little baby mouse that I've found in the garage.  Mickey always leaves them on the side of the garage where my husband parks his car... Mickey's special gift to his favorite person in the world.  But I'm the one who usually finds the mice in the garage, and I pick them up with that long clippy-thing and put them into a trash bag.  This process isn't all that bad if I don't have my glasses on... without the glasses, I'm just seeing a blob of gray, which could be anything at all if you don't think about it being a mouse when you go to pick it up.

The second mouse-sighting was in the guest rooms over the barn..... I didn't find a mouse, but I found its droppings.  There must be a barn-mouse up there in those guest rooms, because I've found the droppings before, always in the same place.  Time for a sticky glue-trap up there, I'm sorry to say.  I absolutely hate to do that to a mouse, but it's an effective way of catching them without snapping their necks in one of those traps.  My husband insists that the instant-death is much easier on the mouse, but I just can't do it. (Nor do I want to handle those snap-traps, either pre-mouse or post-mouse.)

The third mouse of the day was out in grass by the back steps... another blob of gray.  I put my glasses on and saw that it was a dead mouse that either Mickey or Gatsby left there for me to find.  Time for the clippy-thing again, which keeps the mouse more than an arm's length away from me, and after taking off my glasses, I was just picking up a gray blob.

These pastures are filled with field mice........ and from what I understand, a mouse mama gives birth to a big litter of babies.  All of which, it seems, find their way to either our garage or the guest rooms over the barn, and a few get into the house.  You would think that with three adult cats on the property, the mice would find some place else to go. (Like DisneyWorld?)

But on the bright side........ today was a beautiful day.  Absolutely gorgeous weather.... my husband spent most of the day cutting the grass.... I spent the day getting ready for our Halloween party tomorrow.  Boo!... to you... and to all the mice out there that will soon end up at the end of my clippy-thing.

Small town innocence.

I had a dental appointment today, and the girls who work there were talking about their Halloween costumes.  If Halloween falls on a week-day when the dental office is open, then everyone comes dressed up in costume, including the dentists.

They celebrate a 'happy' Halloween, not a gruesome one, because on any given day, they have school-age patients... and I would imagine that going to the dentist is not up there on a kid's hit parade, and having a dentist dressed up as Dracula just wouldn't be right if you're 9 years old and sitting in that chair.

One of the office girls is dressing up as Mother Goose, complete with a stuffed goose to hold in her arms all day long..... another one is dressing as a 1920s Flapper and she's still searching for an extra-long cigarette holder.

When we lived in Clear Lake, I would see so many costumed-people driving in their cars on Halloween, on their way to work in the morning.... everything from the most happiest of costumes (like Disney characters) to more gory ghouls dripping with fake blood and seemingly real scars.  Most Texans take Halloween very seriously, and the front yard décor on October 31 is second only to the Christmas decorations that go up in December.

And living out here is no different.  The thrift stores and consignment shops always have racks of Halloween possibilities for costumes.  No need to really spend a small fortune on a costume from one of those Halloween Express stores that take over an empty storefront on Labor Day and then are all moved out two days after Halloween is over. All you need is one good idea with a spook-tacular piece of clothing, and your imagination takes over and with the right accessories, a simple long black skirt becomes part of a witch's ensemble.

My guess is that on the day of Halloween, just about everyone in this town will be in some sort of get-up for the holiday.  The girls at the dental office told me to drop in on Halloween so they can see my costume.  I don't know if I'll dress up again on the actual day of Halloween... this far out in the country, we don't get trick-or-treaters.   I told the technician that we were having a Halloween party this weekend, so they asked about costume ideas.  They usually go with Disney stars or Mother Goose characters, just to be on the safe side with the very young patients, but they're always open to new ideas for other parties.

Say what you want about small towns...... we may not have SteinMart and Macys here, but we surely do have a lot of heart.

Dove music.

There must have been a large flock of doves up in the pecan trees today. Those trees are very tall, very wide, and filled with zillions of leaves and pecan pods, so I couldn't see one dove, but I heard an entire symphony of them this morning.  They were so loud that the coo-ing caught the attention of Mickey and Gatsby, our two outside cats.  Both of them were sitting by the porch railing... four little cat eyes staring at those trees. Possibly, the cats were able to see the doves, but I never did find them.  The coo-ing sounds were peaceful and very pretty... but then along came a wood-pecker and that broke up the little dove party.                                                                                        

Texas has a 'dove season,' meaning that big brave hunters can go off into the woods and shoot all the doves they can.  Why they insist on doing this, I have no idea, but I think dove season is over now, so it's nice to know there are doves left up in the trees.

The 'downtown' area of our little town here is filled with scarecrows in all sorts of costumes.... most of them are sitting on small hay bales in front of the stores and shops along the main streets of town. They do this every year, and I believe there's some sort of contest where people can vote for the most creative displays.   After the rains we had last week, most of the scarecrows look water-logged and sad, and some of the paint has washed away.                                                                                                                       
There's another town close by that has an annual Scarecrow Festival, which is one of the biggest events sponsored by that particular town.  This year's festival was cancelled because of all the pouring-down rain that we had recently.  Such a shame, really, because that town doesn't have all that much going for it all year long. Between their Scarecrow Festival and their July 4th Parade (featuring the Kids' Marching Kazoo Band), about the only other attraction there is the quiet and peacefulness of their very few main streets.  And I do believe the residents of that town like it that way.

I've used up nearly two of the new cans of wasp spray that my husband recently bought.  My aim is improving with those cans..... I don't waste so much of the spray when it first shoots out of the can, and I can usually destroy a wasp nest in the first 20 seconds.   I've also learned that I don't really have to empty an entire can on one little nest.                                                    

Today, however, I wasn't after wasps...... the nests I found were filled with yellow-jackets, which may have been what stung me a couple of weeks ago.  (And here I was, blaming it on a bee.)  The yellow-jackets are smaller than the bees, and seem to be more aggressive in defending their territory.  If you walk too close to a shrub or a bush that's home to a nest of yellow-jackets, then you're going to get stung just because you're walking there.  And if you're pushing a lawn-mower, you're really going to get stung because I don't think the yellow-jackets like all of that noise.

There are days when I stand out in the driveway and look over at this house and I wonder if it would be possible to build a glass dome all around it... to keep out the scorpions, spiders, wasps, bees, yellow-jackets, and of course, the snakes.                                                                                           

We don't seem to have a problem anymore with the lizards and geckos because Mickey Kitty has been eating every one of those he finds.  Now when I open up a can of what used to be Mickey's favorite Fancy Feast cat food, he looks down at the dish, then up at me, and I know damn well he's thinking "Don't they make this stuff with lizard meat?"

Country Rules for City Girls... (12 thru 16)

12. Forget about the pretty bed linens with the floral designs. You won't want to use them because it's very hard to see a scorpion or a spider crawling on the sheets in the midst of all those flowers. From now on, buy just plain no-pattern sheets.  As for the floral linens, either donate them to the nearest thrift store or use them to cover up your cute little city-car in the garage so the cats don't get paw-prints on the windshield.

13. When you hear the cows moo-ing in the neighbors' pastures, don't stand out on the porch and listen to them because it will only make you sad.  Content cows do not roam around the field moo-ing their hearts out... they're looking for their calves which have probably been taken to market. Go inside the house and close the door. I repeat:  Just go inside the house and close the door. You cannot save the world.

14. Don't attempt to spray a wasp nest in the afternoon when the sun is out and the temperature is nice and warm.  Wasps are less active very early in the morning, especially in cooler temperatures. That's the best time to empty an entire can of spray on a wasp nest that's about one-inch in diameter.  At all times, keep at least half a dozen cans of wasp spray in the garage.

15. Do not use water from a garden hose to destroy a mound of fire ants.  What happens is that sixteen million ants come flooding out of that mound all at once, and they're angry as hell at being interrupted in their mound-construction. They'll swim out of that water and head straight for your ankles, and by the time you feel the first bite, you'll have 38 other ants on your legs and you'll end up spraying yourself with the hose as you're trying to swat away the fire ants.  And there you will be, with mascara running down your face and ant bites on your ankles, and that's about when a neighbor will pull into your driveway and say something like "Isn't this just the most beautiful day?"

16. About that mascara... don't give it up.  If you moved out to the country with mascara in your make-up box, then don't abandon it for the country-natural look.  When you look into your mirror every morning, the first thing you want to see is the city girl you've known for all of your adult life.  And that means mascara, and lipstick, and a bit of eye shadow, and whatever else your city-girl self is used to.  You can take the city girl out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the girl.

More rain, more sun....

... and more fire ant mounds.  I'm walking around the property as if land mines have been planted in the grass. But on the bright side, I haven't seen any huge spiders, and the wasps seem to be under control because of the cooler mornings.

We heard rain falling on the roof last night.... for the moment, I didn't know what the noise was.  My husband was watching the NY Giants football game, so I don't think he even noticed the sound of the rain outside.  "We interrupt this football game to let you know that it's raining out there..."   As if rain is such a rare occurrence, which it truly has been.

We've had cooler evenings, cool mornings, and by the time the afternoon comes along, it's Spring all over again.  At this time of the year, you don't need the air-conditioning, you don't need the heat... you just need the fresh air from outside.

With the breeze coming through the screens, I can also hear the cows in the surrounding pastures.  They don't sound very happy. Actually, the moo-ing sounds are very sad.  More calves have been brought to market, that's my guess, which means the mama cows are looking for their babies. Damn. And damn again.

I guess Autumn is officially here.  Gone are the days when the temperature tops 100 degrees.... and along with the super-hot days went the twice-daily chore of watering the plants and flowers.  Note to self:  Do not plant anything that cannot withstand the heat.  If my husband liked cactus plants, I would have them in all the flowerbeds.  Some of them are actually quite pretty.... there's a property at the end of the road with lots of different cactus plants growing along their fence and when you least expect it, you'll see the prettiest pink or yellow flowers blooming among the thorns.  (Which reminds me of that old movie with Walter Matthau and Ingrid Bergman, called "Cactus Flower.")

Amber waves of grain...

That's what I thought of today.... that line in "America The Beautiful."  When the grasses in the fields are a certain height in September and October, and the breeze hits those grasses in a certain way, the tips of the grass dances on the wind and the picture that comes to mind is really an ocean of amber waves.

We went for a drive today on our way out to lunch, and after all the rain we've had these past ten days, mostly all of the pastures are filled with knee-high amber-tipped grasses that give truth to that song.  A field like that is beautiful to look at and if you're not careful, your eyes will fill up with tears.

On the way down our hill this morning, I saw four turtles sun-bathing on the rocks in our pond. How did they find the filled-up pond so quickly?  We always have turtles in that pond when it fills up after a rain...... but when the pond is dry, the turtles are nowhere to be found. Makes me wonder if they're hiding in the tall grasses around the pond, just waiting for the sky to open up with rain.

The weather today wasn't very warm.... I don't think it got over 75 degrees. The cows out in the surrounding fields were sitting right out in the sun today, rather than their usual routine of  laying in the shade under the trees.  It kills me when I see livestock out in pastures without trees... you just know that when the sun is broiling, those cows and horses have nowhere to go to escape the sun.

I heard some nearby cows mooing this afternoon, which makes me think that their calves have been brought to market.  Whenever you see a trailer filled with livestock on these roads, it's not because they're being taken for a Sunday drive to look at the scenery. They're going to market, to be slaughtered and cut up into dinner-sized portions of beef.  Give me a blessed break.  I didn't eat meat before moving out here to the country, and I damn well wouldn't be interested in eating beef now, that's for sure.

I still cringe a bit whenever we see our neighbor's goats..... he always has goats over there, and he doesn't raise them for pets... he's raising them for the meat.  Farmer that he is, he doesn't take the goats to market..... he does the butchering himself.  When we first moved here, he offered us a delicacy (his word).... a baby goat.  El cabrito, he called it.  Wonderful.  As graciously as we could, we said Thank you, but no thank you.   That neighbor's goats are always having babies...... the baby goats run around the pasture like puppies, but not for long. Damn. Sometimes it's very hard to live out here.

Not exactly a Disney mouse...

I knew there was a mouse in the utility closet this morning because Sweet Pea ran right up to that closet door when he walked out of the TV room.  Sweet Pea can smell a mouse a mile away, and he's even caught one in our pantry.  That poor mouse was dead in an instant and Sweet Pea presented it to me as if it were The Holy Grail. 

But this morning, a mouse was inside the closet and I knew it must have gotten caught on one of the glue-traps that we keep in there.  I hate those glue-trap things, and my husband thinks they're very inhumane, but honestly, they work each and every time.  One thing you have to do is keep your cat away from them, whether they have a mouse caught on them or not..... I wouldn't want to be prying a cat's paw off of one of those sticky little traps.

My husband was still sleeping when I got up this morning, so I had to remove that mouse on my own.  Back into the TV room went Sweet Pea, and he wasn't too happy because he knew I'd be taking away 'his' mouse.  I bought one of those long BBQ-tongs just to use for the glue-traps.  The tongs-thing is about 14" long, so I can stretch my arm out as far as I can, pick up the glue-trapped mouse with the tongs, and put mouse and all into a trash bag without getting too close to the darned thing.                                                
I absolutely hate doing that chore, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do, without waking up a sleeping husband or calling one of the neighbors.  All the while with those tongs and the glue-trap, I was apologizing to the mouse.  "I'm sorry, sorry, really really sorry...."  And I truly was.  I don't know how long it takes until the mouse dies on one of those traps, but I know it's not pleasant.  But I don't want a mouse in the house, no matter how small it is.

Our two outside cats have caught mice from time to time..... they either leave them near the back steps so I can see the results of their hunt (Gatsby does that), or the mice are played with like cat-toys (that would be Mickey, who will play with a mouse till either the mouse gets tired and plays dead, or Mickey gets tired and just takes a nap on the spot).

I can't blame country living for the mice population..... even when we lived in Clear Lake, we had mice around the yard. But I don't remember one ever getting into the house. I just have to wonder why mice will even go near a house with one cat, much less three.  And with two outside cats here, you would think that the mice would spread the word to stay away from this place.

One of the neighbors told me that there would be even more mice out here if the hawks and the snakes stopped eating them.  Mice... hawks... snakes... coyotes... cougars.... the food chain keeps growing.  About the only thing I haven't heard about up here are bears.  But I guess it's only a matter of time.  After the cougar-sighting by the neighbors, nothing else would surprise me right about now.

Coyotes....

The first thing I heard on CNN this morning was a report on a Colorado man who was attacked by three coyotes on his way to work.  He was walking in the dark with a flashlight because his car had broken down and he had to get to work.

Everything I've heard about Texas coyotes is that they avoid people at all times.  Apparently, the Colorado coyotes aren't aware of that rule.   I've seen a coyote in our yard, back when we got our first group of chickens.  The hens were all in the coop and I was on my way out the back door to let them out when I saw the coyote with his two front paws up against the fenced-in side of the coop. (Contemplating which chicken was breakfast-worthy, no doubt.) The coyote heard the screen door when I opened it and he ran off into the yard, and kept running through the pasture till he got to the woods.  I waited about an hour that day to let the chickens out of the coop, just in case.

That was the last time I'd seen a coyote on our property, but we did lose at least four of the chickens to coyotes, one at a time.  We'd see a little pile of feathers out in the grass, and judging by the color and pattern of the feathers, and which hen was missing at dusk, we'd know exactly which one was gone. "Coyote bait," my husband would say.

We don't have chickens anymore.  After the second group of hens, I just gave up.  It was too heart-breaking.  Between the coyotes, the hawks, and the snakes, I decided that a dozen eggs from the supermarket was good enough.  Not as delicious as the fresh eggs, but good enough.

But on the bright side..... and there's always a bright side....... none of the neighbors has mentioned the cougars around here lately.  That's not to say a cougar isn't still around.... it's just that no one has seen him. (Ignorance is not bliss in this case.)

Listen well, grasshopper....

There is a grasshopper on the porch ceiling.... he's hanging there, upside-down right near the back door.  Been there since this morning, possibly he got up on the porch to get out of the rain?  And instead of walking on the porch, I'm guessing he decided to just climb the porch as if it were Mount Everest.  What else do grasshoppers have to do on rainy days?

I thought of taking the broom and sweeping his little green self right off the ceiling. His legs are so delicate, though, and I know the broom wouldn't be too kind. One whisk of that broom and I could have a handicapped grasshopper on my conscience.  That would result in Mickey Kitty capturing him and then chomp-chomp-chomping on it for an early afternoon snack.  Bad grasshopper karma for both myself and Mickey.

I guess I'll just leave the grasshopper right where he is.... there have been worse things on that porch. Like scorpions and tarantulas, for instance.  I'll just thank my lucky stars that it's only a grasshopper and I'll hope that it doesn't lose its grip on that ceiling and fall on top of my head as I'm walking out of the back door.

I sound like 'Chicken Little' here.........  the sky is falling, the sky is falling..... and it's raining grasshoppers.

Another rainy day....

.... but that's not a complaint.  After months and months without rain, we need any and all raindrops that the weather gods give us.

I had planned to go into town today..... errands and groceries, and checking my booth at the antique shop...... but it's raining.  I almost hate to admit this, but I don't like taking my car out in the rain. I don't mind driving in the rain, but I hate my car getting wet.  Isn't that just the most ridiculous thing to say?  But it's true.  I keep my car very clean, I cover it even when it's in the garage, I never take the hard-top off and drive it with the soft-top or (horror of horrors) no top at all. (It's a convertible that has never been driven roof-less.)

To add to the rainy-day driving.... the speed limit here on the main highway is 70 mph. Ridiculous.  Mainly because if the sign says 70, then you know that most people are going 80 or 90.  I don't think I've ever driven this car over 65, and usually, I'm driving at 55 on the highway here.  Why should I drive any faster?  I'm never in a hurry to get anywhere.... I get to where I'm going and I don't see the reason to rush.  My husband hates when we go somewhere in my car, because I do the driving in my car and I don't drive as fast as he would in his car. "The speed limit is 70," he tells me.  I tell him that 70 is the maximum, not the minimum. (To which he's probably thinking She has an answer for everything.)

It was very cool outside this morning, after yesterday's hot temperatures and high humidity.  I'm wearing a sweater as I type... anything under 75 degrees here means it's sweater-weather, and I'm guilty as charged on that one.  The rain keeps falling.... I can't even hear one little bird outside, so I guess they're all hiding and staying out of the rain.  I sometimes wonder if there's a little barn-swallow party over in our barn on days like this, but I'm not going to walk way over there to find out.

One good thing about these cooler temperatures.... the bees and the wasps aren't flying around, and the scorpions are hiding under the rocks.

Washing windows...

Today was a cloudy drippy day, with the sun not making an appearance till late in the afternoon.  My husband and I washed the windows and screens on one side of the kitchen. It's a two-person job because this is an old hundred-year-old house and the wood frames for the screens are screwed into the window trim.  So my husband uses the power drill to get the screens out..... he washes all the screens while I do the windows, then he puts the screens back.  One side of the kitchen is done.... we'll do the other side another day.  So many windows in this house...... I counted them once.... more than 50.   As I have said before..... if my mother-in-law had been alive when we found this house, she would have told me to run the other way, or hire a live-in housekeeper.

Our outside cat Mickey continues to catch and eat lizards.... big ones, little ones... he's not too fussy. If he can catch them, he's eating them.  And he seems to enjoy eating them right in front of me.  He'll be walking towards me with a lizard hanging from his mouth.... he'll stop right in front of me and look at me with those big golden eyes of his and then his jaws start chomping down on the poor lizard.  And each and every time, I stand there and say "Oh, Mickey..... that poor little thing......"  His response is Chomp, chomp, chomp.   Mickey used to sit on my lap and lick my wrists.  He will still sit on my lap, but I don't let him lick my wrists anymore, for obvious reasons.

Lots of hummingbirds today..... makes me wonder where they were hiding during those rainy days we had.  The barn swallows hide up on top of the porch columns..... I don't know where the sparrows go...... and we have woodpeckers and doves and purple martins, all of which must be up in the pecan trees.  Plenty of crows out here..... huge crows that look like small chickens.  They'll be coming around to eat up the pecans once they start ripening.  My husband goes out there with an air-horn, to scare the crows away.  Problem with that is the smaller birds get more frightened than the big crows..... not to mention the cats.  Gatsby or Mickey will be outside napping on the porch and the air-horn goes off and you would think a bomb went off in the yard when you see the cats running in the opposite direction of the air-horn blast.

We're supposed to have more rainy days this week.  The more the merrier..... there's still a few inches left in the pond that could use some more rain water.  I'm hoping the ducks will come back. I saw (and heard) a flock of ducks flying overhead this afternoon.  Possibly, they were scoping out the local ponds, looking at their choices for a new home.  It was so quiet outside this afternoon that I could actually hear the wings of the ducks as they flew over the property.  I wonder if the ducks would approve of my husband's air-horn?

Honest to goodness pouring-down rain.

I think the rain started around 3:00 this morning..... the noise woke me up and I remember looking at the clock and then turning over.  Hearing the sounds of rain against the roof and the windows has become such a rare occurrence out here in the Hills these past few years. (Is it really rain? Or is it Memorex?  -- Now there's an oldie but a goodie.)

When I woke up again at 7:30, it was still raining..... pouring, actually.  First thing I did was go out to the balcony door and look outside at the pond.  Wonder of country wonders--- the pond was filled nearly to the top. It's just so nice to see that much water in that big hole in the ground.  When we first moved here, I had innocent visions of having a rowboat... my husband and I could row (or, he could row) from one side of the pond to the other..... we could listen to the birds, watch the ducks, look at the cows and goats in the neighbor's pastures.

The previous owners had even left a big wooden picnic table down by the pond.  After this rowboat adventure, I thought we could even have lunch down by the pond, at that table under the pecan tree. The gourmet lunch, of course, would be carried out there in a pretty little wicker basket complete with tablecloth and fancy napkins.  (Amazing what your imagination can conjure up with just one thought of a pond on your property.)

All of the above has never happened, nor is likely to happen.  Let me rephrase that.... it will definitely not happen.  Ponds bring snakes.... and this city girl doesn't want to be anywhere near even the possibility of a snake.  (Which is another reason why we didn't get more chickens..... chicken coops also attract snakes.)  That picnic table is now up on our backyard deck.  And we've never even used it out there, because wasps and bees like to congregate underneath the top of that table.

We never did buy a rowboat either..... the pond is certainly big enough for a nice afternoon of rowing back and forth to watch birds and feed the ducks...... but the pond has spent much more time being just a big empty hole in the ground because the weather gods haven't exactly given us our Texas share of rains for the past four years.

But today, that big hole in the ground is a pond..... a real pond, filled nearly to the brim with all of that rain-water.  And it looks pretty darn beautiful. Country wonders will never cease.

No scorpions today...

.... just lizards.

Deliver me from crawling, slithering, creepy little things that move very fast.

I had planned to be very careful taking the mail out of our friend's mailbox today, just in case there was one last scorpion in there among the envelopes and magazines and catalogs.   Just for the record, there wasn't a scorpion (or anything else) in that mailbox except for whatever had been delivered by the mail carrier.

However...... my husband and I went into town this morning for errands (a case of wasp spray from Home Depot being one of the stops)... so both of us were in the car when we stopped first at our mailbox and then drove further up the road to J&J's mailbox.  My husband reached into our mailbox and was greeted by a lizard... I was in the passenger seat and still I jumped at least three inches off  the seat when I saw that lizard.  They move so fast, and the way their legs swivel, they look like they're going side-ways.  You would think they wouldn't get very far walking that way, but they can race from one end of the driveway to the other and it's even hard for our cats to catch up with them.

How in the world does a lizard or scorpion even get into a sealed and closed mailbox?  Do they travel with partners?..... one who opens up the little door while the other crawls inside, then one outside the box to close that door so when the human comes along to check the box, they get scared out of their wits and start screaming. (For the record, that was me, not my husband.)

For as long as we've lived out here in the wilderness, I've been the one finding all these creatures. My husband says I keep finding these things because I'm always looking for things.  Honestly, that man goes out into the field with 'deck shoes' on his feet and doesn't get assaulted by a colony of ants. I go out in the backyard with boots on and I get stung by bees, bitten by ants, scared by scorpions and spiders, and have even found a snake taking a nap on the porch railing and another one curled up inside the garden hose.

Is it just me?  Do all these blasted things know how scared I get........ are they all out there planning their next 'Let's scare the hell out of that city girl!' moment?!

I wish Mother Nature would give me a blessed break.

Bees and wasps and scorpions.....

.... oh my.....

The bee sting on my leg is finally getting less red and angry-looking. A lot of Neosporin helped to get the swelling down.  My husband looked up 'bee stings' on the Internet and found all sorts of good infections that you can get from a simple puncture by a bee.  I should have told him that if I died from this bee sting, he shouldn't bury me anywhere near a hive.

Wasps have taken over the roof of the chicken-coop-turned-screen-porch for the cats.  Into the little openings the wasps fly... and there are dozens of very small open spaces between the boards of the coop and the tin roof.  While I was out there feeding Mickey today, I watched at least a dozen wasps fly into those little ridges.  Heaven only knows what Wasp Kingdoms are underneath that tin roof.  I waited about an hour, made sure there was no breeze on that side of the coop, and I used a whole can of wasp spray.... I aimed the spray into all those little openings and I hope it killed at least a couple of wasp colonies.  (Bad karma, I know.)

This afternoon when I was getting the mail for one of our neighbors, there was a scorpion in their mailbox right behind the mail. Of course, the darn thing scared me to bits.... and I dropped the mail all over the road and had to get out of my car and hope that I didn't step on any of the scorpion's relatives.  Again with the bug spray...... when I brought the mail to their house, I took some of their insect spray and went back down to the mailbox.... and emptied just about the whole can into that box.  When the mail carrier comes tomorrow morning, he'll get the aroma of 'Raid!' as soon as he opens the mailbox and I hope he doesn't pass out from the smell.  When I get their mail from now on, I'll be using the tips of my fingers, taking one piece of mail out at a time, and banging it on the side of the box to make sure a scorpion isn't on each of the envelopes or magazines.    And to think that I had been taking all of their mail out of that box and just putting it on my lap as I drove up their driveway.......... not a good thing.

The ant bites on my ankle from yesterday's adventure..... they're not as swollen as they usually get (I am allergic to those bites).... and they don't look as awful as they have in the past.  This afternoon while I was getting an outfit together for our Halloween party this month, I tried on my costume with black stockings.  In city-days gone by, I wore black stockings because they were NY-chic and you tend to wear a lot of black in NY, which means you wear a lot of black stockings.  These days, I'm wearing black stockings to hide all the ant bites, bee stings, and black-and-blue marks from hitting myself with the rake when I'm out in the garden.

Country Rules for City Girls. (7 thru 11)

 7. Be prepared for dust. When you live out in the middle of a piece of property, there aren't any other houses to act as buffers for dust from your fields (especially when they mow the hay), from the road (when drivers speed by at 45 instead of 25), and from your neighbor's fields (when they mow their own hay).  The dust will get all over your car, your porch, the house, outside furniture, outdoor lawn ornaments.  And just walking from your back door to your car in black patent-leather shoes will prove that point.

 8. Don't ever, ever pick up a garden hose until you've looked at it carefully from one end to the other. Spiders will build webs in it, snakes will curl up around it, lizards will be trying to get a drop or two out of the nozzle, and fire ants will build their mounds over whatever part of the hose is resting in the grass.

 9. Wear boots, wear boots. wear boots.  Even if you're going out there to water a few plants, wear boots. The one time you don't, you'll see a hawk up in the sky that will just be coasting on the breeze and you'll forget where you're walking and the next thing you know, you'll have a dozen fire ants in your shoes.

 10. Do not ever, ever pull up a weed unless you're wearing thick garden gloves.  Most of the weeds out here are pretty and even surprise you with tiny blooms..... but then there are the prickly weeds that stick into your fingers and make your eyes tear up as soon as the thorns pierce your skin.  And just forget those adorable little pink and yellow flowery gloves that they sell in the garden shops.... they're worthless unless you just want to stand there and look cute.  You need a good heavy leather garden glove that can withstand thorns and stickers and burrs.

11. Find yourself a sturdy tree branch that's about as tall as you are.... something that has fallen from one of your trees and didn't break in half when it hit the ground.  This branch becomes your spider-stick.  Whenever you walk under a rose arbor or underneath a low-hanging tree, wave that stick in front of you before walking underneath...... if there's a spider web there, the spider-stick will dislodge it before it gets stuck in your hair.  You'll look sort of strange doing all of this, and the neighbors will think Don Quixote has come to life, but at least you won't be standing there screaming and trying to get a spider out of your hair and its web out of your eyelashes.

Gorgeous days......

The past couple of days have been so pretty.... cool in the morning, warm in the afternoon, hardly a drop of humidity...... good-hair days. 

A day like today makes us remember the first Autumn days when we had just moved here.... we would be out in the yard by the pecan trees with Gracie (our dog who has since passed away), two of our cats, and our first flock of chickens (all of which are gone now also).  My husband and I were picking the pecans off the ground, Gracie was watching us, the cats were watching the chickens, and the chickens were just scratching and pecking around in the grass under the trees.  A Norman Rockwell painting... a Kodak moment... call it whatever you like.... those were beautiful days.

I think we were still on a 'honeymoon' with this property then.... that was before the first Winter came which brought along a deep-freeze that broke all weather records in this state.  Those below-freezing temperatures left us with frozen pipes and no running water on the property..... and me wanting to pack up and move back to Clear Lake.  "What do you mean there's no water?"  (I remember asking my husband that question at least half a dozen times.)  He told me to relax.... that the experience would be just like camping.  Camping?  Since when do city-girls go camping!?  (If I don't have an outlet to plug in the hair dryer and enough light to put on make-up, then I don't go anywhere, much less camping.)

We got through that first winter..... and the second..... and my husband is an excellent plumber and pipe-fitter now.  Not only that, but everyone in Home Depot knows him by name.  As soon as you tell the people in that store that you live in a house built in 1907, they love you because they all know you'll be back again and again and again........

But today....... glorious day.... Gracie would have loved to be sitting under the pecan trees on this beautiful day.    But there I was, without Gracie..... watering the flowers and the plants..... looking up at the sky as a hawk flew around the property.... and I wasn't exactly watching where I was walking.... and I stepped in a small mound of fire ants. 

I sit here, on this gorgeous day, typing with seven ant bites on my right ankle, and with half of my mascara gone because when the first ants started biting me and I looked down to see at least two dozen of those blasted ants crawling on my foot, I sprayed myself in the face with the hose as I was trying to get the ants off of my feet.

But on the bright side...... not one of the neighbors has called me today to tell me that they've seen a cougar in the yard.

"Think about getting a donkey..."

That's exactly what one of our neighbors told me yesterday...... "Think about getting a donkey--- they make great watchdogs and will scare away most predators."

The neighbor made that statement after I told her about the cougar sighting on the other neighbor's property.  Just what I don't need.... a donkey.  The funny thing is that one of the neighbors close to the main highway has a bunch of donkeys.... three big ones, two little ones.... and we saw them just this morning as J and I went walking.  We did our usual walk, all the way up to the main highway (since the temperature wasn't up near 100 degrees) and we happened to see the donkeys up there in the field. The donkeys watched us as we watched them..... and then we walked further down the road and watched another neighbor's buffalos standing in the pasture.

We seem to have a little of everything in this community in the hills.... chickens, peacocks, goats, horses, cows, donkeys, buffalos, deer, elk, longhorns...... and of course the usual dogs and cats.  Of course, that's not counting all the birds, ducks, raccoons, possums, armadillos, snakes, coyotes, rabbits, squirrels, field mice, and there must be something I've forgotten...... oh yes, the cougar.

Well, I can absolutely say that we won't be getting a donkey. I don't care how much noise it will make if someone or something comes onto the property... and I don't care that a donkey will kick the heck out of an unwanted visitor....... I don't need to be taking care of livestock.  I worry enough if the outside cats are out of my sight for more than an hour, and I know for certain that I would be a nervous wreck if I had a donkey or a horse or a cow out there and the weather got too hot or too cold or too rainy.  Can you imagine trying to put a blanket over a horse or a donkey to keep it warm and dry?  The neighbors will think I've lost my mind.

Wild Kingdom

Give me a blessed break.....

One of the neighbors whose property adjoins ours called this afternoon and told me that both she and her husband have seen a large cougar in their yard.  And it wasn't a lawn ornament, it was a living, breathing, walking, hunting cougar, for goodness sake. Jeez.... as if I didn't have enough to look for while I'm outside... with one eye looking up for spider webs and the other eye looking down for snakes. Now I've got to be looking out for a cougar as well.

Other neighbors told us that they noticed very big paw prints in their yard the day after we had that heavy rain last week.  The prints were in the mud, and they thought they were bigger prints than a coyote would make...... so now I'm thinking that maybe this cougar had been in their yard as well.

After we first moved here, the neighbor across the road told me that if we had cats, we needed to bring them inside at night or they would disappear... and then he showed us a photo of the cougar he shot on his property the year before. The darn thing was huge.... just huge.... zoo-worthy, in its own enclosure, that's how big it was.  No one else had mentioned seeing any cougar or bob-cat since then, so of course if no one is talking about those things, you tend to forget.

A cougar, of all things.  A cougar. Jeez..... I may never go outside again.

Fly like a butterfly....

.... and sting like a blessed bee.

After the rains we had last week, the lawns around the house were getting a bit high in places, so we decided to cut the grass this morning. My husband used the riding mower (varooom, varoooom) and I used the smaller mower (push, push).  I usually do the small patches of grass where the riding mower just can't get to, and that's fine.  I put on my boots and off I go with that small mower, hoping that no one stops by and sees me actually mowing, taking care not to stop on the grass... the trick is to just keep going, going, going.

However.... the above method works fine with fire ants. The ants can't bite you if you keep moving.  When I was cutting the patch of grass near the red-tip bushes, I got stung by a bee.  I guess I got too close to the bushes, and that bee was just waiting there, and out he flew like a shot, stabbing me in the thigh.  Felt like a hypodermic needle went into me. And that bee was so quick..... he flew out of the bushes right into my leg, then propelled himself back into the bushes again. A definite hit and run.

The good news is that I'm not allergic to bee stings, as I am to wasp stings. (Found that out the hard way back at the other house in Clear Lake when I got stung by a wasp and within 60 seconds, I was sick, sick, sick.) 

I finished mowing that small patch of grass that I had started, and then I shut off the mower and went into the house to see the damage on my leg.  No screams, mind you.... although with the noise that riding mower makes, my husband wouldn't have heard me screaming anyway.

I have a tiny red sting-mark on my thigh, which is surrounded by a swollen red welt about three inches in diameter.  The swelling started quickly, and I put Neosporin on the sting, which helped ease the pain of the sting but didn't hold back the swelling.  Walking up and down the stairs during that first hour after getting stung was interesting.... it was hard to bend my leg, but it was manageable. 

Am I adapting to this country life? No, probably not.  After getting stung by the bee this morning, I told myself that it could have been worse... it could have been a wasp (and the hospital is 12 miles away).... or it could have been a scorpion...... or it could have been a snake (and the hospital is 12 miles away).

As for walking up and down the stairs with a swollen and painful bee sting, that wasn't a problem....I have shopped in a crowded SteinMart during their 12-Hour Sale Days while wearing three-inch heels, so a little bee sting (in flats) is a piece of cake.

Country Rules for City Girls. (1 thru 6)

 l. Never leave your slippers on the floor by the side of the bed. Keep them on your night-table or on a footstool.  If the slippers are right on the floor, it makes life much easier for the scorpions--- they like to climb into shoes for naps.

 2. Always turn your shoes/boots/slippers upside down before you put them on your feet. Scorpions and spiders like to hide inside them.  And, if you leave your shoes or boots outside on the porch, then you have to turn them upside down and smack them against the porch to make sure nothing has crawled up inside them.

 3. Never leave your car windows open when the car is parked in the driveway or the garage.  Wasps, flies, bees, dragonflies.... they'll fly in and then not know how to get out so they'll be sitting on that ledge near the rear window.... and then when you drive off, out they will come, heading towards the windshield because they think they're flying into the sky.  Ever try to drive while a wasp is flying around in your car?

 4. When you walk around your property, wear boots. Not cute high-heeled boots, and not short ankle-top boots.  You want boots nearly up to your knees.  And the boots are going to get grass-covered and dusty and dirty... so dirty that you'll rinse them off with a hose and not cringe because the leather is getting wet because you wouldn't get caught dead with these boots on your feet anyplace other than your property where no one else sees you anyway.

 5. Keep your city-shoes and your high heels in your closet... you won't be wearing them much.  You'll be wearing flat shoes wherever you go because you just never know if you'll be walking on gravel, stones, hay-covered dirt, lawns that need mowing, fields decorated with cow-poop, or grass that's a mine-field of fire ant mounds.  If you're certain that you can get out of your car and walk on smooth, clean pavement to your destination of choice, then by all means wear those pretty city shoes...... but be prepared for dozens of country women to be looking at your high heels and thinking "There goes a city girl..... she must be lost."

 6. When you walk on grass, no matter how short or how long it is, keep walking.  Do not stop to smell the roses, watch a bluebird, or pick up a pecan.  Stopping in that grass will give every fire ant, spider, scorpion, beetle, and snake the opportunity to make friends with you.  And unless you want to be on speaking terms with creeping, crawling, and slithering things, just keep on walking. And for goodness sakes, if there's a solid paved path, you shouldn't be walking on the grass anyway.

...... And so concludes the first six rules..... I have to stop typing now because the fire ant bites on my ankles are beginning to itch terribly. (That bluebird was just so darn cute.)

Cleaning day...

Every other Thursday, the "House Coach" pulls into our driveway.  That's what C calls herself, as she makes everything under our roof clean and sparkling.  This house used to be a Bed and Breakfast, so there is a private bathroom for each of the bedrooms.  I hate, hate, hate cleaning bathrooms, with the kitchen being next on that 'hate to do' list.

So C and I have an arrangement..... she cleans all the bathrooms, and the kitchen... and while she does that, I dust "all this stuff" (as she calls it) and I vacuum the carpets.  I don't mind the dusting.... it's totally mindless and I can think of other things or even talk to one of my cousins on the phone as I'm doing it....... and I don't even mind the vacuuming (again, it's totally mindless but you can't talk on the phone while the vacuum is running).

My city-girl treat to myself last month was arranging for C to be here every other week.... and I've told her that if she ever gets a free day on that inbetween week, then she's welcome to come and do her thing here.  And do it she does..... her favorite cleaning products are vinegar and baking soda and Windex.  And everything sparkles...so clean that it makes me wonder what on earth I was doing before she started cleaning here... this house looked clean to me before but it just didn't have that same sparkle.  Truth be told, I'm really not willing to sacrifice a nail to thoroughly scrub the stove-top or a bathroom floor.

If my mother-in-law had been alive when we found this house, she would have told me to "Run the other way and keep on running," because of all the bathrooms.  Two of the bathrooms are vintage, and the others are new but they look vintage, in keeping with the 1907 history of this home.  The decision to buy this house was heart-based, not brain-based.... and as with all things that you fall in love with at first sight, sometimes you can't see what the down-side could be. 

The down-side here... just too many bathrooms... but they're all so pretty, and now they're sparkling, thanks to the House Coach.  C is originally from up north, as I am... her sense of humor is as sparkling as she is, and she "gets it" when it comes to being direct and telling it like it is. Definitely a bright spot in the week, when C is here.

Another down-side...... the scorpions. I brought the vacuum up to the third floor this morning so I could do the carpeting in the library... and I was greeted by an extra-long scorpion, right at the top of the staircase.  I swear he was just sitting there watching me climb those stairs.  I stepped over the blessed thing, plugged in the vacuum, and swooped him right up before he had a chance to move.  Not one scream, not even a cringe. (Me, not the scorpion.)

"Enjoy your pond and take some pictures...."

That's what my cousin F wrote to me in her eMail tonight.  I had written to her about all the rain we've had recently, and I told her that our pond was nearly filled to the brim and looking so pretty and pond-like again.  "Have fun.... enjoy the pond.... send me some pictures."

My cousin lives in Long Island, at the end of Suffolk County near Port Jefferson. Not exactly The City, but not Way Out In The Country, either.  I wrote back and explained to F that the only way I enjoy our pond is from a safe distance.... from the road as I either walk or drive down our hill, from the front porch, or from the upstairs balconies.  This city-girl does not, does not, walk out to that pond for a look-see.

Sometimes, there are ducks in the pond, which are really cute... but even a duck family doesn't make me want to walk way down there and have a picnic by the pond's edge.  More than likely, a bunch of snakes will also be near the pond's edge...... and having a picnic with snakes wasn't ever exactly on my Bucket List.  (Does a city girl even have a Bucket List?  Wouldn't she have a "Macy's Shopping Bag List?")

When we first moved here, I have to admit that I did walk around the property with my husband a few times, but that was only after the fields were mowed and the bales of hay were scattered around the pastures.  On those days, I wore tall leather boots (in case I stepped on a fire ant mound) and I carried a long stick (in case there was a spider web in my path).  And, sad to say, each and every time I walked the property with my husband, we came upon something that would make me sad........ like the tiny fawn that had been torn apart by coyotes, baby birds that had been de-feathered by raccoons, sun-bleached bones of rabbits and squirrels...... it was always something to not make me want to walk out there again.  And after enough dead-animal sightings, I finally told my husband "I am done with this.... I can see the property just fine from up on the porch."  He's been walking the property by himself ever since.

When we first moved out here, I had visions of walking around our pastures with our dog Gracie.  We'd take the Frisbee with us, toss it out into the field for Gracie to catch.... she'd race to get it and then run back to us and drop it at our feet with that "Let's do it again!" look on her doggie-face.  That Little House On The Prairie scene just didn't happen more than once or twice...... there were too many burrs and nettles out in the pastures..... Gracie would run to catch the Frisbee and come back limping, with one paw up in the air because a sticky-burr was caught in her paw.

Gracie was raised in Clear Lake... she was a city-dog who liked to run on the grass and she didn't have to side-step armadillo holes and jump over snakes.  She knew how to sit-and-stay when she got to a street corner, but she had no idea how to deal with riding mowers and tractors. Gracie got to the point where she just treated those machines like vacuum cleaners--- she stayed out of their way.  And that dog would have never, ever, jumped into our pond on a hot summer day just to feel the cool water on her fur.

So.... a note to my dear cousin F....... yes, the pond is filled, and yes, it looks beautiful and peaceful and serene.... but your city-girl cousin isn't going anywhere near it.

Morning Glories

Just when you least expect it, Nature gives you a pretty surprise.... purple Morning Glories.  They're growing up along the lattice fence by the chicken-coop-turned-cat-porch...... such pretty flowers reaching to the sky on vines that just won't quit.  And they're not only here in our yard, I've seen them growing all along the main highway and also in town, spreading their joy in purple bursts of randomness on fence posts, tree trunks, old tractors sitting in pastures, even 'stop' signs and light posts.  The morning glories are just decorating anything and everything they touch and it's making me wonder how they all got there in the first place.

I have seen packets of morning glory seeds in the garden centers of stores, but haven't bought any..... my luck with nurturing seeds is non-existent, so I don't even try.  I've heard that birds can eat flower seeds and then the seeds get digested and 'pooped out' at the birds' next landing spot.... so possibly, that's how our own morning glories got here.

We certainly have enough birds on this property..... the wrens have taken up residence in all of the wooden bird houses that the previous owner built..... and we have four generations of barn swallows that have built condo-sized nests all around our porches.  I've put out birdseed for these wild birds, but they haven't been interested...... they're into catching bugs and flies and gathering their own seeds out in the fields.  If the barn swallows would go after the crickets and the scorpions around here, I'd be perfectly content.

Every summer, we look up at those barn swallow nests and say they need to be scraped off the porch....... the baby birds have been fledged and are spending most of their time in the pecan trees now.  There are a couple of nests, though, that are still home to four of the baby barn swallows, so basically we've just left the  nests right where they are.                                                                   

Every evening before dusk, four of those birds come back and cuddle up into two of the nests.  Two birds in each nest, which is about all the room that nest will allow the full-grown birds.... and they sit there and watch me going back and forth as I feed the cats.  The baby birds don't even fly out of the nests when I walk by.  These four birds seem to recognize both me and my voice......... when they were tiny babies, I talked to them as I went by the nest, and they all sat there with big baby-bird eyes and listened. 

Now, as adult birds, they don't seem to be interested in getting out into the world and forming their own little families.  They just sit in those same two nests every evening, then huddle down as it gets dark.... and when I go out to feed the cats in the morning, I see their little heads pop up over the nests and then they watch me feed the cats and listen to me as I talk to them.

It has not escaped me that since moving out here to the Hill Country I'm rejoicing in finding hidden treasures of morning glories and talking to baby birds in nests on top of porch columns.   I remember rejoicing in SteinMart  back in Clear Lake when they had a sale on silk-covered high heels.......