Frog's, Turtles, and Chickens, OH MY!!

My mother has quite the collection of yard critters- both live ones and those that aren't alive. Here are some of her critters that she gathered from the "fire ant" side of the house and moved to the "non- fire ant" side of the house. Let's hope the "other side" of the house continues to be the "non- fire ant" side of the house for a long, long, time.

Abandoned Daffodils and Their New Home

Down in the woods, there were these abandoned little jewels. They were left over from times gone by. Who planted them, we don't know but what we do know, is that someone had inadvertently disturbed a lot of them from their bed near a trash pile. They were randomly growing a top piles of trash and debris, struggling to surface the leaves and brush. We rescued the stragglers that had migrated down the hill away from the big bed of these little guys.

We figured that they might be much happier in a place where people could actually see them and I'd get the satisfaction of finally having some flowers planted in my yard- not just in a pot on the porch!

So, here are the lone, "woods" grown daffodils in their new home. It's a start.....

Natural "Yard Art"

Betcha' thought I'd ran away huh? Well, it's just been super busy around my place and I don't expect things to lighten up for awhile. We are hitting the school books pretty hard and that takes up all of the "play" time that I used to have. That's ok though. It's teaching me to prioritize things a little better now. I have managed to find a few minutes to post these photos of the last fleeting glimpses of warmer weather gone by. Hope you enjoy.

I promise I'll have some silly stuff coming up when I can squeeze some time in.....

The bee that allowed me to get really, really close to take this picture.......

Someone's been "munchy" on those leaves, it appears

I almost got this one focused right.

This is not poison oak. This is Virginia Creeper. People from all around the south panic when they see it and think it's poison oak. There is still cause to worry though- some people are allergic to Virginia Creeper. I wouldn't know if I was or not- I just leave it alone. It does color up to a pretty peachy shade of color though, if I may say so myself....

There's No Place Like Home....

I went home again the other day. My mother has the most awesome yard.

Bumble bees were crawling all over these pretties. Can you believe that this brave bee didn't care that I got this close. I wondered if he was dead- eventually, he moved a leg so he was alive. I think the deliciousness of the flower intoxicated him temporarily.


My mother has this pretty bunch of cone flowers on her back step. It really helps the matter that my sister works at a greenhouse and can supply her with plenty of "flowery goodies". She says that the mosquito plant (to the right) really does help to repel those little nasties.

This is the Virginia Creeper that is already turning for fall.



This deformed apple is the last one on the tree. It was out of reach, which is ok since I'm not sure I'd want to eat a deformed apple. It kind of looks like the "wormies" have already sampled it anyway.



Just a few more lavender shaded pretties.


This is the last Rose of Sharon left on this tree.


Two pears left on this tiny pear tree. We sampled one last month but it wasn't quite ready yet. I'm just not sure how to tell when pears are ready. Anyone have any ideas?


Pretty, pretty, but I'm sure they are poisonous. Ok, I'm not really that sure but if the birds aren't eating them, I could only guess that they are.

I hate to see the last flowers of summer fading away.......

Signs that the Seasons are About To Change

This is a picture of what is left of the garden. We grew a bumper crop of grass this year. (If I had a sharp sling blade, I would harvest that bumper crop, come to think of it....) I took a stroll through that knee high grass and peeked around to see what might be left. I actually found three okra pods and a half eaten (no thanks to Mr. Groundhog) zucchini squash. Uncle Bubba has some watermelons that look pretty happy though. You can't see them here but they are at the end of those corn stalks in the little clearing that you can see in the top right of the photo. The peanut plants (that are left of the grass in this photo) seem to be doing quite well. We'll just have to see what happens with those guys.


I visited my mother's yard and took some photos of flowers that mean summer is on the way out. Here are some of them for you to see.


Mr. Dogwood has red berries- fall is coming for sure....




Mr. Brother-In-Law bush has purple berries on it. I don't know the technical name for this bush but Brother In Law bush is what my uncle calls it. He says that he is allergic to it and as long as it is next to the front porch, my mother's brother-in-law can not expect a visit from him any time soon.


Lastly, here is some fall crocus that popped up just recently to announce that summer is almost over. Mr. Butterfly was seen taking advantage of these beauties. See him? He is a tiny little guy on the middle right of a crocus bloom.