Crepe Myrtes

 This is my grandmother's very pretty bright pink Crepe Myrtle.  She has three of them around her house.  This one was the brightest in color and also attracted the most bees.  It stayed in bloom a lot longer than the others.  I think it is due to the partial afternoon shade it has.  With summer almost at an end the little monster and I agreed to help her trim up the spent blooms this fall.  Hopefully next year they will be just as pretty for her to enjoy.

Late Summer Blooms

School has started and the weather is still steaming!  I am very excited about our Calla Lilies that are still in bloom.  They never reached the deep purple we wanted, but they are still very pretty.  It has not rained in weeks and the temps are still staying right at 100.  The high temps are making the little monster cranky and tired after school and homework.  The flowers are hating the dry, hot air.  I am tired of the heat and can not wait for a nice two day long cool, steady rain.  I have reading to catch up on and a rack of ribs waiting for a long cook in the oven.  For now, it is too hot to bake or turn the  oven on for more than a few minutes.  The dry air is full of dust bringing on allergies with massive sneezing even in the dog.  All of the potted plants have been moved into mostly shade and need massive water daily.  The only two left blooming are the Lilies and my new rusty colored mums.  The mums are a little early, but I noticed the local stores are stocking up on fall colored mums.  If mine stop blooming before Halloween I can always get more.  They have always been one of my favorites.  I would love a porch full of dark red and orange mums to great guest and little kids on Halloween.

Nothing to worry about now since no one is out moving around in the heat.  It is nice to see a little green and flashes of color in the yard that is surrounded by very dry grass and trees already loosing their leaves from lack of water.  (we have way too much land and too many trees to water everything) Hope you enjoy the last of our summer blooms while we wait for rain and ripe pumpkins!

Game Camera: Natural Trophy

After a long wait for the little monster, we finally saw a few pictures of our raccoon we released to a safer place.  He seems to have found a new family as there were many different pictures.  We also caught a few rabbits, hogs, coyotes and of course deer of all sizes on the camera.  The little monster was happy to see his relocated friend happy and still a little cranky. 

After finding a few pictures here, my husband relocated the camera to a new area.  He sat if up for a few weeks before checking the pictures.  He came home with over 900 photos from that time.  All were of deer.  Most were does with their little ones running around.  One strange picture was of a doe on her back feet standing up to fight off a younger doe.  The strangest pictures are the ones I am about to post.  I have never seen anything like this except for on tv and is usually retained within the fences of a hunting ranch where daily feeding to maximize growth is used.  This picture however, is 100% natural, "free range" deer from the middle of nowhere.  There are a few dirt roads in the area, but no houses for miles.  The land is owned and used for the harvest of timber to make paper products.  I know this is not the largest deer on record, but it is a lot larger than we usually see in this area. 

If you zoom this last picture up, you can see another deer at the tip of his horns.  This is average size of a good mature buck for the area the pictures were taken in. He is also in the first picture, but harder to see.  Here  he looks tiny!