Baby mocks are back!

They're back! The mockingbirds are back this year and nesting in the crepe myrtle in the front yard. I love it when I hear them making noise for food. Let me back up a bit. First, I really enjoy the nest building activity. It's so amazing to me that little bits and pieces of wood are weaved together somehow into a nest that is sturdy enough to hold three babes and the mom. The nest is up high so I couldn't see how the eggs were doing. I was happy when I finally heard the babies making sounds.



Yesterday I got all excited and a little worried. Why? Because I saw one of the babies in the rosemary bush underneath their nest. So I was all happy because I knew it was a chance to see a baby. BUT I did not want Smokey finding it down there. Yikes. I saw evidence of another grown mockingbird done in out back so I worried for the little birdy in the bush. I don't know if it survived or not but I didn't see a little body around the yard so that's a good sign. And below is a picture of the momma bird watching me as I hovered near her little one. She didn't swoop down on me or anything. Nice.

Bees & Spiders

Here is a shot of us out at the country beeyard. My sister-in-law and nephew are checking out one of the two big spiders "guarding" our bees. It's a little difficult to see but you can spot the spider if you look at the yellow part of Renee's veil. it almost looks like the spider is on her veil since you all cannot see the spider web.

Spider, Man!

Last weekend we took some family members out to see the bees in the country (near the New Berlin exit). We had a blast and the kids such a great job - they were so brave and really were not nervous after a little bit. Everyone got to sample a bit of honey and our nephew announced, "That's so sweet!" Very nice and cute.

Mark spotted two amazing spiders, each on one end of the beeyard. They are HUGE!!! I'm not brave about all animals but spiders don't bother me too much so I was okay getting close to them to get some shots. They look very similar and were pretty mesmerizing. Didn't see any bee bodies in the webs so that's a good thing. :)

Rainbow Prettiness

Two weeks ago, we got about an inch of wonderful rain. Then, last week we got another inch and a half! Gosh, it was so refreshing to hear and see the storms. Lightening, thunder, rain, wind. Nice. I wish we could see more of it. The news folks just said we have had 22 days of 100+ days this year now, with more in the forecast. Hot is one thing. It's Texas. It's hot. But the drought is really terrible. The fields continue to look pretty bad and I often wonder how the poor farming folks are going to make it.

One evening after dinner, Mark called me out to the back deck to see something and this is what I saw. It was nice that he hollered bring the camera also. :) He knows a good shot when he sees one. Do you see the lighter rainbow above the main one? Double rainbow...very nice and not often seen. I did darken this shot so that I could see the rainbows better. Below is the original shot I snapped.

Happy 4th of July!

Another blazing hot day in South Texas -- I heard it was 103F today. Good grief! I hope everyone's had a nice weekend so far. I have really enjoyed the long weekend, very relaxing. There's a lot going on around town since Freedom Fiesta is in full swing. We noticed the carnival in down on the square this year; it was neat to see the rides down there in the middle of everything. The parade was this morning but we skipped it for the Transformers instead. We've been to and worked plenty of parades so the escape was fun. Very good movie if you like action.

Oh, I hear the fireworks now. :) Going to check out a few of them...we can see a bit of it from our street. Enjoy Sunday!