birds 5 togd 1, wildflowers

BIRDS 5 TOGD 1
we have lived peacefully here at the country n now for the last
10 years with the birds
snakes lizards and other varmints around here
until recently

the birds have decided after 10 years that they like the rafters on
our upper deck to use to roost on at night
we have no problem with that
however it became quite messy so
i decided it was time to get them to move on to another site

i asked them to please not roost there any more
that was like talking to your kids and asking them
to keep their feet off the furniture

birds 1 togd 0

next i scared them off whenever they came up to roost
they were quite persistent
after i went back inside they would drift back up to the rafters
and have a good nights sleep

birds 2 togd 0

next i took netting and waded it up and placed it that is i stapled
it to the rafters

they just pulled the loose ends out or just nested on top of the netting
we now have black netting adorning much of our shrubs and trees

birds 3 togd 0

next i did a google search as google as the answer to everything
how to get birds off the rafters
hang an owl it said
so i ordered a realistic looking plastic owl and hung him off
the rafters

the wind would blow him around
heck he looked real
it even scared me more than once when i
went outside on the deck and saw that scowling owl at my
face level
even my wife she got scared when she woke up one morning
and there that owl was staring at her

the first night the birds flew in and saw those owl you could hear
them hit their brakes as they flew in
you could hear them shreak when they flew into the area where
the owl was

well this only worked for a few nights then they figured it out that
that was a fake owl
at least they didnt land on him

birds 4 togd 0

next i went back to google again
google know it all said try fake snakes
so i ordered these fake snakes

dang they look real and put them in the rafters
scared the heck out of those birds
you could hear them shreak again a they flew in to roost
i think they said oh  ^*#(
but again after a few nights they came back and actually pulled the
snakes out of the rafters

birds 5 togd 0

then i was talking to my friend on the phone and told him about the birds
he said i went down to ace hardware and got this sticky stuff and put
on the rafters and those birds wouldnt land on the rafters any more
got rid of them that way

so i went down to the ace hardware and got this stuff and
applied it on the rafters

and dang that stuff works great
no birds in over a week

birds 5 togd 1

and i scored last so i may have won this battle

WILDFLOWERS
the bluebonnets are beautiful this year
although not the best weve ever had as i had thought earlier in the year
but there appears to be so many other wildflowers that are doing good
that the combination makes the fields even more beautiful
heres a view of one of my pastures

the organicgreen doctor

bluebonnets, snakessssssss

BLUEBONNETS
as preditcted the bluebonnets will be good this year
especially as we have more rain coming this spring
here is a picture of a area of bare ground that bluebonnets
took root in

here is the same area 3 months later

this use to be a 3 foot circle of bare ground that the bluebonnets
have taken over and covered the bare area
this is how they work in nature to stabillize the bare areas to
keep them from erosion

here is part of my front yard that is mostly all bluebonnets
with some clover mixed it

this is how nature does grasslands
a lot of this was bare because of the drought

should be a beautiful showing this year

this is our first bluebonnet here at the country n

we hope to have thousands more
this is the year of the bluebonnet
be ready to tour the hill country this spring
as it could be awhile before they are this good

interesting that this bluebonnet planted itself in my crushed
granite driveway-the worst soil on my property
now have to drive around it so it can continue to grow

SNAKESSSSSSSS
ok my best medical school friends wife
if you are reading my blog you need to stop now
i know how much you are scared of snakes and snake stories

do you still have that realistic rubber snake we gave you for christmas
that year that came in its own aquarium and was wrapped
so pretty

i have written several blogs about snakes
they all seem to involve my wife she
some of the snake events i dont dare let her know about
she would not live here anymore if she only knew

once she was in our hot tub on our deck

she was sitting in the tub looking out towards the river just
enjoying herself in the mid day while i was working in the
yard to her left
see that rain water tank next to the hot tub

(thats our movie star tank that was in a movie made
in austin
it was painted to look like a corroded industrial tank
we managed to buy it after the movie was made and left
it as it is)

as i was working and she was chilling out i looked up and there
on the top of that rain water tank was a big ole chicken or rat
snake just coiled up looking down at my wife she in that tub

i kept my moouth shut and went on working in the yard
she never knew until i did my blog on this uneventful event

it would have been fun to watch though if they snake would
have fallen into that hot tub

talkin about streakin
that would have been some streakin to watch and of course to
listen to
or
she might have just had a heart attack there in the hot tub

recently in the blog world i made contact with a new blogger
she has only written two blogs
she is a photographer who is deathly afraid of snakes
like my medical school best friends wife (are you still reading this)
and like my wife she

her best friend has pet snakes
and wanted to have her photograph the snakes
so she did

she must be a brave lady
heres the blog littledeerphotography.blogspot.com
telling what happened that day

sure would like my medical friends wife and my wife she to
get a picture like the last one in her blog

the organicgreen doctor

snake skin, new kindergartener

SNAKE SKIN
my wife she doesnt mind snakes if they keep their distance
this is a story about a snake that still bothers her-she shivers thinking about it

when first moved here was over taking pictures of the house on outside-
before we moved in and started to redo the outside-added a long arbor
in front and in each entry
around back where two walls come together at a right angle noticed
something moving
it was a darn large dark snake climbing up the corner where the buildings
came together
watched it for a while as it eased its way up the wall to the roof
didnt think much of it as we werent living here yet

few weeks later after we moved partially in-we came out on weekends for
awhile-my wife she hung up a hammock that she bought me for my birthday
but she was the one who used it    she likes to sit there and grade papers-kids get
better grades this way

had noticed the snake skin hanging off a plant hanger on the upper deck off
our upstair bed room     didnt remove it as thought would see how long it took her
to find it

was working in yard when heard this terrible scream     helphelpcomeherehelphelp
knew then she had finally noticed the snake skin

never told her about the snake climbing the wall-figured was in enough trouble as
it was

KINDERGARTENER
saw something cute as we were driving down the four lane highway to work yesterday
a bus was stopped in the opposite lane with its red lights flashing
this is a busy highway but most people dont mind stopping for the kids to get on the bus

a dad and a young child-she had her pink backpack on- walked down
their driveway together to the bus    

he handed the child off onto the bus when he turned to walk a way
the little girl(probably a kindergartener-school just started here this week)
made a mad dash past the dad and ran up the driveway

the dad patiently ran her down and carried her to the bus
this time he walked her to a seat and gradually walked backwards off the bus

this time the young girl stayed in place

a large number of cars in four lanes were waiting     no one honked or seemed upset
am sure they all smiled and thought back to those days when their
kindergarteners started their first week of school