Speaking of small and wiggly wildlife, we awoke this morning in the middle of a rainstorm (yes, rain - real rain!) to find our yard and porches decorated with snails. In a 10'x10' patch of ground near the back door, Kelly counted 20. Crawling up the wall near the front door there were 19!
a tiny little guy crawls up the wall near the door.
where does he think he's going?
big and little
I've never seen this kind of snail before - black with a brown, conical shell.
There were several of them in the front yard this morning. Neat!
The mama bird is a little harder to catch sitting still. Her babes have gone back to wherever they were living before they visited us that day - we suspect they live in the neighbor's yard, where new sod was being laid the day they magically appeared in our mountain laurel - but she still stops by to sample our small and wiggly wildlife.
March 25th is my personal holiday which I nicknamed Life Day.
On this day, we honor happy families...
...and floating houses that look like heads.
This white-haired, toad-like fellow deserves a nod. He is doing important work for science.
This year's official Life Day animal is the pangolin.
The official vegetable is the artichoke.
Did you know? The first artichoke was originally a girl named Cynara.
Good on her, I say. Three cheers for Cynara!
The official heraldry of Life Day is the crowned albino dino.
It's worth nothing: there is a dearth of dinosaurs in traditional heraldry.
I hope today's recognition results in mass propagation. May the mighty thunder-lizard rise again in coats of arms and other armorial bearings.
On this year's Life Day, I am driving up to Denton, TX for a work trip. In honor of the occasion, the official Life Day song is "The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton" by the Mountain Goats.
Not done yet, but better, no? We're loving the pale turquoise that we chose for the worktop and pegboards. And having everything organized in bins instead of shoved in - priceless!
You know I love a good before-and-after series. We are in the midst of a laundry room overhaul, and I am posting this as a promise that there will be after-shot-worthy photos soon. So here it is, the ugly before. Stay tuned and hold me to my word.
There are blessings in laziness. If I had ever followed through with the landscaping plans that occupied my daydreams when we first moved in, we would have lost a fortune during this year's drought. If I had ever gotten around to taming the wildness of our little patch of earth, the deer wouldn't have been here to greet me this morning, nuzzling and grooming each other's long necks as they grazed on the newly sprung grass.
*I wish these photos were better, but this is the best my little camera can do through two panes of glass and a screen in the early morning light with well-camouflaged creatures. I had to share anyway.
Speaking of small and wiggly wildlife, we awoke this morning in the middle of a rainstorm (yes, rain - real rain!) to find our yard and porches decorated with snails. In a 10'x10' patch of ground near the back door, Kelly counted 20. Crawling up the wall near the front door there were 19!
