Mail Order Package Among Other Things - Early May 2015

We had quite a bit of excitement this week - we got some brand new hen chicks in the mail!  They were shipped overnight after hatching the day before.  I ordered them from Meyer Hatchery.  https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productlist.a5w?cat=1020

I was able to choose the breeds I wanted and I selected only hens.  No roosters for me - I don't want to disturb the neighbors.  They made it just fine coming through the mail in their box.

Clockwise beginning with the yellow chick 1) Delaware; 2) New Hampshire red; 3) Silver Laced Wyandotte; and 4) Dominique.   All will be good laying hens.

We moved them to a bird cage for now and keep them in the house.  We have a 60 watt light bulb on them to keep them warm.

In honor of Mother's Day, I took of picture of this Mother spider floating in the swimming pool.  She is covered in baby spiders.

 We rescued her and put her in the garden so she and the babies could kill pests.

One night this week we took a picture of the mother cardinal sitting on her nest in a yaupon holly.

She has two eggs.

We continue to check our purple martin gourds and another nest just hatched!

And here we have a new nest.

Our carolina wren chicks continue to grow.  They have quite a few feathers now.


 We decided to check their heartbeat - very fast!

On to some excitement on the front porch.  Look what was waiting for me.  It is good I looked before I sat down!

I believe this is a rat snake.  Probably after all the bird nests in the yard.  After I disturbed him, he slithered around the back of the chair.  I left him alone to leave - I want him to catch mice and rats.

The confederate jasmine is blooming like crazy right now. 

 It smells wonderful.  This vine is evergreen.

I have antique roses  that are still blooming now.  New Dawn (white/pale pink flower) is in the front. 

 Red Cascade (small red flower) is in the front.

I'll close with a picture of the vegetable garden.  It is coming along well despite the bunnies efforts to destroy it - 2015 seems to be a prolific year for them.  Today my hubby is busy weeding.  He put up a second row of twine around the tomatoes. 

End of April 2015 - Garden Birds are Nesting and a Broad-Headed Skink

This weeks post finds a cardinal family visiting the garden.  Below is the male.

Here is the female cardinal.  I'm still looking for the nest - I have seen both of them around here a lot.

A female ruby throated hummingbird visited the Salvia Greggii which is in bloom now.

You can see the yellow pollen on her beak. And off she goes.

We found a new herp in our garden!  Unfortunately it is deceased but I was excited anyway to see a new critter.  It is a broad-headed skink.  Here is a link telling some information about it.  http://www.herpsoftexas.org/content/broad-headed-skink

I still have bearded irises blooming.

The Carolina Wren mother continues to flit about the garden.  And guess what?  I found her nest!

She laid her eggs in the petunia basket on the front porch.  I've been drenching those poor little eggs with water for the last several weeks.

I finally noticed her fly out of the basket and when I checked, I felt their sweet downy little heads.  One of the eggs has not hatched yet.

When we shown the flashlight at them, they raised their little heads in unison looking for food from their Mama.

The The Red Hot Pokers are in full bloom now. 

The hummingbirds love these flowers too.

I have a small birdhouse on my back porch - and look what I found in there -  four house sparrow chicks! 

Here is the male with his black chin coming in for a feeding.

He knows I'm watching so he is very wary to land on the house -see him on the right?

I'm closing this post with a word about the vegetable garden.  Here are pictures of our tomato plants.  We found a new way to tie them up - this is an experimental year.  We are using fence posts and twine.  See link for more information.
http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/cat%E2%80%99s-cradle-tomatoes

And finally, here is a picture of the artichokes.  I planted them last year and they survived snow and ice to come back again this year.

First Nest of Purple Martin Chicks Hatched! Life Around the Garden

Our first nest of Purple Martin chicks just hatched this week!

Two other gourds have eggs in them.  Here is one of the nests with 6 eggs.

 Here is a close up shot of the perfect little eggs.

The irises continue to bloom now.

We have had an unbelievable amount of rain around here this spring.  Luckily the rain hasn't hurt the iris blossoms like it has the rose blossoms.

 

I have a pair of Carolina Wrens nesting in my Yaupon holly.  Here is one of the parents.  They are both very loud.

My front yard is very colorful now - I'm enjoying it because I know that come summer, only the crepe myrtles will be in bloom.

Mr. McGregor found a bunny nest in our vegetable garden - uh oh.  We moved the nest outside the garden - Mama bunny will have to find another spot to raise her babies.

There were two bunnies in the nest.

I love the pink & purple irises.

I had my son cut down a 7 foot antique rose bush in the front garden because it was looking too ratty.  I've decided I like the less crowded walk up to the front door.

A lovely antique rose bush is blooming now. 

 

 Close up of this antique rose - I wish I could remember the name of it.  I'll update the post if I can find the information.
 

This week the clemantis bush is in full bloom.