Monster in my Shit Tea

Okay, lol, the title was there just to get you to look, but yeah, read on. There's a monster in my Shit Tea, really!

It's time to get the gardens going and the yards back into shape. 

Since we trim and prune all year here we always have a burn pile ready to go.

 Light her up!

I tried for a while to get a shot of the flames. Thought it would be cool. Instead I ended up with something else maybe more interesting, the vapor made an interesting effect. 

Another close up of a wild volunteer.

 

I was taking pictures of the fish on the pond and saw this lonely leaf, floating around. 

Loaded it up in my photo editor and played with the color. 

I'll stick that in the wallpaper file.

I'm a little worried here. One lone crane, what happened to his mate? I'm hoping that they have already laid their eggs and are taking turns on the nest... instead of something else.

Marigold

It's nice to see a red wing black bird. We used to have flocks of them.

This must be a female.

I'm attempting to grow a few vegetables this year. I've got 3 tomato plants and some lettuce from seed, all in containers. I have really, really bad luck with vegetables but Mike says this one has grown.

I planted them with some good black soil but it's still a bit sandy. I need some fertilizer. So I made my own. (You know me, why buy it when you can make it yourself  out of stuff you already have?) This is called Shit Tea. Pretty simple, panty hose, cow patty, and a bucket of water.

Look who's been hanging out in my fertilizer bucket.

That's one colorful frog. 

EeeeeeeeKKKK!

There's a crazy one eyed monster in my Shit Tea bucket, too! Lol!

Yeah, the owl again. He's been hanging out quite a bit during the day.

He looks sleepy, those kids keeping him up all night.

And Dusty treed a possum for us...

Some more wild flowers, I must be obsessed.

Woodpecker

The yard looks nice. 

Arrrrrr, matey!!

Wild Things

Wild Thing... You make my heart sing!

I've been informed it's a thistle. 

It sure is pretty for something that grows wild out of a cow patty.

Field of dreams...

Field of wildflowers....

These guys are a little loopy.

The ever elusive shot of a bee standing still, on a wildflower.

This is my night blooming cereus that decided to open up during the day. 

Wild...

I had hoped to catch the above night blooming cereus fully open at night. Nope, closed up tight, but I did find this spider. 

Look closely, he has a spooky face on  his back.

Our snapping turtle making his way around the back fence. 

He's big and I don't mess with him.

I have a small patch of wild blackberries that are starting to bloom.

There's my owl again, sticking his head out during the day.

Another unknown wild weed (not the wacky kind) growing. 

I love that purple color.

Not so much wild as a volunteer.

We have patches of wild lantana around the property, too. 

And speaking of wild things, I think one of these Sandhill Cranes is trying to entice the other into doing the wild thing.

Oh, I think she likes it!

I do wonder where their nest is. 

I would love to get some pictures of the eggs.

So I picked me some wild flowers....

Now off to enjoy this warm Florida weather!

(You make EVERYTHING.... groovy!)

Spring Things

It's officially spring now, although in Florida we just call it Thursday. 

How do I know it's spring? Just look at all the spring things...

Here he is. Every March he shows up in this bole high up in a pine tree. He sits out during the day and waits for his mate to arrive. Then they disappear for a while. (ahem: bow chicka bow bow!) and we never see them again unless we spotlight them at night.

Here's the neighbor's tree. This one just screams spring.

I've seen lot and lots of snakes lately, too. This is a Florida water snake. He looks like a rattle-headed-copper-monster but he's not. He has round eyes, not those evil looking slits on a viper.

Yes, little yellow birds everywhere doing the spring thing.

Hibiscus still blooming...

Hmmm.....

And this was one fat healthy snake, so you know he's been eating well. 

These are the seeds from a willow oak tree. Odd, aren't they?

An interesting pattern on a tree.

Every year about this time they open a new route to the airport, or they just start re-routing the regular flights. The big airplanes will practically buzz over the house, low. This one says airberlin.com. I'm thinking he was re-routed a little too far.

Dusty and I did a little bit of fishing today, too. There are bass all over the pond. 

This is what I caught him with. I measured him at about 10 inches... the fish, not the lure.

This is an interesting prickly plant that has grown out of all that swampy muddy dirt we had brought in. 

Here's a little closer view of his flower.

And speaking of spring and flowers, this is a volunteer. I think it's a lily? Anybody know for sure?

At one time I tried to dig these guys up and transplant the bulbs, but I wasn't successful. I think they only come up every 2 years.

I now have an update on this flower. It turns out it is an iris after all. I've had an expert tell me it's called a Louisiana Iris. Perfect!

Have a nice Spring everyone!