What put me onto this quirky subject was a recent foggy morning walk with Ernie. We were out in the pastures and into my nostrils wafted a noticeable scent of celery. Celery? It has been growing in my raised test-bed since March, and doing very well. However, over twenty-five years have passed since I first started it from seed and
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I opened the door to the Shack as I always have. The difference this time was that something hopped in just before me: a greyish praying mantis. Since it wasn’t green as I have come to know them I assumed it wasn’t yet mature. Being a bug lover [but there are exceptions] I had no reason to kill it so
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Visiting College Station last week on business I took the opportunity to stop at a Petco. They have everything imaginable for dogs. Ernie is a connoisseur of a certain type of toy that I knew would be a good present. Shelf shopping up and down the aisles I found the small fuzzy ones that have an embedded small balloon-like device that squeaks when bitten
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For two weeks I feared something untoward happened to these Gulf Coast Toads; most notably missing was one on my doorstep. As previously reported one or another has been there nocturnally since 2009. I surmised that a series of torrents blew or washed them away, despite my providing no-mow sanctuary. So seeing a littlest one there again tonight gives me
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Ernie bolts out of the Shack for his morning walk with the enthusiasm of American Pharaoh leaving the starting gate. I catch up with him as he leads the way with conviction down the well-worn path to pasture. Frequent stops are made so he can sniff out any rabbit that might be hiding in the high grass alongside the welded
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My late afternoon visit to the garden cage was to be routine: check the plants need for water. With an ambient temperature index close to 100 degrees that was prudent to do. Something more pressing intervened: at ground level a snake had become entangled in the bird netting that is draped around the entire perimeter. It keeps the rabbits and
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** Note to visitors: There are articles about Fuzzy the toad appearing in June, July and August, 2014 editions of desktodirt. The toads in this piece are probably his offspring. How cool! ** This past Memorial Day we had the worst storm in a record-breaking six-month’s of them. In the early morning darkness the howling wind lifted the cover off my barbeque
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I first did it a couple of weeks ago. There was an early evening respite from being inside watching the soaking rain. A southerly breeze began kicking up and the rear of the truck seemed a good place to sit and enjoy the jostling air. I knew that Ernie would agree as he lights up at any opportunity to be
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It was 7:23 a.m. Ernie started this adventure with has amazing eyesight. Looking through the Shack’s glass doors he became transfixed: he was focused on something outback. I couldn’t confirm the source of his alarum. Frustrated being inside the Ern squealed and ran to the side door for a better peek. There, circling the neighbor’s goat family, was a coyote! Just days before
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Encounters with turtles have started to accumulate. From a distance a couple of weeks ago I saw this mottled green thing hustling down the driveway; it resembled a wobbly football. Walking closer I realized it was a turtle. Two days ago Ernie sniffed out the same guy in the outback pondering his inability to fit his shell through the neighbors welded wire
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