Around My Yard

Here are a few pictures I took around my yard this week. My favorite part of the yard is the snapdragons that line the front walkway. I planted them last Fall and they looked nice all Winter. But the best part happens in the Spring-- they start going to seed and shoot up huge stalks of flowers. They will be beautiful for a couple of weeks, and then they will dry up and die. They are in the "beautiful" stage right now and I love them.

The ponds are looking nice, too. We planted lots of flowers around them, and some of the pond plants from last year came back to life this week (water lillies, cannas, etc.). Unfortunately, the fish I purchased a few weeks ago are no longer with us. I don't want to suggest foul play, but I do find it suspicious that all of my fish (in 2 different ponds) died on the same day. Adding a little more fuel to my suspicious fire: it just so happens that my neighbor and 2 of his friends sat outside drinking beer in the street until dawn the night before they all died. Michael and his Mom suspect that they poured beer in the pond, but I can't prove it and I won't go there. All I know is that I tested the water the day before and it was fine. I think I've learned my lesson and I will now start calling it a Water Garden, rather than a Fish Pond. I'm not having any luck when it comes to fish, but the pond plants are flourishing.

Speaking of the Water Garden--- I bought something new for it today! I had a couple of "spitting" turtles and a "spitting" frog as part of the filter system. Today, I replaced one of the spitting turtles with a trio of "spouting" miniature elephants! It's really cool-- each of the elephants shoots it's own stream into the pond. Michael thinks it's tacky, but it really makes me smile when I see it-- and I don't really mind tacky! I really want to find one of those "peeing boy" statues some day. Like I said, I don't mind tacky!

Here's a strange one for you. When I was cutting the grass the other day, I found something that looks like an animal's den. The picture isn't too clear, but what it is is a hollowed out cave beneath a dead tree stump. I don't know what kind of animals live underground like this, but I suspect it's a family of oppossums. Ugghhhh! Creepy, huh?