Captured moments

Leap frogging through cyber space

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I signed into my Pinterest account today and found many interesting pins that had been chosen just for me. 😉  Some of the items that pop up I find amusing, and wonder how they were chosen for me, but today one in particular caught my eye.  It is called The Readers Path, a digital art piece by artist Jeremiah Morelli.  I was immediately drawn to it and wanted to find out more.

jeremiah morelli - the readers pathHis website is MorJer’s Art

Per his website, Mr. Morelli started digital painting in November 2007.  His work  is whimsical and transports you into a fantasy world.

Some of his prints are available for purchase on his Deviantart page Jerry8448 

(The Readers Path is available)

Another of my favorites has a dragon (of course)

The Dragon and the Racoon

jeremiah morelli dragonBe sure to check out his gallery here .

He also offer tutorials on how he creates his digital art, and you can follow him on MorJer’s Art facebook page.

enjoy,

Melyna

Albert Phineas Drache

 

Flower mutation

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I left a patch of wildflowers in the yard (yard is loosely used here as it is mostly weeds, wildflowers and rocks anyway).  I noticed that a rather strange-looking stalk and flower head had grown up from this  little Coreopsis lanceolata, or Tickseed.  The flower stalk is usually  round and very thin and delicate looking with the flower shaped similar to a sunflower.  This stalk is thick and flat like a ribbon and the flower head is rounded over as if multiple flowers are growing together.  I have seen other wildflowers with the flower head in various mutated forms, but not like this.

Has anyone ever seen something like this?

Mutant flower?

Mutant flower?

closer

closer

Close up 1

Close up 1

Closeup 2

Closeup 2

Raising chickens

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Good morning!

We purchased twelve, three-day-old chicks on March 09, 2016.  They are red sex links.  Click here for more on this breed of chicken The Lowdown on Red Sex Links

Here they are at six days old.

What are you looking at? Red Sex Link chicks 6 days old.

What are you looking at?
Red Sex Link chicks 6 days old.

 

Red Sex Link Chicks at 15 days old.

Red Sex Link Chicks at 15 days old. They are getting feathers!

 

Red Sex Link Chicks Approximately twenty days old. They are now getting some color to their feathers, more red is showing and they have sparse tail feathers.

Red Sex Link Chicks Approximately twenty days old. They are now getting some color to their feathers, more red is showing and they have sparse tail feathers.

This is a good link for beginners to learn about raising chickens Backyard Chicken.com Frequently asked questions of raising chickens

We have raised chickens before.  We started while living in town. Truly a backyard chicken venture.  Then we moved to a place with some land and allowed the chickens to free range.  They loved it!  We loved that they kept the insect population under control.   We made sure we closed everything up at night and all went well for the first two years.  Then hens started to go missing.   We finally discovered that a fox and her kits had taken up residence close to the house in a rock pile (go figure).  She and her kits were well fed but we lost all of our hens.  She attacked during the day while the hens free ranged.   We also lost the rooster to a different predator that came in the evening before we had the coop closed up.  We have since built a new coop with some added safety features and hopefully these chicks will live long happy lives.

The new coop is ready to go and has a large run.  These babies will not go outside (except for field trips)  until they are fully feathered out and the temperatures stay above 65 degrees.  We have an automatic door now that opens at dawn (or a little after) and closes at dusk.  We hope that this will prevent the door from being left open after the hens have put themselves to bed if we are not home.  The plan is to not allow the hens to free range unless we are home.  We know that we have fox, racoon and opossums in the area (in the yard some nights).

Side view of new coop and run

Side view of new coop and run

Looking from roosting area to front of run

Looking from roosting area to front of run

Looking from front of run to roosting box

Looking from front of run to roosting box

Automatic door

Automatic door

Chicks on their first field trip outside – 22 days old

 

Chicks in the bluebonnets

We still need to build the nest boxes and set up the feed and water for the new coop.  there are so many ways to set this up and I just haven’t made up my mind which system I want to try.

I would love to hear any suggestions on nest boxes, feed or water systems you may have tried.

Melyna

 

 

Wildflowers

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With our mild winter and plentiful rain, the wildflowers are beautiful this year.  If you happen to be in central Texas this week, take a drive through the hill country.  The colors are amazing.

Bluebonnets and paintbrushes, Texas Hill Country by Lake Buchanan

Bluebonnets and paintbrushes in the Texas Hill Country by Lake Buchanan

Roadside wildflowers

Roadside wildflowers

White and Bluebonnets

White and Bluebonnets

 

White bonnet close up

White bonnet close up

Closeup of paintbrush

Closeup of Texas Paintbrush – Castilleja indivisa

 

purple phlox

purple phlox

 

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Texas Baby Blue Eyes Nemophila phacelioides

Green

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It seems that Spring is already here.  The weather has been unusually warm and everything is turning green.  Bright, beautiful, vibrant shades of green.  The plants that I have wintered over in the potting shed were in dire need of re-potting or at least needed some soil amendments.

I call this my green corner.  The large plant in the corner is a citronella scented geranium.  The tall thin plant in front of it is a lemon scented geranium and the two pots on either side contain gerbera daisies from last season that I re-potted this year.  They are usually pretty reliable bloomers.  One is red and one is pink.

My green corner

My green corner

I also bought Portulaca and purslane plants for my strawberry pot.  It has become a tradition to have these bright and cheerful flowers in this particular planter, close to the entrance of our house.   I also have some of the purslane in a cat planter kept on the landing of the stairs.

Portulaca in strawberry pot.

Portulaca and purslane in a  strawberry pot.

This is a nice video that I found on Youtube explaining the difference between Portulaca and purslane:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPr6IT6oNKY

One problem I had in the potting shed was mice.  Apparently they enjoyed eating some of my plants.  This poor succulent  was a winter snack until I moved it to another location.  (still trying to get rid of the mice)

Anyway, it had started blooming for the first time and I guess the blooms were tasty because they would disappear just before the buds opened.  You can see in this photo where some of the buds have been bitten off and bites from the leaves.

Succulent (mouse dinner)

Succulent (mouse dinner)

Once I moved the plant, it kept blooming and they are beautiful.

Succulent bloom

Succulent bloom

Succulent bloom

Succulent bloom

I have also started my vegetable and herb gardens, but that is for another post.

Melyna

Albert Phineas Drache

Anemone berlandieri

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One of the first flowers of spring in my little part of the Texas Hill Country.  This is just one of many blooming now.   Some are purple, some are white and some lean a bit to a blue-ish color or this lovely blend of purple and white. I love the bright yellow and green in the center.

Click the logo below to find out more about this beautiful little wildflower and many others.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center logo long

Windflower

Windflower

 

 

Spring? Already?

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I suppose that I should be used to having spring like weather in February.  It is central Texas.  We have had very little cold weather this fall and winter.  I always worry that the trees will start budding out and the daylilies will emerge, then a freeze will swoop in for the kill.  I’m a worrier. Until then, I will enjoy the spring like weather and the spots of color against the mostly gray and brown that make up most of the landscape.

coreopsis lanceolata This little flower has been blooming in the center of our backyard for over a month. It is like having a little spot of sunshine and happy.

coreopsislanceolata

This little flower has been blooming in the center of our backyard for over a month.It is like having a little spot of sunshine.

We have dill plants everywhere.  I had one in a pot last summer and when it went to seed, I scattered them around for the butterflies to enjoy the plants next spring.  The weather has been so mild they came up about a month ago.  Below, one of my kitties is helping protect the dill against a butterfly attack. 😉

Preparing to fend off a butterfly.

Preparing to fend off a butterfly.

Emerging daylilies. These are approximately 1/2 to one inch tall plants.

Emerging daylilies. These are approximately 1/2 to one inch tall plants.

 

The same daylilies three days later. now 2-4 inches tall.

The same daylilies three days later. now 2-4 inches tall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The redbuds are starting to bloom too.

Redbuds blooming.

Redbuds blooming.

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Albert Phineas Drache

 

 

Melyna

Time for autumn flowers

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I have a favorite planter for flowers.  It is a strawberry pot.  I, for some reason, cannot grow strawberries, so I use it for flowers.  In the spring I plant it with moss rose.

Strawberry planter filled with moss rose

Strawberry planter filled with moss rose

Cream and pink moss rose

Dark golden peach moss rose

Now that autumn is approaching central Texas (it is still in the low 90’s everyday. :-/ )  I decided it was time to change the flowers.  The moss rose was looking a bit tired, so I transplanted it to the larger garden and replanted the strawberry pot with fall flowers.  I decided to go with pansies and asters.  The aster will be a pink color because I picked up the wrong container at the store but I think it will be pretty and be a nice pop of color.

Strawberry planter with winter flowers.

Dark golden-yellow pansy

One thing that I realized about the flowers that I choose is that I pick containers that have golden-yellow flowers in the mix.

When I was a little girl we were traveling from Texas to Oregon to visit relatives and passed through Santa Fe, New Mexico.  They had a market with people selling all kinds of things and I saw a handmade doll in a dress the color of golden maize.  I remember thinking that was the prettiest color.  I guess I still do.

Melyna

 

Spiders

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Yesterday while I was working in the yard, I saw this industrious garden spider working too.  It seemed to be wrapping up it’s dinner while a smaller spider worked in the background.

Garden spider wrapping up it's dinner.

Garden spider wrapping up it’s dinner.

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Earlier in the week we saw this spider walking across the road at night.  Look at it’s back.

IMG_5325baby spiders