Springtime in North Texas

It's been a busy few months full of distractions. 

The main one was a major health scare that turned out to be absolutely nothing.  This served as a reminder to me that it is a very good idea to get a second, third or even fourth opinion.  On the plus side, I am totally fine.  On the negative side, I wasted a lot of emotional energy.   It also highlighted to me that it's not worth getting upset about something until you really know what you're dealing with.  The bright side of the ordeal was that my heightened emotional state prompted me to get many things done that I'd been putting off.  In fact, I created a big long list and knocked things off one by one.

In the midst of this I did a lot of gardening.  I got the school's veggie garden squared away, planted two new trees there and started a sunflower garden for them.  I then added several trees to our own backyard and prepped three raised beds to plant a variety of things: spinach, broccoli, carrots, romaine lettuce, strawberries, watermelons, tomatoes, bell peppers, corn and cucumbers.  I added blueberry bushes, ordered some banana trees and potted an avocado tree, a lemon tree and a clementine tree.  I also planted hibiscus and hydrangea plants.  I can't wait to see the blooms.

Here you see the cold weather crops coming up:

I added a new feeding station for Nemesis Squirrel because he wasn't sharing any birdseed with the birds.  It took him a week to figure out it was there, which surprised me given how clever he seems to be. 

Things are waking up here in North Texas.  The flowers and trees are budding and the grass is coming out of hibernation.  Spring and Autumn are my favorite seasons, so it's a happy time of year. 

One extra special experience was taking my boys camping for the first time.  Sleeping out under the stars and roasting marshmallows for s'mores (no, not organic) was so much fun! 

Don't wait to share these experiences with your kids.  There is no time like the present!

Daily Photo: My New Visitor

My three-year-old pointed out at the bird feeder this morning and shouted something about Nemesis Squirrel.  He has trouble with the word "Nemesis" so it comes out like "Nemenisis," which is very cute.

So I take a look out the window and see that for the second time in a row, Nemesis Squirrel has opened the bird feeder, pulled out the big cake of bird seed/nuts/dried fruit and dumped it on the ground below.

Grrr.   Which immediately had me thinking, "I've gotta get a pair of cat handcuffs and I gotta get 'em right away."  Ok, I'm dating myself here.  Anyway, I need to find one of those squirrel-proof feeders before the Cardinals and Blue Jays abandon us.

I step outside to confront Nemesis, only to find that most of the cake is gone and the only critter still munching away is a cute bunny rabbit.  Almost made me forget how mad I am at Nemesis Squirrel.  Almost.

Daily Photo: Nemesis Squirrel Robs The Birds

Meet Nemesis Squirrel.  Again.

Meet one of the pretty, unsuspecting birds enjoying my bird feeder.

Oh, who's that creeping up and scaring away the pretty bird?  It's my NEMESIS SQUIRREL, who has discovered yet another food source in our backyard.

He thinks he owns the place.  I can't say he's wrong.

Eat up, squirrel.  Eat up.

"I got to get into this dude's pelt and crawl around for a few days. Who's the gopher's ally. His friends. The harmless squirrel and the friendly rabbit." (courtesy, Caddyshack)

I've got my eye on you, Nemesis Squirrel.

Daily Photo: Nemesis Squirrel

The squirrel from hell still visits me each morning.  I think I might actually miss him if he stopped coming around, despite the havoc he wreaks.

Daily Photo: My Nemesis

For several months, I've been trying to figure out what animal has been so aggressively digging in my garden.  It mucked about so badly in one flower bed that it buried all of my pansies:

It digs around beneath every tree:

It even digs random holes in my lawn:

I first glimpsed the critter about a week ago when it returned to the scene of the pansy crime.  In the following days, it became bolder and bolder, often climbing a pillar outside my window to stare at me.  Today it brought two friends and actually posed for me on the pillar.  I'm not sure, but I think it also laughed at me.  Don't be fooled by how cute it is.  This is the squirrel from hell.