How hot is it in Central Texas? So hot that a Cooper’s Hawk will sit IN the water fountain for 20 minutes right by the back porch. And after taking several swigs of water and a relieving poop he’s off.

It was a lovely, hot (102 degree) afternoon. I was looking out the window wondering where all the birds had gone to. Usually we have at least 15 or so flitting around in the brush, flowers, or in the water fountain. There was nothing. Then I took a glance around to the water fountain and saw the reason why:  A lovely (apparently overheated and thirsty) hawk was wading in the fountain. It was amusing to watch the other birds yelling at him to move on from very safe distances! And then they all came back after he left. Right back into the bird bath and the thistle feeder. No time to waste – hurry hurry!

Hmmm... Is it deep enough for me to dive in? Is that a bug in there??

Ahhh that feels so cool on my hot toes.....

Now that’s a lot of birdies on one feeder! I know it’s pretty hard to see but there are birds on the hanging branch to the right also. They just love the thistle seed! I counted about 10 or 11 on the feeder once. They are all Goldfinches and Lesser Goldfinches.

There is usually a little scrap that breaks out between them, followed by a lot of angry chirping when another finch tries to squeeze into the crowd. They always make me laugh.

A Summer Tanager in the bird jacuzzi. What a rare sighting. At first I thought it was a cardinal, but then I saw that he did not have the same beak and he did not have the tuft on his head. How cool is this!! Summer Tanagers eat bees and wasps almost exclusively. When having caught a bee it will remove the stinger before eating it by rubbing it in a branch.

It’s a terrible picture, but he flew off right after this one. I guess he doesn’t like all the publicity.

Rain!!! All of one 0.04 inches of it! Not much but… how wonderful. They say we have a small chance of another couple of showers tomorrow, and I hope it’s true.

The air actually smelled of wet dog because all the dying vegetation is now damp and the smell is …well… pungent.

We got to finally test out our water collection system and all is well, except for one gutter which is set to flow the wrong way and is leaking out onto the ground. So we gave the gutter dude a call and he’s coming out, thank goodness.

Leaky gutter. Must fix soon. Every drop counts when it's been this dry.

It was great to hear the rain fall into our tanks, and I am so eager to hear more of that lovely dripping sound. Outside the house – of course!

It was significantly cooler today 94 instead of the 105 degrees. So I was outside giving my plants a much needed dose of compost, green sand with mineral salts, and some organic fertilizer. For good measure I watered them with some liquid molasses, which is good for drought stressed plants as it quickly stimulates the microbes in the soil and gives an indirect benefit to fertility of the soil. That was before the rain came. Now they are basking in rain drops.

A dazzling water lily blossom in my small pond in the back garden. Her fragrance is lovely too!

An appreciative Yucca