There’s no telling what will show up here in my yard. Or the front and back doors for that matter. Here is a running list of funky and beautiful beings that have made their appearance in the last week:

We’ll start off with the beautiful Mexican Hat (Ratibida columnifera), which is just aflame in vibrant color at this time of year. And the bonus is that it just showed up in the field in the front yard all by itself. What a stunning wildflower.

This handsome fella, which I believe is a type of katydid, hangs out on the patio chairs every evening. It is amazing how many katydids we have this year. At night the sound they make is quite deafening.Here’s a side profile – isn’t he just stunning?

A stick insect coming by to visit on the screen door. There is nothing to sneeze at about his size! That is one large green stick!

Just look at this Bold Jumping Spider (Phidippus audax). The markings on his back look like a little white face. He was hanging out above the front door.Unlike other spiders, these little fellas don’t build webs to snare their prey, they only spin small silken retreat webs for moulting or hibernation. They primarily use their silken strand when hunting. They will trail a strand from their spinnerets as they travel, and if disturbed they will quickly descend on this line to the ground. This also comes in handy if they miss their jump.

Oscar our resident squirrel has also decided to ‘hang out” on the back screen door. I have a suspicion he was “reminding” us of the fact that the bird feeder needed refilling. Of course, he calls it the squirrel feeder…..Pesky little fella, but gosh darn-it! He can put on the charm too. Isn’t he just too cute?

And then yesterday morning the mother of all stick insects knocked on our front door. I think he did a good job trying to blend in with the color of the siding.

Here’s one of the 4 frogs that has moved into the little water feature I have in the back yard. I believe he is a Leopard frog and I hope he’s working hard to remove all the mosquitoes.

Lets not forget the plants doing well right now: The Lantana and Society Garlic just look so lovely together.

And the Plumbago is making an very showy appearance also:

And a day without one of the resident lizards speeding past my feet while I’m gardening would just not be the same!

Monarch visiting a nearby Texas thistle.

A Six-lined Racerunner in the front garden enjoying the early morning sunshine.

A thirsty katydid.

Texas Spiny Lizard on the inside of our screen door. I had to pick him off the screen door since he really did not want to move. Once he was on the ground, he raced away.

A Hackberry Emperor caterpillar on the shopvac. We had to gently remove him so that we could get back to work.

Possibly a Tachinid fly, on a Gaura flower.

A wolf spider in our living room.

And these Mourning Cloak butterflies. One day about 20 of the caterpillars came walking out of the garden, attached themselves to the house and a couple of days later pupated.

I have a nesting pair of Eastern Bluebirds in the back of my property. Right now the pair are very busy feeding their growing young.

Here is a picture of the snoozing baby Bluebirds. I find them very cute in a ugly sort of way. I showed them to one of my neighbors and he said he thinks he heard a snore.

I have signed up to monitor this nest box at Nestwatch.org. Mom and dad Bluebird are very tolerant about me quickly checking on the nest box in the afternoons and usually return right away to their young when I leave. They’ve been so tolerant that this is their second brood in this nest box for the year.

The second picture is of a friendly neighborhood frog who wanted to check out what we were up to – IN OUR LIVING ROOM.  Last Thursday evening it was raining pretty heavily and I had opened the front door to check out the downpour – since it’s such a rare occurrence here. After closing the door and settling down for an evening of mindless TV, Dick suddenly jumped up saying: “Get the glass!” His voice was at a slightly higher pitch which usually means: “Watch out – a freaking scorpion!” I jumped up and we took a closer look. And there, making his way past the fireplace on his way to the back doors was a Strecker’s Chorus frog. You could almost hear him saying: “Excuse me – just passing through. What y’all watching?” Hilarious. A frog in the living room.  Isn’t he cute though? He must have snuck in while I had opened the front door.

Anyway, I scooped him up in a glass since I did not know what type of frog he was at the time. (Some toads in Texas have poisonous glands on their skin which causes skin irritation.) I said ‘hi’ – took my picture and then set him free out back near my little container pond.

The next evening we were sitting outside on the back patio watching the sun set when we  heard the sharp buzzing trill of a Green Toad coming from the little pond. I guess he has the company of other frogs out there.  Well there it is – more wildlife adventures.

Many millions of years ago, during the late Cretaceous period, Texas was host to an inland sea. It is here in the Texas Hill Country in Hays county that a coral reef teeming with thriving marine sea life once flourished.

Over time the coral reef was covered by limestone and rock and had it not been for the Blanco River’s timeless carving into this limestone rock this ancient reef would never have been exposed.  Now frozen in time, in this spectacular canyon, the limestone fossilized coral reef can be seen. It is known as The Narrows and it forms a path of stone cut deep into the Texas Hill Country landscape.Deep pools and tunnels filled with crystal clear water invites the curious visitor for refreshing swim on a hot sunny day.Maidenhair ferns cling to the cracks in the limestone where waters from subsurface aquifers seep into the river.Fossils of more than 29 types have been found here.Coral remnants in limestone wall.

Surrounding the area is a natural landscape untouched by human development. Here nature here does what it wills.Thankfully this beautiful land has been preserved and protected and it is now closed to the public.I am grateful for the opportunity to witness this unique place which came my way as part of the Capital Area Master naturalist program. It organized a visit for all members to view this historic piece of Texas Hill Country heaven along with a visiting geologist to help us decipher the mysteries that time has left behind. What a gem.

Despite the very dry weather we’ve been having for the last month and a half, wildflowers such as Greenthread (Thelesperma Filifolium) are in their element right now. I admire their ability to thrive in very dry soils.Here Greenthread and chicory have chosen a cool spot  in the forgiving cool shade of a Live Oak.A close up of the Chicory (Chicorium Intybus). Interestingly this is not a native wildflower. It was introduced to Texas from Europe and is being included in many commercially available wildflower seed mixes. It is therefore well on it’s way of becoming more prevalent here. And it apparently loves the dry calcareous soils in my front yard. Hey, right now I am just grateful I am finding something that will tolerate my shallow, dry limestone soils!

It seems to be beetle season here in Central Texas. Despite or maybe because of the very dry spell, all beetles in the area have been crawling out of the earth toward shady shelters including the house. Usually we see the plain black ones but this one just was too beautiful to ignore. He is a Southwestern Ironclad Beetle, (Zopherus nodulosus).

The Texas Thistle (Cirsium texanum) is also blooming in our back yard right now. I just love it’s puffball blooms.

The bees and butterflies appreciate it too. It’s flower bud is equally as interesting…And staying on the theme of puffball looking things, these seed heads are everywhere right now. Since I am letting my backyard naturalize to see what will come up for the next year or two I am letting all of these wildflowers seed out.A surprising visitor in my front garden. I did not plant this beautiful annual, but I appreciate it showing up uninvited.