Rained yesterday evening and i am thinking its suppose to be scattered showers today! Too muddy to get out in the yard!! I know we need it...but it's my weekend and I wish it could wait for Monday How about down there in Austin?

Sandra

I woke up last night and knew...the thunder, a bit of rain...thanking the Lord for this! There's no waiting until Monday...it'll be gone then. Hoping for a lot of rain today to keep us from the disaster of this miserable drought.

Whoa! I had an appt downtown at 10 this morning. DH insisted on driving me, so we left early in a light rain. On 360, a traffic light was out and cars were backed up over to Ben White heading north. Out on Mo-Pac, it started pouring... Traffic was bumper to bumper, and then an ambulance came up behind 4 lanes of traffic trying to get thru. It was pandemonium. All but one car managed to get out of the way, but up a ways, there was no where for that one little car to move over out of the left lane and the ambulance was stuck, as was the little car. I can imagine how stressful that was to both drivers...but the cars were so jammed together, there really wasn't a spot for the car to merge over for a couple of minutes. It seemed like a lot longer...
We got quite a bit of rain. Waiting to hear on the news just how much. There's been some flooding in first floor apts. on the south side. I'm sure my rain tank overflowed while we were gone! That's good. I'm fairly sure this is God's way of "helping" me clean my house today. 'Been a long time since I didn't have to water something everyday!

Looks like a little over 2" of rain according to the rain gauge...

Wow that is a lot of rain! That ambulance story made me feel tense. I hope everyone was ok.

I stand corrected....officially, we actually got 2.96 inches of rain....whoo, hoo!

And that pesky armadillo was out early this morning again. He surprised me as I was picking up the newspaper. I chased him around the side of the house outside the fence, then ran thru the house and out the back door, trying to see where he was going to come out along the fence line. 'Husband walked out the door to see what the heck I was doing....and made me lose the armadillo..... again. I'm gonna catch that little ankle breaker one of these days....

Sandi, I think he came to visit us last night. Little bugger dug up a whole bunch of holes along the driveway.

Not fun to be out driving in the rain....glad you weren't involved in the accident!!
Lucky, i don't seen any armadillos around here!!
Sandra :)


Temptation~

Those armadillos sure do like my yard! I hate it when I go out in the morning and then find the evidence of digging! I read they don't like pine straw and pine mulch. Now I want to get some of that to put down. I don't even know where to get pine straw in this area. I throw coffee grounds around, but I don't think that's discouraging them enough.

That Temptation is beautiful!

Linda...Tonight the night! I'm going to figure out how to set the trap along the wall where 'Armie Dillo' likes to run. As soon as he comes out...after dark....he's going to have to run into the trap or jump down an 8 ft wall........
Didn't know about coffee grounds or pine straw... I'll try anything. After the rain we had, he's been out every night digging huge holes along the sidewalk and in the middle of the grass.

Hope you catch it! Yesterday I planted something and had to put a little cage around it. Armadillo has been hitting the yard very frequently and it seems like there's nothing it likes better than digging up newly planted plants!

Ugh...we went around to see how to "guide " him into the trap..but there's too many low branches, so we'll have to wait till tomorrow... and trim the bottom of the shrubs

A few more lilies blooming

Jacobinia...
Justicia carnea

Well, here's results so far of the first part of my experiment...5 bags of pine mulch was applied, just in certain areas the armadillo has hit in the past. Last night one showed up...and did no digging in any area with the fresh pine mulch. It dug a little in the pathways and then dug a hole a couple inches deep right up against a plant that I planted less than a month ago...with regular mulch around it. I put the soil back, put some pine mulch around it and watered. It should be okay...it's a woody plant and not small. Now, I'll buy more pine mulch and cover more areas! I'd like to get some pine straw, but don't know any place that sells it. In the past, I had gotten a bit of that while visiting in east Texas and brought it back to use around plants that like more acid soil.

Well Linda, I'm heading to the Houston area tomorrow. We're taking my SUV so I'll have a little space in back if you'd like me to pick some up for you while I'm out there. Just let me know where to go - since that would probably be a good idea for me to pick up as well!

Carey, I don't live in Austin. Our area would be way out of your way. Plus I'm not sure where to find it in Houston. I've only gotten it from another area...traded plants for it from someone who has piney land. But i appreciate the offer. I'll try to head east sometime later this year with my truck.

Carey, I don't live in Austin. Our area would be way out of your way. Plus I'm not sure where to find it in Houston. I've only gotten it from another area...traded plants for it from someone who has piney land. But i appreciate the offer. I'll try to head east sometime later this year with my truck.

Linda we passed four or five places on the drive that probably have pine bark or the pine straw. That's all that is out here after all. :)

Turns out we didn't bring my car after all. Drove DH's car and it doesn't have near the interior space of mine...but gets much better MPGs.

This is the 8' wall next to my front yard.....notice the long board up at the top in the bushes....

This is the reason for the board...
There's only a small area along the fence line that the armadillo travels every night...but neighbors thought I'd never catch him... They figured he'd go around the trap, or jump off the wall. I knew he wouldn't jump, but I thought he might try to go around...