Carol's Dragon Fly Ranch home of Carol's Pond

April 6, 2021 to May 2, 2021

Well hopefully Spring is in full swing! The daffodils are done blooming and the roses are blooming. I have not seen any Iris yet, but my lawn service may have mowed them down. We shall see. But one way I know spring is here is that Sam and Samantha have come out of hibernation. Yesterday I watched Sam get a caterpillar for lunch. I hope he liked it. Samantha watched him eat the whole thing and appeared to be a little ticked that he did not offer to share his bounty. Samantha was flirting with Sam but he ignored her and just ate his lunch. I tried to tell him he was making a mistake, but I don't think he cares.

And speaking of bounty, thanks to the Parkinson's I sometimes see a whale, much like is pictured on the cover of Moby Dick. But then I have also seen goats, cats, hogs, wolves and just blobs. Except for the fast moving ones that one sees frequently the large ones only appear when I first wake up and try to get out of bed. I am subject to see the smaller ones any time. They resemble a bug or a mouse running across the floor but when I blink, they are gone and that is great.

There is still an armadillo enjoying destroying the yard. And beavers have been girdling a pine tree on Goat Island. This is not acceptable at all by the beavers or the armadillo. So the hunt is on. I read up on how to prepare beaver tail; from reading about it, I will pass. There are 3 or 4 different types of wild flowers blooming in the yard and up the road there is a ranch that has a lot of donkeys and part of his field is covered with crimson clover. Crimson clove is pretty and I may plant some here.

The soil on Goat Island is very sandy and there is a large turtle population in Carol's Pond. But I have not seen any signs of nest. I would like to find one and watch it hatch. That would be neat. And I would think Goat Island would be a good nesting site.

I have a pair of blue jays that have nested in the back yard and also a pair of mocking birds. I call the county road Mocking Bird Blvd. It is very common to see 5 or 6 when coming or going.

But there is a new arrival to Carol's Pond as of May 1^st. The new arrival has been named Stalker. It is a feral Siamese cat. It looks to be a pure bred. It will not let me get close to it. Sammy, the Lizard, does not like Stalker at all. Sammy was Stalker's lunch yesterday. For Sammy and others like him but part of their defense is that their tail will break off and attract the attention of the predator. In Sammy's case it did not work. Stalker ran off with Sammy and I assume had him for lunch. A few minutes later, Stalker came back and ate the tail. The tail wiggled for about 5 minutes. It had quit wiggling when Stalker ate it.

There are some new birds in the neighborhood as well. They are white and like to follow my neighbors cattle and feast on the bugs the cattle stir up. They are about the size of a chicken. I have seen a similar bird in FL but those in FL have a long curved beak. These Texans have a short beak. My neighbors cattle had a visitor this week, a black Angus bull. My neighbor has some cows and I think Blackie was looking for a girl friend or a spring fling. He was not successful. Poor thing.

And as an update, the Iris are blooming.