Photo: Some fingernail clams on a hand. The few spiral shells are dead pond snails. A couple of years ago, we started noticing some small white, translucent clams living in the bottom of some of our vats. I idly wondered what they might be. It wasn’t until I read an article by Sara Sneath a ... Read More
Farm Fauna
Baby Texas Rat Snake
Photo of Oso apprehensively observing the baby Texas rat snake he had captured. The day before winter solstice, the official start of winter, Oso, our male German Shepherd Dog, and Sunshine, our female rescue mutt, went missing mid-morning. Suspecting they weren’t up to anything good, I went ... Read More
The Attic Monster
Photo of the Attic Monster in a live trap. He's not very happy about it. Thanksgiving night about 11:00 PM I was awakened by a loud noise. I immediately thought of the live trap I’d set in the attic above our bedroom. Maybe I’d caught the current attic monster. I asked Susie, my wife, “What ... Read More
Ringtail, Bassariscus astutus
Photo: A ringtail, Bassariscus astutus, in a tree outside our house. A few years back, Susie, my wife, and I were returning from a winter trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. About half way home at Fort Stockton, Texas, seven hours out, we got a call from our son Mark. At that time Mark lived on the ... Read More
Copperhead Eating Lizard
Photo: by Ky Harkey of a copperhead feasting on a green anole lizard. About this time of the year our copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix) switch from cruising around in the evening and early night for emerging cicadas and June bugs to climbing into shrubs to feed on green anoles (Anolis ... Read More
Rescuing a Baby Cardinal
Photo: Rescued baby Cardinal perched on fence. This afternoon our German Shepherds (Canis lupus hybrids), Oso and Maya, and I (Homo sapiens) were walking up to the yard from the greenhouses when the dogs alerted to a distressed chirping sound in the grass off the path. Following the dogs I found ... Read More
Living Close to Nature
Photo: A yellow jacket or paper wasp (Polistes sp.) nest on a ladder. On the farm, we live very close to nature. An example of this happened today. Susie, my wife, complained that the cellphone booster wasn’t working right. She thought Saturday morning’s storm might have misaligned it. Yes, we ... Read More
Brown Tree Frog
The photo is a brown tree frog sitting on my hand. The farm is home to a host of amphibians. With the recent rains we hear a cacophony of lustful toads and frogs singing all night. Among the most commonly seen amphibians are the tree frogs because they roost under house eaves and on tree trunks ... Read More
Winter in South Texas
Photo: Geranium (actually genus Pelargonium) after winter in South Texas. Winter in our area continues to become milder. When I was a child, several decades ago, we had winters with real freezes, several of them a year. (By the way, when did we quit capitalizing seasons and directions?) A typical ... Read More
Life and Death on the Farm via a Squirrel
Photo: Me up a tree next to a squirrel nest. No, I’m not the squirrel! One recent afternoon Susie, my wife, and I were sitting in the living room reading and doing Sudoku puzzles (we’re real party animals!) when the dogs jumped up and rushed outside. Simultaneously, a hawk began screeching in ... Read More