Cat's Garden in Austin, TX

Yes its been a few weeks, and I've been gone out of town, out of the country.  And much has changed in that time. Yesterday the weather was in the low 80's, today we probably won't hit 60.  It's 3:30 in the afternoon and only 57 degrees outside. The tree leaves are changing, at least for those trees that can change.  The nights have cooled down too - last night got down to 47. So we have had a definite weather change. Now for the good news.  We had a neighbor's son water the outside plants while we were away.  We lost nothing.  Everything has survived.  Not only has everything survived, the outdoor tomato plant has two tomatoes, kind of large tomatoes ripening on it.  It does need some support but that's okay.  I had watered my few indoor plants well when we left.  They all survived well too.  Admittedly my dish garden needed water, there were just a couple of dropping plants in it, but not many and nothing was even close to dyi...

Weird weather.  It has definitely cooled down.  The past couple of weeks have been nice weather, with occasional rain thrown in for good measure.  Its been foggy, can't-see-across-the-street mornings followed by cloudy overcast days.  And then we get a good old foggy but warm morning followed by warm muggy overcast day.  Go figure.  But the good news is the plants are loving it. We are still having bachelor parties some days in the back yard.  Actually some days it just looks like parties in the back yard.  We have deer just coming in, some close to the house as if they don't care we are inside.  And they are once again eating plants they are not supposed to like - the wax myrtle and the cypress.  But it feels nice outside, and much better then those triple digit days.  So all in all its doing nice outside. They've pretty much finished the garage.  Bill and Pat have started moving stuff into it.  Bill even put up the b...

What a change in weather.  We spent Friday evening, pretty much all day Saturday, and early part of today Sunday cloudy and with some rain.  I say some rain since we didn't get a lot.  But most of it was short periods so the rain soaked in, it didn't just run off. Today, Sunday we went out to  Fredricksburg Roundup.  Its about energy - such as geothermal, solar, and some water collection.  It didn't have as many exhibitors as its had before, but it was interesting.  One thing I will say, it has good food.  This place called Navajo Grill had brought in a portable wood burning pizza stove.  I had a Margarhita (sp?) pizza. It was pretty good. Today when we got back we set up the automatic watering for the green house.  We leave on our trip Oct. 31 so we needed to get that all set up.  Its nice now that the heat is down a bit, 70-80's during the day, plants are growing again.  So we'll need that watering system up and running w...

Vegas was great!!  We did shopping, went to see a show, gambled a bit, we had a blast.  I enjoyed it immensely!  I want to do it again, maybe in February or March, or at least some time early next year. The weather has been cooling down, at least for this area its cooling down.  The days have been high 80's and low 90's.  The nights are low 70's, even a few high 60's.  The other day we even had fog in the morning.  Granted, it burned off quickly but it was a definite change. The deer have been coming out in droves.  There's another new fawn, still with spots.  Its so much smaller then the rest of the young ones.  And we've been seeing the bucks with antlers.  Not what I would call large antlers, and not large males.  But they've got antlers growing out of their heads.  Sometimes it looks like a bachelor party in the back yard. But those lovely deer are eating my things again.  I had a small gardenia plant, it ha...

What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday the temperature hit 100, today it is noon and we are just barely 80 degrees outside.  We will not come close to yesterday's heat.  And tonight they are saying the lows are going down into the 60's.  I won't call it a cold front, though I suppose technically that may be accurate.  But it is definitely a cooling trend.  And the nice thing is the 10 day forecast  shows the weather staying this cool.  We'll still hit the 90's but more along 90-91-92, not 99 or 100.  We have a breeze too and it feels nice outside. Well tomorrow I leave for Vegas!  I'm getting excited.  I'm all packed, printed out my boarding pass, getting some cleaning done.  Bill is not really looking forward to my being gone, but he has enough work here to keep him busy.  I don't think he'll really notice my absence too much.  He'll survive. I went to Home Depot the other day.  They had mint plants. ...

We're goin' to Vegas Baby!!  A friend and I are going to Las Vegas week after next for a shopping trip.  I haven't been to Vegas in a few years.  I'm getting excited! I even got tickets for a show. OHHHHHHmy.  This will be fun.  And the really fun part - no husbands, no kids.  Now how's that for fun?!

I feel bad.  I think I killed a frog/toad today.  I was watering the plants.  One plant, in a pot, was sitting in another pot so it could get a good soaking.  Unfortunately I didn't realize there was something in the bottom, picked up the pot and dropped it back into the outside pot.  Later I went to check the pot, to drain the excess water.  And there was a frog/toad, not moving. I didn't mean to do it.  I know we have these frog/toad around the property.  I often find them in pots or under pots.  I just never know where or where I will find them.