Use What You Have

Since April is "Use what you have" month, I thought I'd share what my back yard friends have recycled. This close up of their nest shows up beautifully red-speckled eggs.
Backing up for perspective you can see they've used an antique oil/gas can that I have displayed on a lattice fence as the nursery for the new babes. And here is the proud mom/dad Carolina Wren. They visit the nest daily while I watch from the window but I've never got a glimpse of mom sitting on the eggs. I hope to be a witness to the emergence of the babes and their first efforts at flight. However I also love cats and will have my work cut out for me trying to keep my seven felines from being curious about these new ones.

I Think Therefore I Meme

I'm not sure how these memes work, if you need an invitation or not- but I'm picking this up from Blackbird and passing along my version.
I AM: busy.
I WANT: a house on the side of a mountain with a creek in my back yard
I WISH: I would stop aging.
I HATE: when people are presumptuous.
I MISS: being slender.
I HEAR: birds chirping and the fish tank water falling into the tank.
I WONDER: what my kids will do/be like when they are adults.
I REGRET: not having a relationship with God sooner in my life.
I AM NOT: a quiet person.
I DANCE: anything but the marangue (too much twirling.)
I SING: show tunes (to my kids chagrin.)
I CRY: seldom.
I AM NOT ALWAYS: calm.
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: gardens, birdhouses, jewelry.
I WRITE: a blog for my campground, this blog(not very often) and 100's of emails.
I CONFUSE: many.
I NEED: an employee I can trust to spot me for a vacation now and then.
I SHOULD: think before I speak (rather, yell).
I START: each morning with a list of "things to do".
I FINISH: 25% of the list-more on a productive day.
I TAG: jamais.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

Since I've been so busy with work I've barely had time to enjoy the explosion of spring blooms. RV'ers from all over Canada and the US have been bombarding San Antonio, which makes me happy but overly occupied with the mundane and unable to drink in the wonders of the season. Spring flowers and Spring birds are some of my favorite associations with the vernal season but the interaction with the growth process makes flowers so satisfying. I took pictures (no scent included, unfortunately) so I could revel in the things about spring that I long for all winter long. Thought I'd share. The TX drought has been very damaging to many of the wildflowers here but some have refused to stay entombed and others have been the beneficiary of the common household hose. A good imagination might fill your olfactory with joy. Wild Lantana (pungent, minty leaves)
Spiderwort (beds of these bloom in the midday sun but appear as mere grass when their purple heads sleep in the early morn and eve.)

A xeriscape succulent with summer-long lupine blooms. Don't know the name.
Most recognize these state of TX flowers. Bluebonnets sneak up threw the grass all over TX and the highways are loaded with large splotches of purpley-blue. I call this ranch cactus, grows right out of the rocks.
Even plain old photinias have an intricate blossom.
A lady Bank's rose. Not a very good pic but the little pink roses smell like heaven.
An iris bed just beginning to come alive.
A patch of scarlet amaryillis halfway thru it's short life of bloom. These aloe vera's bloom in yellow and orange but I prefer the yellows.
Not sure where this yucca plant got it's nickname but it's called Adam's Needle. This one's got a double bloom. Flowers are wonderful sauteed in butter.

Well, sorry, no tulips and I'll save the bird pics for another time. I apologize if I named a plant erroneously. Let me know if I have.