Joanie Has One Claw

Well Joanie was seen this morning sporting only one claw.

The other one fell off with the old shell.

She will grow a new one in time. Right now she is known as One Claw Joan.

She seems much happier not dragging the dead shell around with her.

She ate most of her old shell.

It is a strange thing to observe.

I think she looks cute with one claw.

If she was in the wild chances are she would have been eaten during the process.

I am glad she continues to survive in the aquarium.

We all really enjoy her.

💗

Two algae suckers on the right side of picture on top and bottom.

They all get a long well. 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Buzzzzzzzzzz

This little critter was in the garden today along with at least one more.

Joanie Has A New Look

She molted!

This whole crawdad adventure has been extremely fun and a learning process for all of us.

I am glad we had the chance to learn about crawdads.

She has become a great pet and runs up to the glass when I come to see her.

💗

Another Week Finished

The weeks are going by even though they seem slow.

It is still hot and smoky here.

Some things still blooming are hibiscus, some roses, a blanket flower, zinnas and my pineapple lily bulb.

I will let you guess which is which in the pictures below.

😁

Pineapple Lily

It is Smokey here from the fires in California. Ash is falling.

We need a heavy rain to wash all this away.🙏

House Plant Calathea Burle Marx

I have had this since June.

It has doubled or more size.

It seems to be a hardy calathea if you are interested in them.

I also have a Lemon Lime and a rattlesnake. Both are doing great.

I have had a couple that did not do well and died. I am not sure why. It has been fun experimenting with new houseplants during the Rona thing. It has kept me very busy.  I am always on the lookout for something new to try. 

In our zone 9 climate it is hot and dry. That can be a challenge in itself.

Most of these new to me house plants are tropical. Dry heat is not something they tolerate even though they are inside. 

I am pretty good at growing non compliant plants for the most part though.😁

They either adapt or they head on out to the compost pile.

This past weekend we hit 111 degrees. It is supposed to be another hot week.

Hopefully below 110. I am so ready for Fall weather.

Another Day Another Dollar

We are still open at school. Into our second week. So far so good.

Stay tuned for future updates.😊

Another Fish Story

Joanie is doing great.
After her egg eating frenzy she has settled down into a normalish life of a crawdad in captivity.

We added some plants to the aquarium for her to hide in and eat.

She prefers her skull cave.

We also added some new fish.

At first we thought maybe she would eat the fish, but she didn't.

We bought three algae eaters and two Mollies.

One Mollie died. I am sure it was to much for him.

But...the remaining fish who I named Molly had a bunch of babies!

If you look really close in the bottom of the picture you can see them.

They are cute little critters for sure.

Well it is hard for me to spot them too.

Here is a better picture.

Well, kind of?

It is hard to take a picture of a fish in an aquarium.

 So Joanie was a no go on delivering multiple baby crawdads.👎

But...a sweet little Molly provided us with lots of tiny baby fish to enjoy.👍

So everyone is doing well.

Getting along and surviving.

The algae eaters are trying their best to keep things under control.

They might need some more help.

Going back to the pet store today to get a couple more.

Maybe some sails too.

Crawdads like to eat snails.

I better get a few.

I hate snails.

I can't believe I am going to buy some.

At least they will be contained to the aquarium.😁

I hope your weekend has been fabulous!

Back to school tomorrow for more fun adventures.

Surviving during this Chinese Virus,
Covid,
Rona,
whatever you want to call it...
has been very challenging for sure.

I think we will all be much stronger and prepared in the future.

One Day Down

200+ to go.

It seems like it may be a long year.

Although it all went smoothly yesterday except my hours.

I have to change my hours or work 1/2 hour longer.

Mainly because the groups coming in for lunch are cut in half. Only two kids per table.

So it extended our serving time by an hour.

Some kids were not eating until after 1. I hope they change that time.

I think that is to late.

Anyhow, that is the update and hopefully the 2nd day of school goes faster.😊

How about this face mask for the kitchen staff?

Water Lily Star of Siam

It looks like a star.

The leaves are beautiful and variegated too.

Hope you are all doing well.

Tomorrow is my first day back at school.

Wednesday is the first day of school for the kids.

Wish us all luck on our new adventure.

Back to the Garden

Aftermath of the tree removal.

It appears normal.

It was anything but a day ago.

We moved everything out of the way in the Secret Garden area.

It seemed like I spent the whole summer waiting for the tree guys to arrive.

I wasn't comfortable going out there because of the huge limb dangling above my head.

I would go out and water and then leave. So glad to have everything back to normal.

I found this cute little wheelbarrow that was left behind after someone I know moved.
I will file that story under, "When someone you know moves."
It is a sad story. Maybe I will share it another day. 

The little wheelbarrow was full of spray foam and Christmas decor.

I removed it all and added soil and hens and chicks and some clay pots.

It makes a cute table decoration I think.

The tools came with it.

I actually got a lot of things from said person who moved.

Including the above wheelbarrow. I added some water plants to the wheelbarrow and will enjoy it that way.

From the same person who left the wheelbarrow I also got this bunny.

It's ears were broken, but I glued them back and I think he looks mighty fine.
Green is my favorite color.
He was not ready for the trash bin yet.

He will sit in the Rabbit garden with the others.

I also got another ceramic rabbit. It had broken ears that had been glued back.

It looked pretty sad but, I painted it chalk white and it looks adorable in the rabbit garden.

I guess I forgot to take a picture. I will do that next time.

Carmen is about done for the season. I am excited to add something fall-ish to her head.

This head frame needed some new plants so I added a few more.

 

And that is it for todays tour.

Hope you enjoyed it.

August is the Ho Hum month here in the garden.

To hot to plant fall plants and basically just miserable.

But soon it will be nice.

At least I can go out and sit in the garden without a tree limb hitting me on the noggin.😁

Enjoy your weekend!

Saving the Best for Last?

This morning I checked on Joanie.

She seems to have missed a few eggies.

Can you see the little brown round balls hanging under her, attached to her swimmerets?

Maybe these ones are being saved for a late night snack?

Or maybe they are going to hatch?

I will keep you posted.

Mother of the Year Award

It goes to....Joan Crawdad Crawford.

This morning when I woke up I checked on Joan and noticed something was missing.

Yup you guessed it.

No egg sack.

She ate them.

What?

I had to catch her with the net to verify my suspicion.

I looked it up and yes that is normal. Some crawdads eat them.

I am relieved actually. I had no idea what to do with 500 babies.

It was a very interesting thing to see and I am glad I was able to learn about crawdads and their egg laying adventure.

I really enjoyed it.

Now I won't worry about the eggs anymore.

Joan seems back to her spunky self moving around the aquarium. 

Tree Trimming

Today the garden is getting a tree lift.

A couple old oak trees needed a trim.

One was dead so that had to be removed.

It is a little unnerving watching several guys walk through my flowers. I know a lot of them will be crushed. Oh well it had to be done. One huge branch had broken and was dangling up high.

That had to go. Funny thing is it fell before they could get out to cut it down.

It missed all my yard stuff and nothing was hurt.

At least the winter wind and rain won't be a problem now.

Last winter was I was always worrying when the wind blew.

Ever since we had the big wet snow storm in 2018 it has been a problem.

Last week before school starts. I am kinda nervous.

Hopefully it will all work out.
I guess if I do get the virus I will have something to blog about right?😷

J. Crawford the Crawdad

She had a mini photo session this morning.

The eggs are growing.

This process takes three weeks.

So I guess there will be a lot of pictures.😍

I am so fascinated by this. I can't stop looking at her.

Somehow this reminds me of Charlottes Web.

I loved that story. 

Stay tuned!

Crawford the Crawdad

Well Crawford is a she so we have changed her name to Joan Crawford.

We just found this out today as you can see in the below video.

She is working on her eggs.

Supposedly they can have 500!

I guess I will have a lot of crawdad babies to share.😆