Water, Water....Nowhere

Well, on Thursday a few clouds actually appeared. I was hopeful for a bit, but those hopes were completely dashed. Still no rain.

The creek that runs through my backyard is not very deep on a good day, but now it's nearly nonexistent. Can't even hear it any more, and one of my favorite things is to sit on the deck and listen to the water wash over the rocks.

And I don't know if it's the lack of rain or those icky worms in their icky webs, but my little walnut tree has lost every last one of its leaves. The larger ones are even losing theirs as well.

Sooner or later is has to rain.

Not A Cloud In The Sky

I love a blue sky as much as the next person, but I have to say that with the dry conditions lately, it's a bit disappointing when there isn't a cloud to be seen. (This was yesterday afternoon.)

One thing I do see when I go outside is tree after tree covered with these web-like things filled with worms. I'm told they are actually harmless to the trees, but boy are they ugly.

Even my poor walnut trees are covered with the stuff. Oh well, maybe it won't be so bad next year.

Happy Accidents

I believe nature is full of happy accidents; things you didn't plan, but turned out pretty well anyway. The picture above is of the large walnut trees at the edge of our property line. (The yard in that area was recently dug up and cleared out, hince the lack of grass.) I believe these are black walnuts, as I have been told that's what grows up here. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.) Also, I love walnuts in general, but I've tried these and just don't like them. Anyway, I think one of our friendly neighborhood squirrels decided we needed more of these trees...








...and we ended up with this small walnut tree growing at the edge of our driveway. You can barely see the rocks around it, a product of work being done on our yard on two different occassions. We just had them piled up into a little rock garden. I don't know what the root system of a walnut tree is like, so at some point this one may have to be removed. For now, I'm enjoying the added "feature" to our yard...