Musings from the country...

We drove back to the country place yesterday afternoon through some torrential rain. That's good.

There was only about an inch of rain in the rain gauge and both hummingbird feeders looked like they had been sopped with a biscuit they were so dry. The other bird feeders were still okay but we filled them anyway.

It seems that the hummingbirds have been replaced by butterflies. Judy was trying to take some pictures while Roxie was biting at them and Smooch was swatting them. I don't think she ever got any really good pictures. Next time and without the help from the dog and cat will probably be better.

We went for a Suzuki ride to check out the rest of the place and saw that the hogs had been at work under at least one of the feeders, which was quickly confirmed back at the house. We had a good picture of a big boar that had visited the feeder at 7:15 that morning.

When we got back to the house Smooch was busy guarding something in the flower bed...not a good sign. Sure enough, Mr Snake was lurking under the ferns. Without hesitation, I grabbed the sharp shooter shovel out of the Suzuki and made "waste" of a coral snake that was about 24 inches long. I didn't realize those things got that big! Now the question; my mother always said snakes travel in pairs but I choose to believe that is an old wives tale.

On a side note. We drove down to Galveston Sunday after church and found those people have made a remarkable recovery. I did notice the parking lots for the cruise ship were about half empty and thats not a good sign.

We're sitting on the porch listening to the rain lightly fall and the drops dripping from the roof are making a soothing noise. Occasionally some hummingbirds fly by for a quick refuel on their way to South America. Ain't that amazing! South America! Judy looked in her hummingbird book the other day and we learned that their heart rate is something like 200 beat per minute. And that heart can't be much larger than a small pea.

I go to the doc today for my test results and I pray other than my cholesterol being out of whack I'm healthy.

I think I'll sit and listen to the rain for a while.

Blessings to all....