Drink time

Beers in the garden.

Alan shooting

A true pair. Bang!

Alan and Jo after shooting

At a private game ranch outside Austin.

I've got a new phone, a Sony Ericsson K850i. It's brilliant. Until I added this paragraph, this blog entry was posted entirely from my phone. How cool is that?!

Creature round-up

We've been living in the country for over a year now, and have seen lots of different creatures in the garden and surrounds.

Here's a round-up:

Mammals
Deer (of course) and at this time of year; little deerlets!
Giant mutant rabbits (hares, probably)
Cats
Dogs (escaped)
Raccoons
Foxes
Squirrels
A mouse
Alan thinks he saw a Groundhog (unconfirmed)
Armadillos
Bats

Reptiles
Green Anole Lizard
Racerunner Lizard
Ground Skink
Red-striped Ribbon Snake
Rough Green Snake
Unidentified yellow/brown Snake
Frogs (several and varied; unidentified)

Spiders, Insects etc
Scorpions (lots of these)
Crablike Spiny Orb Weaver Spider
Black-and-yellow Argiope Spider
Wolf Spider (loves to hide in piles of paper in the garage)
Jumpy Spiders (red, black; blue/green eyes; twitchy)
Black Widow Spider (Alan saw it just after we moved in)
Daddy Long Legs
Giant Walking Stick Insect
Ground Beetles
Ironclad Beetle
Grasshoppers
Crickets
Gladiator Katydid
Florida Leaf-footed Bug
Giant butterflies
Humming Bird Moths
Cicadas
Swallowtail; and others, all impressive)
Dragonflies (assorted colours and sizes)
Glowbugs
Mosquitoes (gits)
Dobson Fly
Wasps (Paper, Black, Red, Yellowjackets and lots of nests around our house)
Fire Ants (double gits)
Little Black Harmless Ants
Carpenter Ants
Ladybirds

Birds
Red-winged Blackbird
Peacocks
Grackles
Cardinals
Painted Buntings
Western Scrub Jay
Black-crested Titmouse
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Black-throated Hummingbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Woodpeckers
Mourning Doves
White-winged Doves
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Robin
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Roadrunners
Egret
Killdeer
Geese
Mockingbirds
Swifts
Crows

Now by this point you're probably wondering where the pictures are. I figured this has all got a bit too much for a simple blog post so I have made a new website for all the critters: Jo and Alan's Wildlife Repository All the pictures are on there. Some have been on this blog before but there's a lot of new stuff too, especially birds. Hope you enjoy it.