I was going to post a pic of a goldfish....I recently went back to my old Photobucket and found a lot of old pics, but I love snakes too....so here is a snake that I "knew" from when I lived on the bayou. I called her Big Mama. She is a plain bellied water snake....also sometimes called a yellow bellied water snake. Most often confused as a cotton mouth moccasin and usually killed by people who don't know the difference, or by a lot of people who just don't care. This is a cottonmouth. You can easily tell by the facial markings....the bar thru the eyes. This is Ten Dogs. They also have vertical pupils but you don't have to get close enough to see that...you can easily tell by the facial markings. And non poisonous water snakes have vertical lines on their lower jaws. If you can recognize the four poisonous snakes found in the US, you don't have to fear snakes. It really isn't difficult. And, because I found this old photo....this is the goldfish I was going to post. I don't know why I caught it and put it in that bowl....most likely looking for a pair to spawn. This is a comet....they have a long, single tail. Actually, called a Sarassa Comet, which just means a red and white comet.

'James Brydon', a 1899 introduction. It was Jody's favorite. Waterlilies, like daylilies, irises, and other flowering plants get fancier and fancier, but I am still particularly fond of the old classics, like this one.

We had a few Monarchs pass through a couple of months back but they’ve only recently returned. It’s a good thing since this was a bad year for Milkweed. In fact, this year has been rough on many different plants we have.

I know I'm a day late but wanted to share this. It's my dad's brass stamp holder from his office desk. It held a roll of 100 stamps. He died in 1986. He was only 60. I miss him, what a character he was.