A few days ago I was feeling guilty for not using the camera that I just had to have several months ago. I was also feeling guilty for not posting in this blog for awhile. So I put two and two together and said, “Hey! Why not take some pictures and post them on this little blog of mine?” And so, here I am.
The problem with that idea is that I live in a very non-picturesque part of the world. I am surrounded by literally hundreds of square miles of suburbia. So, I have to take pictures of what I can find (which isn’t much). It’s like looking through a thousand pounds of grass clippings hoping to find a rose.
Anyway, below is what I came up with. How I envy people who live in interesting places!
I found this little fellow in the joint between my fence and my house. He thought he was hidden, but I managed to sneak a picture of him. Geckos are very plentiful here, and I encourage them any way I can. They eat a lot of things that I don’t want inside the house (like roaches and june bugs). All that twiggy stuff in the background is the remnants of some Virginia creeper vine that I tried to eradicate a few years ago. However, I couldn’t get rid of all of the tendrils it put down since apparently Virginia creeper glues itself to the wall with the equivalent of two-part epoxy.
Image copyright ©2017 by Biff Sock Pow
This is the last canna lily of summer. It has not bloomed fully yet in this picture. It is amazing how lush these things look in spite of it not having rained in over two months. I used to think that canna lilies were exotic and delicate, like orchids. I have since come to learn that they are basically weeds here in Texas and throughout the Deep South and will grow anywhere and everywhere. They will grow up through cracks in the sidewalk. They will take over entire sections of your yard and choke out everything else. All they need is about two drops of water a month to look like what you see here.
Image copyright ©2017 by Biff Sock Pow
Here’s another gecko (a different one). I think he panicked and thought he was a chameleon for a moment. In his mind he probably thinks he is as red as the brick he is on. I didn’t have the heart to disillusion him. I often feel the same way when I’m at work. I think I am the same color as the cubicle walls and that no one can see me. I am almost always wrong in this thinking.
Image copyright ©2017 by Biff Sock Pow
This is the view looking into the side of a stack of firewood. It seemed appropriate to the rapidly approaching Halloween season. Would you stick your hand in there? I sure wouldn’t! Firewood is a favorite lair location for black widow and brown recluse spiders. They’re the reason I let geckos have the run of my house.
Image copyright ©2017 by Biff Sock Pow
I’m not sure what these berries are. They appear periodically in one of the scraggly trees in my backyard. I haven’t figured out the cycle at which these things appear. It seems to be random. Apparently the birds love them, because I never see them on the ground. The tree itself is not very attractive, but it provides shade, and in Texas, that is like a goose that lays golden eggs.
Image copyright ©2017 by Biff Sock Pow
So there you have today’s installment of “Biff’s Backyard Photography“. I hope you enjoyed. And for all you people who live in interesting or picturesque locales, count your blessings!
Biff Sock Pow 
Great phots, and I am glad you are posting again. Those geckos look awesome.
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Thank you, Nick! I appreciate the compliments and the encouragement. 🙂
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Ahem. (coughcough) If I may…
There is no non-picturesque part of the world. Well, ok. Maybe there is. But at least it’s a fact that there isn’t any non-interesting part of the world.
One of my favorite quotations is from the Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz, who said,
“I spent the summer traveling; I got halfway across my back yard.”
That said, I love your geckos. We’ve got some sort of other lizard that’s moved in and seems to have run off the geckos, who really are my favorites.
As for Mr. Scraggletree, I think you might have prairie flameleaf sumac, with the berries just starting to ripen. The berries aren’t in as neat a cone as they sometimes are, but the leaves certainly look similar.
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Yes, you’re very right about places being interesting or not. I think it’s just that I’ve been staring at it for the past 35 years and I’ve seen it all so many times before that the luster has worn off of it. Perhaps I need to move on . . .
Thanks for your insights! They’re always appreciated.
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I sure do understand the sameoldsameold feeling. I moved my mother down here from Iowa and was her primary caretaker for several years. During that time, there was no going anywhere — and after a while, it did start to wear. Now, I’d love to travel, but finances don’t allow. Lots of constant adjusting to be done!
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