Darr Family Blog – Page 51 – The place to follow the Darr Family

All About Nature This Week

Last Saturday night we had a gecko get into the house. It kept going under the furniture, but with me moving whatever it went under, Paul was able to catch the gecko pretty quickly and get it out. I remember thinking, “Man, I hope that doesn’t happen again!” Well, Monday night, Abigail hopped into the bathtub (she likes to get in before the water is filled up) and I heard her go, “Augh! A LIZARD!” Sure enough…there was another gecko, this time it was a different, larger one and it was most definitely in the bathtub. Don’t ask me how it got all the way upstairs and into the kids’ bathroom (which is right at the top of the stairs) without any of us noticing, because I have no idea. Paul tried to catch it for a bit, but it somehow disappeared. 😬 A couple hours later, I went to go up the stairs and noticed it on the wall in the stairwell. I grabbed the sock basket (a cloth rope basket that I keep in the stairwell for people to toss socks in if they think they may wear them again the same day) and managed to chase it down the rest of the stairs before trapping it under the basket. Paul took over from there. The poor little gecko did lose its tail (I totally did not realize that if a lizard loses its tail, the tail flops around independently for at least a couple minutes afterwards 😳 but now I do 😂). Paul got the gecko outside (and also tossed the tail outside). Crazy!

One crazy story about one of the morning walks I took with Abigail this week: we encountered what we thought was a dead baby rattlesnake in the middle of a street we were crossing (I drove back to the area where we saw the snake after I dropped Abigail off for school and it was no longer there…so either someone moved it, or it wasn’t actually dead…just too cold to move and it was sunning itself. 😱😬😱) and Abigail got up close and personal with a patch of mud. She was not happy and wasn’t going to walk any further until she was clean (an issue since we weren’t anywhere near home), but luckily she allowed me to use her shirt to clean her up a bit. What an experience!

We’ve also seen an anole lizard hanging out on the back patio. We thought it was a brown anole at first, but then we saw it again and it was green! At first we thought we were looking at two different lizards, but then realized it was the same exact size. So I looked it up and apparently there is a Carolina anole that can change colors between brown and green.

The toads continue to frequent our yard and really like to hang out in the planter on the front porch. I love that they keep the bug population down!

The other bits of nature we’ve been enjoying are pretty flowers, a couple of good, soaking rainstorms and pretty Texas skies. So, just as a warning, there are a ton of sky pictures coming!

I love the contrast of the red against the green.

I have a weakness for pretty clouds. It’s going to become even more apparent as we progress…

Toad! I really zoomed in. He’s still pretty big, though. I think he’s about the size of my palm.

This is what our mornings are like most days, haha. Neither of the kids are really ready to get moving right away.

Can you spot the windmill? This is right next to our subdivision (across the street from our mailbox, actually).

I was mesmerized by the contrast of dark and light right next to each other. No rain in those dark clouds, though!

I love the contrast of the darkness of the trees against the sky.

I also love being able to see the rays of sunshine breaking through the clouds.

This sight actually took my breath away for just a moment.

I love my little walking buddy! She lasts the entire two miles, which is pretty awesome for a four-year-old.

She found this awesome leaf. She had to bring it home because, “Mom, it has so many colors!” The side that is facing her even had a bit of red on it.

Such a pretty sky! I love living in Texas!

I was picking up some new pants for Joseph and found these jammies. I think she likes them just a little bit.

I changed up the contents of my large galvanized jug. I love the look of the grasses and the cattails!

Here’s the Carolina anole. I took this picture yesterday. It’s kind of a brownish-green.

It’s definitely more green, but I think the tail is still a little bit on the brown side. They can change color depending on how they’re feeling (mood, stress level, etc.), how active they are, and even as a social signal (showing dominance). Right before I took this picture, we even saw this guy extend his bright red dewlap (throat fan) which let us know he was a male (female dewlaps are lighter in color). He also bobbed his head up and down (apparently they’re closely related to iguanas, who do the same thing). I’m not sure what he saw that made him do that, but it was neat to watch.

Hooray, It’s Finally Fall!

This week ushered in the first official day of fall. Fall is my one of my favorite times of year (I can’t forget Christmas time). I love the colors, the decorations, and the fact that the temperature (usually) starts to dip down a teeny bit. We kept ourselves quite busy this week.

Paul was working, obviously, but he also squeezed in time to finish putting together and installing the new little free library at the park. The old one had gotten worn down over time, so Paul started gathering supplies (a cabinet was donated by someone in the neighborhood and then he used bits of the old library and some other scrap pieces of wood…plus paint and varnish) and got a new one built. He did have a bit of help with some of the assembly as well as the installation, which was greatly appreciated.

Joseph and Abigail were busy at school. Joseph is enjoying GT and was excited to get to visit the Book Fair with his class. Abigail was just excited to go to school, period. We did have a little bit of a hiccup towards the end of the week (Thursday) when she developed a low-grade fever and some congestion. I discovered it in time to keep her home from school, but that meant that I needed to make her a doctor’s appointment (Friday) so that she could get a note and a covid test. Thankfully, the results were negative and her fever was gone the next day. She’s still a bit congested, but she’s getting better and she’s already acting normally again. She’ll be excited to be able to go back to school on Monday.

I’ve really enjoyed walking during this slightly cooler weather. It’s also nice to see the beautiful sunrises. What we’ve been doing is walking Joseph to school and then going on a longer walk with just me and Abigail. A few times, I even went on a second walk by myself after I walk Abigail to school (she starts in the late morning/early afternoon and then gets picked up at the same time as Joseph). It really is my favorite time of year!

We discovered this cool guy when we got home from one of our early morning walks.

One of my friends told me it’s called a calleta silk moth. It was just sitting there, slowly flapping its wings. I think it might have just left its cocoon and was trying to let its wings dry, still.

She loves gathering leaves and flowers on our walks. My only rule is that they need to be on the ground (no picking).

The toads found a cool place to stay…in my flowerpot, haha.

Pretty sunrise along with bumpy clouds. It was really breezy, which felt wonderful!

I just couldn’t get over how cool the clouds looked.

Fall evenings are so beautiful. There’s something kind of magical about that early evening sunshine peeking through the green leaves.

Thursday morning was chilly enough to warrant wearing warmer clothes.

For nine years, we’ve just stacked the bathtub toys along the ledge…and it was never a problem until I had one kid showering and one kid bathing. It’s inevitable during Thing One’s shower that at least one toy (and often more, in a domino-esque way) comes tumbling down. So I started my search for tub toy storage. I didn’t want one that had to be affixed to the tub surround in any way (suction cups, adhesive, etc.) because, well, I was worried about weight (imagining it waiting until the middle of the night to fall and make an atrocious noise) and residue. I also didn’t want one that didn’t drain on its own because I knew I would never remember to drain it…and what I would consequently eventually find doesn’t leave pleasant thoughts in my head, either. Then I stumbled onto this one. The mesh is made of PVC, so it’s less likely to mold/mildew, it simply snaps onto the side bar of the tub, and it even has a zipper along the bottom so that toys can be quickly dumped into the tub. I also like the two snaps that kind of keep the top stabilized so that it stays pretty balanced.

Abigail noticed this guy sitting on the screen door. He was huge! Hopefully he moved along without munching on my plants first.

The new post for the new little free library.

Stocked with some books (we rely on donations from the neighborhood for that).

Paul even put on a light so that it’s easy to see at night (it’s motion-sensing and solar powered).

I love Halloween in San Antonio. I have always loved Dia de Los Muertos. I love the vibrant colors, the symbolism, the focus on family bonds…it’s just wonderful. This was set up on an end cap at our local grocery store and I couldn’t help but snap a quick picture. It’s just a perfect representation of a San Antonio Halloween.

Abigail fell in love with this little skeleton dog at the store. She even named it Zero. 😁 I’m such a sucker for Halloween that it came home with us.

I found this cute bandana pumpkin (with a burlap stem) at the store and it ended up in my cart. It’s the perfect mix of “fall” and “Texas”. 😂

I also found a little light-up Sally pumpkin for Abigail. She was pretty excited and had to go find her Sally doll so they could be together. I also got Joseph a light-up pumpkin (it looks like the poison-covered pumpkin from Disney’s Descendants), but he has it squirreled away in his room already.

The annual cheesecake. I normally make it for Paul’s birthday, but we decided to wait a week and have it as dessert for our game night with friends.

Another Birthday, Yummy Food, A Lost Tooth, Sunsets Galore, and a Fun-Filled Day

This past week held some fun and eventful events. We celebrated Paul’s birthday, Abigail lost another tooth, and I was able to take the kids out for a fun outing to the Kiddie Park and the zoo while Paul did some things around the house. I took a billion pictures of different sunsets I saw on my walks, and experimented with some new recipes with delicious results.