Nikki's Photography

Green Pepper finally start growing in Texas when the weather cools. I like to cut the plants with veg still attached and bring them in as bouquet-arrangements combined with other veggies or seasonal flowering plants.

Kalanchoe, a large-leaved succulent that I take in during winter, when it suffers but survives enough to thrive for another summer. In ideal conditions the leaves can grow to about 8 inches long x 5 inches at the widest point.

Every year I have to actively discourage the fire ants from establishing their nest at our back door. The fire ants are always present, but two or three times a year they try to set up their home in ours. Rather than use commercial insecticides, baking soda and boiling hot water work great. If that doesn’t do the trick, bleach diluted in a spray bottle and pure tenacity do the trick. It may take days, going out every hour — each time a layer of ants comes to the surface I bombard them with one of the two solutions. They are not easily discouraged, but finally, living in our house is no longer an option for them…until next time.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

A show of red pops against the weathered dead branches and late summer foliage in the canyons of northern Arizona. I didn’t notice that it was heart-shaped until sorting out photos this week.