You have a 19 pound cat at your house? I hope you have a special permit because it's illegal to keep a lynx in Texas without one.

He walked in from the wild but he looks like a gentle giant ginger Tabby. My husband had a back operation and was told not to pick up anything heavier than 10 lbs so I weighed all the belt sanders ; cats; routers; etc. all things of import. I have put the Lionel on a diet so he might be slightly slimmer; but not by much.

I had a 30 lb cat once when I was a kid. He also came out of the wild. It took 3 years to tame him and he was already an old cat. He was mostly Siamese markings with a nice chocolate brown big round head.

From a lover of big dogs, I'd say those are my kind of cats! If my husband ever agrees to bringing a kitty home, I'd definitely want a 15+ pounder, for sure. lol

Regarding the flora and fauna at my place, I have 15 struggling hybrid phlox (and it hasn't even gotten all that hot outside, yet) and 25 struggling candytuft. Pooh. :-( The candytuft are doing a bit better than the phlox, but they've had less time to die.

By the way... if someone can tell me... did I royally mess up the phlox by slicing the (very, very, VERY pot-bound) root balls, like 3/4 of the way up, right down the middle of the ball (which was actually more like a solid cube)? I'm willing to try ordering from the same nursery again in the fall, assuming that my hacking was a major factor in the plants' (likely, at this point) deaths.

Thanks. <3

Everything else is doing okay, except my roses. Gotta treat blackspot. I loooove the rain, but dang, I wish it would rain, you know, during the *morning*, and spare me the overnight fungus troubles. ;-)

I am itchin' somethin' awful to replace the Mexican Oaks that we lost in the 2021 Deep Freeze with Natchez Crepe Myrtles. Just debating on how small I want to go, knowing they grow fast and the younger the plant, the less transplant shock it'll deal with. Hmmm.... :-D

Oh, and we saw our first toads last weekend, under a makeshift "deck" my 10-year-old son built. Really nice to see those little guys. And ohmygosh (sorry for the rambling) we got rid of the mice under the shed!!! *happy dance* They apparently dislike bone meal being packed into their holes twice a day. :-D

Do you have give you warts kind of toads or Old Rip type Horned Lizards,aka horned toads? I have been watching with hope and excitment as horneds make a come back.

I had my regular three toads eating bugs at my front door last night! They're so cute...

I have the regular froggy-toads. Only 2 so far.

I'd LOVE to see some lizards!!! I miss seeing lizards. I spent a large chunk of my childhood in Central America, and we had geckos that lived in the house, that ate all the bugs. Nothing like free pest control. :-D

I'm no tree hugger but I've cut way back on insecticide use and feel my yard is better for it. I still use insecticides but far less and smarter. I had never seen a gecko until I cut back. Now they are abundant. About 3 years after I stopped broadcasting bait for Fire Ants,Red Hearvesters showed up after decades of absence. I've talked about the disappearance of hearvesters and Horned lizards after the government dumped tons of poison across Texas thinking they could aradicate Fire Ants. I will share agin how I control Fire Ants and guarantee you will see dranatic results immediatly. Any insectacide specified for ant control is ok but if you don't have one on hand look for Bifenthrin listed as the active ingredient on product label. You will find it in several products sold at any big box,hardware or Tractor Supply Company. Mix in a pump up garden sprayer at 2x strength in instructions. Timeing of application is so critical that failing the timeing will make the effort a waste of time. Following rain or arigation ants will build a fresh mound and have their eggs and reproductive ants inside. Over night to mid-morning after rain is usually idea. You can be certain of correct time to treat by opening one fresh mound and leaving all the rest undesturbed. If mound is full of white eggs when opened with your foot,stick or garden hoe it's time to treat every fresh mound in the yard. Pump sprayer up and set nozzle to a sharp stream that penitrate's mound. Do not disturb mound other than shooting about 1 to 2 tablespoons in each of about 5 places in a mound 12 inches in diameter (less places on small mound and more places on larger mounds). If mounds are opend 24 hours later there will be no live ants and eggs remain unattended. After you have checked mounds and are convinced how well it works do as I do and leave them undisturbed so that any ants that hatch will be killed withing closed mound. You will almost always kill reproductives which are the target here but occasionally one escapes. If a queen escapes you can find and kill her in a tiny mound next time conditions are right. Yes,mounds often have more than 1 queen. Using this method you will use less insecticide over a period of ten years than a neighbor uses at a single treatment spraying in conventional fashion. I look foward to your response after the first treatment. Be patient and wait for right conditions before treating.

Oh, wow, that information is GOLD! :-D

I honestly have no idea what my small-town pest control guy uses. He's like 80 years old, and he and his wife spray the yard every quarter. They come back for free, as needed, and spot treat. Fire ants are always something I look out for; we get them frequently. I usually end up pouring boiling water on the mound.

I am totally thrilled, however, that I haven't seen any scorpions, and I pray with all my heart that remains the case! :-O

• Boiling water applied with same timing as reccomended above is a far better solution than broadcast insecticide. I have used boiling water for single mounds near the house A customer has the right to know EXACTLY what is being applied by pest control companies. The active ingredient being the most important to know. I hear homeowners reccomending products by brand more often than active ingredient. Every product is required to list the active ingredient on the label and it can be very inlightening to compare % between products when shopping. Insect repellent is a good example. Deet is fairly well known as an effective repellent. What isn't well known is that % varie's widly amongest products. 6 oz of 40% Deet for $8 is a better value than 8 oz of 15% Deet for $5. For those that spend extended time outdoors and/or object to odor and feel of Deet on their skin, treating clothing with permethrin is a good option. Sawyer is the most common brand of clothing treatment. I started with Sawyer 0.5% which work's well then for ecconomic reasons switched to Gordon's 10% Permethrin concentrate from Tractor Supply Company. Permethrin not only repel insects, it actually kill ticks, mosquitoes, chiggers, mites and more than 55 other kinds of insects on contact. It's prescribed for scabbies,lice,bed bugs and various other "cooties". Treatment last's through 6 washes. I use a Mosquito Magnet on the patio. The trap is on timer to come on at 5am and go off at 8am back on 3 hours before dusk then off at 10pm. If despite the magnet mosquitos become a problem on patio I spray Permethrin in shrubs where they rest. All this sound's like alot of insecticide until you realize applications are limited to targets rather than broadcast on property.

I am about to spray my porch with Pyrythrin to discourage Kissing bugs. I saw a baby and we do have them . I got bit last year. They scare me.