Yards and the rain

I noticed when I came home today that the mold under the bird feeder (birdseed, bird poop, long grass, and rain. who'd have guessed?) was getting excessive, so I found the tilex and went out to knock it back some. Eventually, I'll have to figure out a better solution.

While I was out, I noticed that the ants were starting to swarm. There were many clumps of grass around the garden planter that were swarming with worker ants, and each clump had two or three winged ants with it. The key to surviving as a bug in my yard is not to call attention to yourself. A large amount of powdered diatomaceous earth later, there were no more ants to be found in that area. I didn't think to take pictures until after, so there are no pics of the clumps, as by that time I got out the camera, they were either dead or had retreated inside the ant colonies because of pending darkness or something.

While looking around the yard to see what else was going in, I also found that there are tiny evergreens (seven so far) scattered around the yard. I'm not sure if we'll leave them there, transplant them, or continue to mow over them until they go away. For now, they're marked with stakes.

There also are mushrooms coming up at here and there around the yard. I saw several single mushrooms and two clumps of mushrooms. The clumps are marked, but I didn’t bother with the singles.

I also saw two toads, but couldn’t find them when I came back with the camera.