Fall Tomatoes

Even after being run over with a trailer and sat on by neighborhood cats, my tomato plants are still trying to produce tomatoes for me.  The first couple had some bugs but there are several that are doing really well.
The weather seems to want to cooperate with me too.  No freezing temperatures in the near forecast and plenty of sun. All I have to do is keep them watered and happy and we'll have some good pasta sauce in our future.  Likewise the basil plants are continuing to grow and look healthy.  We'll probably harvest them soon and make more pesto and save some for making sauce.
The beet plant is still getting bigger but no flower stalks yet, a few more weeks of waiting and we'll see what happens.

Approaching winter

I haven't had a lot of time to go out and garden but winter is fast approaching and it doesn't look like it's going to wait on me to get my garden ready.  The on and off drizzles have started which makes it hard to plan when a good time to go out would be but it also keeps me from having to worry as much about watering.  Anything hardy probably won't have to be watered by me until spring.

Crops I'm hoping will still produce something this year:
tomatoes -  they're still flowering but I don't think they're pollinating. I haven't seen any little tomatoes forming.
saffron - I planted the bulbs but they might not do anything until next year.
beets - They're growing but I don't know if they will be big enough to eat. the really large one may be too big and I'm hoping it will flower and make tons of seed.
wild yam - Still not sure what to do with it but there's a small patch in the front yard.

Eco Fest - Raptors

We stopped by Eco Fest today (in Arlington, Texas), mostly because we heard they were giving away free plants.  While we were there, I was able to photograph some of the birds brought out by the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center.  All of thier birds are either injured or for some reason unable to care for themselves in the wild, so hearing their stories is a little sad, but it is still amazing to see such majestic creatures up close. 

Perigrin Falcon -- This is the type of bird made fameous in My Side of the Mountain.

Red Tailed Hawk -- This guy is a teenager, with lots of energy.  He broke one wing, probably while learning to fly.  Somebody patched him up, but he couldn't fly properly, so he crashed and broke the other one.  In captivity, he'll probably live to be in his twenties.

Screech Owl -- Isn't this just the most adorable thing you ever saw?  That's probably why somebody fed him, and now he can't hunt on his own.

Red Shouldered Hawk -- This guy never learned to hunt either.  He can fly, but tends to go in circles.

Texas Spiders

We were out at Cedar Hill State Park scouting locations to do a little stargazing.  While we were there, we met a few of the park's arachnid inhabitants.  I know the two large spiders were both Texas tarantulas (they were surprisingly willing to have thier picture taken).  Not sure about the other two.  Anybody have a guess?