{"id":16771,"date":"2026-05-21T10:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/?p=16771"},"modified":"2026-05-21T10:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:29:16","slug":"fire-ant-flickers-20-back-yard-musings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/2026\/05\/21\/fire-ant-flickers-20-back-yard-musings\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire Ant Flickers (#20): Back Yard Musings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Well, hello there. I hope your day is going as swimmingly as mine, because I couldn\u2019t ask for a nicer afternoon. I\u2019m sitting in a chair overlooking the creek that runs behind our house, watching the turtles and fish float lazily downstream in the water, made semi-opaque (the water, not the critters) by the two inches of welcome rain the storms dumped on us last night. The air temperature is 80\u00ba but feels cooler than that in the shade cast by the pecan tree overhead and the light breeze that comes and goes \u2014 light enough to dispel the heat, but not the ever-present no-see-ums that seem to find me so attractive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:
Use your imagination to place me in that chair with an iPad at my side.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve remarked to anyone who will listen \u2014 and to a few that won’t \u2014 that the abundant rainfall we\u2019ve received over the past couple of months has made the landscape as lush and verdant (is that redundant?) as I can recall ever seeing it. The trees lining the creek and those in the common area across the way almost completely obscure the view of the trail that circles our neighborhood, and the amenities center 150 yards distant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ve been disappointed many times in the past by the unfulfilled promise of an El Ni\u00f1o weather pattern<\/a>, but this one seems to be taking its responsibilities seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The wisps of clouds floating in the rain-washed sky serve to enhance the pastoral scene, and the incessant calls of birds (identified in turn by the Merlin app on my phone as Northern Cardinal, Carolina Wren, and Golden-fronted Woodpecker; I concur with the first two IDs, but I’m less sure about the third one) are almost successful in distracting me from the hum of the pool heater across the way, and the voices of the folks attempting to repair a leak in the pool equipment that\u2019s shut down the use of that facility for a day or two\u2026a reminder that I\u2019m not completely isolated from civilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Days like this are a special blessing, especially considering that it wasn\u2019t that long ago that we were acosted by temperatures nearing 100\u00ba. Those will come again, and sooner than any of us would like, and the mosquitos will reappear to make what I\u2019m doing now an intolerable ordeal. But that\u2019s in the future; the present is all I have right now, and it\u2019s very good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:
A mud turtle seems to hover above the water…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Debbie and I continue to be infatuated with our two magnolia trees; I\u2019ve written about them in the past. We planted them in 2022, to replace the beautiful loquat tree we lost to the great ice storm of the previous winter<\/a>, and last summer was the first time we were graced with the presence of a bloom or two on one of them. And this summer, both trees are sporting blooms. I realize that for some of you, this is old hat (I use that term in its early 20th-century meaning, and not in its much more vulgar meaning from the 17th century\u2026but I\u2019m sure you could figure that out from context), but it\u2019s still new and cool to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This bloom opened just a few hours ago.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Apart from the intoxicating aroma from the blooms \u2013 which, incidentally and irrelevantly is much less apparent to Debbie than to me \u2014 what fascinates me most about magnolia blooms is their short lifespans. I\u2019m surprised that some of the Biblical scribes didn\u2019t use the magnolia bloom as a picture for the relative fleetness of our own lives. You know what I mean; instead of from dust to dust<\/em>, they could have said to from bloom to doom<\/em>\u2026OK, I see the problem there. Never mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, I took a series of photos of a single bloom and time-stamped them to illustrate the almost hour-to-hour progression of its life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The initial pristine appearance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I didn’t realize they closed overnight…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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…but they quickly open to the new day. The bees appear to offer homage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Less than five hours later, the decomposition is obvious.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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It progresses quickly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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It’s now a mere shadow of its former self, but still striking in its own way.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We’ve counted four or five potential blooms like the one shown below, but whether they’ll make it to maturity is an open question. There’s a long list of reasons that I’ve grown to despise squirrels, and near the top of the list is their penchant for snipping off magnolia blooms before they have chance to open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’m not sure what you call this. “Bud” seems somehow inadequate, but those who know more than me \u2014 i.e. everyone \u2014 use that term.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Snakey (Snaky?) Video Ahead<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Snake season is upon us here in the heart of Texas. No, that’s not an “official” designation, but it’s what I call this time of the year when the warm weather invigorates all of the wildlife around here, and the food chain becomes especially active. That inevitably means more serpent sightings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a lawn service that mows the grass once a week, normally on Thursday. But this week, in what would have normally been a show of unfounded confidence, they came on Tuesday (yesterday as I write this) in anticipation of rain. After they left, I wandered into the front yard to inspect it \u2014 our zoysia is finally overtaking the clover and other weeds that took advantage of my failure to apply pre-emergent on time \u2014 and I spotted something<\/em> in the grass that seemed out of place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried to take a photo and then a video, but ended up with only the following video:<\/p>\n\n\n\n