spiders, and skinks, and storms...OH MY!

I went out to get the mail earlier today and saw what I thought was the most beautiful salamander ever created! Wow, was it gorgeous. Bright blue tail...he was just sitting on our front porch step. I tried to catch it (that was one of my "hobbies" as a youngster - lifting up rocks to find salamanders and then trying to catch them) but this one was extremely quick and it got away from me. I came back inside and searched Google for terms like "blue tailed salamander" and eventually learned this guy is actually a "Five-Lined Skink". See his picture here. Absolutely beautiful. See if you don't agree!

It was just a banner day for nature and wildlife here. We had some big storms this afternoon and of course, I had to go check on Boris when the rain was all over. He's still in his same old spot and this time he was munching on a BIG ole bug. His body looked a lot fatter to me than before, so maybe he was full from his meal...I'm not sure...but I took a side photo of him eating. Steve took a back-side photo of him eating. Again, I came inside and googled "orb spider" and looked at photos until I found his official name, which is "Argiope aurantia". You can see truly AWESOME photos of spiders just like him on this website.

The cukes are looking good in the garden and I'm going to try to get out to Lowe's tomorrow afternoon to get a trellis for the vine to climb on. I'm worried that the fruit will start to rot if it stays on the ground. Also took a gander at the plants at the front of the house and noticed my gardenia is blooming again. Guess all it needed was rain??? There is one lonely flower on it but it sure smells good!

Tomorrow's the big yard sale. Wish me luck. I need to flog a lot of crap so I can buy my wine cabinet!