How exciting to see a dragonfly nymph at the lake! This one was probably headed for its final molt, since they are aquatic until adulthood. My eagle-eyed eldest spotted this one and watched it for awhile while my youngest pulled in fish.

My eldest found the coolest looking snail in the back yard. This is not our typical slug or long coned snail! It looks like it could have a role in Hollywood. It was that bold too, it didn’t hide in its shell when she picked it up. Hm. There are parasites that change snail behavior. Perhaps that is this one’s story.

(I figured I would spell it out in the title so those disinclined toward serpents could skip this post.) My eagle-eyed eldest spotted something in the backyard and informed me that there was a snake out there eating something. I grabbed the snake grabber and went to investigate, but it was just a plain bellied water snake eating a toad, no venomous beastie (I did get the ID from the experts on “What Snake is This? North Texas Educational Group on FB). I’m a little sad for the toad, as we seem to be down to one backyard toad and one garage toad, but it was really cool to watch the snake. We kept the dogs inside as the snake lay by our patio table waiting for the toad to deflate so it could finish the process of swallowing it. We would check on it at intervals (and take pictures), and finally the poor pups couldn’t cross their legs anymore so we put them on leashes to go do their business. The snake, full and sluggish, eventually slid out of the yard. It took two hours, but the serpent was eventually able to finish its very large meal!

It finally dried out enough to give the grass a mow. This little brown skink scurried out of harms way and up the wall, so he got his picture taken. My mowing job was definitely subpar, but I’m going to blame most of the missed spots on playing “don’t jump there” with toads!