Feels like fall

Check out this cool spider I found
in the front yard today -- luckily before I stuck my big fat hand in to
pull weeds. I've never seen one like it. It was quite large too.

We had a few days of heavy rain last week and on the other
side of it, the weather has begun to cool down a bit. I went out and
pulled weeds and cut off big hunks of creeping phlox that were creeping
down over the driveway and put some in the drainage ditch next to the
road and some other "problem areas. I love that stuff -- you don't even
have to dig, just toss some on a patch of dirt and water it in. I also
noticed that my winter garden seeds have sprouted -- and have done it
much more quickly with better germination rates that in the spring. It
remains to be seen whether anything will come of them.

Aside from cooling the temps, the rain did one other thing -- caused my goliath of a hyacinth bean vine to snap my stick tuteur.
It's all in a heap, though the vine itself still looks perfectly
healthy and is still reaching up. It reminds me of this book I just
finished -- The Ruins by Scott Smith -- about this creepy and sentient vine that takes over this Mexican mountain top and has developed a taste for tourists.

I also did what I thought was a good days work this past weekend and got my shed cleaned out. Organizing can be so satisfying -- unfortunately it all goes to hell again too quickly. Before and after pics.