At first I thought the grackles had paused on my potted lemon tree on their way to roost in the HEB supermarket parking lot. Those pesky birds had deposited a couple of yucky blobs on the leaves.

Then I saw a bizarre object on one of the stems. It looked like a rough, gray, stubby snake with a big head.

You guessed it! They are caterpillars, in two different stages of development. If all goes well, they will turn into giant swallowtail butterflies, which can have a wingspan of up to 6 inches. The caterpillars are called orange dogs because of their love of all kinds of citrus plants. If they feel threatened, they poke out a couple of horns that exude a bitter odor. I did not threaten them though. My husband relocated a couple of them to the lime tree and a rue plant.

Giant swallowtail butterflies feed on the nectar of lantana flowers, which we have in abundance. So watch this space--if I can get some photos of these beauties, I'll post them here!

The Air Force's deployment and personnel processes are being combined in a transfer of the AEF Center from Langley AFB in Virginia to Randolph AFB, just northeast of San Antonio, Texas. Earlier in the year, AFPC's readiness division and casualty matters division were combined with AEF operations to create the Air and Space Expeditionary Force and Personnel Operations Directorate.  The directorate seems to have met their goal of keeping disruption to a minimum during the transition. Tasks included readying the AFPC's infrastructure by migrating computer systems, rewiring networks, increasing bandwidth, and bringing systems online in the new location.

The ceremony on September 26 marked the achievement of full operational capability for the AEFC Force and Operations Directorate at the Air Force Personnel Center.

Randolph has a large impact on the local area, estimated as contributing more than 7,500 jobs. It is estimated that a net loss of only 0.1% of those jobs in the next few years would come as a result of BRAC's reshuffling of military and civilian positions.

Fort Sam Houston is the location for a new Army Medical Department Center and School's Center for Predeployment Medicine. The CPDM will offer training to combat medics, nurses, senior noncommissioned medics, physicians, and  their assistants and will cover everything from providing first aid on the battlefield to support in combat hospitals. Four courses that were previously spread throughout various departments at the AMEDD Center and School will now be offered by CPDM. Since the courses will now be mandatory rather than optional, and offered moe frequently, they will benefit from being administered through a single center.

Feedback from soldiers who have taken the Brigade Combat TeamTrauma Training  course (BCT3) has been positive, one soldier commenting, "I wish I had this training before on previous deployments--I would have saved lives."

The new department is just one small part of the $28 million in BRAC funds allocated for construction and health-care projects at Fort Sam and Brooke Army Medical Center.

Many new landlords are surprised and upset when they discover that after their tenants have moved out, they still need to spend some money on the property before it is ready to be leased again. These folks paid their rent on time and kept the house and yard in good shape, and you were looking forward to getting somebody new in the door right away.

It is almost impossible for tenants to leave the house in better condition than it was before they moved in. No matter how well they take care of your property, there will still be nail holes and marks on the walls, worn carpet, scratched wood, and bare patches in the lawn. This is a fact of life for owners called normal wear and tear. And you can't deduct the money to remedy wear and tear out of the tenant's security deposit. You may be able to have the tenants agree to have the house or the carpets professionally cleaned after vacating as part of their lease terms, but you can't make them pay to completely restore the house to its former pristine condition.

What aren't included in normal wear and tear are repairs needed because of tenant negligence or failure to report them. If your tenants knew of a dripping pipe that led to rotten, moldy wood under the kitchen sink, the cost to repair it can be deducted from the security deposit. But if they notified you and you didn't do anything to repair it, the tenant is not liable. This is why you should encourage your tenants to report every problem, no matter how minor, to you or your property manager.

Now that you don't have next month's rent coming in, it may not be pleasant to write checks for painting, cleaning, landscaping, or replacing flooring, but it's necessary in order to attract a good-quality new tenants.

Think about it this way: what do your old tenants have to show for their year of renting your house? Happy memories of living in a nice home, hopefully.

And what do you have show for it? A year's worth of rental income, which may or may not have covered your expenses. But more importantly, you still have an asset you can use to generate further income (and tax deductions).

So plan to spend up to a month's rent on getting the house ready again for some great new tenants. It will be money well spent.

This spider has lost weight! All the spinning seems to be directed towards making a place for her eggs to hatch. It's like a cotton pad stuck to the basil stem.

Green lynx spiders jump on their prey, including "crop pests" like bollworms and some types of moths, rather than spinning webs to snare them. Unfortunately, they also like to dine on bees! So this family will need to be relocated to the front yard, where they can live in the lantana or Asian jasmine instead of my bee-bait plants.

Obviously it's a spider (I'm math-challenged, but I was able to count eight legs). Anybody recognize it?

What could it be hoping to catch for breakfast? The ladybugs hatched months ago and fanned out across the yard, and there are no aphids. I just hope it's not messin' with my bees!

If anybody can identify it, let me know. Just curious--I like to know the names of all the denizens of my garden, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral!

Forbes.com ran a story the other day about the least (and most) expensive US cities for home ownership. San Antonio was ranked the fourth least-expensive city on their list. No surprise here. Gasoline, food, and utilities cost less than in many other large cities. San Antonio's warm climate and continuing economic growth continue to make it an attractive city for retirees as well as relocating workers.

Behind (or beside) the Alamo

In the San Antonio metro area, real estate did not appreciate nearly as much as in other places, so it has not depreciated as much either, although it is definitely a buyer's market now. Only 1,710 existing single-family homes sold in San Antonio in August, down 26 percent from 2,317 homes in August of last year. Home sales are down 19%, while average prices have increased only 1% in total compared to the January-August 2007 period. The average days on market have also lengthened from 68 to 83 compared to last August.

San Antonio's median home price is still $153,300, the same as it was in August of 2007, but foreclosures totaled 1,015--up 43% from the same time last year.

There is some good news for investors: rental rates are also going up in response to demand from people unable to buy a home. But San Antonio still placed sixth on another Forbes.com list, that of the least expensive cities for renters. The median rent was shown as $707. Of course, this figure includes studio apartments all the way up to 5-bedroom homes.

For a multi-family property, I'd recommend looking for a rental rate of at least $550/unit for a 1-bedroom. I'd advise at least $950/month for a single-family home. This doesn't refer to cash flow as much as getting to a certain income threshold for prospective tenants.

This Gulf Fritillary was snoozing on the buddleia this morning, waiting for the rays of the sun to hit him and warm him up. When that happens, the white spots on the wings turn out to be silver. Butterflies and hummingbirds love the nectar from buddleias, also known as butterfly bush. But the Gulf Fritillary lays its eggs on passionflower vine. Ours has been decimated, but that's okay--it's there to provide caterpillar food.

I went back outside this afternoon and took some more photos to make a little Gulf Fritillary show.

I went back to see the restored Sunken Gardens at Brackenridge Park last weekend. There were a couple of musicians playing New Age music in the stone pagoda, which was actually rather nice. Although it was about 85 degrees, as usual in September, the walkways were shaded by the trees. They were not covered in blooms as they were on my first visit, but there were a lot of other flowers and greenery to admire.

A moth whose wings glittered with gold iridescence in the sunshine

The Sunken Gardens, located next to Brackenridge Park and the Zoo, is one of my favorite places in San Antonio. They are free to visit, although donations for their continued restoration and upkeep would be welcome.

Enjoy the show!