In the previous comment, I mentioned wearing my goggles when doing yard work that requires me to stick my face in a tree or bush, so I figured I'd specify what I use for anyone who's curious.

I wear DeWalt safety goggles.  They use an elastic strap instead of legs over the ears, and that's an advantage if you're also wearing a hat or ear muffs or whatever.

Spent some of Tuesday afternoon pulling up some sticker vine.  Man, I hate that crap.

I wear my welding gloves so the thorns won't be too bad, though an occasional one still gets through.  I wear my goggles, too, because the vines are growing up through some bushes, and I have to stick my face in there to get to them, and I don't want some leaf or branch to poke me in the eyeball.

I highly recommend the welding gloves, by the way, for pulling up thorny weeds.  I don't even do any welding; I bought these specifically for this purpose.  Got mine at Harbor Freight.

We feed the woolly-necked storks that live in our retirement village. But they have become very demanding. My neighbour didn't have anything for them this morning and they kept tapping on his door. When he went out he discovered they had almost destroyed his fern in their anger/frustration  Other neighbours have also complained about them ripping up plants if they don't get fed.

Yeah, that's not cool at all.   

We feed the woolly-necked storks that live in our retirement village. But they have become very demanding. My neighbour didn't have anything for them this morning and they kept tapping on his door. When he went out he discovered they had almost destroyed his fern in their anger/frustration  Other neighbours have also complained about them ripping up plants if they don't get fed.

Pics from the afternoon of May 23rd.

Hydrangea is in full bloom:





Gardenia:





Fun fact:  There's a brown thrasher nest somewhere under the gardenia.  It was there last year, too.  When I approach the bush, the birds get a little nervous, and I can hear the occasional rustle of them moving around.  I can also hear the little ones cheep when one of the parents returns with food.

Fun fact 2:  The brown thrasher is our official state bird.  We named our short-lived NHL hockey team after it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_thrasher

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Thrashers

Baby Joro spiders are already hard at work controlling the insect population:





I think that trophy is a tiny winged ant, but I can't tell for sure. 

Looks like there's also a cast-off exoskeleton; babies grow up so fast!   

This spider built her web very close to where the whole bunch of them were clumped together after leaving the egg sac, so that's how I know it's a Joro.  She simply decided to stay in place instead of going ballooning like most of the rest of her siblings.