lazy days

Beautiful cool, wet days...

some dramatic skies

...and the turtles are out!  So many eastern box turtles!

Rabbits every single day...out every morning and early evening to "silflay" for those of you who've read Watership Down.

Starting to see more insects too, especially with the milkweed beginning to open.

red milkweed beetle

spotted pink lady beetle

small milkweed beetle

Following the "red" theme is this red-spotted orb weaver, even though the red spots are too small to see...this guy was only about an eighth of an inch long!

Beautiful moths...

eight-spotted forester

genus halysidota

...and a few other interesting things.

oscillate midge gall

coral mushroom

eastern tent caterpillars

I'm finally getting some blooms on my Molyneux roses.  I'm really pleased with the color.  I only like apricot and pink roses, so this was a good choice.  

Bumper crop of apples this year!

The garden is (sigh) coming along.  These rows will have flowers!

These are still full of weeds.

I've had an unusual number of headaches lately (still), which makes me even less inclined to crawl around in the bright sun and clear weeds.  Maybe this week.

I have plenty of company in the bed!

Pepita is still, shall we say, motivationally challenged?

Getting an assist when she refuses to walk any further...

sigh.

She is undeniably lazy, but at least she is also sassy and funny!

she likes to hide her head under the couch like an ostrich.

Looking forward to more pleasant summer days!

Hopefully cool and wet, just like the first part of June.  I love it!  

sense of indolence

 Summer is really here!  We've been seeing an uptick in many animals, like deer...

(there's never just one)

still molting from the cold winter!

...snakes...

(Eastern milk snake...and I saw a small black rat snake, dead...Todd saw another unidentified snake, large, but he slithered off before I could get my camera gear)

...daily rabbits, including the occasional victims of predation...

...and many other creatures!

Eastern box turtle

Carolina wren

female red-winged blackbird, grumpy that I'm so close to her nest

Speaking of nests, I've found quite a few eggs lately!

mourning dove egg

chipping sparrow egg

Some interesting insects too!

pearly wood-nymph moth

spring fishfly

tachinid fly

chrystopilus flies

melon aphids, feeding on milkweed

Rain has threatened...

asperitas clouds

...but it's mostly been hot and dry.  I'm trying to muster up some summer enthusiasm.  I'm determined not to despise an entire season! The work continues.  Meanwhile Pepita, like me, is not a fan of summer.  She's starting to refuse to walk.

She plants her feet, ducks her head, and resists.  Todd has to carry her forward a few feet to let her know that the walk WILL continue.  Most of the time she grudgingly obliges, but it's a daily battle.  She's much more comfortable in her main habitat...the bed.  

She has plenty of company.

Maybe we'll all be lazy together this summer...inside, with a good book!

moth swath

The rain and high-pressure system that had been hanging over for a week or so finally moved off, and I'm glad.  I had two migraines and several days of regular headaches, but the sun seems to have cleared all that up.  Now we have low humidity, very cool nights/mornings and days in the low 80s.  It's really pretty perfect.

Sun!  Blue skies!!  

Everything is so green.

side garden getting ready to burst into bloom with coneflowers, obedient plant, and bee balm

So much wildlife out and about.  We can smell skunk in the morning sometimes, and see them constantly on our trail cams.  Rabbits sightings multiple times daily.

Deer, too.

It's baby season!  Fawns are moving around, carefully following their mothers...

...or sometimes bumbling away from them.  This little guy got lost in my garden and ran around, bleating...

He dashed into the woods, and not long after I saw his mother, nosing around for him.  I'm sure they got reconnected in the shadows.  

I've seen a few interesting moths, too.

polyphemous moth

spotted apatelodes moth

thin-winged owlet moth

white dotted prominent moths mating

walnut sphinx moth

walnut caterpillar moth

Inside, the pets are feeling the "heat," even if it's actually pretty cool.  It's always naptime!

I was lying down quite a bit with all the headaches last week, but I was never there alone.

Never a dull moment around here.    

Hopefully this cool, beautiful weather will continue.  We'll see!  For me, the countdown to fall has already started.  ;)