are we there yeti?

 It's been hot this week...really hot.

We've been so lucky this summer with cool, wet weather, but traditional Indiana summer heat has arrived.  Almost 100 degrees, day after day.  Yikes!

At least the cats like it.

catching a sunbeam

Since mornings were still pretty cool, we decided to hike to Indiana's most haunted cemetery, Stepp Cemetery.  It's only 10 minutes from our house!  

I love cemeteries.  I spent a fair amount of time at Whetzel Cemetery near my house growing up, making rubbings from the old tombstones.  Some date back to the 1700s!  I also made sure to visit the Bonaventura Cemetery when we were in Savannah.  

I love the statues...

...but I'm fascinated by the personal messages on tombstones.  How do you capture the essential quality of a person in just a few sentences?  I absolutely love seeing what people come up with.  

Stepp Cemetery was very odd, though.  The graves had become mini shrines, and you could tell that a lot of the items had been left there recently.

A lot of the "haunting" rumors are centered around a religious cult called the Crabbites that used to gather here.  They were a free-love sex cult who also liked to handle snakes and dance naked around the graves (to add a bit of science cred to their group, they also believed in a square Earth).  They indulged in a bit of small-animal sacrifice, right here at the cemetery! In addition to the Crabbites, there have been several sightings of "a woman in black," and Indiana's very own version of the "hook-man" myth!  Well, hook-woman.  A mother and her son were in a car accident on Old 37 and the son was killed and then buried in Stepp Cemetery.  The mother lost a hand, conveniently replaced by a hook, which she'd wave angrily at cemetery trespassers.  Apparently she continued to do this long after her own life had ended.  Sasquatch has also been sighted, as well as "men in white cloaks" who were definitely "not ghosts" (seen as recently as 2010).  We've hiked here daily for years but somehow have missed this entire cast of characters!  But we've never been here after dark... 

I did see something of interest in the forest this week.  One of my favorite caterpillars, the spicebush swallowtail!  What a beauty!!

If you see a folded-over leaf, there's probably someone inside.

More beautiful mushrooms...

coral fungus

red-capped bolete

amanita muscaria

american caesar mushroom

amanita jacksonii

...but with the weather being so hot, we mostly focused on getting in and getting out.  Mostly spending time at home...in the air conditioning.

Trying to reach some personal goals.

Hopefully the heat will relent soon and we'll be able to get outside again soon...fingers...and paws... crossed!

back attack

 Some exciting discoveries lately!  Some RED LEAVES.  

 

And RED BERRIES.  That's right...a few things are showing signs of the season!

spicebush

A snake shed its skin on our walking path...

...and one made its way through our yard.

Some mealybugs...sap-suckers...were found on our front hydrangea.  They were easy enough to wipe off.

A turkey vulture swooped down while I was driving and clawed the top of my car!  

He was fine -  I saw him hanging around when I drove back through the woods a few hours later.  I'm sure it was the same one...he glared and drew a talon across his throat in a very unmistakable way!  I think I disturbed his hunting.  ;)

Weather has finally turned reliably sunny, but hot.

Early morning walks are still okay - muggy, but not unbearable like some summers.

Pepita is still grumpily slipping her harness.

Some other signs of a waning season...acorns!!

And my favorite...caterpillars!  I love them so much and I look forward to "caterpillar season" every year.  So far this season, the old standbys are present and accounted for.  

fall webworms

sycamore tussock moth caterpillar

butternut woollyworms

And a really, really exciting discovery...a black-waved flannel moth caterpillar!!!

They are fairly rare in Indiana and the most venomous caterpillar in the United States.  Their sting has been compared to breaking a bone or the feeling of a hot coal being pressed against your skin.  I was very careful with him!

I mostly bring my cell phone on walks.  It's lightweight and the photos are "good enough," although it's frequently hard to focus on smaller things (like caterpillars).  But even at home with my good camera, I've struggled a bit.  My "newish" camera is so different from my last camera and requires so much more input.  I'll think that I'm getting great shots and everything looks fine on the small screen, but once I upload the photos, they're muddy.  I was hoping to get some really great shots of another venomous caterpillar, the saddleback, recently.  Not quite as crisp as I was hoping.

Those spines are both venom-tipped and hollow, so more venom can be pumped out if necessary.

Though not as painful as the black-waved flannel moth caterpillar, you'd still want to steer clear of this guy!

More quality time with the cats...

a rare lap visit from the Barnacle

...and Pepita this week.

groaning dramatically over a dropped toy

staring through the cat opening on the mud room door so she could keep a close eye on my clothes-sorting project in the garage.  She's not allowed through that opening and she knows it, but she still wants me to know that she's policing me, who is probably allowed in the garage, and the cats, who probably aren't

begging for attention 

I even finished another puzzle!

"Cats of Mykonos"

Somehow the garden is still producing flowers with zero attention from me.

I've been constrained this month with a back issue, which I let go for three weeks before seeing a doctor.  I've now had a ton of tests and x-rays.  It's not gallstones, kidney stones, or a fractured vertebrae (doctor's guess).  Just a deep ache in the very center of my back which leaves me unable to stay sitting down for more than about 20 minutes.  Thankfully, I can lay down without trouble and can walk/move around without more than a little pain and stiffness.  Next is probably an MRI and physical therapy - it could be a very, very deep and sore/twisted muscle, or maybe a herniated disc.  I've struggled with a tight back for years and I guess my daily yoga just isn't cutting it any more!  We'll see what happens.  Until then, I will just keep plugging along.  More than ever, I'm thankful to work from home, where I can take regular breaks to lay down on a heated pad...with the usual company.

Summer's not over yet...even "the old lady" (Claudia) is getting out for some fresh air from time to time!

There's still a lot more to explore before cold weather hits.  Hopefully my back will cooperate and I'll be out and about a bit more soon!

made in the shade

 We've had...a lot of rain lately.

Some torrential downpours.

It brought out the frogs...

grey tree frog

...ferns...

...and fungus.

oyster mushrooms

bolete rubellus

scaly shield mushroom

Our walking path has been littered with storm debris.

It's nice to NEVER have to water any plants.  Things are growing well!

Plenty of rabbits around to eat the foliage (poor early-morning cell pics).

The kittens (fearsome hunters) are keeping a close eye on this development.

See the rabbit just outside the window?  Our string trimmer has been broken so a lot of green has sprung up in the walking path around the house.  It's a common place for rabbits....with a convenient perch for rabbit hunters.

Some fun discoveries in the garden!  I love seeing ladybugs there, eating the aphids.  

Here's the empty molt of a young ladybug:

Here's a larva, eating the remains of its former exoskeleton:

Here's a milkweed beetle!

Cicadas are out and about...

And so are luna moths.  I was lucky to see this one...they only live for about a week!

Some other nice fliers...this eastern pondhawk dragonfly...

...and a southern spreadwing!

A few headaches this month...

...but it's been a little better...have been able to spend more time out in the sun...er, shade.

Some quality non-headache time inside, too.

I've even finished another puzzle!  Woo hoo! Two thousand pieces, a great challenge.

Hopefully more in the next few weeks.  Cool weather is coming!