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.  ;)

into everyone's life a little rain must fall

 We've had a few sunny days...

...but while it seems like most of the country is in a drought/heat wave, it's been chilly and rainy here for a couple of weeks.  REALLY chilly.  REALLY rainy.

Nice misty mornings on the days where it hasn't been too wet to walk.

neighborhood horses

Flooding everywhere!

Everything is very, very green.

American giant millipede

I finally bestirred myself and got my hot annual seeds potted up.

I think I managed 28 containers before I ran out of soil and energy.  It's been so cold that I've worried the seeds might rot, but we do have some green shoots and it looks like the worst of the rain is over now.  

We had a brief, glorious flare of peonies before the rain turned them to mush...

...and even Claudia got in on the warmer-day action and explored outside for about an hour before asking to go back into the barn!

Our indoor cats have taken advantage of the rare sunbeams, too.

Pepita has been going stir-crazy and is loving any sunny minute outside!

There are rabbits out and about every morning and I have to be careful with Pepita, and guard that she doesn't get worked up and try to chase.

And any place that you have rabbits, deer, foxes, coyotes, possums, raccoons, and my new favorite - a ton of skunks!! -

...you're going to have these guys.

This is a male lone star tick that I pulled off my stomach this week.  Normally I am *so* careful to check myself over daily, but the one day I had a migraine, skipped my shower and stayed in bed...he got me.  Todd had a black-legged tick bite recently and had to take antibiotics, since they carry Lyme Disease.  I pulled another tick from his leg yesterday.  It's rough - Pepita runs in the field every day and although we check her all over every single time she's been outside, it's just hard to see the ticks.  She's so dark, and the ticks range in size from poppy to sesame seed.  So small.  They sometimes hitch a ride inside and drop off.  We are incredibly diligent about checking the bed, the couch, and our bodies, but sometimes...we miss 'em.  It's one of the down sides of having a dog...although there are plenty of positives.  :)

Hopefully the worst of the yearly surge in ticks is behind us now!  Ready to head out and enjoy some sunshine.  Happy Monday!