brown county bounty

Forget peak leaf week...I think we hit peak leaf DAY when we went to Brown County State Park this past week!

Colors were amazing.

Others were haunting the trails, too.

red-tailed hawk

"woolly bear" caterpillar

painted turtles

And why not?  It was almost 80 degrees!  At home, I continue to see insects everywhere...and it was so warm the other night that I heard tree frogs singing...kind of unusual for late October.  

spotted cucumber beetle

milkweed bug nymph

oleander aphids

But I don't think I'll be seeing them for long.  In the span of a few days, we're going from 80 to 23 degrees, and the hard frost will kill everything in the garden and send these bugs into hibernation.  It's amazing that we've had flowers for this long!  I gathered up a big armful today for the last bouquets of the season.

The kittens have been loving the sunshine...

...but they will like curling up by a warm fire, too.  We'll see what happens over the next few days.  Have a great week!