the castle is worth the hassle

We're in a bit of limbo as these mid-August days pass.  We are moving toward a house, but still in temporary housing while inspections and negotiations take place.  We are moving toward a big business expansion, but those plans are on hold until we get into a new, larger space.  So while planning, phone calls, and general settling in take time, we still do have more free time than we're used to. 

Thankfully, there are some amazing hiking trails here.  I found about 8 trails within 10 miles of our apartment, so we're out almost every day.  Yesterday's trail, Porter-West, is part of the Sycamore Land Trust.  A portion of the trail wound through the woods, but huge swatches of it were just mowed paths through overgrown meadows.  I love the sweet smell of meadow grass in the sun, and the sweet-spicy smell of wild honeysuckle and sweet peas.

Plenty of insects...

I've become pretty adept at spotting these bagworm moth cocoons.

We even found an old graveyard with inscriptions dating back to the mid-1700s!

It hasn't been all hiking, though.  We tried out Bloomington's famous Saturday farmers market!  It has been on top 10 lists for markets nationally and I could see why.  Live music, fresh produce, meat, cheese, honey, syrups, herbs, flowers...

...plus local bakeries set up booths for coffee, pastries and miscellaneous sweets.  Food trucks serve all sorts of international dishes.  Artists have booths at the far side of the market, selling pottery, handspun wool, jewelry, prints, etc.  I wish I would've gotten more pictures but I'll save that for next time!

For fun, we also decided to take a cardboard cat-castle building class for adults this week too.  The library provided the cardboard and the art supplies, and we chose a blueprint. 

Oh, and the library also provided the cats!

They waited patiently while we completed our creations...

...and then tried them out!

We had a great time.

We've got many more fun things planned over the next few weeks, but the best feeling of all would be the completion of the house stuff and a definitive move toward closing!  There are so many things that could go wrong right now.  We've got some pretty pricey inspection-driven requests for the sellers, and if they balk, it could be back to the drawing board for us.  A pretty dismal prospect.  So this week it's crossed fingers, prayers, and distracting activities.  Bring on the cat castles!

Have a great week! 

bat wings and cat things

We had a delightful little visitor at the apartment last week...a little brown bat!

Myotis lucifugus eats half of their body weight in insects a night so really great to have around.

I was curious about the etymology of the name. Myotis means 'mouse eared,' and lucifugus is a combination of two latin words that mean, literally, he who flees from the light.  I think I just found my next pet name!  :) 

We've gone on a few hikes this past week, seeing more bag worms...

...snails...

...and caterpillars (this is Spilosoma virginica, the Virginia tiger moth caterpillar)...

...but we don't have to go into the woods to see nature.  We see plenty at the Indiana University campus!  I lost track of how many rabbits we saw there this week.

We both agree that it's the most beautiful campus we've been to.  So many wonderful walking trails...

...beautiful buildings...

...and nice landscaping.

It has certainly welcomed us home!

Downtown is so pretty at night.

The cats are certainly making themselves at home...

...and Borga, too, is learning the ropes!

Have a great week!

twig sprigs and whirligigs

Despite needing to finish some important work (taxes, etc.) at the apartment, we've gotten away for a few nice walks this past week.

Water, water everywhere!

One of our hiking locations has iron grid steps down into a gully.  Borga was not a fan and needed a little help!

The weather has been amazing - warm, but not very humid.  Perfect for hiking.  I've seen a lot of insects, which is nice.  Box elder bugs...

Japanese beetles, which are destructive, but still beautiful...

Bees...

Our old friend, the woolly aphid!

Bagworms, who carry their houses with them, like snails.  They're quite destructive, especially to evergreens.  Each one of these little houses, when created, can contain over 1,000 eggs!

I even saw some new-to-me insects, like this Beautiful Wood Nymph moth.  Aptly named, I think!

I called these "water-churn beetles" until I discovered their true identity, the Whirligig Beetle.

They have compound eyes, so that one set is above the water surface and one set is below.  They use this superior feature, plus a primitive 'radar' with water ripples, to evade predators and find prey.

We didn't hike for more than an hour or so at any one place, but these little jaunts are great for stretching our legs and flexing our amateur naturalist muscles.  I'm looking forward to more lengthy hikes soon!

Meanwhile, I'll enjoy the short hikes and beautiful sunsets!