that's a wrap!

 Still hot and dry.

The heat, though, means that the garden is still producing.  I'm getting a ton of tomatoes...and the flowers look great!

ageratum

celosia

cosmos

zinnias

Where there are flowers, there are insects.  

leaf-footed bug

katydid

milkweed bugs, adult

milkweed bug, juvenile

planthopper

Still spiders about...

orb weaver

...and butterflies!

silver checkspot butterfly

A lacewing larva, nearly hidden beneath a camouflaging pile of fluff.

A mantis, drawn by our many moths, has been hanging around by our front door.  I am not a fan.

Check out those formidable weapons!

Other creatures are still creeping, too.

fowler's toad

I'd been seeing caterpillars everywhere, but they vanished in the last week.  Just a few tussock caterpillars still hanging around.  

I've been trying to get into the fall spirit despite the high temps.  I'm baking more...

apple fritter bread

...and knitting again.

not quite half of a wrap

I haven't had too much free time, but I try to take 15 minutes at least a few times a week to work on a puzzle.  Here is my setup:

real drafting table covered in felt, so I don't have to hunch over a table that's parallel to the floor!

I've usually got a puzzle going at any given time.  I've got a lot to choose from!  I pick them up at thrift stores pretty regularly, and occasionally buy them new, if I see one that I really like.  

There are two rows of stacks on the floor, and the three stacks in the center are puzzles that I haven't gotten to yet.  These are next in line to be completed.  I finally got this mess organized and pulled out a ton to donate last week!  More will be on the chopping block...I really need to thin this down.

Pepita is doing well!  She's got a new cat-filled territory...

...the kitchen and the living room!  It's gone a lot smoother than expected.  No territory beefs.  If all goes well, she'll get a hallway and another room next week.  I think we'll be more excited, because we've been hassling with baby gates all over and we can finally get rid of them!  

She has just graduated to thirty minute daily walks...

Waiting to be released!

Puppies have developing joints, so you have to slo-o-o-owly extend their walking times, 5 minutes per month of age.  She'll be able to walk for a full hour by April, just in time for our long spring hikes!  We just have to work up to it.

In other news, I was reading about a really beautiful sea slug last week...and this week, I spotted a shirt at the thrift store that looked almost exactly like it!  Of course I had to buy it.

The sea slug (called a nudibranch) is a little more turquoise.  I am 100% knitting a sweater in these colors sometime.  

Cooler temps should be coming soon!  I can't wait.  Have a great week!  

 

winter gloves and garden loves

It was nearly 80 degrees on Friday, so I rushed out to get some of my seedlings in the ground.  They can tolerate a little bit of cold, but in spring, I can't.  I adore winter until early March, and then I can only think about warmth.  Todd laughed at me yesterday in my thick winter coat, wool hat and gloves, but that 45 degrees feels like 45 below after I'm winter-finished.

I wasn't the only one who was appreciating the warmer weather.  This garter snake was enjoying the sun, too.

While I was working in the garden, he slid in and out from beneath the brown paper strip I was using for weed suppression, finally settling into a coil at the edge of the bed.

Although I had to be careful not to put my hand on him while I was digging holes nearby, I'm not afraid of garter snakes and am glad that he's going to be working near my garden this spring!

I had to walk carefully when I was moving my trays of seedlings, because we have a resident Fowler's Toad.

Sometimes he's in the gravel by the barn, and sometimes he's barely visible, snuggled into a tuft of grass nearby.  They've got a great call that's been called sheep-like by some.

I'm glad to have these 2 natural sources of pest control nearby!

We've got a few crayfish towers (or, as we called them when I was growing up, crawdad holes) in the yard.

Although the dried towers can cause trouble for lawn mowers, having crayfish around is also beneficial!  They help to move nutrients and oxygen deep into the ground...help with water runoff...and abandoned holes provide a protective place for other little creatures.  I like thinking about their little feelers quivering out of the tower's top at night as they climb to the surface to forage for food. These towers can be flattened for mowing.  No worries, the crayfish will just build it up again.  :)  

The warm weather brought out the ground bees, too.  They swarmed everywhere, exploring and mating.  They, too, are completely harmless.  Males can't sting and females almost never do, and they're wonderful pollinators!  

Our other resident farm worker, Claudia, was out in the sunshine with me.  We've noticed that as she's becoming more...Rubenesque...by our heavy feeding, she's brought in a lot less voles.   :)

I got these seedings in the ground just in time...the roots are fine now, but on the verge of being a little too thick on the bottom (i.e. root bound).  

I've got close to 110 plants (Bachelor Buttons, Cress, and Snapdragons) planted in the first row, and I'm not done yet!  They are remarkably hardy.  With our weather fluctuations, the trays have sat outside in chilly temperatures, rain, and wind.  Still, I covered the row last night, with temperatures at or just below freezing in the forecast.  I'm gnashing my teeth, too, looking ahead to the midweek - dipping down to 24 one night!  That means cover for EVERYTHING, which is a huge pain.  But, as Todd joked yesterday as I was grumbling and strapping on my winter gear to move the seedlings yet again, "You chose this life."  

Yeah, yeah!  The work is made easier by all of the little garden companions and others, like this Brown Thrasher singing lustily in a nearby tree while I planted.

Easier, too, when I have a front row seat for spring progress.  I love seeing the apple tree budding out!

My back perennial garden, too, is putting on color.  Eeek, I've got to thin some of this out in the next couple of weeks!

With spring mornings like this, I don't even mind going out in the early chill to turn on the plant grow lights in the barn.

Here's hoping (unlikely as it might be) that this week's deep frost is our last.  I'm ready to make some real progress outside.

Have a great week!

triple-wraps and scaly caps

This is my favorite time of year to hike.  The air is so crisp (I've determined that the absolute perfect temperature is 55 degrees) and although I have to double- or triple-layer because I'm always cold, it's so worth it.

It's not just the temperature.  The outdoor colors are so deep and rich.

Our leaves are just beginning to get a tinge of color, but sometimes you'll see an early-turning maple and get a sense of things to come.

Everything is slower and more quiet.  It's just perfect.

The spring and summer has a more obvious, showy beauty, but I think there's a lot of be said for this season's offerings. 

And there's still life, of course.  We usually see at least one berry-bearing tree or bush on a hike, which provides a great pop of color.

There are still gorgeous mushrooms around.

I came across a group of Pholiota squarrosa this week.

These shaggy scalycaps, as they are informally known, were once considered edible, with a sharp radish-like taste.  Now, however, they've been deemed poisonous, "especially if consumed with alcohol."  The see-sawing of mushroom recommendations is a little worrisome to me, so I'm sticking with the grocery store varieties!

A Fowler's Toad (Anaxyrus fowleri)came across my path last week.

They've been described as having a "sheep-like bleat" but I will let you be the judge!  For some reason, the male's mating call attracts both male and female toads, but he has a special "Whoops!" call that warns males attempting to mate with him that they've made a mistake.  Females lay up to 25,000 eggs in spring or early summer, so as you might guess, Fowler's Toads are pretty common!

I didn't realize that snakes shed their skin so late in the season, but I came across a clearly newly-shed snakeskin last week.

Apparently snakes shed several times a year to accommodate growth.  Problems with shedding from an incomplete shed can cause too many layers, especially around the head/eyes, and can cause blindness.  This snake didn't seem to have any trouble!

Some long-gone spider made a little nest in this leaf.

Some caterpillars, especially leaf roller caterpillars, will make webs in leaves, but it's usually just a small pocket. 

I'm looking forward to more near-daily hikes as the weather gets cooler.  Borga loves it!  It's funny, we never do family pictures...just random dog-holding pictures when we're out on a hike. 

We even did a city dog walk (and obligatory pics) this week.  Borga got her own glow-paint! 

The cats, meanwhile, are staying busy in my quilts.  I'm pretty sure they think I made them specifically for their comfort.  :)

Have a great week!