saddle up!

 More beautiful caterpillars!  I'm in love!

stinging rose caterpillar

saddleback caterpillar

Both of these guys are "no touch 'ems."  These little spines are full of venom that will break off in your skin if you make contact...especially the saddleback caterpillar.  The pain has been described as "electrical" and can last for hours.  Rash, headache, and nausea are common side effects, and some people going into anaphylactic shock and/or hemorrhage. To be safe...just leave them alone!  

I also found this Orgyia definita...

...more brown-hooded owlet caterpillars...

And look at this guy!  It's the caterpillar for the spicebush swallowtail butterfly.  It's an incredibly common butterfly but I've never seen the caterpillar before!

I love caterpillar hunting in the fall.  

Some other fall insects...I'm afraid my pumpkin crop has been pretty much ruined by squash bugs.

Todd cleaned them off and I've been able to salvage a few for the porch!

The mantises are out and about.  I was cutting down the perennial garden and noticed a pile of butterfly wings, all different sorts.

It could be the work of birds, who tend to have favorite perches...but this gal is the likely culprit.

This time of year they're big, hungry, and likely pregnant.

It's extraordinarily difficult to cut down plant stalks that loom 4' above my head, knowing that a ginormous mantis might be clinging to one, but so far I've been lucky.

Cicadas are still singing...

a lucky catch!  Linne's cicada

...and the deer are out in force, eating as much as they can before winter.  This buck has been hanging around our barnyard.

When I got a little closer to him, I could see why.  Do you see how swollen his left hoof/ankle is?  It's hoof rot...again.  It's not very common, but the bacteria is definitely around here somewhere.  This is the second deer affected - that we've seen - this year. 

We haven't had too many changing leaves yet, but definitely some interesting discoloration.  A sign of the advancing season?

There's SOME color, of course!

Inside, the cats are soaking up every bit of late-summer sun...

And our formerly sweet, quiet Pepita, who is approaching sexual maturity and is coursing through with hormones, has become quite a rambunctious little girl!

No, she doesn't want to take naps.  No, she doesn't want to play with the same old toys two days in a row.  No, she doesn't want to be in her playpen.  No, she doesn't want to respect the cats' space...most of the time.

At least this is a temporary phase...and we can finally say that she's pretty much potty trained!  She's only had a handful of accidents in the three months we've had her, and she's learned to give me "the stare" when she's ready to go out.

She stares, I query, and then she gives an excited shake.  There, we have communicated!  

Just a few more months until she settles down.  :)  Until then, she's running off that energy!

Have a great week!  

squirmy wormies

It's prime season for insects!  It's been too hot (and I've been too busy) to get out with my camera much, but I've seen some great specimens close to home.

soldier beetle...a great pollinator!

scorpionfly...this is a female and she doesn't have the cool scorpion tail that males have!

big group of aphids on the milkweed!

sweat bees

honey bees...look at those beautiful wings!

We have a new resident on the front porch.

chinese mantis

He's getting bigger and bigger...

...molting regularly.

There are plenty of moths around our porch lights to feed an army of mantises, so he's picked a good place to hang out!

It's not too late in the season for baby birds...

red-winged blackbird babies in our front pond

...and new flowers are blooming, like this milkweed.

Lots came up in the garden this year and I love it!

In the woods, blackberries are ripening...

...and woodland hydrangeas are starting to flower.

We're mostly INSIDE, though, with these lazy cats.

Barnabas

Frances

Pepita is doing really well with cat introductions.

All the cats are making an effort...even Calliope!

Pepita is having some adventures...

daily pond walks

fierce feats of strength

intense Daddy snuggles

...but she's spending a lot of time like this, unfortunately:

The vet couldn't fit her in for almost three weeks after the adoption, and when they finally saw her, they determined that she was crawling with parasites (despite frequent wormings).  Right now, she has giardia and hookworm.  Because she'd just had a flea treatment, we can't even give her the hookworm medicine for another week.  She's getting two doses of antibiotics daily for the giardia, but reinfection is SO easy.  I have to bleach her crate daily.  Water and food dishes have to be treated with boiling water daily.  Her bedding (including car blanket) has to be washed every other day, and so do all of her toys.  The floors have to be mopped daily and the carpets have to be vacuumed.  When she goes potty, we have to pick up everything and treat the location with diatomaceous earth (to kill the hookworms/giardia parasites that would otherwise worm their way into the soil and instantly reinfect her).  We have to wash our hands CONSTANTLY, because humans can catch giardia (although it's unlikely).  In short, everything has to be spotlessly clean and she cannot go around other dogs, because she'd infect them. 

We had to reschedule her puppy class and we're sad that we can't do our planned socialization around town.  Hopefully she'll get a clean bill of health at her next vet visit in two weeks, because I've read horror stories about puppies having giardia for MONTHS and needing constant antibiotics (and constant cleaning to prevent reinfection).  It's daunting but we're really hoping for the best.  The good news is that she's cheerful and active and shows no signs of being infected...that's a good sign!  We really want to expand her house boundaries but every room she goes into has to be deep-cleaned daily, so she's going to have to wait for the vet's go-ahead.  

Thankfully, giardia transmission from dogs to cats is rare.

Off to do MORE cleaning before work.  Have a great week!  

birds of a feather...

Despite the drought (I don't think we've had any rain in September OR October, other than a 2-day deluge from Hurricane Helene), our fall weather is outstanding.  Sunny and mid-70s every day.

Lots of dew in the mornings.

Because days are warm and nights are cool, the fog on our morning walks is GORGEOUS.

Because it's still warm, we have plenty of flowers...and insects.  These invasive Chinese mantises are everywhere...

...and pregnant.

I'm gathering up handfuls of oothecas (mantis egg cases).

Lots of caterpillars this fall, like this salt marsh caterpillar.

Claudia is LOVING the extended fall.

We're STILL harvesting tomatoes, and some flowers still have a little bit of color, until the frost comes.

Halloween decorations went up a couple of weeks ago...

(many more, but for some reason I didn't photograph them...)

...and I've pulled out the quilts, even though it doesn't feel quite warm enough for them yet.  For us, anyway.  

I've noticed that the behavior of our outdoor animals is changing, though.  Raccoons, which have been solitary all summer, have paired up.

Deer, too, are starting to exhibit pack behavior.

Meanwhile, we're probably going to see the last of the turkeys soon.  Our little flock of 12-14 poults has shrunk to five in just a couple of months.

They'll disappear into the woods soon for the winter.  We, too, are ready to hunker down for winter, although it feels far away during this sunny, mild fall. 

Have a great week!