milkweed glee

Summer is going by so quickly, which always amazes me.  But the signs are unmistakable.  Blackberries are ripening everywhere.

Flowers are starting to go to seed...to seed!  It seems so early.

bupleurum

Spring hatchlings are looking more like adults now.  This bluebird is just about ready to leave the nest...

...and these young barn swallows are practicing their low, swooping flights every late afternoon, filling the air with their exciting chirps.

Young rabbits, too, are getting more bold.

(side note: ANOTHER TICK)

Our young turkey poults are half grown now!

Our trail cams pick them up quite a bit.

The local fawn is steadier on her legs, too.

This grass-carrying wasp is preparing her nest for eggs.  They take over old insect nests (in this case, a carpenter bee hole) and stuff them with grass to make soft places for the next generation.  

Caterpillars are everywhere, eating quickly to gain mass for pupation.  Here's a black swallowtail butterfly caterpillar on my dill (another excellent reason to plant it):

And a new-to-me one on the milkweed.  These are milkweed tussock moth caterpillars.  They look destructive...

...but they serve a purpose.  Both monarch butterfly and milkweed tussock moth caterpillars rely on milkweed for their larvae, but monarchs prefer new leaves, and tussocks prefer old.  They happily co-exist. Milkweed spreads rapidly, so these tussocks ensure that they are not too widespread.  They eat a few of them, and the sap from the milkweed makes these caterpillars taste very unappealing to predators.  Win win!  

Milkweed really does provide for a vast array of insects, and they are all readying to lay eggs for next year.

red milkweed beetles

milkweed bugs

It really is a wonderful plant to have around!

Well, although we're nearing late (!) summer, there's still plenty of insects around.

cluster fly

wood nymph moth

oleander aphids

agreeable tiger moth

meadow spittlebug

There's so much to see that I've gotten into the habit of carrying my camera when I go outside.  There's only so much summer left!

Well, as seasons end, so do lives.  Borga gave her last WOOF last week.  

She had a good, long life here!  Todd is really going to miss his little companion.

Hopefully these guys will help him feel a little bit better!  It's tough to lose a pet, though.  They really do leave paw prints on your heart.  

(yes, they're on the dining room table...again.)

Have a great week!

cat-astrophes

So many interesting little dramas happening in the past week.  I noticed a big pile of ants on...something...in a porch beam.

It wasn't long before they completely extracted the mysterious white lump, and it fell onto the porch rail below.  It was an immature carpenter bee!

They face a lot of predators before they're fully mature, but we have so many of them around that I guess it's not too much of a concern.

And, in the back yard, I saw thousands and thousands of ants swarming on a log.

It's hard to get a feel for the scope from this picture, but there was about 4 feet of wood on the ground too, and every inch of it was crawling with ants.  Winged ants rimmed the stump edge.

They're called the St. Valentine ant, because of their heart-shaped abdomen.  Both sexually mature females and worker males have wings, but these are most likely females heading out for their "nuptual swarm."  They will mate and fly off to start new colonies.

Speaking of wings, Todd found the wings of a beautiful Cecropia moth on a walk last week.

More wings...look at this gorgeous red admiral!

And eastern pondhawk!

On our way to a walk this week, we saw that someone had hit a possum.  The next day, only a few bones remained...thanks to these guys.

We have so many turkey vultures here.  I see them every single day.

I love having them around.  They seem so dignified and stately!  And they do a great job of keeping our roads clean.  

Another kind of turkey is around nearly daily now, too...and in great numbers!

It's baby time!

The young goz are out in the field, too, but in smaller numbers.

Both gardens are blooming now, which are bringing the bees.

I have one more group of seedlings to get into the ground.

But that's it.  I've been astounded, truly shocked at how poor germination has been, even with the good soil.  I started ANOTHER group of seeds - sunflowers and zinnias, the world's easiest things to germinate.  Todd built a cattle panel enclosure to keep out the groundhogs.  I started to get some small seedlings in the sunflower container, but then a pounding rain destroyed them.  In my older sunflower container, I had 6 healthy seedlings...and something popped off their tops.  A few desultory zinnias came up, but insects quickly devoured the leaves and they died.  I'm done.  I've got these zinnias, toothache plants, and ageratum up by the house, where they're thriving.  They're going in the ground TONIGHT and then I am officially, 100% done with gardening for the year.  Woo hoo!  

I've been doing more baking...

healthy flourless peanut butter cookies

a three-fruit coffee cake to celebrate the 1st day of summer

...including cupcakes and a couple of cookie batches yesterday, for a get-together, that I didn't have time to photograph.  

We've also been dealing with ever-increasing cat problems with our two boys.  They look so innocent...

Barnabas

Frances

...but they've been absolutely tormenting our elderly cat...and we can't keep them separated, because Barnabas has freaky outward-turned hind legs that enables him to jump up to 8 feet.  He's cleared every single barrier that Todd has erected to keep him downstairs.  It's been a pretty stressful and chaotic week, but we're hoping that we have something figured out to help.  Fingers crossed.

At least our outdoor cat is not causing any stress!

I'm trying to take a deep breath on the porch swing whenever I need it.  Love the view!  

Have a great week!

weather most fowl

 Rain...at last.

It's been insanely hot this past week, with temperatures reaching 100 degrees.  I've been seeing this meme a lot lately and Devil's Front Porch sounds about right.  Or maybe we're in Second Summer?  

When it rains in the summer here, we tend to get torrential downpours.  Unfortunately, it absolutely flattens my flowers.  You can see some slumping in this picture, taken earlier in the summer.

I took this photo a few days ago...

...and all the tall plants (amaranth, apple of peru) are twisted and bent in half. Two of my dahlias were ripped off at the roots. Zinnias, cosmos, celosia...anything that's over 2' fall...bent over.  Next year, I have to run rope the length of the rows, both sides, to help prevent flop. 

Lots of interesting faces in the garden.  So...many...katydids!

Colorful leafhoppers...

Too cool for school spittle bugs...

...and quite a few spiders.  Many people don't like looking at them, so be sure to...

...scroll...

...past...

...the...

...next...

...five...

...photos...

...if they creep you out! 

Okay, are we ready?

I was really excited to see this beautiful female garden spider (argiope aurantia) this week.

And just a few beds away, a loosely-related garden spider (argiope trifasciata) was nestled amongst the scabiosa.  Males are much, much smaller than females, so this one was easily identified!

I've seen several crab spiders in the garden...they're my favorite!

Like the venusta orchard spider, this beautiful long-jawed orb weaver looks like he's been decorated with gold flake!  

We've also seen the chogs out in the barnyard...the older parents who've maintained their home under our back barn are still there, but not outside very often.

The "babies," now grown, have gone further afield.  We see one especially chunky one by the front garden quite a bit.  I think he's got a nest down by the stream that bisects our property.  As long as he doesn't burrow under our porch!

After our insane rain storm, a flock of turkeys inspected our back yard for insects.  Two parents and...nine(?)...babies!  Well, like the groundhogs and our wood ducks, they aren't babies any more.  They're nearly full grown.

see the babies standing on the fence post?

Our county is doing a turkey brood count and I've been able to document several sightings this month.

Todd and I are still taking short hikes before breakfast almost daily.  So much to see in the forest!

This beech tree is covered in beech blight aphids, aka the "boogie-woogie" aphids, so named because they appear to be dancing on the branches.  We saw quite a few of these in South Carolina!

A lone luna moth wing, nearly bleached of color...

Interesting fungus, like this Chicken of the Woods...

...and so many wildflowers, even this late in the season.

goat's rue

The days are busy as we slowly fade into fall.  I'm looking forward to resting up once things slow down.  The kittens are leading the way.

Have a great week!