lazy days

Beautiful cool, wet days...

some dramatic skies

...and the turtles are out!  So many eastern box turtles!

Rabbits every single day...out every morning and early evening to "silflay" for those of you who've read Watership Down.

Starting to see more insects too, especially with the milkweed beginning to open.

red milkweed beetle

spotted pink lady beetle

small milkweed beetle

Following the "red" theme is this red-spotted orb weaver, even though the red spots are too small to see...this guy was only about an eighth of an inch long!

Beautiful moths...

eight-spotted forester

genus halysidota

...and a few other interesting things.

oscillate midge gall

coral mushroom

eastern tent caterpillars

I'm finally getting some blooms on my Molyneux roses.  I'm really pleased with the color.  I only like apricot and pink roses, so this was a good choice.  

Bumper crop of apples this year!

The garden is (sigh) coming along.  These rows will have flowers!

These are still full of weeds.

I've had an unusual number of headaches lately (still), which makes me even less inclined to crawl around in the bright sun and clear weeds.  Maybe this week.

I have plenty of company in the bed!

Pepita is still, shall we say, motivationally challenged?

Getting an assist when she refuses to walk any further...

sigh.

She is undeniably lazy, but at least she is also sassy and funny!

she likes to hide her head under the couch like an ostrich.

Looking forward to more pleasant summer days!

Hopefully cool and wet, just like the first part of June.  I love it!  

another fawn on the lawn

 Is it possible?  Yes!  Even more beautiful caterpillars!

turbulent phosila moth caterpillars

black tiger swallowtail butterfly caterpillar

This silver-spotted skipper caterpillar has impaled itself on the thorns of this tree branch!  The black liquid you see is hemolymph, its blood.  He's probably a goner.

This tussock moth caterpillar is not doing much better.  The photo isn't great, but you can see that a braconid wasp has deposited eggs that developed into larvae.  The larvae spun these little white cocoons.  Some of the tops are off...that means that the larvae developed into wasps and chewed free.

Here's a bagworm caterpillar...a real pest.

And evidence of the caterpillar that once was...here's a recent molt!

Some other standouts this week...an American giant millipede!

These two Virginia tiger moths are mating before the cold weather hits.

This pelecinid wasp looks scary, but that ominous abdomen isn't for stinging humans...it's for depositing eggs into June beetle larvae.  

Our injured buck was back this week...

...and he brought a friend!

The weather has turned hot again, which you can see in heat-stressed plants...

...and sun-loving cats.

I'm not a fan.  Bring on fall!!

At least our morning walks are still cool.  A big of steam rises from the pond...

...and we're nicely shaded from the sun.

Despite the dry weather, I've seen some really beautiful mushrooms.

indigo milk cap...edible!

the aptly-named dog vomit fungus

Do you remember these lynx paw oyster mushrooms from a few weeks ago?

They matured quickly, and were soon covered in hundreds of tiny flies!

The mushroom excretes a stinky gel that attracts flies.  The flies come, eat the gel, and manage to ingest some of the mushroom's spores.  They then drop them far and wide, aiding in the spread of this species.  Pretty smart!  

Even though we have late-season roses now...

I'm so ready for the weather change.  We'll see what happens.

Have a great week!  

bobcat habitat

It's that strange time of year when summer and fall overlap.  On one hand, we still have flowers.  Late-season roses are blooming...

...along with the companion morning glories that I planted, that don't quite match up in color but makes the climbing roses look more full.

I'm still pulling tons of flowers from the garden.

Lots of critters still around, like this round-backed millipede...

...and megachile apicalis, this little bee...

...and this spider wasp.  

As the name implies, they hunt spiders and paralyze them with a sting.  They drag them to their burrow and lay an egg on the corpse.  When the egg hatches, the larva has an easy food source.  Spider wasps have a notoriously nasty sting, one of the most painful you can experience from an insect ("electrifying" is the word most often used).  Like with most things, if you leave them alone, they won't bother you.

Lots of creatures and flowers, but more and more signs of fall.  It's apple time...

This year's apples are small but plentiful.  I've already processed about ten pounds and I've barely begun!  There will be a lot of apple pies this winter.  I dice up about 4 pounds of apples, add a bit of sugar/spices, and let them macerate in their juices for three hours.  Then I bag them up and freeze them.  They are ready to pop into a crust whenever the desire hits!

Lots of tomatoes now, too.  I have lost track of how many pounds of sauce and dehydrated tomatoes that I've put away!

Leaves are starting to change, too.

In part, though, it's because it's been SO dry.  We didn't have any rain for three weeks, and 90 degree temperatures.  Leaves were shriveling everywhere.

see all the dead leaves around Claudia?

It's definitely going to impact our fall color here, but at least we've got a bit!  

Our turkey poults are getting so big!  Soon they'll melt into the forest for the winter.

We've got so much activity on our trail cams.  A coyote in the back field!

The fawn and mom pair are still tied at the hip.

We've got a camera down by the big pond, facing a game trail.  So...many...animals!

Yes...that last video is the largest bobcat I've ever seen!  It showed up for a few days in early September but we haven't seen him around for the past week.  So exciting!!!

I'm going to keep an eye out for more activity...and cooler temperatures.  Have a great week!