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!  

getting my greens

An overabundance of beauty around here right now!

Just as the perennial garden is starting to flag a bit in the heat, the annual flower garden in the back is bursting to life.

Okay, so only the zinnias are really starting to bloom, but even the rows of green are lovely...and I bet this will be completely transformed within a couple of weeks.  I thought I'd hate the look of the landscape fabric, but it is SO nice not to have to weed much...and everything is amazingly tidy!  

My sunflowers are a bit more crowded than I expected, and ditto my tomatoes, but I'll do a better job of spacing them next year.

Lots to see in the garden even without blooms.  So many insects!  As always, constant milkweed beetles...

To-ga!  To-ga!  To-ga!

...unusual butterflies...

zebra swallowtail

...and plenty of the "ordinary" ones.

Pests, like this horse fly...

...and squash bugs, who somehow manage to occasionally hatch despite my diligence with squishing the eggs every few days.

The ladybug nymphs have done their job with the aphids, and now they're well on their way to adulthood.  I've found several in various stages of molt.  Remember this stage?

Here is the progression.  Do you see the crumbled spiny pile at its base?  That's the exoskeleton that you see above!

And escaping into adulthood...

(spider warning ahead!)

This Venusta Orchard Spider looks like its abdomen was decorated with gold and silver leaf...

...while this Thin-Lined Wolf Spider blends into the ground.  This mother is fiercely guarding her eggs.

I've found some really beautiful spider molts, too!

The action is not solely in the garden around here, either.  We see the wood duck babies every day in the front pond.  And they've got company.  Besides our Great Blue Heron, a Green Heron has been hunting here regularly!

Looking for a snack...

I think I've spotted something, and...

Attack!!!!

Grass carp were released into the pond this week to combat the algae problem.  Hopefully they'll clear up this mess by fall!  

We've ju-u-u-ust about gotten things around here in maintenance mode.  Time to relax a little!  The kittens are leading the charge.  They are great motivators!  😄

Have a great week!

knitted ladders and insect adders

As we get closer to fall and cooler weather, there's an uptick in my cold-weather craft projects.  I'm knitting a Kate Davies cardigan called Deco...

It's a stockinette cardigan without a steek, meaning that it's knitted back and forth instead of in the round (as a tube that is later cut).  Long purl rows are boring, but at least there's an interesting row of slipped stitches that form the front of the cardigan.

I've had a burst of energy with my postage stamp quilt, too.

Outside, the season is progressing nicely.  A volunteer pumpkin vine in a front bed...

...gives it a dash of fall.  My pumpkins in the back bed are going crazy, too.  The pumpkin flowers are open for business!

Once they're pollinated, they will begin setting fruit.  During my last inspection, I was surprised to see what I initially thought was a small group of spiders on one of the leaves.

These aren't spiders, though.  They're squash bugs, and once I knew what to look for, I found much more evidence of their presence:

Squash bugs are terrible for the garden.  They inject liquifying toxins into pumpkin vines, and even attack mature pumpkins.  I made short work of these invaders with a bit of soapy water.

Deer are everywhere...

...and we're seeing more and more geese, common in the fall.

I noticed a head sticking out of an overgrown garden section this week:

Turkeys are out and about, another frequent autumn occurrence.

I see a pair of singles quite a bit, and also this parent pair with their 11 - 12 poults.

  

Of course, Warren is out every day...

...and he's quite territorial, chasing away a younger rabbit who dared to approach our side garden this week.

As usual when the weather starts to cool, praying mantises are (gulp) hanging around in unlikely places, like this window screen:

Goldfinches, and although I've yet to get a picture, indigo buntings.

Hummingbirds, too, are out in force.  I'd say that a pair feeds pretty continually in the front and side gardens.

I've been watching them and I think that they're nesting in our apple tree.  I frequently see their silhouettes there.

I will definitely be nest-hunting this November!

Inside, we've got kitten mischief...

...but still, a whole lotta napping.

They're loving our open windows this week.  Atypical for August:  low humidity and cool breezes.  A nice transition into September. 

Have a great week!