toothless men and a turkey hen

 Is it the "cat days" of early summer?

Maybe!  The bramble flowers have dropped and fruit is setting up.

On our apple tree, too!

The brief window for peonies is here.  The windows are always open and we can smell them from the yard, and of course I bring them inside!

Todd has started his yearly ritual of getting a little exercise every few days by mowing sections of the field.  

New young pine cones are setting up for the season...

Sugar snap peas are popping...

...and speaking of "popping," my Sissinghurst poppies are starting to open!  I almost like them better as closed pods.  They remind me of a toothless old man!  So much character.  :)  The flowers themselves are so delicate and fleeting, but I enjoy the leaves and pods for weeks.

Hot days and cool nights bring amazing morning fog.

The porch spiderwebs are bejeweled...

...and morning walks are magical.

I regularly hear turkeys gobbling in the mornings, and see them sometimes, too!

Others are out scouting around, like the southern yellowjacket queen, looking for a good place to start a nest.  Not in our mulch pile, please!

Pollinators are out and about...

Lassioglossum sweat bee

tarnished plant bug

paper wasp

Future pollinators too, like this Painted Lady caterpillar, starting to pupate!  

It's an exciting time of year, one of my favorites.  I wake up early...really early.  I open the windows by 5 a.m.  The frogs sing loudly until about 5:45 a.m., and then the birds start.  Sometimes I go out on the porch.  The garden by the porch is in full bloom...

Owls are hooting in the forest and turkeys gobbling faintly in the field.  If I sit in the porch swing, the little song sparrows that live in the side garden start to sing, just a few feet away.  Claudia is rubbing against my ankles...the porch is her domain.  I feel like I'm in a Disney cartoon sometimes!

It's so peaceful here, even though this is a really busy season for us.  We're working hard now to get things done, so that in the heat of summer, we can relax.  

Have a great week!  

molt jolt

It's easy to recognize the slow drift into autumn, even if you ignore the temperature cues.  Dahlias are really popping now!

Birds are rushing through their final brood of the season.

Carolina wren feeding fledglings

A praying mantis goes through 7 or so molts before maturity.  They're moving smoothly through the process now in order to mature and mate in time for a fall egg-laying!  I was really lucky to spot this leftover molt...a lot of times, the mantis or other insects will eat it.

Goldfinches are making their early fall appearance!  I grabbed a quick shot with my junky camera:

Even if I hadn't seen them, I've heard their incessant singing, and they definitely leave behind evidence.

Lots of butterflies...

Hummingbirds...

...and insects.  These are twice-stabbed stinkbugs, so named for the two red dots on their back (evidence of a double stabbing, apparently!).  

This plant hopper is patiently waiting for me to move along.

Sweat bees crowd for nectar.

This tachinid fly is most welcome.  It's parasitic and will lay its eggs on a host...mostly harmful caterpillars and beetles.

Check out this huge gathering of juvenile barn swallows on the telephone line in our barnyard!

I love it when my hydrangea blooms.

Beautiful sunrises...

...lazy kittens...

...and late season flowers...

There's a lot to love about these last days of summer.  Have a great week!  

"Barkeep, make mine a double."

With temperatures in the mid-90s daily and no rain in sight, I don't have much motivation to work outside.  But, while the indoor cats do keep me entertained...

"Whiskey.  Neat."

...outdoor chores have to be done.  Weeding, in particular, has fallen behind, so I picked the coolest day of the week (a mere 89 degrees), got up early, and started working.  It can be extraordinarily difficult to weed when your cat thinks that your weed bag is a giant pillow.

Once I got her situated, though, I could enjoy the morning.  This tiny soybean beetle (colaspis brunnea) landed on my leg for a brief moment.  I've noticed a lot of insects that prey on soybeans lately, which is odd, since there are no soybeans nearby!

This mottled sand grasshopper (spharagemon collare) stayed one step ahead of me.  Like the soybean beetle, this type of grasshopper isn't considered a serious pest...and I think that their speckled camouflage is so interesting.

I've often seen these "gnat plumes" outside, but I started watching them with great interest while working last week.  Why do they congregate like this?

Well, it turns out that to gnats, this plume is a perfect singles bar.  It's easier for gnats to find mates in groups, so the males will form a cluster - usually against a contrasting color, like this tree -  and will circulate.  Female gnats can easily see the cluster and slip in for a quick mating. 

The most interesting find of the morning, though, was this female wolf spider.  Now, if you don't like spiders, you should skip ahead - but I encourage you to peek!  I used to hate spiders, but now I think they're fascinating.  This female wolf spider was dragging her egg sac behind her.

I pushed her away with a stick, because I didn't want to accidentally squish her as I worked.  To my surprise, she shrunk up...

...and rolled her egg case to the front.  Apparently the sacs are attached to her abdomen with silk thread, enabling some flexibility.  Wolf spiders carry their egg sacs because they are ground hunters and don't make webs, so they need to cart the eggs along when they travel. 

I suppose she moved her egg sac to the front because she felt threatened and better able to protect it there.  Once this hatches, the tiny spiders will cling to her back for about a week before dispersing.  I really hope I can see this in action soon!

From my ground vantage point, I could also see the many pollinators on the flowers, like this sweat bee...

Just seeing the flowers themselves was nice.

Some much-needed work happened around here this week - we finally had the back fields mown!

The barnyard, which was such a horrible mess when we moved in (abandoned tractors, huge piles of wire, 5 years' worth of weeds) is finally coming together.

Before:

It's a winter pic, but you can still see the weeds, the junk surrounding the barn, and the decrepit chicken coop.  So much better now!

I love having better access to the back pond.

Being outside is really rough right now, but at least when we go out, we've got beautiful views.

Have a great week!