I’ve been needing something to smile about lately, and the Universe has provided. First, I’m grateful to have spent a few low-stress days with my household members, with lots of laughs and encouragement. You can’t beat that!
Even Lee’s ice cream bucket was smiling.
Besides that, one of my niggling worries is much lessened now. It looks like I’ll have another year at my job. Such good news! I do like my job and the people I interact with, for which I am also truly grateful.
My portulaca plants are growing, which makes me glad!
I’ve watched friends being kind and supportive of each other all week. In today’s combative climate, small things like opening doors for strangers, giving tokens of affection, and offering to help someone struggling mean a lot. I can’t be specific but it’s helpful to make the effort to notice these things, and to instigate them when you get a chance!
Lee made me this image. That was nice. It’s a scan of part of a poster.
What little things made you smile today? It’s worth the effort to try to recall those moments and appreciate them. Since I take so many photos, I can share a few more with you.
Enlarge to see the cheerful wiggly honey mesquite seed pods Gorgeous clouded skipper (Lerema accius)There aren’t many thistles left, so they have to share. I’m always amazed that Wild petunias (Ruellia) exist. This teeny spider is apparently a triangulate combfoot. Great name (Steatoda triangulosa)Ooh, these Poecilanthrax lucifer bee flies are doing it. Aren’t these silver leaf nightshade fruits pretty? Wish I had tomatoes thus nice. The name of these cicadas made me smile: superb dog-face (Neotibicen superbus)The town of Bremond, Texas, full of Polish flags (we drove there yesterday)Spider faces. So cute. This made me laugh. Yes. I shared a meme. expand it. Happy things
I guess that gives me hope on US Independence Day.
I went out to the front pond, which we enlarged in the drought last year to be bigger and deeper. All the dirt that was dug up became a large berm that the horses just love. We call it their hill.
The hill today.
The horses and Fiona are always up on the hill eating…something, now that the heavy spring rains got things so soggy (though it’s droughting back up again).
Sometimes they eat at the base of the hill.
I decided to go out there and see what is growing on what was a big pile of dirt at the end of last summer. I knew there were seeds in the soil, as well as wind blown seeds. And I learned in Master Naturalist training about plants that thrive in disturbed soil, so it was time to check out the renewal process!
A typical mix on the hill.
The clump of plants you see above is typical of what I found. At right are annual black-eyed Susans. They are all over the area, so I was pleased to see them. The green stuff in front is prairie tea (Croton monanthogynus) another annual whose roots are helping to stabilize the soil. All the pretty yellow flowers in the middle are the decidedly are the dreaded buffalo burs (Solanum rostratum) that will cover the horses’ manes and tails, as well as the entirety of Fiona if they don’t get mowed down. You will also see green antelope horn milkweed (Asclepias viridis). Those seeds are wind born. There’s even a small Dakota mock vervain (Glandularia bipinnatifida), the most common verbena here. It will be back. Whew, that’s a lot in one clump.
Prairie teaGreen antelope hornsDakota mock vervain Buffalo burBlack eyed Susans plus a new butterfly for me, the bordered patch (Chlosyne lacinia)
Elsewhere I found many plants had already passed their season, like the red seed plantain and the thistles. There were a few pink evening primrose that give me hope that they’ll be all over the slope soon, like they used to be. I didn’t see any bluebonnets. Maybe next year, but some upright prairie coneflowers/Mexican hats were ganging on. Their roots will help with runoff, too. It’s a plant that does like disturbed soil, like the plantain.
One sad thistle Dead plantainHanging in there, pink evening primrose Not many petals on these coneflowers. Not at their peak.
Other common plants that appear in disturbed soils include sand mats like matted sand mat (Euphorbia serpens) and prostrate sandman (Euphorbia prostrata) my least favorite weed. Here, they are helping cover the bare soil and help prevent more erosion. Prairie bundle flower (Desmanthus leptolobus) is another low-growing stabilizer plant.
Matted sand matIcky old prostrate sand matBundle flower, and seed heads
Vines are also useful for holding the soil down. Two I saw were Texas bindweed (Convolvulus equitans), one of our wild morning glories, and balloon vine (Cardiospermum halicacabum), a pretty but non-native and invasive ground cover. These seeds are brought in from upstream. Some years they totally cover the creek banks, because they also love disturbed soil, like after a flood.
BindweedBalloon vine
Vines I did not see but expect soon are the dewberries, tie vines (the other wild morning glory), saw greenbrier (Smilax bona-nox), and passion vine. Those take longer to get started. I could do without more of any of these, along with the mustang grapes, which I’m still snacking on. They are as bad as kudzu for covering trees and bushes.
Tree in center is covered with grapevines and greenbrier.
Anyway, nearly all the rest of the plants I saw are other opportunistic pioneers. Ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya); curly dock (Rumex crispus), a common plant in damp areas here whose seeds feed birds; willow dock (Rumex salicifolius); dove weeds (Croton lindheimeri); and Carolina bristlemallow (Modiola caroliniana), which also grows low to the ground and earlier in the year had pretty flowers. And I almost forgot two flowers, the common sunflower (Helianthus annuus) and lemon bee balm (Monarda citriadora). The latter is just about done for the year.
Western ragweedCurly dockWillow dockDove weed Bee balmSunflower plus cute sunflower chimney beeOther plants that showed up
If you’ve slugged through this you’ll finally find out what the horses are eating. I was surprised to see no Bermuda grass, but some bunch grass I can’t ID, a gramma grass, and a brome. Natives!
Grasses
One of these plants, or perhaps the long stuff none of the horses like in their pasture (not sure what it is), is making Apache have allergic reactions all over his face. He’s on Zyrtec now. 21 per day for the first week. Hope it helps. I’m grateful Tarrin knew what was going on!
Still I’m a little surprised that I managed to get in so many interesting observations when camping under an official “heat dome” phenomenon. I think what helped was that some of the interesting things showed up right next to me.
This little feller was conveniently on my hand this morning. It’s a bronze jumping spider.
It also helps to be around people who are as excited about nature as you are. Our camping neighbors were very excited that one of them had found a live cicada. Then, when he went to show us, it had just emerged from its old exoskeleton. He kept saying, “THAT WAS IN THERE??” It did appear much larger.
Resting up before starting to screech endlessly.
And here’s another beautiful sight to wonder over. This guy, a skink, was two feet from the RV steps. I really appreciate all that nature coming over to show itself to me.
Just dropped by to say hi.
And finally, I didn’t have to go far to see woodpeckers, either. A downy showed up. I like these little birds almost as much as the incredibly entertaining yellow-bellied sapsuckers (they are the smallest woodpecker). My photos weren’t great but I got to see it well through binoculars. The red-bellied male came over so often that I got the feeling he was used to us.
Male red-bellied woodpecker. I got too many photos Blurry downy woodpecker Even blurrier. Bonus crowBonus cardinal All these I saw from the lounge chair.
I had to go a little further to get butterfly photos, but there were lots at the campsite, too. I just got all lost enjoying the giant swallowtails meandering around. Here are a few others I saw.
I can’t help it. Buckeyes are too pretty to omit. This red admiral would NOT open his wings. Another confused Cloudywing. What a name. Giant swallowtailIt rested quite a while. I enjoyed that.
I am excited enough just to see new or unusual plants, but some of the other things I ran into filled me with awe. There’s just a lot of STUFF to see if you look around, and you don’t have to be at a park or zoo to see things that bring wonder.
Robber fly. Scary. Amber wing. Love the shadow. Puff ball — it’s inedible. Beautiful golden reishi mushrooms Gilled polypore fungus Bushy beard lichenGrape shells Wasp nestFemale eastern pond hawkMake eastern pond hawkPardosa mercurialis (practically invisible!)That’s a powerful spiderwebSo green! Six-spotted tiger beetle. Looks like an egg!
There are wonders right at home, too. This evening, we were watching fledgling barn swallows trying out their swooping and diving techniques. They were small but agile. At some point, we couldn’t believe our eyes. One of those little birds was a large butterfly! It flew with the birds, swirling around like it was one of them. I think Kathleen and I were both dazzled. Did we really see that?
No photos of the flying display, so enjoy this rainbow scarab beetle.
Yep, it pays to be observant, even when you’re just relaxing behind the house. It pays to look around in the water trough, too. That’s where I found the beetle.
Spoiler alert: yes, you can. Even I can, with good planning and a little luck. I got through today with only one little bit of heat dizziness. Hooray.
I had it made in the shade!
First, we booked a trip to a shady park and I was careful to try to select a shady campsite. I did, though I sacrificed a lake view. We are next to the lake, but there’s brush blocking the view.
The lake is about a foot past the big trees. I like the bent one.
We were actually able to sit outside much of the afternoon, thanks to the shade and a brisk breeze. I got to knit and read, and of course look at and listen to birds. There’s a red-bellied woodpecker that comes by often, and I even got photos where you can tell what it is!
Woodpecker fun
But my smartest way to deal with the heat and still have fun was to do all my “hiking” while it was still relatively cool. Now, don’t think I went out before I had my coffee. I’m not that driven. But I was out by 9, and went three mikes or so. Yes, much of the time I stopped every few feet to look at a plant or butterfly, but I did get 54 exercise minutes!
I went through some very pleasant and shady paths, and though there were few wildflowers, like yesterday, I did find some beautiful new flowers. My absolute favorite is this one, which is one of two plants, both that can be called butterfly pea. Or pigeonwing. I hope I get iNaturalist help with it.
So beautiful. I can sorta tell where it got its Latin name, Clitoria mariana.
The other flowers I enjoyed, maybe mostly because of their name, were the trailing fuzzy-beans. What a cute name. In fact, there are multiple fuzzy-beans in North America. Huh.
It’s a vine that grows very long tendrils.
It was a fun plant day, for sure. Here are other highlights. A couple are a little blurry because the phone was running low on battery so I took pictures fast.
Good ole black-eyed SusanThis is tiny, a gulf skullcapVery pale ruellia Slender green threadIron weedEbony spleenwort. Ugly name for something so gracefulBlack walnutWhite mouth dayflower Osage-orangeOsage-orange tree Shaggy portulaca Stiff hair sunflowerAmerican germander Meadow pink still bloomingOne last bluebonnetThis is delicate white nymph. Very pretty plant
The trail I took led to the old Springfield cemetery, which is in the park. Springfield is the place that used to be where the lake is now. It has some old graves, ones with interesting features, and some unmarked ones. I thought it was interesting that some of the Black workers who built the park are in there, from the 1930s. There were not many integrated cemeteries then.
Bluebird house Best tombstone. Check these out
After the cemetery, I got on the road, but still found lots to look at. I knew I’d gone far enough when I realized I was at the park store. That’s a ways away from the campsites. I rested in the air conditioning there and enjoyed teaching the employee about iNaturalist and Merlin Bird ID. I can’t help it. We had fun.
My hiking boot fell apart when I took it off. I’ll try to get it fixed. It’s only 28 years old!
Lee and I relaxed and watched a movie this evening. Camping is so good for us both. I treasure these times of relaxation and being surrounded by nature. By the way, I passed no one on any trail. Bliss!
What’s Mexia (muh-hay-yuh)? It’s one town over from Groesbeck, the county seat of Limestone County, Texas, since the previous county seat it under a lake, which I’m right next to at the moment. That’s right, the middle of nowhere, Texas, just a different nowhere from where I usually am.
Springfield is down there, somewhere.
Actually, Lee and I are on this month’s camping trip, which is to Ft. Parker State Park. It’s very pretty and woodsy. It’s history is interesting. Ft. Parker is where some young woman was captured by Native Americans and liked it. She was not happy to be “rescued” by “civilized” people. This park is right near it, and was built, as were many Texas parks, by the CCC. What’s interesting is that the dam and buildings were built by black members of the CCC. They re-used most of the wood they cut down to build the buildings. It sounds like they had lots of fun on their off-duty times.
Rec center
It’s just as hot here as it is at home, but it’s shady. We have a beautiful campsite. I was impressed that Lee got us backed in perfectly between two trees.
We even had space to expand my bedroomLake is behind us.
Of course, I could not keep myself from going on a walk. I meant to just go around the camping area, but I ended up going down a beautiful trail. I got to see where people can go kayaking and swim, too.
Trail head
There was a cool floating bridge to go over, and I ended up at a pretty bird blind kind of dock, from which I could see lots of great egrets roosting. I also saw some cormorants.
Lake birds
While wildflower season is pretty much over, there was still much to see on the trail. Many vines and shrubs are in bloom, so if you looked carefully, you could see much beauty. You didn’t have to look hard to see all the Turk’s cap in bloom. Those red flowers are showy (and have the sweetest nectar of any plant). The trumpet vines are also blooming, so there’s no lack of color. With the heady scent of button bush all around, it was like a sultry jungle.
Turk’s capI never saw so much growing wild Trumpet vine flower Button bush and beeMy friend, pitchers’ leather flower Delta arrowheadLance leaf greenbrier Beautyberry Bull nettleBee balm
There was a reasonable breeze so I didn’t overheat (and it was cooling off by the time I went out). I really enjoyed the peace. It wasn’t quiet. There were at least three kinds of cicadas drowning out the few birds I heard (mostly cardinals, white-eyed vireos, wrens, and cuckoos).
This thing is a cattail toothpick grasshopper. Huh!Nice, normal dragonfly. Eastern pond hawk. Widow skimmer with broken wingBig burly!That’s not a tree. It’s a grapevine. Wow! Turtle shells! There were dozens of nests like this!
I’m looking forward to heading out early tomorrow for more trails. I have a cooling towel!
Yesterday, I was floating in my pool float, a thing I do most days after horse activities. There are often various insects in the pool. So far it’s mostly been flying ants, pill bugs, and scorpions (which float to the bottom). For a while there were tiny moths and crane flies. I’d never seen a butterfly, though, until I saw one floating between my legs.
I first tried to shoo it under the float, but it wouldn’t go anywhere. So then I scooped it up with my hands. I saw that it was a fiery skipper, a common little visitor around here.
Fiery skipper on basil, from 2018.
As soon as my finger touched the butterfly, it took hold of it. At first, Skippy (I got to know it so well that I named it) didn’t look too good. Its wings were wet, its abdomen was droopy, and its legs were flat. Poor waterlogged little thing! I felt the least I could do was let it recover a bit.
This may be my only other non-blurry photo of one of these.
So, I floated around, sipped on my water, and watched Skippy. The first thing Skippy did was stick out its proboscis and drink some water off my finger. That was fun to watch. Soon, the antennae started moving a bit. I thought maybe Skippy was ready to get off, so I tried to encourage it to go onto the patio by shaking my finger. Skippy held tight.
So, fine. I watched the clouds and birds, and kept floating. Soon, Skippy’s abdomen raised up and looked perkier. Its legs unfolded a bit, and it moved around a little. That was encouraging.
I’d say it took another ten minutes before Skippy started walking around on my finger. I guessed it was waiting for its wings to dry about. I enjoyed looking at its big black eyes and checking out the little bulbs at the ends it each antenna. This was about as good a chance to study a live butterfly as I will ever get.
Suddenly, Skippy pooped, or peed, or something. The abdomen bobbed up and down a couple of times, and poof! Skippy skipped off across the grass, headed towards the trees. I think helping this creature made me feel better about not helping the armadillo yesterday.
I also saw this most excellent beetle yesterday, good ole Enaphalodes taeniatus. A beetle this cool deserves a fun common name and a long Wikipedia article. But nope. These mainly live from around here south into Mexico.
Today was a fine day. Horses were great, other than Apache not wanting to get caught. It’s hard to catch him, since all three other horses and Fiona come right up and mill around me. It’s pretty comical. They think they should all get treats for being so good, I guess. Fiona just about glues herself to me and Dusty is not much better!
So many grapes
The most fun thing today was that I picked 5 cups of mustang grapes across the road from us. I’m sure Hank across the street thought I was crazy for standing in the heat picking weeds. I thought he wasn’t wise to be jogging in a heat advisory, so we’re even!
Fresh grapes! I had to dodge a lot of garden spiders to get them.
I cooked the grapes with a bunch of sugar and a little lemon. When grapes popped out of their skins, they looked like floating eyes (great Halloween trick, because it sort of looked like eyeballs in blood). Luckily it all cooked down.
Eyeballs had not appeared yet when I took this.
After it was cooked, I strained it through a mesh colander and got pretty purée. It thickened well in the refrigerator, and it was delicious over vanilla ice cream. The color was bright fuchsia. The sauce is tart but has a nice grape flavor, too. If I was good at canning, I’d have made jam.
Purée
That was a great ending to a pleasant evening of swimming and eating sloppy joes with friends. Now on to another work week!
Hi there, readers. Sorry there was no blog yesterday, but I’ll be honest, I was not really feeling like writing about the happenings of the day. The Circle of Life is real, and it certainly becomes clear here at the Hermits’ Rest.
I tried to write this on our newly assembled loveseat, but that lasted five minutes.
I don’t think Great Danes have a reputation for being hunting dogs, but I guess they are bred to protect their property. We’re thinking of renaming Goldie to Artemis, because she truly is a mighty huntress.
I’m resting between hunts.
Yesterday I went out to survey my domain and feed the chickens, as I normally do, and I saw Goldie intently watching something that looked to me like a bunny. I watched it slowly “hopping” away from the fenced-in area.
It has ears. But not a bunny.
But when I got closer, I saw it was not a rabbit, but an injured armadillo. I knew who’d injured it right away, our mighty dog-goddess of the hunt. Goldie could no longer get to her, so my hope was that she could make it to her hole and heal up.
Goldie had chewed on her shell.
But I forgot that we have an actual hunting dog on the property, Vlassic. Apparently, he also got to the poor thing and hurt it a lot more. He was seen chomping away on the armadillo (which I didn’t see, or I would have stopped it).
Let’s look at a happy hen, instead.
By the time I came out in the afternoon, the dillo had made it to the front pond, where she got away from Vlassic, but couldn’t swim anymore. For some reason, this made me incredibly sad, like when the sick coyote died.
I guess I’m just too soft hearted when it comes to animals. Also, since I had just gotten the news that my late friend Christi’s son had just been indicted for her murder and I was still reeling from my two recent friend deaths, I think I am a little more open to sadness than usual. I feel imbalanced, like the scales that are usually balanced between life and death are tipped heavily over to the death side.
I was really sad when Goldie killed this, too. It was a snapping turtle. My favorite huge one.
I know it will pass. But it’s no fun right now. On the other hand, I did get a chance to examine an armadillo up close. It’s cool to see how many hairs they have. I thank the armadillo for the chance to see her. Don’t worry, I didn’t touch her, and she was disposed of properly.
Poor dillo.
So, our little zoo is still bringing me interesting surprises. This morning I found dozens of caterpillars on the sorrelvine behind the house. I recognized them as black swallowtails. With this many babies, we should have quite a display of butterflies when they emerge from their chrysalises.
Baby swallowtails
But the biggest surprise was in the chicken house. When I went in this morning, I saw that my snake friend was still there from yesterday. I love the snake’s smiling face.
Howdy! I’d like an egg or a mouse.
I came back later to see if I’d been left any eggs, and thought to myself, wow, that snake is really long, even for a rat snake (they get to be over six feet long).
It just goes on and on.
Aha, I realized why it was so long. It had two heads. Yes, both my snake friends were actually hanging out in one of the nest boxes. There went my egg supply for the day (but they didn’t get Bertie Lee’s egg, which is always laid on the floor next to their exit door).
I wonder if they are a pair? I’ve seen two together over by the horse pens before.
Our reptile exhibit certainly is exciting. However, I am extra glad we haven’t had any copperheads or rattlesnakes showing up. On the other side of the river, there are lots of copperheads. We should be seeing rattlesnakes now, but I have only seen one this year (and I briskly left the vicinity).
Rattlesnake country is pretty, though.
I wish it weren’t so incredibly hot, smoky, and unpleasant outside. But, we’ll get through it. I want to be able to make more use of that new outdoor furniture. But the pool is always there to help me, especially after horse work!
Honestly, I often feel like I live in a zoo. There are just so many critters everywhere I look. This morning I went in to feed the chickens, and realized the rat snake exhibit had moved back in. The BIG one was in there today. I hope she liked her eggs.
Rather than show you the snake, enjoy the first third of the year in temperatures. I’ve started a new segment. It will have way more red and NO blue.
When I went to the Red House to be sure the weekend renters left it in good shape, I picked up branches the bad storm on Saturday had deposited. As I was doing that, I realized I’d moved part of the amphibian exhibit. There was a tiny baby Gulf Coast Toad. Awww.
Smaller than my pinky nail.
I was basking in that cuteness as I took a pane of glass that had fallen out of the garage window (and didn’t break) into the safety of the garage, which was apparently doubling as an insect exhibit. The star was the stuff of my personal nightmares. It was a huge black horsefly. I got bitten by one as a child and can still feel it.
My least favorite exhibit of the day
These things are not only painful, but deadly.
Lucky West Coast doesn’t have them.
It’s all-black coloring reminds me of a trendy modern black house. Yes, it’s striking, but is a pain when it gets hot outside.
Its head looks like a Star Trek alien.
Luckily the zoo today had some cuteness, and for me it was the free-range cottontails in the pasture exhibit. The ones near the horse pens are still friendly. I enjoyed watching this one exploring and hinting that it wouldn’t mind sharing Dusty and Fiona’s food.
Can we share?
Bunnies aren’t the only ones who like the horses’ food. The chickens have figured out that every afternoon I go into a room and pour delicious pellets into buckets. Fiona’s dish is the perfect size for a pecking hen. This makes horse feeding time even more zoo-like!
I need to get better photos of the “arboretum” in Cameron. There are some crape myrtles that are breathtaking this year!
Back to my indoor menagerie for me. In the house we just have scorpions, moths, one cicada (a dog brought it in), and all the dogs. I’ll be glad when scorpions go back outside.
Ha ha, today’s blog prompt has saved me from posting a picture of a caterpillar and a horse, and that’s it. Now I can answer this! I’m not averse to luxury, I have to say, but I don’t need it to be happy. Well, perhaps I need the expensive horses for my sanity…
That’s right, she needs me and my vet bills, body work, dental work, training, and supplements. Because I’m fun. (Apache is getting bodywork in this photo, with Jackie hiding behind him.)
But I think the luxury I need the most is my nail polish. I think I’ve loved nail polish as long as I’ve loved horses. Mmmmm. Nails.
The last twelve weeks in nails
I just love changing out my nails and growing them long. It’s like they’re a crop I grow for myself then make decorative. I guess there are reasons why I’ve always kept my nails fancy, even though I don’t see myself as fancy (just well coordinated).
I liked these a lot.
When I was a kid, I had anxiety (duh) though I think we said I was nervous. I bit my nails to calm myself. The whole family pointed out how awful this was (though it was apparently fine that my brother bit his and as far as I know still does). I hated that I bit my nails but I sure loved it.
Halloween!
The women of the family prided themselves on nails. Natural nails. My grandmother on Mom’s side had long, painted nails. My mom always had beautiful red nails. My much older half sister always had really long nails painted a shade of mauve I hated. Okay, Granny Kendall bit her nails, and patted me while she said I had little stubby fingers , just like hers. She was a wonderful woman, but I didn’t want stubby fingers. I wanted to look elegant.
These were not great.
So, when I was ready for high school, which was a new start for me with mostly new people, I decided I’d try to have polished nails for the first day of school. I managed to grow my nails for three weeks by knitting and crocheting a lot to keep my hands busy. I had red nails for the first day of school. And a popular boy said they looked nice!
My number 1 favorite.
I never bit a nail again. By the end of 9th grade I had talons. It took me a while to learn to keep them a reasonable length. And oh wow, did I change colors a lot. My friend Lynn and I must have spent all our tiny allowances on cheap nail polish. Well, it kept us out of trouble.
I’m gonna wear this again one day.
I did go through a few years with no polish, but not many. I just like it. I did do gel nails for a year or so, but I had to stop when I realized it was messing up my nails big time. So, it was back to Essie and OPI, which lasted much longer than 1970s polish. Until a friend had a Color Street “party” or whatever those are called. It used to be Nail Bars.
Loved this effect.
Yeah. Nail polish strips with glitter, flowers, ombré effects and more were right up my alley. There are other similar brands, but these are made in the US and have great quality control. This luxury is a lot less than going to a salon. So I’m sticking with them.
They do have calm, solid colors. I just never pick those.
That’s enough advertisement for something I don’t get paid to endorse. I’m not a great influencer, I guess. But if you’d like to learn more, use this shopping link (through the end of June) and order a set. Or I can hook you up with a free sample. Again, this is just because I like the product.
In other news, both my horses are doing well, according to Jackie, who worked on them today. We had a good talk about stuff we gave to improve on for horse shows and promised to film each other if we can (we are in the same class, so we often are warming up or unsaddling when the other is riding).
I shared this lady week but our happy faces are worth sharing again. We were glad we survived.
We were thrilled that there was a breeze and it was a little cloudy today. It’s very hot already.
I did see some nature! This feller will grow up to be a gorgeous white spotted salt marsh moth. It was on a dandelion.
The good news is I feel better today. I was even able to ride Drew. Taking it easy was a good idea.
I was up in the middle of the night and got this weird picture of the orange moon rising, through the smudgy window.
I had a lot to do today but nothing too stressful. After our weekly friends’ lunch, Anita came over to get the Red House ready for guests while I did a bunch of meetings. It’s nice to hang out. And after work, we sat on the porch, taking advantage of the sunshades.
We love the porch just like the previous owner did.
I did scare a big moth while I was sweeping the porch. It’s beautiful.
Agrippina Underwing moth
After this peaceful break, all I had to do was hang out with my friends the horses and chickens, then float around in my pool of dreams.
Nice evening for floating.
Kathleen and I even saw another one of those cool spider wasps dragging along a hapless wolf spider. It must be wasp breeding season.
Big spiderSo cool to see them climbing stairsYou can get good photos when the spider is not moving!
It’s really a relief to have a lull with no stress or drama. Even Lee had a good day! We are going to all enjoy the pleasant and peaceful lull while it lasts.
The Hermits' Rest 