epic garden delight

I thought my Butterfly Garden was a failure this year. Nature proved me wrong. Tall flowering plants took turns blooming throughout the Summer. Various winged wonders fluttered about occasionally, enjoying the grass flanked blooms. At times the wings chose grass over flowers. Not a surprise. Grass offers various needs. 

From a distance, I noticed what I thought were a cluster of larger butterflies. I wanted to take a closer look. Alas, I had two velcro Labradors with me. Sigh. It rarely works out to approach wild things with the two hooligans. The dogs always scare them away. Especially winged wonders!

About an hour later I returned. With my camera and without dogs. Much to my surprise, the flutterby's were still enjoying the garden! Now I only had one pesky loveable animal to thwart my efforts.

classic Leo wrap around

The cat who shall not be ignored got some needy attention. It is never enough and I had to ask him to pluueze leave me alone! I wanted to focus on this:

Monarchs and friends

trio of Monarchs

Leo obliged, but did not go far

Just like potato chips, I had a hard time choosing just one Monarch photo.

see four

and five

The many Monarchs and friends were very entertaining!

fluers and a fuzzy bee

I would have stayed longer, but was getting eaten alive by the latest crop of blood suckers. Leo and I headed back to the house/barn for cover. 

If I did have to chose one photo from this series, this would be it:

8.26.25

A fun reminder our Butterfly Garden does not need to be manicured to be an epic delight. 

land of wonders ~ june version 1/2

June was a very rainy month for us. Various amounts of rain were dumped out of our gauge on a regular basis. 5" one day, .25" the next and on and on. Regular rainy days are still happening. Wish I had kept track of our unusual rain fall from the start of this Summer.

One good thing about living in sand country is rain instantly soaks in. Friends that live about 10 minutes away (same town, different area) say their gardens are a muddy mess.  

Meanwhile our woods turned into a tropical rainforest. The sound of chirping birds accompany us, and echoooo. You can hear various songs, but not see who is gleefully singing. Or scolding. Depending on the bird. 

The dogs and I peacefully meandered along the trails. Both aging grand dogs wander off trail and require constant attention. Our Tank on the other hand, is the best hiking dog I've ever known. He waits/watches out for me and sticks close by. Sometimes too close lol. 

My eyes quickly dart around, looking for anything different that stands out among the lush greenery. After the rains, some June finds are blobby and goey. They instantly make me think of Blogger gal pal Val. I would never have paid attention to things that remind me of snot, had she not made them look so interesting with her awesome Macro photography. Fungi has always popped out to my wandering eyes, and been of interest. I still think slimy moldy stuff is gross, but now it makes me curious. It is a wonder how/why it appears, morphs and then disappears.

Speaking of wonders, here are some from June: 

not so cute larger pineapples

Remember the "cute" pineapples I found in May? I truly love pine trees, but pollen from the White Pines "pineapples" coated every.single.thing outside and on our doors. Nothing cute about it. When the wind would kick up, you could see swirling clouds of pollen falling from a distance. It was/is a bad year for allergies.  

accumulation of pollen on our driveway

Normally I would get excited to have a chance to photograph an eagle. They have become common in our area. Seen at the river fishing, but also eating/hunting in farmers fields. Spotting an eagle too close to home, only made me worry for our cats. Specifically Leo.

Looking across our neighbors driveway (it runs parallel to ours):

taken from our driveway

We have one less (turkey) hen in the area. Perhaps hit by a vehicle? When Brad drove by earlier he saw the hen alive. It didn't take long for the eagle to spot it and take what it wanted. No, I did not go over and investigate when I returned home. Blech.

 circle of life

Our three cats are such good mousers that they bring mice (and other victims) back to our barn!! Leo constantly hunts and most days can be seen in our wide open fields. Our two female cats (Purr & Tinkerbell) are more discrete. No way Leo could outrun an eagle in the field.

front porch safety zone

Just for the record, our cats are free fed dry food 24/7 and share a can of wet food every evening. It keeps them healthy, coming home and yes ~ hunting. I was told not to get attached to barn cats. Impossible! 

Ready to get your scroll on? More nature stuff, mostly spotted during dog walks:

Spiderworts first appearance (notice hidden cacti pad)
6.5.25

False Solomens Seal

An actual tiny strawberry growing on one of many wild plants

white slimy stuff started growing in/on many places, not just wood

goey goopy glop

intricate purple & shades of brown 

flat golden fungi pops up from the ground

first ever changing cute tiny fairy parasols appear!!!
6.17.25

shelfy 'shrooms

several huge old aging oaks in the lower hollow

endless white moldy fungi

white coral

fuzzy shelf 'shrooms

Spiderwort is prolific & beautiful this year!

lil’ pinky buds

pop goes the mushroom

After one of our many rainfalls, I pulled back a leaf and found this little guy had taken cover in my robust rhubarb plant. I was all smiles :))

peek-a-boo frog 

6.18.25

happy fourth

Well folks, we are 100% immersed in July mode and it just started. Low 90'sF and 95-100% humidity. The mosquitos and biting flat flies arrived in full force yesterday. UGH!!

My head net has been clipped to my belt loop for weeks. I knew this day would come.

smile, what else can you do?
7/3/25

Unfortunately, there isn't much I can do for the dogs. Tank isn't bothered by biting pests. He has a thick course light colored coat. On the other hand, my old grand dog Jameson gets attacked ruthlessly by swarms of biters. The flat flies draw blood and create welts. The F-ers love his ears. J is a trooper, but I just can't allow it. Until biters calm down, our time outside will be limited. 

Before the swarms arrived, I enjoyed a different kind of float in our lil' Cowgirl Pool! It stayed in storage last year. I missed it. Such a great way to cool off at the end of the day, and relax without going anywhere.

floating to tunes (with a Bloody Mary) 

7/2/25

The Fourth of July was my favorite holiday. Best memories as a kid was decorating my bike for the neighborhood parade, and of course watching fireworks. I found a somewhat similar kid parade for my country raised children to experience.

We enjoyed watching little-big city firework displays from our old house. Rhythm N Booms fireworks were coordinated to music. You could tune in on a radio. It was epic! A huge event that drew massive crowds. We lived on top of a hill and hosted family friends for years. Brad would also light off his chosen impressive fireworks for our guests. Complete with a large self made PVC pipe fireworks holder. Ohhh, the memories!!

Things are quiet now. I don't even decorate the house anymore. One thing that hasn't changed, is my appreciation for freedom (that isn't free).

For those of you celebrating, have a Happy & Safe Fourth of July!!

 

What Leo thinks of our July weather
7/3/25

horse update ~ other fall news

Onto other Fall horse news: The trio (Harmony, Hope and Koda) are enjoying their new back pasture! It is so nice to have turn out options again. Finishing the third pasture gave Brad the chance to reseed and fix up the dry lot/lower pasture. Grass is coming up nicely, despite the lack of rain. Eventually we can get back to rotating for healthier pastures, and therefore horses.

I was all ready with my camera on day one turnout in the new pasture. Not sure what I was expecting with background clutter and horses wearing fly masks. It felt kinda anti-climatic.

Memory photos it is:

Koda was let out first

9/1/24

he didn't go far

Leo decided to join me. 

Hope was turned out second


things got exciting


Hope at almost a year and a half

She FLEW past me and through the connecting path, lapped a circle in the other half of the pasture. It was then I got concerned. WHOA Hope!!! She was coming back hot! I thought Hope was going to take a digger. She was practically sideways, on her way back through!

Hope heading back to Koda
9/1/24

Last but not least, Harmony was released and all was calm

They have been happily grazing since day one. Amazing how quickly horses mow grass down. Especially with sparse sandy vegetation.

a different view

Area between the Indoor on left and Upper pasture (out of frame).
It has since been seeded.

All five horses have access and are using the newer divided shed. They can hang out next to each other when the weather is less than ideal. Although the trio is less interested. We assume it was Nemo that gave Hope a surface bite. Cierra and Nemo think it is an outrage that the other horses get the new pasture. A fair amount of calling continues between the two herds, especially when the trio goes out of sight.

first time I've seen Hope "baby mouth"

9/7/24 (41 secs)

The new pasture has a wide path between two larger area's. One is behind the indoor arena where we turn the horses out, and the other half is by the outdoor arena. You can see through the tree strip in certain spots. We will probably end up taking a few more trees out. 

Hope tends to linger by us when turned out.
9/7/24 (19 secs)

Making sure she knew how to get over by Koda and Harmony
 9/7/24 (35 secs)

The other half of the new pasture, by our outdoor arena.

Video clip starts facing the wide connecting alley.
9/1/24 (14 secs)


Harmony, Hope and Koda, time to come inside
10/4/24

(photo taken from inside arena)

Shed meeting of the minds 10/4/24

Cierra and Nemo grazing upper left & new seeding
10/5/24

let the riding begin

Nemo

Cierra

a scary window obstacle

(Brad's photo above of Leo, and also me below)

frequent arena supervisors

(Tinkerbell)

Brad is settling into retirement and has been working & riding horses more. Including Padame. They are gearing up for the upcoming show season!

Consequently, today I got to look between Nemo's ears again :) Walked around cones, over poles, trot, spin to the right, then left. It was an unplanned ride. I didn't ride long at the trot, without better support attire.  

It has been a loong time since I've been in a saddle. Felt great & wasn't even nervous :) Fun!!

2/3/24

On a related note, there seems to be hope for my snorting machine Koda. He has become full of himself and needs many reminders on how to behave. Koda is more reactive than ever. His sensitivity seems to have ramped up since going on Equioxx. Perhaps because he is finally not in pain. 

Koda 1/23/24 (25 sec)

Our vet comes out for a recheck mid February. I will be asking about cutting the dose back or eliminating it. Also, a suggested incremental plan back to potential riding. I don't see any reason why Koda can't be lightly ridden since he has been sound for an extended time. 

My boy has always been a horse that behaves much better with consistency. He will need to tone his attitude down before I'll get on him. I don't enjoy riding time bombs. I am fortunate to have Brad's nerves of steel to help us get there.

Let the riding begin!