critters, 'shrooms, and a pile of poop!

 this past week it's been cooler in the mornings...in the 60's.

aaaaaah...perfect weather for wandering around 

and traipsing into the woods out back.

no mosquitoes, gnats or ticks.

the hibiscus is still blooming.

 

and the little grasshopper nymphs which i've posted pictures of before...

are munching away...and growing!

 baby Anoles are all over the place. they're pretty skittish...

so you have to be very stealthy when trying to get a picture.

 

here's a Six-lined Race Runner.

i always thought these were the Five Lined skinks.

silly me. i never counted the lines.

they just LOOKED like the adult Five-lined skinks...without the blue tails.

 

here's a Five-lined skink...the blue tail means it's still a juvenile.

anyway, i'm out back...following our path to the wooded area...

 and i see some weird mushrooms!

...and a colony of assorted fungi growing all over an old rotted stump.

the ground is still covered with so many previous years fallen leaves.

the ground is soft with peat...it feels spongy.

some of this years fall colors are already scattered about...

there are so many hidey-holes...and downed trees (mostly from past hurricanes)...

so many places for the nocturnal critters to call home.

i spotted a Long-tailed skipper...

 

and then a Giant Swallowtail...

i saw a chewed up bone...looks to be from a deer...

and a hollowed out...half of a body...Cicada.

a cocoon from the Polyphemus moth...

and what i believe to be Gray Fox scat (berries & fur visible)

here's a picture from back in january...of one of our Grey Fox visitors...

in the back yard.

this post is definitely long enough...i hope i didn't tire you out.

i could do this all day...and when the temp stays cool all day...

this is where i'll be on the weekend!

this NEXT weekend...sam and i (and milo) are going camping

at Suwannee River State Pk.  a much needed get away. 

they have really cool trails there...and we thought we might rent a canoe for the day

since this park is located where the Suwannee & Withlacoochee Rivers meet.

~I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, 

to front only the essential facts of life, 

and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, 

and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.~ 

~Henry David Thoreau, 1854

 OH yeah, when i came out of the woods...Milo...yard manager...was waiting for me!

"uh...did you pay the toll...no, i didn't think so. toll=treat. remember that"

back in february...we found a dead 'possum behind our shed.

we held a nice burial for it.  i wanted to dig it up later...for the bones!

do you remember that? i did a post on it.

first-bloom-critters-both-breathing-and-not

well, i went to dig it up over the weekend...was going to include it here...

but this is long enough.

something to look forward to??!! 

have a safe journey & enjoy the ride.

laura

mushroom with morning dew