mayday mayday

mayday!

four May Days so far.

day 1...

another first time sighting of a bird!

or maybe they were here in the past and i just never noticed them. but i doubt it.

a pair of Great Crested Flycatchers.

they were perched on high branches near a dead tree covered with woodpecker holes.

taking turns flying to...and hovering...outside one of the holes.

catching bugs i presume.

day 2...

lantana, gardenia, roses, honeysuckle, jasmine, milkweed, flowering weeds...

to name a few...are blooming!

BUTTERFLIES!!

Gulf Fritillary

Zebra Swallowtail

Zebra Swallowtail

florida's state butterfly. the Zebra Longwing

and the final butterfly...the little Phaon Crescent, where they can usually be spotted...

on the flowering 'weed'. i always knew this weed as 'beggar's tick'.

i don't pull them, even though they can be kind of annoying after the flowers turn to seed...

sticky things that cling all over your shoes, laces, clothes!

but bees & butterflies love them!  so i keep 'em!

while out there in cyberspace i found this really cool website,

where the writer talks about these weeds in one of his posts.

'shepherd's needle' is a good green. lots of nutrients! can be boiled, sauteed, steamed.

cool.  check out Florida Survival Gardening if you get a chance.

Phaon Crescent

Phaon Crescent

day 3...

yesterday...

while wandering in the field across the road, and the  (almost dried up) mud pit.

OH, mud pit? you may wonder? well, when there's a big mushy muddy area...

you can surely find some mud bogging going on. especially down here. in the south.

but i think it happens all over now.

4x4 pick-up trucks (usually) that are modified with lifted suspension & HUMUNGOUS tires...

drive their trucks as far as they can through the MUD...before getting bogged down. i guess.

sound like fun? (nah. not to me it doesn't)

i've never been to watch. but we can hear them out there after dark.

anyway...sorry...i got sidetracked.

i spotted this bird...at the mud pit.

cool reflection.

i THINK it's a Solitary Sandpiper. 

next sighting...

brace yourself...for the creeps. 

can you tell what it is? 

here...i'll zoom in...

yep!  creeped out??!

a nest of baby spiders!!!!!

yikes!

OK.

lastly...i found some snake BONES in the field!!  yeah!

lately, i've been making all sorts of things out of snake vertebrae.

here's a sampling of earrings & necklace i've made.

i know...this BoNE stuff isn't for everyone.

some might be just as creeped out by the bones, as with the spiders. 

oh well. i am crazy for bones!

day 4...

this post was way longer than intended.

i'm trying to keep them shorter.

TRYING.

but a lot has happened so far in May.

have a good week.

be safe.

laura

*Publish*

love...is in the air - - - spring has sprung.

just the other day,

i opened the front door...stepped onto the porch, camera in hand...

i spotted this anole proudly displaying his dewlap.

aaaaah. love. he spotted a female.

they ran towards each other...

for an afternoon quickie. very quick.

today is the (official) first day of spring. (here in the U.S. anyway)

it may not FEEL like spring in some places...

but here, in north florida, the temp has reached into the low 80's.

some flowers are blooming...and a few butterflies are out and about!

spring has sprung.

a bromeliad bloom

spicebush swallowtail on azalea bush

mini daffodils blooming

a red-spotted purple

a cinnamon fern getting ready to unfurl

dragonfly

flatwoods plum

that's it for now.  catch ya' later.

"Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day." 

~W. Earl Hall

life's a journey. enjoy the ride.

laura

(hmmm. for some reason when i hit 'publish', this post didn't show in feed.
so i reverted it to draft.  will try to publish again. if it still doesn't make it
into the feed...hopefully it will be found...and not lost in space!)  :)

friday's fringe 29 ~ yellow on pink

Cloudless Sulphur  (Phoebis Sennae)

feeding on a still flowering hibiscus flower.

“Butterflies and zebras 

And moonbeams and fairy tales 

That's all she ever thinks about 

Riding with the wind.” 

~Jimi Hendrix

thanks for stopping by on

lk

~XTRA~

emo...at 10 wks old

"i'll let laura loose in bloggerland after she finishes playing with me!"

friday's fringe 27 ~ mr bOnes' zebras

after today, mr bOnes has just ONE more friday in october.
this past week he was spell-bound by all the butterflies.

mr bOnes perched on the front door

and the original...

(it's been a busy week. not much time spent on the computer. 

you know i don't have a 'smart' phone or i pad...

i don't work in an office so i can't get on the comp while working...

and i rarely turn the comp on at home in the evening, except weekends.

SO, next week i'll have a lot of catching up to do!)

friday morning (today, THIS morning if you're reading this on 10-19) 

we're leaving to go camping & fishing for 2 nights.

yay!  no phone.  no internet.  

mr bOnes has been delegated to keep watch over the old homestead while we're gone.

we can only hope he's never watched 

"Risky Business", "Animal House",  "Ferris Beuler's Day Off"  or even  "Scream".

or we may come home to complete madness...

the house, the yard, the woods...littered with

passed out zombies, drunk vamps, toasted trolls, plastered mummies, 

stoned werewolves, inebriated goblins, sloshed shape-shifters.

limbs and bones...scattered everywhere!

oh, i don't even want to think about it.

let's just hope, if mr bOnes DOES party...he parties safe and responsibly!

(just like the beer commercial tells you to)

oOo

 "Ah, I can always smell a graveyard."

Gabriel  (actor: Christopher Walken), The Prophecy – 1995

have a great weekend.  thanks for stopping by on:

  

lk

...to the lake...

after watching the Cinnamon Fern uncurl...

(and missing milo terribly...)

yesterday, we decided to do the 40 minute drive to Lake Lochloosa.

since we've been having lots of rain lately, we figured the water level would be high enough

to get our 'gheenoe' in.

we could paddle around...troll around...sam could do some fishing...

and i could get some pictures.

rather than posting a long line of photos, i decided to do a collage...of the

Lochloosa skies, butterflies, alligators, egrets, anhinga, herons, water lilies and eagles.

click to enlarge  -  7 oct 2012

“A lake is a landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. 

It is Earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.”  

~Henry David Thoreau, Walden

thanks for stopping by.

have a great week.

stay cool. be safe.

lk

dragonfly perched on my 'pokey-stick, which sam tooled for me at his work...

i use it to poke in the ground...searching for treasures out back...

a word about milo...

milo 

is not doing too well.

you know milo...
the camping cat.

milo the yard manager.

she's been on this blog many times.

she's even covered for me on a post or two.

milo is 16...or maybe even 17.

what's that in cat years?

over 80!!?

she's had a long & happy life.

climbing trees.

climbing up the side of the house to sit on the roof.

chasing squirrels, lizards, birds, moles, snakes...

and lazing around.

she has cancer.

she hasn't eaten in days.  barely drinking.

she's getting weaker...but hanging in there.

not ready to let go.

she's not in pain...or complaining.

all she asks is that when we're home,

we don't do anything else except hold her.

and so we oblige.

taking turns

carrying her around like the little baby she is to us.

look at that little sad face.

she's a bit dazed & confused.

she doesn't like it when you sit.

she wants to be walked around...or rocked.

so i'll be getting pretty far behind in my blog reading...

just wanted you to know...i'm not ignoring you.

milo needs our time...and love...right now.

~meow~

take care.

stay cool.  be safe.

laura

(i do have a friday's fringe already scheduled for friday)