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*

snakes & bones & more cool stuff

snakes.

they're not everybody's favorite.

but you have to admit...even though you may not want to hold or touch one...

they sure are beautiful to look at.

this little guy, a juvenile Rat Snake has hunkered down in our shed for the past couple of weeks...

trying to stay warm enough to make it through those nights when the temp drops to freezing.

in the woods out back...camouflaged in the bare wintery-thorny-vines...

is another young Rat Snake (but older than the one in the shed).

take a look at this snake. a Black Racer.  i spotted it out back...in a clearing in the woods.

wanna guess how i got so close...to get this picture without the snake racing away?

mm-hmm.  dead. no blood.  no bite marks.

the detective in me thinks it froze to death.

i flipped it over...here's the underside.

you probably know by now what i do when i find dead critters.

i take them home.  bury them.  wait for them to decompose. dig them up.

collect the bones...clean the bones...and then decorate them, or use them in my art.

besides this dead one, i've found two snake skeletons along the side of the road.

so

what to do with all these snake bones?

a couple of months ago i started to make SNAKE VERTEBRAE earrings.

ok. enough about snakes.

i was surprised to see mushrooms & lichen 

still pushing their way up through the ground or clinging to trees...

 in this colder weather we've been having.

when i think 'fungi', i tend to think warm, humid. 

two more pictures...

a dragonfly trying to soak up a little warmth...

and a Red-bellied Woodpecker. 

not an easy task to get a picture. 

i can hear 'em, but by the time i usually spot them...they fly to another tree.

depending on where we live on planet earth,

chances are we're dealing with the winter cold or the summer heat.

but when i got an email from a friend the other day,

who lives in Siberia...and she told me the temperature there right now is 40 below 0...

i felt a little woozy!

FORTY BELOW ZERO!!

that takes all the FUN out of winter...don't you think?

anyway...whatever YOU'RE dealing with right now...

be safe.

take it easy.

laura

they're creepy and they're...

kooky,

mysterious and spooky, they're all together ooky...

ok, now that you've got the Addams Family theme song stuck in your head...

follow me...if u dare...

yesterday i saw a bug on my hibiscus.

actually,  sam spotted it first and called to me  'what the hell is THAT?!'

wow.  a Wheel bug.

it's a type of Assassin bug!!

what could be spookier than a Wheel bug?

TWO Wheel bugs!!

a perfect sighting for this month!

(sorry for the not-so-good picture, the sun was blaring & i couldn't even see the image in the viewer)

oOo

lately we've had way too many nocturnal spiders 

coming out & weaving their webs on the front porch.

i don't mind the ones that stick to the periphery...

like this orb weaver...

(by day she hides under the base of this old rusty candle holder)

BUT 

the spiders that weave their webs on the porch ceiling...

get relocated!

i brush them off into the garden on either side of the porch.

BUT

night after night...they seem to find their way back to the same spot.

oOo

i was about to put the cover back on one of the rain barrels...

when i saw this weaver swimming...frantically.

he must have fallen from the roof.

yes, i rescued him.

oOo

last week...i made time to get a little creative!

remember the snake bones i found on the side of the road...

here they are after i cleaned them.

snake vertebrae & rib bones

when i have some cleaned bones lying around...

i get that urge to DO something with them!

so i painted a snake (with acrylics) on a piece of wood...

then added some of the vertebrae...

i'll glue them down...

maybe add a few ribs to follow the curve of the snake...

then spray with an acrylic sealer.

i've already added a sawtooth hanger to the back!

oOo

well...enough spooky-ish stuff for now.

thanks for wandering by...or crawling by...or creeping...or lurching...or stumbling...

stay cool.  be safe.

laura

“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, 

wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.” 

~Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven