Cardinal

This little guy stopped by a couple of weeks ago. I love that we have cardinals year round. They're like bright and cheerful little strawberries in the midst of the winter greys.

A Visitor

We had a yearling deer visit. Franny was absolutely beside herself, because I was a giant meanypants and wouldn't let her bark at it.

Little Brown Birds

Little Wing

A monarch lost her wing. I expect one of the outdoor cats caught it and ate the body. They're assholes that way.

Honeybee

A coworker gave me some plants a few years back. She swore one of them was coleus, which should only grow a few inches tall. It was not coleus. It was giant, mutant, evil basil. I do not like basil. I can't stand the smell or the taste. Even pulling the babies in the spring grosses me out. This stuff is, I kid you not, 4-5 feet tall. And now it's flowering, which I KNOW, I KNOW means it will just spread more. But in order to pull it, I have to smell it, which I'm not willing to do. Someday it will take over so thoroughly that I will be forced to move.

The bees like it, though.

A Visitor

She was so fat and juicy and revolting that I had to get out the big camera, so I could get a decent photo of her.

Monarch

Ladybug and Milkweed

Black Eyed Susan and Pet Spider

Every year, a funnel weaver sets up shop in the corner of my patio door frame. I leave her alone. I figure she's not hurting anything, and she eats lots of bugs.

Little Wing

I found this tiny mothwing while I was out walking this afternoon. The scalloped line along the outer edge is just gorgeous.

Bee

Hark! A Deer!

Franny and the deer had a staring contest. The deer is very curious about little black dog, which is worrisome to me. It was only about five feet off the edge of my patio. Five feet is not very far.

Grass Spider

I think this is a young grass spider. It was hanging out on a hosts leaf, after a storm passed through.

Gangster

This guy is brazen. He lives in a drainage pipe under the fir tree, and he's used to holding his own with the feral cats at their food dish. He's slightly respectful of Franny, but he's not at all afraid of people. My neighbor has had to physically shove him out of the cats' food.

Locust Tree Blossoms

Locust Tree Blossoms

As I walked across campus this afternoon, I kept catching hints of some flower on the breeze. I finally realized it was coming from the trees. And the funny thing is that I had the same experience a few years ago, at a nearby cemetery. There was something in bloom that smelled amazing, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I finally tracked it down to a locust tree growing behind the church.

Free Falling

écureuil joyeuse

We had a visitor yesterday. Actually, he visits every day. Yesterday, though, he was especially entertaining. He hung there like that for a few moments before jumping down. It was pretty clear that he was enjoying himself.

Bee

Wasp

Meet Polly's new friend. She's been frantically trying to get to it through the patio window. Silly goose.