Hummmmm

I got a fat envelope in the mail this week.
Inside were some wonderful letters and a newspaper article all about hummingbirds.

How did Sarah know that this is the time of year when we have lots and lots of hummingbirds in our yard?


We have three special feeders for them that I fill with sugar water.
Right now they seem very hungry!
The article says that they have to eat at least every 30 minutes when they are not sleeping.
And they eat twice their body weight every day.
But with all the flying around they do, they never gain weight.


If you look out the window at the feeder, you are sure to see one of the young hummingbirds. If you sit outside and watch them you will hear them too. It's their wings that humm - their voices are little chittery tweets.
If you take out the camera to get a picture, they move away fast.
So I have a LOT of pictures of places where a hummingbird was just a second ago.

I wait and wait and snap and snap and get lots of very blurry pictures.

I knew the wings would be blurry - they move something like 20 times a second.

Sometimes they sit on the rim of the feeder. Snap! Caught one looking up.

What about those beautiful hummingbird colors? The iridescent green, the sparkling ruby throat? The sun's on the other side of the feeder. I just get silhouettes. Guess I'll have to just keep trying to take the perfect picture of a hummingbird.
In the meantime I'll read all the interesting facts in the article Sarah sent.

Sudden shower

Every day the weather report says "thundershowers possible". We've been waiting. Sometimes we get clouds, sometimes a breeze, sometimes we hear thunder off in the distance. It's been weeks. Then, suddenly -

Hooray! All over the yard trees and grass and all kinds of plants are drinking in the long awaited water. They are waving green leaves and cheering with plump flowers.

Socks meets a Lily

"I like this Lily" says Socks." She's just the right size for me. Her feet have good smells.
And she has good instincts. Feed the dog, that's right. It's the right impulse even if she is trying to feed me grass. I can work with this.

Animal crackers, that's better. We'll finish the box together.

I don't know why everyone doesn't eat on the floor.

And if she drops a few crumbs, I'll be right there to clean them up.

Yup, we make a good pair, this little Lily and me."

Fluttering by

This summer has been full of butterflies - many more than we usually see.

I have been trying to take pictures of the different kinds of butterflies.

If you click on the pictures to make them bigger you can see them better. Many of the butterflies are small - like this silver-spotted Skipper.
They move quickly and it is hard to get a picture of the little ones.

Some of the butterflies are big and spectacular.
It is a little easier to get their pictures.

See the stripes on the body? This is the Tiger Swallowtail.

The points on the tail are what make it a Swallowtail.

They love the Joe Pye Weed. They flit around to other flowers but they always seem to come back to these tall pale purple blossoms down by the pond.

The top one here is a male and the bottom one a female - she has blue spots that he doesn't.

This is also a female Tiger Swallowtail- Isn't she lovely?

We found this winged creature resting in the woods.

Usually you only see it by night.

See the feathery antennae?

This isn't a butterfly at all.

It's a Luna Moth.

Wish you were here to look at these lovely creatures with me!

Swallowed up with cattails

Pond?

What pond? Do you see a pond there?

I see daisies. Lots of daisies.
Don't see any water.

I hear water. Where's the pond?

There! You can spy a bit of the waterfall!
It seems to be a bit overgrown this year, wouldn't you say?

The disappearing path

Do you see a path?

There used to be a path here.

All winter I walked up and down it carrying birdseed to the farthest feeder.

Now in the summer heat weeds are growing and covering up Jacob's Path.

Jacob isn't here to work on the path this year - and anyway it is way too hot to be clipping and trimming.

I think only the chipmunks and rabbits will be going up and down the path this summer.

Babies on the move

It's the time of year for leaving the nest. Baby birds are fluttering around begging for food with loud insistant calls. They aren't the only babies out now.

A few mornings ago it was overcast and gloomy.

I was looking out the kitchen window.

I saw movement - something while and black flowing through the grass. It was Mama Skunk and her three babies, sticking close together and nosing through the wet grass for slugs.

I didn't get close enough for a good picture.

I did get close to another baby.

This one had left its mama.

See what's hiding in the grass?
It hopped right into the garden as if it were at home there.
What a teeny-tiny bunny!

Clearing the path

It is a lot of work clearing an overgrown path.Jacob has taken on the path behind the waterfall. Now we call it "Jacob's path"

He found some BIG leaves to cut!

A special rock

Hiking along the creek, Mimi found something special.We were looking for unusual rocks.
This one was really unusual.

Fossils - in a rock the exact shape of the state of Indiana!

Catching crawdads

Nothing is more summer -y than wading in the creek. Look closely - there are little animals in the water.
Click on the picture and you can see the crawdad Sarah caught!

Tomatoes

Something is ripe in the garden. It is round and red and sweet to taste. These little bright red balls are Tomatoes.
It is time to start picking them.
Jacob finds the ripe ones and pulls them off.
Soon all the red balls are off of the plant.
Don't they look good?
Yum! Fresh tomotoes! Jacob picked them this morning.

Butterflies

Butterfly season is starting. We have seen lots of little white wings fluttering around the plants. This lovely brown and orange butterfly was visiting the Zinnias.

Where's the butterfly book? Let's look it up!