Crossing the line....

So.....when does one cross the line between being a "nature lover" to being ......

"that strange neighbor that lets plants grow in the middle of her front walkway"?

OK.....I'm that strange lady.  But this sunflower was growing so nicely and I see no reason to uproot it until it is done blooming :-)  I made this bee happy.  I'll pull it out when the flower is done.  My neighbors know that I am weird by now anyway.

I'm not much of a gardener any more, but I do have plenty of these Black-eyed-Susan's growing.  Anything that comes up on its own and flourishes without my help is very welcome for color!  The Goldfinches love these flowers, so I just let them grow in profusion.

 I also have some Phlox that comes up every year and this year there is a lot of it in different shades of lavender/pink.

Thursday I went to Hartman Arboretum, where I usually go to chase butterflies at this time of year and their garden looks much better than mine :-)  There weren't too many butterflies, but I did find a few skippers.

I saw a half dozen or more of the Silver Spotted Skippers.

They were posing very nicely for me

We always call it the "white elephant skipper" due to the mark on the wing that looks like an elephant.

The Silver Spotted Skipper again on a prettier flower

Cabbage White female that actually opened up for me!

The Cabbage White female again

The Clear-wing Hummingbird Moth was out and I actually got a few decent photos of it.  It moves so much I have trouble chasing it down and getting a focus.

 Another side shot of the hummingbird moth.

 No butterflies here, but I love these tall hydrangeas!

Another hydrangea.

A couple of nights earlier at the Arboretum they set up a white sheet with lights trained on it to attract moths!  It was an interesting experience.  Will have to try this at home.  This was the neatest one that I got a photo of.  I don't know its name.  I meant to look it up before posting but forgot.  Sorry about the finger in the photo, but there were young kids there and they were very excited about all the moths and bugs :-)

Odds and Ends from the wetlands...

These were the rest of my photos from two trips to the wetlands.  A little bit of everything, but nothing really spectacular.

 I'm seeing a few butterflies, but they are not being very cooperative for photos.  A couple shots of the Red Admiral.

 I think this is a Spicebush Swallowtail

 Pearl Crescent

 Question Mark, probably.

 The tiny frogs were all over the duckweed.  These look big in the photos, but are about the size of my little fingernail.

 These two Goldfinch shots are at my house, but I wanted to post them.  All of their favorite yellow flowers are blooming right now.  They will be feeding off the Black-eyed Susan's, if the neighbor's cat will leave them alone.

Back at the wetlands.....a very nice Great Blue Heron posed for some photos. 

And as I was leaving this Mockingbird let me know that the whole place belongs to him! 

 Right!

A squirrel in the woods....not my usual Fox squirrel....a grey squirrel.

Hawk at the wetlands.....

I went to the wetlands Saturday for a quick walk around and saw this beautiful hawk sitting up on a dead tree limb.

 I think it is a Red-shouldered Hawk and I thought it looked young.

 Look at all the fluffy white feathers on the front.

 It was doing a lot of preening

It would pull those white feathers out and they would slowly float to the water below. 

 It turned around for one brief minute....I got 3 shots....and it turned its back to me again.

 Looking at me, but didn't seem to mind me being there.  I wasn't real close.

 Pulling out feathers again.

Wistful looking

My computer monitor quit on me and I am using an old one that makes everything look light and stretched.  I hope these photos look better on your computers then they do on mine at the moment!  

Took other photos from the wetlands....will post them another day.

Squirrel Sunday.....a new "Star" is born?.....

It has been a long time since I had a really curious squirrel worthy of a Squirrel Sunday post, but I do believe I have a new descendant of my former "Star" who may earn the crown!  This little squirrel spent a long time working at how to "crack" this feeder.....(designed for hanging birds only).....but it finally managed it!

"Hmmmmm.....My great-grandpa, Star, says there is no such thing as a "squirrel-proof" feeder!" 

 "First problem....how do I reach that thing???"

 "Well....it's a bit of a stretch, but I think I got it"

( I will save his pride by not showing you all the times he slipped and missed, but it sure was funny to watch :-)

"Does the lid come off???" 

 "Maybe the bottom comes off..."

"If she can get the seeds in, I can get the seeds out!" 

 "Sigh.....maybe I'll rest my toes a bit"

"This is good exercise, but I'm getting hungry!" 

"OK......let's think about this some more!" 

 "Other side doesn't open either....dang!"

 "Hey....I think I can get some seeds this way without getting it open!"

"Not my favorite way to eat, but it works!" 

"This is REALLY hard on the toes!" 

"Ymmmmmmmmm" 

"Got it figured out now!" 

"Are you going to make me work this hard to get in your blog all the time??????"

(Yes, I am!  If you are really a descendant of Star, I'm sure he told you all about me")

"Yep"