Odds and ends....

I went to Hartman Arboretum last week to look for butterflies.  I was lucky to even find flowers! I did find one swallowtail butterfly!

 A very nice Spicebush Swallowtail.  That was it.

There were a few of the small skippers hanging around on the yellow flowers.

 These flowers are rather tall for me to get good shots.

 There were several skippers and bees and other bugs on these.

Back at home....

 I have Mourning Doves enjoying the offerings of the "Driveway Diner".

 Mouse thought she would try a little cat nap outside now that the temps have dropped 15 degrees.  I think the shaving was a success!  I will have to have this done every summer.  After she got over her initial embarrassment of having all her fur shaved, she has decided it was a pretty good idea with the heat we have had!  I'm getting used to seeing her look so strange and I know she is more comfortable.

Contentment!

Pray for rain.....

Please pray for rain for southern Indiana and other parts of the Midwest that are in drought conditions.  They fear the corn crop is pretty well ruined in this area.  I went to the wetlands Thursday......

....and it is not very wet!  All of that dry dirt area should be covered with water.

 A few Killdeer were wandering around.

 I didn't even know there were big mussels in the water until the dryness exposed the shells.

An old dead turtle shell.

The Heron is still staking out his corner of the water.  I guess the fish must be really concentrated in what is left of the water.

 Waiting in the shade.  It was heading toward another day over 100.  I was so hot I didn't even care about taking photos and didn't stay long.

The one spot of color back by the creek.  Do you see the bee inside the first flower?

We really need rain!  Another drizzle fell today that didn't even soak in.  At least it is a sign of hope that rain might come soon.

Odds and Ends from our trip....

We stopped at 4 different wineries in the southern Indiana area.

We liked the name of this Winery :-)

 Do they look "grateful"?  

I think they look hungry, mostly :-)

 They loved hamming it up for the camera and getting petted, but we had no food to offer them.

 Ahhhhhh.......

 We passed two barns with quilt squares.  I don't think I have seen them before, but it gets hard to remember what I have seen where in the past.

Scout Mountain Winery had a nice fountain in the garden.

Some of the vines at Monkey Hollow Winery.

Muscatatuck Wildlife Refuge.....

Most of these photos are from Muscatatuck Wildlife Refuge.  It was very hot....over 100 degrees.  There is a nice auto trail through this place so you can sit in your car and take photos most of the time.  

 This Meadowlark was at one of the wineries we visited, but I thought I would include him here.

 Young Grackles, I think.

 Red-winged Blackbird female.

 This Gray Squirrel was at the nature center's feeding area.

 We saw more Great Blue Herons than anything else.

 These two and another one didn't seem to get along.  I'm not sure if the one in flight is trying to make the other one go away or what it was doing.  The third one was chased over to the gravel road along this wet area.  Maybe there isn't much food out there for them.

 In the same area we saw this deer with her fawn.

 They worked their way along the side of this wet area.  Heron ignored them.

"How to Kill a Bug 101"......

I think this baby Bluebird is working on his "bug killing homework".

 Step one:  Find a large caterpillar

Step two: Beat it against a hard surface until dead.

 ......completely dead.....

Step three: Eat bug

 

"Did I pass????" 

"Sure was good!"

We took a day and a half trip Friday and one stop was Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge.  This little Bluebird was sitting on a sign busy killing his caterpillar and didn't mind me taking his photo.  So cute :-)