Awesome clouds after the storm!

There was a weird yellow glow after the rain stopped, but there were some pretty awesome clouds! They dissipated soon after we went outside, so it was good timing to see them!

Monarch report

I currently have 17 chrysalises and 2 caterpillars J-hooking! It's the most I've had at one time so far. Tomorrow one should be coming out, but that will still be 18 left. They will be coming out in 3 or more batches.
Plus have a bunch of "baby" caterpillars, as the boys call them. Even got to take some home from a friend's milkweed plant tonight. :-)

Red, red rose!

What a beauty!

Magazine look-alike

If anyone has seen the latest Birds and Blooms magazine, this shot I took in my garden looks very much like the back cover! :-) Hmmm!

The story is: there is no story...I didn't send it in, though I guess I could've...they use that kind of stuff! :-) Just coincidence. :-)

Monarch in a rock...

...and evidently it wasn't a hard place, because it got out of there and flew off! The other day I had a Monarch come out of its chrysalis and later when I came back to release it, there were two butterflies in there flying around. I didn't know where it had come from and I didn't stop to find out, but it evidently came out of here, because the next day I checked the rock and the chrysalis was empty! I wish I could have seen how it came out...it was really scrunched in there...but I guess they're experts in getting out of scrunched spaces. :-)


Can you see the green chrysalis in there? The sun is lighting it up because there was another hole on the other side ...I guess a type of escape route! :-)

Monarch laying eggs

I was so excited to catch this with my camera!

There were two Monarchs flying around my milkweed, both laying eggs, so we will have a lot more caterpillars, that is for sure!

So here is one of them laying an egg. Arrow is there to show you where she deposits an egg from her body onto the underside of the leaf.

...and here she is flying off. I like this shot even though it's blurry...

...And here is the egg on the underside of the leaf. I circled it and put an arrow there because it's really hard to see otherwise. They're so tiny!

First day of 2nd grade!

It's school time! T had a good 1st day in 2nd grade. He likes his teacher and is excited about learning more math this year!

Waiting with brother on "the line!" (so they are not too close to the road)

Watching for the bus...it stops on the curve down the hill from our house, so it gives him time to get ready.

...And...back home again from a good day.


Showing Dad his fancy calculator he got for a prize for completing his summer homework assigned to him by his 1st grade teacher at the end of last school year.
Good job, Trevin! You did it!
1st day name tag :-)