Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!

Monday seems like a good time to complain about something that’s bugging me.

Bugs.  Lots of bugs.

They’re on the splash blocks under the gutters.

Here’s a bunch of them closeup:

I find them on the steps.  I see them on flowers.  They congregate on top of the solar lights along the walkway:

You can find masses of them all over the place.  From looking at descriptions online, I think they’re Box Elder Bugs, but not being a bug expert I’m not sure.

Anyone else know what they are for sure?

Unexpected Discoveries

This weekend I decided I needed to put out more salt and minerals for the animals.  In this southern heat, they need to be able to replenish both salt and water.   Since we drastically downsized the number of 4-legged grass-eaters we have, a lot of things like troughs aren’t all in use.

Such is the case for this trough and salt box:

The water trough is so big it’s impossible for me to dump it and put fresh water in it, and it’s a little out of the way, so I’ve been ignoring it.  However, I thought I could use the salt box, so went down to check things out.

Imagine my surprise when I saw several of these in the water:

Tadpoles!  It’s not the clearest picture in the world, what with the trough being in shadow and tadpoles underwater, but you get the idea.

Obviously some little frog figured that was a good place to lay eggs, and guess she was right!  A least some of them are surviving swimmingly!

As for the other surprising discovery, I found her when I flipped over the salt box to get the dirt out of it. . .

A Black Widow Spider and egg case.  Hmmmm, I didn’t find her appearance nearly as thrilling as tadpoles in the water trough.  Upon reflection, I think I’ll just look at them instead.

That’s a tad better!

Going Squirrely

Yes, this place is NUTS!

We have lots of nut trees around here.  There are hickory nut trees in the woods and bottom pasture.  There are several walnut trees in our backyard.  There are lots of oak trees producing oodles of acorns.

In other words, this place is a haven for squirrels.

They have regular highways, and love to use some of the pallet fences as a regular access road.

Sometimes the squirrels run along one edge, sometimes they go for a dual track.  Talk about agile!

They often take flying leaps and move so fast I have a hard time aiming the camera and catching them as they go.

From the pallet fence surrounding the trumpet vine in the back yard, the squirrel goes zipping across the wooden gate that leads into the main pasture.   The squirrel ignores the pasture and heads for the side yard.

You see, this particular Squirrel Highway leads to a specific destination.  From this gate the squirrel either runs a short distance on the grass or uses a picket fence path to get to the tree by the birdbath.  There are bathers there before him, however.

The pair of cardinals were having a great pool party until the squirrel came along.

Once he made the scene, they left.  That suited the squirrel just fine, who decided to get up there and get a drink.

After the squirrel quenched its’ thirst, it was time to check out what was stored in the pantry.  This means searching around for buried treasure. 

Evidently this squirrel thought the area around the birdbath a good place to bury nuts.  It finally found one, dug it up, and checked it out to be sure it was still good.

Once the squirrel decided this nut was indeed still worthy of keeping, it picked a new place and buried it again.

Once the nut was buried and the coast was clear, the squirrel took off for the treetops again.

At least until the next time it wants to travel the Squirrel Highway.

A Trio of Turtles

When I went out to the mailbox this morning, I caught three of the turtles inhabitating our pond sunning themselves on a log.

They never let me get too close before then slide off into the water.  I think I’m going to have to build a blind or something by the pond to get better pictures!

Turtle Reflections

I guess I’m like a reflective turtle this week, being a little on the meditative slow side.

We just got back from a trip to West Virginia and Ohio to visit family, and I’m tired. I’m also dealing with a lingering summer cold, so I’m not exactly feeling my best. So as I said, I’m moving a little slow.

To reflect on that, here’s a picture of the big turtle in our pond.

The water was so reflective it almost  looks like the turtle is on grass instead of water.

Yesterday I saw two smaller turtles on the log.  It’s a popular spot!