Oh yeah, I just remembered that Julie sent me this picture of baby armadillos in her yard in Mississippi.  She told me they wern't afraid of anything, that she had to make a lot of noise to get them to shoo.  ICK!!!

 

I remember a road trip that Julie and I took back in the 1980's.  We were traveling from New Mexico to Virginia.  Sarah was really young at the time, maybe 7 or 8 years old.  Anyway, Julie would send her postcards all along the way until we got home.  And I remember her writing, We saw 6, 8, 10, (however many) armadillos today.  Of course, they were all belly up on the highway, but Julie didn't tell Sarah that part.  We laughed, not at their demise, but at Julie's funny word play. 

 

OK, that's all I know about armadillos, except that they don't just live in Texas and Mississippi.  They also live here!!!

 

 

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

 

Well...it was such a beautiful winter day on Thursday, we got busy and pruned the blueberry bushes.  I told you that they get pruned when they are dormant, when the flower buds and leaf buds are tiny.  No pictures of them, but...

 

As we were tossing the cut branches out into the driveway, Jon heard a snuffling noise across the road.  We looked up and saw this armadillo digging under the leaves.  All we could see was his back, and the leaves moving ahead of him.  (I HOPE it was a HIM, definitely don't want "rolls" of these things around.)  It took about 5 minutes and 10 pictures to finally see his head.  For perspective, I guess he weighs about 5 pounds.  Bag of flour?  Yeah, about that, maybe a little bigger.  EEK!!!

 

I bet Gizmo has seen him, but this was the first time for me.  I thought they lived in Texas.  

 

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

 

This little one came around looking for something to eat.  She sniffed at the rosemary, moved on to the juniper, then left to find her friends.  I hope they are able to find food under the snow, but I was happy that she didn't eat my rosemary.  

 

 

HAPPY WINTER!!!

 

I'm not sure WHY he does it, but this is how I found Gizmo this morning.  And it's not the first time either.  He's been doing it almost every day lately.  He pulls out the basket of pink and red fabric, scoops out a few pieces, then curls up in the midst of them.  That's how he spends the morning.  

 

I just have to wait for him to move before I can get to the ironing board, and get on with my work.  

 

Why the pink and red?  Why any of it?  I don't know.  And I bet he won't tell me.

 

 

HAPPY DECEMBER!!!

 

 

 

 

 

We saw our first Monarch of the season on our neighbors' sage.  I waited a while for it to open its wings, but when it did, it flew, and I missed the picture.  But we know that this is a Monarch, and they are passing through on their way to Mexico.

 

 

SAFE TRAVELS!!!

 

When our friends came to visit the other day, they wanted to walk in the garden.  It seems to me that there is nothing there to see, but we did it anyway.  As we walked by the zinnias, I noticed this butterfly just hanging there.  I knew what that meant:  she had just emerged from her cocoon and was warming up enough to fly.  

 

You can't tell from her under wings, but I saw the topside of her wings, and it is a Pipevine swallowtail.  Instead of bright blue like the Black swallowtail, the coloration on the bottom of the hind wings was a dusky turquoise.  Beautiful!!!

 

I hope you will look it up in your butterfly book, or on the internet, and see how pretty she is.  And right here in MY garden.

 

HAPPY FALL!!!

 

 

We saw this on the deck post, and knew immediately that it was a stick bug.  Of course, Seek had a more dignified name for it:  Northern Walkingstick.  OK.  This one was about 3 inches long, so I guess it was a male.  The females are 3.7 inches long.

 

Still, interesting to see.  Our own Nature program, right on the front porch.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Our friends up on the ridge sent us this picture of a black bear in their yard!!!   This is the third sighting in the last month from the same area.  Look how close he is to the road.   This is the same road we walk when we walk the loop.  One other time he was in Tom's driveway at 1 pm!!!  I guess it was the same bear.  

 

I am not an expert on black bear behavior;  I thought they were crepuscular, but this was at 5:30 in the afternoon, nowhere near dusk or dawn.  I thought it was unusual at first, but he keeps coming back.

 

I do know this though:  FOOD is their main objective, and bird seed is a favorite, especially in nice neighborhoods like ours.  We are all so kind to feed the birds, but now may be a good time to abstain from bird feeding.  The birds have plenty of natural food in the fall:  seeds, berries, etc.  But if you must feed the birds, be sure to bring in the feeders at night.  You definitely don't want him up on your deck, or destroying your bird feeders.

 

Maybe if Mr. Bear can't find any food here, he will move on.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

Ok, this is kinda gross, but also very interesting.  This is a tobacco hornworm on one of my tomato plants.  Usually I get rid of them, but this one is doing a remarkable thing.  

 

There is a parasitic wasp, Cotesia congregata, that oviposits her eggs under the skin of tobacco hornworms.  When the larvae hatch out, they use the hornworm for food.  So, you see, this hornworm is serving a very important purpose:  feeding beneficial insects in my garden, thus reducing the population of hornworms.  

 

The first time I saw this, I had no idea how a caterpillar could lay eggs.  Of course, they don't, but you don't know until you know.  The wasp larvae feed on the caterpillar, then spin their cocoons which pop out through the caterpillar skin.  So, these white fuzzy things on the caterpillar are wasp cocoons.  Natural hornworm population control.  

 

Now you know.  Still kinda gross.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I don't know...does this look comfortable to you?  Yeah, me too.  

 

But this is how he spent a couple hours yesterday.  I guess to understand it, you have to be a cat...

 

 

HAPPY TIMES IN THE MOUNTAINS