I didn't know we were going to see a parade.  But we did!!!

 

Five turkeys walked right up our driveway.  And they did it slowly enough for me to get a picture.  I wonder is five turkeys qualify to be called a rafter.  That is one of the four collective nouns for a group of turkeys, according to Siri.  The other three are:  gang, raffle, and jewel.  So, I guess instead of saying we saw parade, I should have said we saw a Jewel.  Nah, it was more of a parade.

 

I love our neighborhood:  Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter!!!

 

HAPPY DAYS!!!

 

Can you believe it?  We still have Zinnias blooming in the garden.  And, you can see that the Sulphurs love them.  I think these are Cloudless Sulphurs, looking at the underside of their wings;  just a guess.  

 

My Stokes Butterfly Book says:  Try to have late-blooming flowers, for Sulphurs can remain active well into fall.  We have zinnias and marigolds in the garden still, so they're happy here.  We've also seen them up at Rosalie's, in her wildflower garden.  Not sure how long they'll last when it gets cold.  

 

I love seeing butterflies any time of year.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

When I saw this the other day, I immediately thought about Halloween spookiness.  

 

We know that Black widow spiders build messy webs.  I thought maybe that's what this is: Black widow web.  But then again...

 

The web is not messy.  See it at the bottom?  It looks pretty neat to me.  I think the messy part is where the spider wrapped up its dinner after it was caught.  Never did see the spider. 

 

What do you think?  Spooky or not?

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

 

It's that time of year, when the Monarchs are passing through.  Love it!!!!!

 

We've seen several lately, in our garden and these up in Rosalie's wildflower bed.  

 

I had a friend in Virginia who worked in the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  He said that when the Monarchs are migrating, they fly THROUGH the tunnel!!!  Love that story.  Hope it's true.

 

I hope you see them in your travels;  they are SO pretty!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Hiking up the Creekside Trail last week, we noticed that our friend, the bear, was missing from his tree perch.  We searched the area, and found him IN THE CREEK!!!

 

Jon scrambled down the hill and rescued him from the creek.  He (the bear) was totally soaking wet and bedraggled.  So we squoze him as dry as possible, and replaced him in the tree.  We checked back on him, and he's doing better.  

 

He's drier now, and still a little bedraggled.  But we love seeing him when we're on the trail.

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

 

 

 

 

I learned that the Isabella is the most common Tiger Moth in North America.  And that the legend of the weather predictor is just that...a legend.  It says that if there is more black than brown it will be a harsh winter.  And if there is more brown than black, the winter will be mild.  Sounds like a groundhog story.  

 

Anyway, this looks like more brown than black, verifying other predictors of this coming winter.  Let me see if I can find a picture of an Isabella Tiger Moth adult.....Be right back.  

 

 

That didn't take too long.  You still here?  It was worth it, wasn't it?  Cool!!!!

 

HAPPY MILD WINTER TO COME!!!

 

Have you seen this butterfly around lately?  It is a Red-spotted Purple.  The red spots are on the underside of the wings.  It was still for a long time, so I was able to get my camera and take a picture.  

 

We saw it in the grass the other morning, one of those 52 degree days.  Jon moved it to a sunny spot, so it could warm up its body.  I read in the Stokes Butterfly Book that butterflies need their bodies warm to be able to fly.  After basking in the sun for five minutes,  it flew up into the Redbud tree.

 

I love seeing butterflies any time of year.

 

SO PRETTY!!!  

 

I met a new neighbor this week.  Denise Mann is a photographer, and she snapped this picture of deer in her yard.  She has other pictures to share, and you can see them by logging in and going to her profile page under the Five Forks neighbor directory.

 

I hope you will enjoy her pix and welcome her to the neighborhood.  She told me that she will be at the annual meeting next week. 

 

Thanks Denise for sharing. 

 

I saw this picture last week on Karen's Facebook page.  She told me I could share.

 

WOW!!!  Three babies in their backyard.  Goodness knows, we have too many deer in the neighborhood; but they are so fun to watch.  Especially the babies with springs on their feet.  
 

Remember to drive slowly around the curves;  they don't know about cars yet.

 

HAPPY CRITTER SIGHTING!!!

 

I'm not trying to make fake news, but doesn't this look like some of those yeti sightings?  
 

Truthfully, it's a juvenile black bear who visited our blueberry bushes last Saturday.  We were sitting on the porch, and the deer in the driveway spun around at the sound of something near the compost bin.  So we looked up to see what had spooked them.  And there was the bear.

 

 

Exciting, and terrifying all at the same time.  Too close!!!  He went down the path toward the garden.  Next thing we saw was the blueberry bushes shaking.

 

 

After he ate a bunch of berries, he cut through the garden, and seeing nothing there he wanted, moved on to the bird feeders.  I got a really good picture of him there, helping himself to the birdseed on the tray.  

 

 

We were thrilled with our experience.  It lasted about 15 minutes.  I hope you enjoyed our story.  
 

HAPPY CRITTER SIGHTING!!!