I let the dogs out to run around. Sophie took off like a shot and finally came back and dashed into the house to eat her supper. As I was feeding them I noticed a horrible odor down in the shop and couldn't figure out where it was coming from, so I'm walking around sniffing and trying to figure out what stinks so bad and I finally figure out.....it's Sophie! No wonder she was gone so long, it takes a little while to find and roll in enough black, gooey raccoon poop to coat this dog's entire chin and neck! Emergency bath time. Sometimes my dogs are so gross!
Now it's time to enjoy myself on this warm, sunny afternoon by capturing some photographic images of all the butterflies that are still taking advantage of all the blooming flowers and other nectar sources in my yard.
On one of my yellowjacket traps, a very tattered mourning cloak and red admiral take advantage of whatever they can get out of this unusual nectar source.
A little later I found another mourning cloak in a little bit better condition dining at the same nectar source.
There were some sulphurs flying around also and sampling the variety of asters out in the wildflower garden.
Clouded Sulphur - Male
Clouded Sulphur - Female
Cabbage White
How about this Painted Lady? They're beautiful with their wings opened....
but I think the back side of their wings are also quite striking.
Here's a Red Admiral (with a little chunk missing out of its bottom wing)
There were also a few monarchs flying around also and I managed to net and tag another wild monarch.
While I was out there I noticed that my American Holly bushes are really loaded with red berries this year. I hope the birds enjoy these berries during the coming winter.
My highbush cranberries look like they're ready to be picked too and since I've got all next week off, that would be a perfect time to try another jelly recipe, don't you think?
14 comments:
What beautiful butterflies! The colors are striking. Hope you were able to get all the poop off Sophie...lol. Lovely surprise. :c)
Have a beautiful day Ruthie.
For someone who must be sleep deprived in a big way, you are so energetic and busy. Your pictures of the butterflies and plants are lovely. I notice very few butterflies and the ones I see are difficult to photograph. Have a great week off!
Hi Jayne,
I'm not sure what happened, but these photos ended up being really LARGE when I downloaded them into Blogger. It's nice to see the butterfly detail, but it's just different from previous posts.
Sophie is clean as a whistle now (but not before I got some poop on me too--YUCK!!)
Hi Ruth,
I think I was still running on adrenalin last night. I got a good 8 hrs of sleep overnight, so I'm in a pretty good mood again now & looking forward to my week at home (my "To Do" list is growing....)
Whew....EOQ...those three letters bring back nightmares! Glad it is over. And glad you and Sophie are now clean and shiny.
Lovely butterflies, they are so delicate and beautiful.
I love those BIG butterfly pictures, what neat close-ups, you should do that more often. We haven't seen many butterflies this last week but we don't have many blooming flowers right now.
Remember out poodle JO-JO, well he just loved to find dead animals and then roll all over them. That's the price you pay when you live in a rural area, dogs can find the most offensive and odorous things to roll in and then stand there and and look so proud and then smile at you, LOOK AT ME,
I FOUND IT!!!!
MOM
Ew ew ew--raccoon poop and your dog completely rolled in it?
What is it with dogs and stinky things to roll in.
Hi Trixie,
My job is pretty manageable except for a a couple weeks every three months. It's nice to have butterflies and dogs to come home to (even when they are poopy!)
Hi Mom,
The butterflies were much more active because it wasn't too windy yesterday.
Both of the dogs will roll in dead stuff (gophers, moles, birds) too, just like Joe-Joe. I like to let them run in the yard, but they always seem to find the stinky stuff if I'm not watching them.
Hi Donna,
Not all of her--just her neck and chin. But Sophie was overdue for a bath anyway, so this was the perfect opportunity to get all of her clean.
When dogs do it, it's called:
"STOP, DROP, AND ROLL" I had a Cocker Spaniel who had emergency baths on a regular basis. LOL!
Glad you have those hours behind you, Ruthie. Enjoy your week. I look forward to hearing what you will be up to...
Great butterfly photos! I see butterflies a lot but they are not stopping since there is little growing here.
Hi Ruthie,
You really get an amazing variety of butterflies there. All the photos are so colorful and detailed :)
I bet that raccoon poop was really bad. I know the "gifts" they've left in our yard near the pond smell just awful.
xo
Ya know, Mary, if I could read the thought bubble over Sophie's head, I know those words would be in it!
I'm really looking forward to my week off....there's 26 items on my TO DO list and a trip to the dentist coming up, but I plan to have some fun and hopefully come up with some good things to blog about too!
Hi Susie,
I guess I should be glad there aren't any bears or moose living around here....at least raccoon droppings are a pretty small pile. ;-)
Those are gorgeous photos ruthiej!-I've had planting Highbush Cranberry on my list of things to do for a while now.-Is it safe to trim them down?-I hear they can really grow.
Hi Larry,
My highbush cranberry bushes have really taken off. I trimmed the biggest ones back pretty extensively (early in the spring before there were buds) and they grew back just as big. Every year they have more & more berries and some of them are even blooming again right now!
If you do plant some, be sure and allow a lot of space around and above (mine had branches that were nearly 12 feet high before I trimmed them back)
So many amazing butterfly shots that you were able to capture! Breath taking seeing that mourning cloak like that!
Hi Tom,
I was amazed to see the mourning cloaks also. They have become really uncommon around here and this was only the second time I've seen them in my yard this year.
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