Butterfly Wings

Mercy, can you believe it's Friday already?

The weather has been beautiful here in the mornings so

 I've been spending some time outdoors playing in the garden.

This is one of the many butterflies that flit around my yard.

It's a Viceroy, Limenitis archippus.

With the exception of the second and third photos,

these were all taken on different days.

I'm slowly working on a front yard transformation project.

One of these days in the near future, hopefully,

I'll be able to show you what I've been working on while outdoors soaking up the nice weather!

~~~~~

Have any of you bloggers using Blogger used the new format for the Dashboard yet?

I just switched over to try it and I really like it.

It's clean, simple and uncluttered.

~~~~~

Twenty eggs today.

2-0, woot!

Till next time,

Local Residents

We have a nice variety of birds that have permanently taken up residence in our trees.

Among them is the Tufted Titmouse.

I think this one was posing for me.

Make sure you get my good side!

A soggy Titmouse after taking a dip in the birdbath.

This male Cardinal has lived here for several years now and is a year-round resident.

How do I know this?

Well, he loves to look at himself!

He flies from the window of any vehicle to the top of the mirror.

And then back again.

All throughout the day I can hear the tapping sound of him hitting the window.

Such a silly bird!

As I sit at my computer writing this post, there is a
steady stream of our seasonal residents hitting the feeder.

(These shots were taken through my dirty window, sorry!

I guess I'd better get off the computer and do some Spring cleaning, heehee!)

Female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird


Speaking of Spring cleaning, I find it hard to be indoors during the Spring.
How 'bout you?
Who wants to be Spring cleaning indoors when the weather and scenery is so beautiful outdoors!

Time to get outdoors!

 

Till next time,

 

Sometimes It Takes Awhile

We had a few more blossoms on our orange tree this past week.

Today, all the blossoms are gone.

Even the tiny oranges are no where to be found.

The tree is still young so, hopefully, in the next year

or two it will start producing (fingers crossed).

Meanwhile, the orange and tangerine tree

are acting as host plants to these critters.

They're kinda icky looking.

God created these caterpillars to look like bird droppings

to keep them from being prey to birds, their greatest enemy.

Munching on a leaf

They will eventually form a chrysalis and then emerge

as a beautiful Giant Swallowtail butterfly.

I have several of them already swarming my Dianthus.

I'm still trying to figure out the best settings to use on my camera

to capture these butterflies because they are constantly moving.

It's hard to believe that something that was not very pretty

at one time turned into something so beautiful!

Just like life, sometimes we have to go through some ugly stages

and difficult times before we emerge into a better, more beautiful person on the inside.

It's what we choose to do and how we choose to act

during these difficult and ugly times that will grow us as an individual.

Even though I am a God-fearing Christian, sadly,

I've failed many times at making the right choice, or choosing the right response

and it has cost me in one way or another.

It shows I'm still human, not perfect, but forgiven.

But, I pray for help and guidance that I don't do it again and

I try to learn from these poor choices and mistakes

so that I may eventually be a better, more beautiful person on the inside.

And, yes, I have a long way to go folks!

But, just like the caterpillar to a butterfly, it's a process.

Enjoy the process because it's worth it in the end!

Till next time,

Sunday Blessings

I have more shots of hummingbirds to share with you.

I hope you won't get tired of them because I have more and more

hummers showing up at the feeders even while I'm sitting

in a chair maybe five feet from one of the feeders and I

can't resist the challenge of capturing them with my camera.

A female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird...

One question I want to ask the Lord when I meet Him one day, is why

He made the male birds so much more colorful than the females.

Inquiring minds would like to know!  (Or at least mine would!)

Silhouette of a male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird...

See the splash of red on his throat?

I posted this one earlier in the week but you can see the ruby throat much better in this photo.

It amazes me how those tiny wings can go so fast literally making a

humming sound letting me know one is approaching the feeder.

My God and Heavenly Father, the creator of heaven and earth, is truly amazing!

20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life,

and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth,

which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind,

and every winged fowl after his kind:  and God saw that it was good.

22And God blessed them, saying,

Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas,

and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.  Genesis 1:20-23

Thank you for stopping by.

Have a blessed Sunday!

Sharing with

Till next time,

Look Who Came To Dinner

As the sun was setting this evening, I went outside to close the chicken coop windows for the night and noticed that my woods were twinkling.  Yup, it's that time of year for lightnin' bugs!  I decided I would try to capture some video of my twinkling woods for you but they didn't show up in the video.  Which is a shame, because it's a delight to watch the woods light up with hundreds of twinkle lights!

While I was video taping, I heard the cats' ceramic bowls being knocked around in the barn.  I decided to go check it out fully expecting to see a rather fat and healthy raccoon.  See, every evening I give the cats a supper snack to tide them over until breakfast.  Most of the time they do a good job of cleaning up the bowls but every now and then they're not quite as hungry and they leave some food in their bowls which is only an invitation for the coons to come help themselves and finish it off.

Only this time, it wasn't a coon!  I saw the culprit sneaking around the deck box, where the food is stored, and making its way behind the box where it was going to wait for me to leave.

Only I didn't leave.  You know why?  Because I had my camera with me!  Yup, a photo op for an unsuspecting opossum!

Poor thing was scared so I didn't stay long.

Needless to say, he had already cleaned up all the food in the bowls and was probably wanting me to leave so that he could wash it down with some of the cats water!

Bon appetit opossum!

Till next time,

The Hummers Are Here

I know Spring has sprung when the hummingbirds show up.

I set a new feeder out by the front patio where I like to sit

and take photos of the birds and squirrels on their feeders.

It didn't take them long to find the new feeder.

Another plus to this location, I can see it when I'm on the computer

and can still enjoy watching the hummers on the feeder even though I'm indoors.

Not to leave the squirrels out...

 

Only one squirrel at a time is allowed on the feeder.

The rest have to stay on the ground and eat what has fallen out of the feeder.

Silly squirrels!

There's a bird that I've seen a couple of times around here.

I have no idea what kind of bird it is and I'm hoping one of you can help me identify it.

Any ideas?

It's such a pretty bird.  I'd love to know what kind it is and maybe attract some more somehow.

Has Spring sprung in your neck of the woods?  

    

Till next time,

Duck Fun

Mondays.

Love the foot up in the air!

When I was a working girl,

or should I say a working outside the home girl,

I didn't like Mondays.

Getting up in the morning,

going to a job that I didn't much care for, blech...

I'm sure y'all know the drill.

Now that I'm a full-time housewife/farm girl,

and my job is that of taking care of my husband, home and farm

I don't mind Mondays at all.

In fact,

I rather enjoy Mondays.

It's a day of laundry and cleaning.

Cleaning both inside the house and out.

By out, I mean the front porch, the chicken coop, duck pool, etc.

I enjoy doing these things as it "restores order to my home"

(to quote Jayme of Tales from the Coop Keeper)

and it's very rewarding work.

My paycheck?

watching others enjoy the fruits of my labor (make sure your sound is on!)....

Totally worth the effort!

The ducks were so excited about their clean pool that they didn't even wait for it to be finished filling up!  They kept peeking over the edge and watching it fill up.  As soon as it was three fourths full they were in it splashing, diving, floating, swimming, wings flapping, etc.  I just had to capture some of it on video to show you how excited they were.  (Note to self:  I need a larger SD card for my camera to hopefully catch some longer clips at one time rather than several small clips.)

Did you hear the hen in the background?

Yup, she just laid an egg and is letting everyone know how proud she is!

Speaking of eggs...  11 farm fresh eggs today.

Happy Monday y'all!  I hope it was a good one.

Till next time,