Friday, August 14, 2009

View of the Day

The wet flower photos I took last week in between rain storms!
This is a closeup of a day lily just after a storm. We had many severe storm warnings last week.
But this weekend we've been blessed with SUNSHINE! That's right. You know, that round yellow thing up in the sky.
And it's been hot too. Hot enough to get you thinking about going to the beach along with 10,000 other people who are feeling exactly the same way you are :)
I had a sleepy, lazy day today. On my right slept Tom cat and on my left slept Tigger. I sat on my backyard swing for a few hours this afternoon and read some books and did some journaling. Most of the time though I just watched the birds and butterflies swooping back and forth.
Tom and Tigger have spent most of the summer outdoors and I've had a hard time convincing them to come in, even in the rainy weather. I have a roofed porch off the garage with cushions and that's where they can hang out all year round.

Tom and Tigger visited the vet today and had their shots. Tom weighed in at just over 16 lbs and Tigger at 13 lbs. No one could accuse me of not feeding them. If anything, they should probably be on diet food... shouldn't we all though?

I still have not done my back yard landscaping yet.
It was my plan to get most of it done this summer but the broken arm back in April kind of threw all my plans off schedule. There's always next year.
So my bags of soil and iron dragonfly will have to wait to be properly placed next year. I'm pretty easy about not getting it done. I wasn't completely set yet on how I wanted it so a delay will give me more time to think about it. I'd love a little pond.........maybe with an arched bridge....... Well, at least dreaming is free.

Most of my blogging this summer has been over on my other blog The Bee Journal
where I've been going on and on about my latest obsession: Beekeeping.

And here is a mystery that is solved, although I have no photographs of the culprit. Every year I'd find these perfect round holes in the soft leaves of my Red Bud tree. Now some people would be upset that some insect or creature had done this, thinking it was unsightly. Me, I thought it was pretty cool to see such perfect circles and all I wanted to know was who was doing it? And why?
When on my beekeeping course I learned that this is done by the leaf cutter bee. It cuts a round top and bottom and makes a perfect little leaf tube, and inside the tube it lays its eggs.
Just think, there's an insect out there that can cut a circle better than a kindergarten student and can fold it like origami better than you or I could probably do. Now that is cool.

4 comments:

Kat said...

Your cats are so beautiful. Mine were outdoor cats too. Next one I get will be a black and white one, hopefully. I sure do miss my old cats. Love the photo of the lily.
I have not been to the bee blog in a while, I thought it was closed down, but I see it is not, so I will be checking it out.
There are so many interesting things to learn about nature!

Lynn said...

Isn't it nice to have a sunny day to kick back, relax and enjoy the outdoors. I've been working like crazy in the garden and with the bees because I know soon enough the cold will be here and I won't have a chance to be outside. Glad you had a good day out with the kitties.

Jan Mader said...

Sunshine is great...98 degrees with 98% humidity isn't!

Your cats are gorgeous. So is your lily.

I've seen more bees than usual this summer, that's good! Does that mean they're coming back or is it just a stroke of luck for now? My flowers sure need them!

Bee Magic Chronicles for Kids said...

Seeing more bees could be a stroke of luck or maybe an increased awareness so you're looking for them or there could be a hive located within 5 miles of where you live.

This year has been very wet and hard on all pollinators and nectar collecting insects and birds.