Wyoming summer

 Rainbows apologize for angry skies. ~Sylvia Voirol

Against the windows the storm comes dashing,
Through tattered foliage the hail tears crashing,
The blue lightning flashes,
The rapid hail clashes...
The thunder is rumbling
And crashing and crumbling...
~James Russell Lowell, "Summer Storm," 1839



I spent July in Wyoming (boy, you talk about weather!) 

Rainbow seen from deck after hail/rain storm

code

North east window with AC contraption. Window did not meet with bar and 60 mile an hour winds drove rain through space and sprayed the floor.  Grabbed all the towels I could find!

About an inch of soft hail still shredded all exposed plants.

Since I started this blog, I have had reports that several damaged plants have "come back".  Some plants are just tough and have good root systems.

DRAGON FLY

It's weird that photographers spend years or even a whole lifetime, trying to capture moments that added together, don't even amount to a couple of hours. ~James Lalropui Keivom

I am going through some changes that make me feel sad and yet, relieved.
Garden time has become too difficult at my age.  My gardens have been more work than beauty and I am just not able to do it any more.

There is always going to be a special moment, however, and I hope to have my camera handy.

Had to run into the house (well, maybe a fast walk) to get my camera.


This dragon fly does not have the clear looking wings.  It was an odd four black wings.

I hope she comes back some day.

There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer. ~Ansel Adams

Woodpeckers on the feeders

I was shooting pictures of this fella while he was pecking/poking at the bark
I was amazed that I caught a front facing picture.
They are constantly scanning their surroundings and the sky

We had a few weeks of  "winter"  in February.  Not anything like the blizzards of the north.
It was cold enough and rainy enough to make outside work too nasty to dig in the dirt.

So, the next best thing?  Set up my tripod and camera in the kitchen window and take pictures.
A lot of throw aways and some very special.

We have two kinds of Woodpeckers that visit here.  The red bellied and the downy.
The downy is quite small. Somewhere around the size of a sparrow. (maybe a tad larger).
The red bellied is about 8 to 10 inches.

The red bellied doesn't take any guff from the pesky white winged dove.  It has a very large beak.

Click on a picture 
to see larger

I was having problems focusing and chose to keep this shot and the next.

All of these pictures are taken from kitchen window at different times of the day.

It is fascinating to watch while on the tree. They look as if they could fall over backwards.

The following are the downy woodpecker. Significantly smaller than the red bellied above.

As they got used to surroundings, they stayed on the feeder longer.

Showy Primrose

Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it. ~Author Unknown

Click on picture for larger

If you look close you can see an insect on the back side of petal.

                          These flowers are some I took with my iphone in April 2017.  Sometimes, other ideas come along and I have to play catch up                           

I wonder if this insect ate these holes

It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want — oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, Detective

If it were only so.

We have had days and days of rain. Some light to drizzly and some great downpours.
The more rain we get, the more mole damage shows up.
A whole new patch of collapsed runs with gaping holes.  Have to watch where we step.

Mole damage exposed by heavy rain

On the wind in February
Snowflakes float still,
Half inclined to turn to rain,
Nipping, dripping, chill.
~Christina Georgina Rossetti, "A Year's Windfalls," 1866

This bucket is like an optical illusion it looks deep and yet only 6"
It sure feels as if there was more rain than this.

Click on picture for 
larger

This is the top of the wash out.  I could not find the source of water rushing through.

Side view of collapsed trail below. Gonna have to haul in some dirt.

Not a great picture. This is trail is at least 6' long.

Looks like little pest just made a right turn

Picture does not reflect what a mess this is. This is the area I thought I had taken care of by blocking . Obviously I was mistaken.  Mud spilled out on to the gravel path. Maybe I should just get a bulldozer and wipe out the whole thing?

This hole is about 4" wide, the stick  went down about 10"

Hubby found 3 baby moles out by our driveway.  How they got there is a mystery. I thought they washed out of a trail. He thinks adult dragged them out.  I wouldn't mind seeing more.  The destruction these rodents do is horrendous if it goes unchecked.  I have tried numerous things and had short term success in the small area I treated. 

February moon

I prefer winter and Fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape — the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show. ~Andrew Wyeth

After days and days of cold and rain.  About 10 inches of rain. I finally got out with my camera to document the destruction, since I knew there would be some.

          My garden area has been hard hit with mole tunnel collapsing through the heart.
          An old area that I had repaired a number of dry winters ago and the heavy deluge that
          wiped   out the garden path that the moles had undermined.  I thought I had won the battle.

          More on that later.  This is a wonderment that I must share while it is upper most in my
          mind.

         I took pictures of mole damage,  gorgeous sunset and then "what the heck"  I found the
         moon flirting with fog like clouds and propped my elbows on an old rain tote and got
         magic.

Found the moon high in the sky in seeming fog

February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March. ~J.R. Stockton

Mine is not a high end camera but I am happy!

I could probably edit this, but I cannot think of better shot!

Butterflies

“The caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity.” ― George Carlin

Remember to click on picture to see larger

American Painted Lady on salvia. The under side is beautiful

You have to look closely to see the design.  Tried to edit to make wing clearer.  Not successful.  A lot to learn in the editing department

Remember to click on any picture to see larger

Sulphur on Turk's on cap blossom

Giant Swallow Tail

I spent a lovely afternoon taking pictures of butterflies in the garden. This beauty stayed around a long time sipping on mostly the zinnias.  It was late summer and blossoms were scarce.

Skipper on mail box. Possibly a Southern Cloudywing

I walked to the mail box one hot, hot summer day.  Happened to look down between mail boxes and saw this.  Ran into the house, got my camera was fortunate to capture this Skipper. This picture doesn't show too well but it is looking up at the camera. It has huge eyes for size.

Skipper resting in shade

The Skipper is very tiny. Most folks miss out on their unique beauty because they are so small.
The neighbor's mail box is resting against ours and it blended into the color of rusty box.
Some Skippers are unique in that they have 4 wings.
I visited my sister in law in Oklahoma and spotted a Skipper on one of her flowers.  She had no idea they were visiting her flowers.

Black and orange is the Red Admiral. The pale brown is probably a Hackberry

In 2012 April,   our area was visited by butterflies.  Not just our neighborhood, probably the whole county. Maybe all of North Texas. I never did pursue the phenomenon , just marveled every day they were on our place.  This is a picture I took one chilly morning.  They and several more clung to the brick wall basking in the sun.

I had one of my first digital point and shoot cameras at that time, that was capable of making movies. Wonder of wonders!  It was impossibly easy.  I filmed the show, chased down neighbors to come see our bushes. Told strangers of the wonder.

I am sure they thought me odd.  It was just too exciting not to share.  I ended up with a video that I put to  music of Vivaldi Spring.  It looked wonderful on my niece's huge screen, digital TV.

Sachem skipper, Gulf Fritillary

Painted Lady

Probably Clouded Skipper.  Taken in back yard in Oklahoma