I’m not as far behind as usual, but I do have a few things that I’ve meant to post.

Just a very pretty flower after the last time it rained. Not hard to tell why they’re named, ‘Bright Lights’, is it?

Bad lighting because it was getting dark, but a flash would’ve ruined it. Big fat bunglebee in an early-blooming aster (these ones were either not sheared, or were sheared only once).

I was sitting in my rocking chair on Sunday when I felt a tickle on my arm. Thinking it was a fly, I swooshed it away, and (unfortunately) I killed the poor little guy. Had I known he was a newly hatched Leptoglossus, I wouldn’t have killed him. After a few more strolled onto me, I found the source; a strip of eggs on the side of my chair cushion. I moved all of the little dudes over onto plants, and although there appeared to be only 18 eggs, I’d swear there were 50 bugs, given the number of times I thought I was done, then discovered another one.

They’re so goddamned cute at this stage.

Again on Sunday, I happened to be walking by the front flowerbed after we’d finished mowing/trimming the yard. I’d been thinking that my Heliopsis and Rudbeckia out front were looking like shit, but it’s been dry, and I don’t water unless I have no other option (water bill is already high enough). Since it was getting dark, I got to see the real reason for the defoliation of my flowers…dozens of Silvery Checkerspot caterpillars. I know I have the butterflies, but they’ve never eaten the flowers out front before, so I didn’t suspect them. They aren’t out much in bright daylight, which is why I hadn’t seen them. I guess I can add these to my list, too, since that species is listed “special concern”, and indeed, believed to be extinct in the state of CT. I have Near Threatened red-headed woodpeckers and ornate box turtle babies (hopefully, at least), and a bunch of Special Concern caterpillars. Oh, well…I don’t care if the flowers look like shit; they’re for butterflies and bees anyway, not for people to look at. If my sole concern was what people see, I’d have a concrete yard that I’d just clean with a leaf blower once in a while and hose down once every few years.