random pics from my phone, volume 1

i haven't put anything on the blog in a while, which is fine. i don't do much these days except work, cook, fall asleep on the couch, clean up after the kids, and tell the kids no (or so i'm told).

anyway, i thought i'd dump a bunch of random pics from my phone. enjoy.

let's start with the butterflies:  some kind of skipper, monarch, female eastern tiger swallowtail (black morph), male eastern tiger swallowtail. note on the monarch: we're on the migration path for monarchs traveling south from michigan/southern canada, so we don't see many during the summer. come early september, they're everywhere. since i don't seem able to get milkweed to grow (wtf), i'm just glad i can supply a spot for them to recharge on their voyage south.

 

 

 bumblebee. i love bumblebees. they love the zinnias and cosmos.

henry wanted to get down to pluto's level and be a puppy. pluto took him up on his offer and treated him like another puppy. thankfully, henry is all healed with no permanent damage.

i saw this and had to laugh and take a pic. a honda crv with a rim where the spare tire should be. why would you put a rim on the back of the car without a tire on it? if you had a flat, how would that help you? this makes no sense.

while visiting the parental unit a couple of weeks ago, we were looking at old (OLD!) slides. i took this pic of one, my uncle ken (barb's brother) with my cousin aaron. he was around 1 year old (this was 1975 or maybe 1976). look at those pants!

i found this gal (probably) hiding in a patch of spent daisies in the lasagna garden. interestingly, mantises on the hydrangeas are green (i find a lot of them on the hydrangeas, which are still very green), while this one was in plants that were dying back, and it had the color to match. word of advice: don't let a mantis bite you. it hurts like hell.

we're dog-sitting. j&e are in north carolina for the week (jealous) and their pit jackie is hanging with us. she's great, and as far as i'm concerned, she now belongs to us. the only problem is that pluto is still a puppy, and he wants to play. constantly. jackie is an older girl, and she just wants to hang out. this has led to some dog disagreements. however, every now and then, there is peace in the kingdom.

and finally, all hail the door frogs. seriously, hail them. now. they are your betters.