Category Archives: Pets & critters

Cameo Spider

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For me, one of the enjoyments of peonies is taking photos of the bugs, insects, ants, bees or arachnids feeding on their bloom-buds. I will refer to them as ‘feeders’ for the purpose of this post.
So, as I was taking photos of the ‘feeders’ I noticed a white spider. I took some photos of it and moved on. I didn’t think anything about it.
I loaded the photos on the computer, I view the photos large size so I can see the feeders in detail. I got a chuckle when I saw a slightly unsettling surprise on the spiders back; a sort of cameo face.
Then I noticed that sadly the poor little thing seems to have only 4 legs.

I was hesitant to share it here on my blog. I realize it could be a trigger for folks that have arachnophobia. I apologize in advance. I mean no harm. I’ve tried to make links instead of posting the photos in full view.  (Hopefully, I did the links right.  )

If you click on the link or the photo and don’t see the face on the spider’s back in the photos, it’s okay. Not everyone enjoys pareidolia as much as I do. 🙂

If you would like to see a large photo crop to see the face better, click here

Below is the peony photo. You can click on it to view a larger size.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

*By-the-way, I don’t care what the experts say about not needing feeders on peonies for them to bloom. In my experience, peony bloom buds without feeders shrivel and die.
One more thought: I do have one variety of yellow peony that never has feeders on it’s buds, and it blooms beautifully.

Strolling with Sheli-bean

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Sheli-bean will be 12 years old in June. He’s still my Babyboy though. Unfortunately, time is starting to wear on him. He has several health problems which has stopped us from taking him for walks of any distance.
Sheli-bean enjoys going to the garden with us. He’ll walk halfway to the garden, and we carry him the rest of the way. When we go back home, we carry him all the way back.
However, time is starting to wear on us as well. Sadly, Sheli is afraid of our small garden wagon and won’t ride it. It’s getting more difficult to tote him and gardening supplies.
Last week, it occurred to me that there’s all sorts of cool stuff made for pets now, so why not a stroller.
I was ever so happy to find one that is made the way we think is best for Sheli-bean. I was worried how he would take to it. But my worries were short lived when I put him in it, he sat right down. We took him outside and he seemed to enjoy riding in the stroller.
When we came back in, he didn’t want to be taken out of the stroller. He laid down and took a nice long nap. I guess enjoying the great outdoors without it affecting his health was a relief to his little spirit.

I hope you all have a pleasant rest of the week.

Happy November 1 2023 – The Magnificent Buck

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This morning, I was tickled-pink when I looked out and saw this magnificent buck chasing a herd of beautiful does across the backyard. It was a bit of a magical gift and a wonderful way to start off the new month.

I wish you all a Magical and Happy November.

I apologize for the photo quality, it’s through my window and screen. Even with camera set on glass-through, it still wonky looking. And I’m on my new laptop and can’t tell for sure if the quality looks all right. :/

Busy-Work Blanket Finished

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I finished my busy-work blanket. The open v-stitch pattern I used with this blanket has made it lighter and airier than most of my blankets I’ve made. I ran out of the blue color and used other colors in its place. I think it worked out pretty good. Plus it helped me use up some more of my yarn hoard stash. 😊
The blanket is 60 inches x 72 inches. It’s a really nice size.

I hope you all have a pleasant week with wonderful weather.

 

Special Garden Visitors – Black Swallowtail Butterfly – caterpillar

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We decided to do away with a couple of our flowerbeds and let the areas go back to yard. My husband took the soil from the flowerbeds and put it on our garden. The result from adding the soil to our garden is volunteer zinnias growing sporadically throughout the rows among the vegetables.
The other day, I was taking pictures, with my phone, of a lovely patch of zinnias growing in our carrots and cucumbers. A beautiful female Black Swallowtail Butterfly was feeding on the blooms. I managed a few photos, hoping one of them would be fine. I wasn’t sure about the zoom feature, but it turned out okay.
Yesterday, as I was looking to see if the carrot tops had actual carrots making under any of them. I was surprised to see an adorable black swallowtail caterpillar feeding quietly on a carrot top. I was so excited.
Unfortunately, it was fixing to rain, and I didn’t have my camera, so I rushed (not ran lol) to the house and grabbed my phone and rushed back to the garden. I snapped a few photos and rushed back to the house just in the nick-of-time as the rain began to pour. Considering my rushing, this photo turned out pretty good.

I’m so happy I got to see the caterpillar. Unfortunately, because of birds, I fear the caterpillar won’t make it to be a butterfly. Then again, it might, I wouldn’t have thought a caterpillar could’ve made it to the size it has.
I considered taking the caterpillar home with me and finish it’s raising in an aquarium like I did with some back a half dozen years ago, but I just don’t have the heart to take it away from the fresh air, rain, sunshine and fresh carrot tops. Here’s a link to one of my blog posts during my butterfly raising adventures: Black Swallowtail Butterfly Lifecycle

*Just a note here:
I know the caterpillars will happily eat the carrot tops to the ground. We’ve plenty of carrots growing and it’s not an issue if we lose a few of them.

Here’s wishing you all beautiful butterflies and smiles.
Have a wonderful weekend!