Baby Box

This darling baby box turtle got rescued off the road a block from our house. 

Cute, cute, cute!

Did Froggie Go A-Courtin'?

Recently, I looked out the kitchen window and noticed that we had an extra frog. We have several that have been given to us, but this one had come on its own.

I think it is a pig frog, but I sent  pictures to an expert, who said it could be a pig frog but he was leaning more towards a bullfrog, and that the hind leg pattern would be the determining characteristic. Well, I am not willing to disturb this critter just to be able to look at its legs for an identification. I love looking out and seeing her. I am pretty sure it is a her because her ear is about the size of her eye. Guys have larger ears. She is, by the way, the size  of my fist.

She has been hanging out for over a week now and, with any luck, we might get tadpoles!

Squirrel Feeding Station

As I walk around our block, I see that our neighborhood has become over-run with squirrels.
Recently, I came upon one sitting on this concrete cap over a culvert.  It had lined up acorns, as though it was a buffet. Most of the yards have similar culvert caps, but this was the only one set up for lunch.

Curious and Curiouser

In the previous post, I had pictures of a red van with a load of sponges. This red pickup was loaded down by huge pieces of driftwood.

I wonder how many people it took to load it and I would love to know what the plan was for using the wood.

Soft-topped Van

We first noticed this van in the parking lot of a Burger King in Tallahassee. Later, we were rather amazed to see it again at the marina in the town of St. Marks.

The load on top is sea sponges.

Curious.

Mailbox Monday: Bare Bones

Boxed In

We had some welcome rain this week that helped to break the temperatures that have been hitting the mid-90s. A good thunderstorm can drop the temperature a good twenty degrees.

It was during one of these downpours that B first noticed a box turtle in our little pond by the front door.

Box turtles are actually tortoises which are the land-dwelling cousins to turtles. It became pretty clear that the box turtle could not figure out how to get out of the pond. So when it stopped raining, B scooped it up in a net.

He released it in the butterfly garden. The next day, we observed fresh soil had been kicked up onto some of the foliage in the middle of this large, full bed. It was either an armadillo or the box turtle working on a hole. 

In some places it has become extremely rare to see box turtles. Not so, here. We are blessed to see them rather frequently. 

B learned that this was a female. Females have dark eyes and males have red ones.

This box turtle was high-tailing it when I took this picture while walking around the block.  We were interested in how jagged  the spine line was.

Click, Click

Our screen porch was recently visited by a click beetle. I love the owl-face on this kind of click beetle. Of course, its eyes are closer to the antennae and are not the big spots on its back, intended to scare off predators. 

Click, click is the sound that it makes as it tries to escape.
Click, click is the sound of my camera as I take pictures of the click beetle before it escapes.

It's Great in the Shade

To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.

Jane Austen 

Seeing the Light

Comiing home in the evening, we saw the light!

The sun was shining in the tops of the tree-lined canopy road and burned like flames.

Gossamer Wings on the Tight-Rope

Mailbox Monday: Building With Blocks

Irish Alligator

You know....... "the wearing of the green," and all that. Duckweed will do for a green beard.

Peeking at Pileateds

It is a good year for pileated woodpeckers in our neck of the woods, and "knock on wood," they will be around for centuries to come. I love them in spite of their destructive and noisy habits.  Last weekend, I observed three on one pine in the neighbor's yard. As we drive to our garden, we have frequently seen others. Woodpeckers are wary and have a habit of hopping to the far side of the tree as you approach. The first shot is through the windshield, so it is less than sharp.

But the sun shining through the crest of this one is nice.

Woodpeckers are known to have very stiff tail feathers that they use, along with the sharp claws on their feet, to support their relatively heavy bodies, almost like a tripod. On the top picture you can see how this bird has fanned out those tail feathers.  

I believe that both of these are females, whether or not they are the same bird. (I took the pictures on different days.) Females have gray foreheads, while males have the red feathers all the way to their beak.

Bloomin' Onions

Our onions are finishing up and blooming their heads off--literally. I think they are lovely when they show off like this.

The Tale of Two Dead Snakes

It is June and the snakes are on the move here. This beautiful red rat snake was on the lighthouse road. It was about four feet long.

This morning, I noticed this tiny guy beside the road in our neighborhood when I was walking.  It was barely four inches, only a little longer than my middle finger. It was so dried up that I really don't know what kind of snake it was. My best guess would be gray rat snake.

Lily Pad Tangles

I had stopped to admire this blue dragon fly on a lily pad in a pond.

I noticed while I was there, that while most lily pad stems seem to grow straight...

Many of these were coiled and tangled.

And this one even grew in a circle.

I find this very curious.

Produce is In!

Our vegetable garden that has lately been all B, no me, is bringing home the bacon. Rather, not bacon, but lots of good vegetables. Every day now, we are eating home-grown squash, carrots, zucchini, banana and jalapeno peppers, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, tomatoes and herbs.

Our son sent a photo of the roasted vegetables they cooked, all from our garden.

Even the trimmings are fun.

Mailbox Monday: Giddy-up!

There is a metal saddle, complete with reins, on the back of this rural mailbox.

Bunny Ears

We watched this deer bounding across a wide expanse of salt marsh recently. It stopped long enough for me to catch this shot, before continuing on and out of sight. The sun was rather low behind it, illuminating the pink ears.

Destructive Beauty

This handsome grasshopper was on one of our irises. I find the contrasting coloring quite striking.

This is a juvenile lubber grasshopper or Romalea microptera. This one will grow into a large yellow grasshopper that can be quite destructive to citrus groves, but also to home gardens. They are said to favor amaryllises, though I read one gardener to state, "they love every plant I grow, including weeds." According to the same article, http://www.tampabay.com/features/homeandgarden/kill-kill-kill-the-eastern-lubber-grasshopper/1223224 lubbers are toxic and their only known predator is the loggerhead shrike, a native bird that beheads them and then impales the rest on barbed wired to bake out the toxins before returning to consume them.

Colorful Coreopsis

When we were coming home from Douglas early in May, the coreopsis was in full bloom along some of the roads of north Florida.

It was breath-taking.

We also have it running off the hill into the storm ditches at our house. Here it was when it was almost at its peak.

Our variety is the state wildflower, also called dye flower, as it was historically used to make yellow dye. Ours self seeds and comes up every year. What a wonderful flower!

Mailbox Monday: Who Let the Dogs Out?

I think they have been chewing on the mailbox.