Swallowtails

There have been several of these yellow swallowtail butterflies flitting around our Korean Lilac bush the last few days. The butterflies just love this bush and there have been several different types visiting.

Spider

Gabe spotted this spider trying to tie up a caterpiller hanging off the trampoline. The spider worked for quite a while, but finally wrapped the whole thing up into a nice bundle and then sucked him dry! It was quite interesting to watch.

My Gloves

These are my gloves. I use them for everything from gardening to helping Bri with construction projects. This particular pair is getting very worn and I really need to get a new pair, but they are just right, like an old pair of comfy slippers.

Brian tells me these are not everyday ladies garden gloves, but serious working gloves. I don't know about that, but this "lady" uses them almost everyday.

Wagons on the Hill

The local farmers have started to cut the first hay of the season. If things go well, they can get two good cuttings in a summer. It is common to see these hay wagons waiting in fields for haying day.

Swimming Dog

Gracie loves to swim in the pool with the kids. She goes right and paddles around. After she has a good dip, she'll get out and run around and around the pool as fast as she can. The kids love having her in the pool with them. I don't always love that she like to shake off near my chair.

Critters from the yard

The kids spotted this Garter Snake yesterday. It took me a few minutes to catch him as he kept striking at me. He got a hold of my sock on one strike!

The kids (especially Gabe) love to touch and experience the critters we have in our area. (Well, the Littles like to experience it from more of a distance!) Gabe wanted to let the snake wrap around his hand. He said it felt very strange.

Summer Colors

The kids played in the sprinkler today. We will have the pool cleaned and ready to go this weekend and then the clothesline will have a perpetual array of brightly colored towels and bathing suits.

Tree Swallows

One of our nest boxes is being used by a pair of Tree Swallows. They have laid these two lovely eggs so far. There will probably be 2-3 more before the female starts sitting.

Last Lilac

This is our latest lilac to blossom. It is a very deep purple and quite lovely.

Gardening

Ah, the results of a good afternoon gardening.

Rain on the Pool

Our pool is no longer green, but the weather has turned much cooler and rainy. It is only 48 degrees today.

Tulips

Flowering Tree

Isn't this flowering crab apple tree beautiful? These trees lined the park we were visiting yesterday. It is such a brilliant color.

Bantams

Our chickens are quite used to the kids coming and going. The bantams are actually quite tame. Bessie likes to feed them corn right out of her hand. Aren't they colorful!

Bluebirds

We have a pair of nesting bluebirds in our yard. I had seen them earlier in the spring, but thought they had left. We checked the boxes this weekend and sure enough one of them at four little blue eggs.

The morning we saw the male and female coming and going from this box. The female is on the top and the male is near the entrance.

I am so thrilled. Bluebirds are making a strong comeback in the northeast thanks to conservation efforts and more people putting up boxes and establishing bluebird trails.

Basking

We live near a large reservoir. There are no boats allowed on the lake, so it is quiet and very conducive to all types of wildlife. This particular log is always loaded with turtles as they come out of the water to warm in the sun.

Baby Snakes

We found several baby snakes when we took the pool cover off. Gabe wanted to keep on, so we have a baby Garter snake in a critter keeper. Not sure how easy this little guy will be to feed. We usually give them worms, but he isn't much bigger than a nightcrawler.

Water Lily

The leaves on the water lily have finally reached the surface. There will be lovely pink blooms before long.

Bleeding Heart

The bleeding heart has started to blossom in my perennial border. This is a lovely delicate plant. This is an old variety and is quite hardy in our northern climate.

Tadpoles

We had a good hatching of tadpoles from all the eggs we gathered. There are at least two much larger tadpoles, probably bullfrogs that we will be taking out very soon as they will start eating all the other little ones. This has been a very fun project.

Plowing

Our neighbor was out early this morning plowing the field across the road. The rich brown earth is holds a feast for all the birds after he plows. They must find a smorgasbord of worms and bugs.
I'm not sure if they are planting corn or silage mix this year. The kids love to watch all the tractors doing their job.

Spring colors

All the trees around our yard are blooming and budding. This is a great spot that shows a lot of the color and texture. The evergreen, the flowering shad tree and the red and green buds of the deciduous trees are all contrasting so nicely.

Tulip

The tulips in my garden are slowly starting to bloom. This red one is the first and I've always thought that the inside is as pretty as the outside.

White Squirrel

We have a family of white squirrels that frequent our road. This guy decided to visit us today. Isn't he so cute? I'm sure he feels much safer in the winter when the snow is on the ground than this time of year. He sure stands out.

Canon PowerShot A630

I did not take this pictures, but I wanted to share with everyone my new camera. I am really having fun with it and like it a lot. It is a step up from my old camera, but not a large, really fancy one. It has an articulating LCD screen, which makes it nice for taking odd angle shots. It is easy to use in the AUTO mode, but has some nice manual features that make it fun to play with. I have not been thrilled so far with the software that it uses, but it is very easy to use other programs.

Color Accent

I'm having a lot of fun with my new camera. This setting is called color accent and you can focus on one color and all the other colors go black and white. It makes a very interesting photo.

Epimedium

This is one of my favorite spring flowering perennials. The flowers aren't very big, butt he leaf is so delicate and pretty. It is a shade loving plant. It hasn't opened yet, but I thought this bud phase was pretty.

Flooding

We have had a tremendous amount of rain and flooding this spring. The above dock has been underwater several times in the last few weeks, flooding the whole parking lot area. It finally went down enough for me to get down and take some pictures. This dock is a free dock on the Champlain Canal that runs through our area.

The water level is usually 3-4 feet below the edge of the dock. The canal has been so high that they have not even put out the buoys yet and the locks are not open. This is at least two weeks late.

Sunshine in a Bloom

I got a new camera this weekend and I'm playing with different settings. I like how the macro works on this camera.

My daffodils are in full bloom right now and looking so bright and sunny!

Roaming Roosters

These roosters have been roaming the neighborhood...okay we really don't live in a neighborhood, but our area. I'm sure someone has dropped them off. We call them "fox fodder". We have lots of foxes and coyotes around and I'm sure someone figured they wouldn't last long. This is the easy way out of getting rid of excess roosters. The problem is, they are managing to survive! It is quite humorous to see them wandering up and down the road. We'll see how long they last.