When the rainbow appeared the other night, it was bright and colorful before it faded but when it reappeared a few minutes later, the sun was setting and creating a pink hue on the clouds. The rainbow also picked up the pink color, obscuring the normal range of colors and created a pink arc in the sky as the sun slipped below the horizon.
Pink Rainbow
While not the typical red barn coloring, this combination of a gray barn and brick building still offers a pretty scene of an era disappearing.
Gray Barn
The dragonflies don’t always spend all their time around the pond and seems like they been hanging around the flowers more and more lately. A green bodied dragonfly would blend in better than this blue bodied one so a bird might get him.
Dragonfly in the Flowers
My yard might be full of chipmunks, but so far, I haven’t spotted any thirteen-lined ground squirrels. They seem to be more common in the southern part of the state than in my part. They rarely drink water, getting it from their food instead, which ranges from vegetative to animal matter like insects, mice, small birds and each other. They come out of their tunnels on warm, sunny day so unlikely they were out yesterday in the rain. The thirteen-lined ground squirrels do have 13 stripes – seven dark separated by six lighter stripes.
Mister Stripey
Every time I have been mowing the lawn this month, I have been watching an area just into the edge of a field looking for some purple pink color and yesterday I was rewarded. Last year I had spotted the Lesser Purple Fringed Orchid, which I hadn’t seen in the area for more than 30 years, so I wasn’t sure if it would sprout up this year again but it did near last year’s plant. The dancing petals look like they sliding down a water park slide when their arms raised up and have a fun time doing it.
Orchid Blossoms Flying
While there are certain types of insects that I really don’t like, including mosquitoes, ticks and wasps, other types don’t ‘bug’ me as much, even if they destroy my garden. But I expect them to stay out of my house and I don’t want to find them on my kitchen table like this caterpillar. And while he might be cute with its furry and spiky look, he would be more appreciated outdoors (and could be a snack for the birds).
But he might not become a snack as his protection works well as this Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar often rests and feeds on the top surfaces of leaves during the daytime. The word “tussock” in its name refers to the clumps of hairs that is thicker or longer than the rest.
Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar
These birds found a good feeding spot as a male Ring-necked Pheasant and one of his babies plus a Red-winged Blackbird picked at the fallen seed.
Birds Feeding
After the rains yesterday, the flowers are drying out in today’s sunshine like these pretty pink lilies.
Lilies in the Sun
Besides cheese and sheep in Wisconsin, beer is another item found in a variety of flavors, including Spotted Cow Beer. And one of the ingredients of beer is hops, which are also grown Wisconsin, like this Centennial variety.
Hops for Beer
While the state of Wisconsin is often associated with cheese, the girl’s t-shirt reminds us that it isn’t all about cheese. Last Friday was the National Targhee Sheep Show & Sale bringing ranchers and flock owners from multiple states for the show.
Sheep Not Cheese
