Love is in the air, or at least some butterflies are doing the mating dance, like these two monarchs attached to each other. During mating, if a female accepts a male, the male uses clasping organs on their abdomens to grasp female and go on a courtship flight which can last for several hours, even overnight.
Monarch Love
Since I don’t know what these blossoms are, which were growing on the side of the road, they probably are considered a weed but I thought they looked cute.
Furry Looking Plant
The variation and amount of clouds in the evening sky causes a sunset to never look the same as it changes every second with the movement of clouds and the color reflected.
Late July Sunset
The Queen Anne’s Lace found in the road ditches flash their white color as they sway in the wind but this one caught a bit of the sunset glow causing it to appear less bright white.
Queen Anne’s Lace
With very few common milkweeds still blooming, insects are attracted to the swamp milkweed blossoms instead. The fluttering of a monarch butterfly caught my eye as it fed off the flower, but it was sharing the space with a bumblebee also after the nectar.
Busy as a Bee
I thought I spotted twin fawns the other day, but it turned out to be triplet fawns playing follow the leader. There must have been some sibling rivalry as none of them got too close to each other as they made their way down the driveway, across my lawn and down the path into the woods. They must have escaped mom’s watchful eye as I never spotted a doe near them.
First of Three
I might have to find a way to make a padded pouch on the lawn mower to carry my camera so I can capture the different creatures I spot during the hours of mowing. A giant swallowtail butterfly was on the swamp milkweed blossoms so I hurried back to the house to grab the camera, but of course it was gone before I got back to the spot. Although a monarch was there instead and as I tried to get some pictures it that butterfly, a hummingbird clearwing moth made a brief appearance as well before heading to other blossoms.
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth
Some of the kittens in the barn haven’t become friendly pests yet and they keep their distance as they keep a sharp eye on my movements. This kitten watches me with two different eye colors, one lighter and one darker, as it perches in a tub.
Watchful Eyes
As the oats begin to turn to its yellow color, combines will enter fields to harvest the crop although in some fields, a different type of horse power will be used to pull a grain binder instead. The small bundles are often made into stacks in the field to dry before the threshing begins.
Horses Pulling Grain Binder
Watch the oats being harvested with a horse-drawn grain binder.
The months during the summer means eating watermelons, roasting marshmallows at a campfire, going to the fair, picking vegetables from the garden, family picnics, and eating corn on the cob. And this girl was enjoying her cob of corn at the fair sitting across from the miniature horses.
Enjoying Corn on the Cob
