This curious month and a half old kitten named Dutch, worked its way through the flowers and managed to climb the piece of driftwood, but he was rotten tree climber and had to be rescued from several trees over his lifetime. Today would have been Dutch’s birthday if he was still living, but his memories still live on and even memories when he wasn’t such a good boy!
Little Dutch
The lawns and road ditches are showing various colors of daylilies on this warm August day and with more than 35,000 registered daylily cultivated varieties, there are a lot of pretty flowers to seek out. But that perfect blossom may disappear quickly as the name suggests, each flower lasts only one day.
Colorful Daylilies
The bumblebees were busy collecting pollen, especially in this patch of hollyhocks, so maybe they know it is August 1st and that the summer season is disappearing very quickly so soon the summertime flakes of pollen will turn into winter snowflakes.
Bumblebee in Hollyhock
On this nice summer day, some lucky people who have off from work could have enjoyed a hike along the Amnicon River and crossed it by using the 55 foot Horton covered bridge.
Horton Bridge Over the Amnicon
The late summer nights need the croaking of a bullfrog to complete the evening chorus. But bullfrogs are on the menu for other critters so it is good they can jump ten times their own body length. And while the smaller bullfrogs eat mainly insects, larger ones eat crayfish, mice and frogs including other bullfrogs!
American Bullfrog
The road ditches are filled with colorful summertime wildflowers, including the native lavender colored Wild Bergamot which look like shooting fireworks or pompoms (or just a bad hair day). The leaves smell minty and has been used to make mint tea. Also called Horsemint, Bee Balm, Mint-leaf and Bea-balm.
Wild Bergamot
Some areas this evening did not have a pleasant sunset as tornadoes had filled the skies instead causing damage to buildings and trees. Maybe the upcoming week will be quieter for those areas which have been hit hard by storms.
Quiet Sunset
On this warm Saturday, some people were heading to the water to help cool off. But it isn’t always a big source of water that attracts people (or at least little boys). Mud puddles and any little tickle of water is a big magnetic for little feet.
Water Attraction for Little Feet
Summertime activities around lakes and ponds include the darting and dashing around of many varieties of dragonflies. The black spots on the wings gives this dragonfly its name of Twelve-spotted Skimmer.
Twelve-spotted Skimmer
The late July summer days have the native Black-eyed Susans blooming across the fields and road ditches. The flower head looks like spokes on a wooden wagon wheel when the yellow petals haven’t unfurled all the way yet.
Black-eyed Susan Wheel
