Viceroy Butterfly

This little cutie was fluttering around the garden the other day.  Most people think these are monarchs but the black band across the back wings is an easy way to tell the difference.  I think people are used to monarchs as a name because they get so much of the news about butterflies and these guys really do look so similar.

Other visitors to the garden are toads.  We've had multiple toads at a time hopping around looking for bugs.  I keep the garden well watered and thus attract insects like mad.  The spiders know this too and often I have to knock down a web just so I can get to all of the plants.  Sorry, not sorry?

Maybe I'll get some toad pics up soon. 

Pot of Potatoes

One of the many pots I've used this year has potatoes, among other things growing in it.  As you may be able to tell from the picture, it also has mint, beans, and corn.

The potatoes are growing so fast though that the other plants, besides the mint, are not keeping up.

The pot is pretty deep though so I'm hoping that at least I'll have some nice potatoes after the season is over.  

They were started from a potato that I hadn't gotten around to cooking that had started forming eyes.

Patio Anoles

This little guy has been hanging around the patio for a few days now.  I'm hoping the greenery will keep him well fed with little critters.  Pretty sure something has been eating my plants and leaving a bit of leaf litter.  At first I though it might be bunnies but the pattern doesn't seem to match.  Bugs are more likely the culprit.

One of my earliest memories is of these guys outside my grandparents houses.  Down in Southwest Louisiana it's warm and humid, perfect conditions for these guys to thrive.  We'd catch them and put them in a box to carry around.  they can change colors depending on where they are from bright green to brown.  Fun to watch them change.  Also in the spring they puff up their throats with a big red fan and pulse to attract other anoles.

Rainy Season

 

Every year we can't wait for the rain to stop so we can go outside and enjoy nature.  I mean, who wants to slog through mud on trails or have to carry an umbrella while walking around a park?

Then the heat comes and we wonder, for some reason, why we wanted the rain to go away.  Now it's too hot to go walking around the park for more than ten minutes.  Unless of course you go late in the evening.  And even then it might not be comfortable.

So now that the rain is back and temperatures are cooling, we are once again stuck inside until it at least abates for a little while.  Of course with the ground so dry you also have the problem that the ground can't soak up the water.  You know how you pour water on peat pellets and the water just rolls off and beads?  That's what the ground is like in the beginning of the rainy season, it all just runs off.  That's where you get a higher chance of flooding since more water than usual runs off of the ground.  Also what makes irrigating commercial property so important.  It helps prevent worse flooding down the line.