Fauna Friday

Since gardening season is ramping up, today's Fauna Friday features a couple little caterpillars from last year's garden.
Here we have the Saddleback Caterpillar, which I found lurking on my Toad Lily plant.  It's a beauty, but apparently the poisonous sting is quite painful.

Next, introducing the Cabbage Looper.  This little bastard and his buddies nibbled their way through my Roma tomatoes.

Look at what they did to the Romas!  And that's just a few of the tomatoes they ruined.
*kicks tiny green asses*

Fauna Friday

Today's feature is Shamsie again!  She's so cute hanging out in the window, she likes to sit there for a few minutes and see what's up outside - there's construction going on across the street so she's curious about the hammering and whatnot.

A piece of paper will often keep her busy for a while and stop her from chewing up things she shouldn't mess with.  Here's a video of her fiddling around on the window sill.

The Pollen Report

We've been having a lot of rain lately, a LOT, which is good because it helps take down some of the pollen.
Some of that pollen has been piling up against Norris Dam, where the water level is way up and they were spilling the damn last week to reduce it (at one point I heard it was already 5 feet over the level they like to keep it during Summer).  They will have to spill again this week as we are currently having inches more rain. 

So here I sit, on a cold and rainy Sunday, stuck in the house and sniffle-snorting-coughing with mucus drip running down my throat and upsetting my stomach.  The charming side of Spring! Oh well, at least everything is looking really green and pretty.

Irises

I'm so excited, my bearded irises have finally started blooming! Two have opened so far:

Some of my irises have been in ground for a couple years and this is the first time any of them have bloomed.  These are ones I planted last spring.
There are a lot of buds getting ready, I can't wait to see the colors - I've planted a few different varieties and have sort of lost track of which is located where (doh! will label them as they bloom)
 

Luv me some raindrops on petals.  Magical.

Fauna Friday

Nesting time!
We were walking along the Clinch River and I noticed a Great Blue Heron nest, the bird appeared to be feeding chicks or maybe arranging sticks in the nest.  Sorry for the shakiness but when you zoom in that far every little wiggle becomes a giant wobble.