Friday, June 21, 2013

Fauna Friday - The Return of Mothra

I found a big, beautiful moth on our garage door just before we went camping, and coincidentally while we were in the campground there was another one perched outside the bathrooms all day.



He was so soft and fuzzy, it was very tempting to reach out and touch but I managed to contain myself.
Didn't want to hurt or scare him!






















My Googling efforts indicated he is a Polyphemus Moth.


























If only he'd fully opened his wings, I would have been treated to a couple of very stunning eye-like dots on the lower portions.
Oh well, maybe another time.
It was still very enchanting to be able to examine him so closely and he hardly moved at all.  I wonder if he had just emerged, or if he was drying off after the drizzle we'd had in the night......

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

A tour of the veggie garden

It's nearing the end of June and our veggie garden is coming along nicely.  The weather this year is far better than last year, which was incredibly hot and dry; now we are extremely damp so I'm not having to water near as much.  Most of the crop was started from seed except the cherry tomato plant and half the cucumber vines, which were store-bought in small pots.















































































I didn't get everything in the ground as fast as I would have liked, some things (like the pumpkins, peppers, tomatoes and watermelons) stayed in the seed starter pots longer than they should so they're just getting started in-ground.  I still have some empty spaces left over, maybe I'll add some lettuce and onions and more broccoli.



































The corn is doing VERY well this year. Last season we didn't even get a full ear, it was way too hot/dry for a decent crop. The sweet corn is in-ground, the Indian corn is super-thriving in a 5-gallon bucket on the patio.







































Tiny cherry tomatoes of the Sweet 100 variety.







































Baby 'burpless' cucumber, about the length of your little finger.







































Larger 'burpless' cucumber coming along nicely.
Thanks for checking in!