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......

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! 

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.