We have ice and snow outside still. She grabs the ice from outside and brings it in to eat.
Daily Picture 84 started 12-11-10
You have very interesting dogs Sheila.
That picture is a hoot, Sheila. I had dogs that ate grubs, too. One absolutely loved them. But they never bothered caterpillars in the yard.
More snow to come tonight. I'm waaaay over all of this.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
OH that is so funny Shelia! Dogs are hilarious.
Hey Dale! come on up north, you'll REALLY be over it! It's so funny, when I was running the snow thrower yesterday, a leaf went flying by. Out of habit I did a double-take to see what kind of butterfly it was.
duh.
LOL Marna! Only a true butterfly lover would even think that it was a bf.
Dale I hope you can put it all behind you soon. Hopefully the forcast for more snow will fall short, definately wouldn't dissapoint anyone around here.
Meanwhile we only have the birds to entertain us. With the fish pond starting to freeze over, we placed a pump in to keep the water moving. The birds from all over are enjoying the running water.
A Robin
a group of Cedar Waxwings
Of course we continue to feed the bluejays peanuts and our group of downy woodpeckers, ruby crowned kinglets too.
This pic shows the wrens and an unknown kinglet size bird.
All of the pictures were taken through the glass on the backdoor with a zoom. I am not fond of the cold.
They are all adorable Sheila.
No thanks, Mrs. Ed. I'm as far north as I ever intend to live. I saw on the news that you guys in Illinois got slammed with the same storm we had -- only much worse. Right about now Costa Rica is looking pretty nice... I know what you mean about doing a double-take at a leaf. I've reacted the same way in similar circumstances.
Sheila, I've been wanting to add a water feature in my yard but just haven't taken the plunge (if you'll pardon the pun). The birds are just devouring the food almost as fast as I can fill the feeders. Now they're talking about yet another snow event the middle of next week! Enough already!
Last weekend, the day before the weather started to turn, I had a newly eclosed female Great Purple Hairstreak flit past me in the driveway. Here's a photo of a male taken a couple of months ago.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
oh Shelia, those Carolina Wrens on that colander are adorable and a hoot! You should post that on the bird forum daily pix. Jealous of your Waxwings too.
Cross posted. WOW Dale, that's some nice color. Yes, let's all got to Costa Rica.
And since we're showing our pets, here's my little one. She adopted me two years ago when I found her, hardly more than a kitten, living under my house. Took two days to finally get close to her, but a plate of food coaxed her out. I'd researched and found a local no-kill shelter that I'd planned to take her to but once she looked up at me with those big blue eyes I was hooked. The last thing I wanted was a cat (I'm a dog man), but I couldn't part with her. Her life is very much improved, living inside the house instead of under it, and shows absolutely no interest in going outside. I named her Blanche DuBois since she relied on the kindness of this stranger to help her out.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
Oh Dale, she's adorable. I think the best cats are the ones that adopt YOU. I have two, and two dogs. One of the cats adopted us a little more than a year ago. I was looking for her owner/shelter and then I saw her chase her tale and it was all over. She still does it. Cracks me up. She also has no interest in being outside.
Blanche is a beautiful cat Dale, Congratulations.
Definately big blue eyes that see your heart. You couldn't turn that one away.
I took a picture of a Great Purple Hairstreak at your open house this past year. A bit blurred but has a lady bug and it on Frostweed.
Oh and yes, you need a water feature, specifically with a waterfall. My DH and I dug and hauled rocks to build it. But after numerous back surgeries, I would in hind site pay someone else to do it! Three feet deep doesn't sound like much until you are in that hole digging.
This message was edited Feb 4, 2011 12:48 AM
Love that hairstreak.
Three feet IS a lot. That's why I stopped at 22 inches. ha.
I am here to testify to the fact that Sheila and Herman's pond is really beautiful.
Here is a picture of it, not the best picture but it gives you and idea.
Now I have to post another, that one was when we had the waterfall tore apart fixing a leak. We reassembled it and looks much better here.
I have several baskets of water lilies if anyone wants starts in the spring.
Sheila -- That pond/waterfall is beautiful! I am definitely going to have to work one into the plan somewhere sometime soon. And three feet IS deep! That takes some commitment. How well do ponds fair in this type of weather and what do you have to do to safeguard your investment?
The sun came out a while today and the flight cage warmed to a toasty 80 degrees. Butterflies, which have been roosting all week finally had the opportunity to fly around and feed. Had a surprise with a Pipevine Swallowtail flitting around -- didn't realize I even had any pupae of those in there. Most likely "hitchhiked" in on some of the potted plants.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
What a fun hitchhiker!
I can tell you that your pond should for sure make it down there. It was -10 here the other day and mine is still "open" with a 500 watt heater. Still, looking forward to spring when I can start the stream up again. I expected some butterflies to maybe puddle in some of the shallow areas, but I only saw Red Admirals landing on the warm surrounding stones in the early evening.
Speaking of Red Admirals, I wonder if they will be so abundant this year like they were last year!
Well we have had this one since 2004 and really enjoy it. With a bio-falls system it pretty much maintains itself. It has a skimmer with a basket that will catch a lot of leaves etc, but would recommend you don't install under a tree as we did. For that reason we have to cover it in the fall to keep out excess acorns and leaves. The place I got mine (Aquascape system) was whiz-q-stone in fort worth. Nice people and they have several ponds of different types set up on the property for viewing. I think I can find their website for a link.
This winter has been the worst so far but when the pond surface started to freeze, we placed a vertical sump pump in that forces water above the surface and have no problems. The fish go to the bottom and in a state of dormancy until I see them out and swimming around, I don't feed them. I use the fall and winter feed when I do this time of year.
here you go Dale.... http://www.whiz-q.com/
This message was edited Feb 5, 2011 10:53 AM
Thanks for the link, Sheila. I'll probably be asking more questions when the time comes. I've definitely got to work a pond and waterfall into the landscape at some point.
You can't see me but I'm waving goodbye to the cold weather. Starting tomorrow we begin a good week long (at least) warm up with temps predicted to make it into the 60's and (dare I hope?!) 70s! There'll be things on the wing next week for sure. Come on Spring!
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
You know Dale, it's all relative and I can tell you that everyone up here is really excited by the upcoming temps into the 40s! Goodbye Ice!
The 40s today felt delightful!!! We are so ready for some spring flowers and butterflies here.
Dale do you mow or trim back your plantings in the late fall or just let them go? Everything seemed so large there I wondered. Of course the full sun you offer them sure helps.
It is definately all relative Marna...your 40s are our 70s. LOL!
Yep. I always get a chuckle out of how excited we get over 40s and 50s.
Sheila -- yes, I trim everything back. Usually start in late January but it's been so cold I've put it off. I'll be doing a lot of that this coming week in the warm weather. Needless to say, it makes for a big pile of brush. It'll all go through the chipper and either put in the compost pile or the bigger chunks on the walkways. I'll also be starting a lot more seeds and cuttings this week, too. I've been very happy the past couple of days with the 40s and 50s but can hardly wait for the 60s and 70s. Mid to upper eighties are actually my favorite temps, but now I'm just getting greedy!
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
I am sure a lot of us will find things to do outside this weekend!
A week of warm weather has brought out a number of species -- Question Mark, Orange Sulphur and Pearl Crescent in my yard.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
I too saw a Question Mark basking on the rocks near the waterfall, but when I returned with the camera it had moved on. I am loving this weather this week.
We moved all of the over-wintered plants outside a couple days ago for a good watering and a few days of sun. Watering again today and will watch the temps closely in case we need to move them back in or cover them.
Yes, I did that too, I can't believe the temperatures, why couldn't we have this super bowl week?
Loving our above temps..... 74 today. Found a moth when I took off part of the greenhouse top. Will hope for a butterfly tomorrow...
Looking forward to spring when we can work in our new butterfly garden at Lake Tobosofkee, it is going to be wonderful!
I've got the first butterflies of 2011 in my garden ready to eclose. There are a total of 5 chrysalids. Two which are coming out today and 3 that are scheduled to eclose tomorrow.
Here is the second one on a branch.
Now for some hungry mouths. There has to be a minumum of 10 caterpillars munching away. And my milkweeds looked so nice before. Ohh well. They will grow back.
And finally some shots of the garden.
Here is the middle back where the milkweeds are.
And the right hand side where the Red Sage is.
Roly, how delightful to see your garden is in full swing. Congrats on the early butterflies and chrisalid in the season.
Beautiful shots, Roly. Nice to see life and green things again, even if only in pictures. The main color around here is still "dead winter brown".
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
That is gorgeous!!! makes me want to move to Florida!!