Pollinator Pub

I planted a bunch of swamp milkweed from seed several years ago and it has been such a wonderful addition to my garden.  It has a much longer bloom than Common milkweed and the pollinators all go crazy for it.  And, of course, the leaves are food for hungry monarch caterpillars, so win-win.

I zipped out to refill the hummingbird feeders this afternoon and spotted a tiny Juniper Hairstreak in a patch of milkweed.  So I ran back in, grabbed the camera, ran back out, took 2 shots...and the battery died.  So running back in, getting fresh battery, running back out ... and the butterfly had, fortunately, not moved from the patch.  I did have to chase it around a bit and then wait for a good lateral view.  The bonus was having a honey bee on the same focal plane for a nanosecond.  You can really see here how small the hairstreak is compared to the bee and keeping in mind both are the same distance from the lens.  Anyway, another addition to my Yard Bugs for this year.  If you'd like to see the entire 2023 collection, click HERE

Had a nice FT chat with my parents this morning.  They both looked good and were in excellent spirits.  The temps in the Portland area were set to climb to 100 today so they planned to get out early before the heat gets bad.   Which seems like a very good plan to me.  A text from my dad later from one of the local farmer's markets.

No bear sightings in the last few days which doesn't mean much of anything other than we just haven't looked out at the right time.  It will be at least another three months before they start to den up for the winter.  During which time their main goal is to put on weight...

I'm thinking I may try to new dark with rice crispies today - sounds interesting.  

Jax is sacked out on the sofa right now happily sleeping. We really are lucky that he sleeps as much as he does - for a 2 year old dog, he isn't a full-tilt crazy as some.  Of course, this morning he grabbed a pair of my shorts and proceeded to run all over the house with them, daring me to chase him.  Which I did.  

xo
Debbi