Back Yard Photos

It's getting to be that time of year when the humidity goes down with the temperature and it is delightful to sit outside and watch the birds, butterflies, dragonflies, squirrels, lizards - you name it.  I did this today and here are a few of the photographs I took.  In the midst of the insanity of this world, my faith above all and the blessing of this back yard is what keeps me not just sane, but happy.

OK - the weed above is not in my yard, but out in the brush around Lake Placid, FL.

This bunny was around Lake Placid, too, although I'd LOVE one in my yard.

Hi There - and Bye Bye iGoogle.....

I know I haven't posted in a little less than 2 months.  I really would like to post more - but life gets in the way and I'm not as disciplined as I should be.

 

I'm writing today because I've been putting off replacing my iGoogle home page for the last year and a half - ever since Google announced that November 1, 2013 was the dying day for the iGoogle home page service.

 

Like so many things I come to like and want to keep using, it has been declared defunct and Google is removing it. 

 

I could have waiting another month or so and still have had a week to replace my home page, but I put it off.....until now.

 

I've finally found something that approximates the iGoogle look and use - it's called iGHome.   There are about 20 choices for a Theme, unlike iGoogle which had hundreds and hundreds, some of which changed depending on the time of day.  I LOVED those.  My favorites were these:

 



 

Late in the day the pictures would change.  The little Frog and Ladybug would eat lunch and play with water balloons.  As day would close, the background sky color would turn pink and purple and the Frog and Ladybug would get out their sleeping bags.  The Frog had a little stuffed animal he slept with.  These themes were so whimsical and sweet.  The other was "Owly".  Owly would get up and go outside and feed the birds, which immediately endeared him to me.  His sidekick was, I think, a little worm.  The little worm had a tiny bed next to Owly's and his own tiny blanket.  The inside of Owly's house was like a little round Hobbit house.  I will be so sad to see these Themes disappear when iGoogle disappears. 

 

I guess the new trend is Chrome and Apps.  I don't like Apps - they aren't links or bookmarks or news.    They aren't gadgets that give a small preview of what they contain. 

 

Anyway - here is my new home page and I hope this company keeps at it for a long time!!

 

Out In The Boonies

It's been a while since we have been able to drive out into the Everglades, but this Sunday the weather was beautiful - and off we went.  The following are some pictures I took:

More Pictures

Here are more pictures of back yard "stuff":

Pictures

It's hot.  It's humid.  It's South Florida in summer.  Brilliant, steamy sun followed by threatening clouds, thunder, lightning, downpours, then more sun.  In the midst of this, plants grow like a Stephen King novel.  Keeping the status quo is like fighting a battle each weekend.  This past week, I trimmed Cape Honeysuckle off the house wires, then bagged up the cuttings.  We go through more lawn bags......if shredders weren't so expensive, I'd buy one.  We'd have our own mulch and then some.  This coming week?  Bagging up the bougainvillea cuttings from 2 weeks ago and cutting some more.  

In between this, I watch the butterflies flit around from plant to plant.  This, more than winter, is their season, and there are hundreds that make their home in my yard.  I do hate to trim, because these same butterflies make cocoons on plant branches.  The best I can do is to check each branch when I cut, say a quick prayer - and if all is clear, off it goes.  If I didn't trim, we'd truly have "Jurassic Park" in no time and it would be hard to find my house.

The following are some pictures I've taken in my yard:

Above is a peanut plant - whether it actually grows peanuts or not, I don't know, but it is used for ground cover.  I prefer it to grass, although some grasses are butterfly larval plants, so we don't get rid of all grass.

Above is our Poinciana tree taken from down the street as we approach the house.  It is SO beautiful this year.  There are Poincianas everywhere, all breathtaking in their blooming beauty.

We have mosquitos, so we have dragonflies.  I try to only go out in the middle of the day or I have to wear mosquito spray - I don't like this at all, and we don't have any standing water, but they breed in amongst the damp leaves on bushes and vines.  We've had a particularly wet beginning to summer, so the mosquitos are inevitable. 

This is a skipper butterfly - not sure which species skipper - resting on the leaves of the Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) vine.  I see the eggs under the leaf, but don't know whether they are a butterfly's or not.   I do not see the plant listed as a larval plant for any butterfly, but it could be for a moth - we have some beautiful sphinx moths at night, too.

Another view of the skipper butterfly.

Mr. Squirrel thinks he is incognito.......

 
This little lizard was only about an inch long - very tiny.  Must have been newly hatched.

Above is a weed plant that butterflies and bees love, so we don't pull it up.  the flowers are lovely .