Eye Of The Beholder

This Italian parsley plant is not having a very good year.  It is small and now it is being eaten by a parsley worm.  On the other hand this caterpillar will turn that parsley into a beautiful black swallowtail butterfly. I have a passion for black swallowtail butterflies

The pink hibiscus has been frosted , dried out, then drenched and skeletonized by bugs. I think the Japanese beetles did it, but I didn't actually see them and I won't since there are no leaves left for them to eat  Pressing on regardless the large pink flowers open to show off their beauty just the same.  It is quite magnificent for this plant to put on such a display under these conditions.  The large pink flowers with pleated petals flowers look perfect!  To give credit where credit is due, we borrowed the expression "press on regardless" from Sue Hubble.  She used that expression as the name of her old pickup truck.  We read her books when we were trying to define what our retirement life would look like.

Things being what they are this year the garden has gotten away from us.  There are plenty of weeds in this picture.  In this case Ed's stone wall and the red cardinal flowers look so sensational it's difficult for almost anyone to see weeds.  I have always loved the lush overgrown look anyway!

By now I hope you are seeing beauty in the garden and feeling serene! WARNING: If you really get freaked out by snakes STOP reading here.  If you are looking for a different kind of beauty and some excitement in your life, read on!

We have more tools than the shed will hold.  As a result the three wheelbarrows remain outside.  Stored up side down and propped up on large stones or an abandoned bale of hay, we know that creatures live under them. I went to get a wheelbarrow and let out a piercing scream when I righted it.  This was no ordinary scream.  I was still making noise when the sound returned after echoing off of the ridge. Ed knew that I had uncovered an impressive snake, one worth seeing!  When the snake straightened out to slither away, it displayed more than three feet in length.  That is about as large as milk snakes get here.  This one had recently shed its skin.  That is apparent because of the sharp lines of separation between the colors.  The skin is also blemish free.

Later in the day the serenity of the garden was broken with another of my snake shrieks, but it wasn't nearly as intense.  After all these years, Ed could tell it was  only a garter snake and less than a foot long.  He didn't bother to come to see it and the snake was long gone anyway!

One of our lawn tractors must also be parked out of doors.  It has been transported to the dealer twice this year to try and repair the damage done by nesting rodents.  We now park that tractor near a stone wall where we know milk snakes gather.  We are counting on these beautiful constrictors to decrease the number rodents living in the immediate area.

Wild Neighbors

When we decided to live in a rural setting we knew that many other inhabitants were already here.  For the most part we enjoy an occasional glimpse of the wild life that calls this place home.  Plant loss is part of the equation and we accept that consequence.  A partial bucket of crushed oyster shell is stored under an inverted trash can.  Snakes were discovered between the two containers.  On this day I asked Becky if she wanted to try for snake photos.  Lifting the outer covering can revealed a mouse nest in the bucket.  One quick jump to the rim was followed by a drop to the ground.  The mouse ran over the snake and disappeared into the weeds.

That bulge in the center of the Eastern Garter snake's body may well be an earlier mouse meal.  Only one mouse was in the nest where there should have been two.  If the snake is digesting a mouse, that is fine with us.  We never molest a snake when we encounter one because we want them working on rodent control.

Clearly, there are two snakes in the picture and a shed skin.  The scale pattern on the shed skin matches the stripes on the garter snake.  Scales on the milk snake are more regular in shape.  A cloudy blue eye can be seen on the milk snake indicating that it is about to shed its skin.  We will look for this snake again soon.  The bright colors on new skin are worth seeing.

It would be less than honest to fail to mention our standard response when we happen across a snake. Becky always screams with a sharp volume only heard when a snake is unexpectedly underfoot.  I always leap into the air where I remain for a really long time.  My airborne gyrations defy the laws of physics while sending me away from the snake.  You would think we would get over it, but our response is still the same whenever the unexpected slither is underfoot.