In the above two photos he's precariously perched on a post trying to catch the butterflies
when they land on the flowers. They drive him nuts! lol.
Flowers are: Rose of Sharon, White Lace Vine, and pink Morning Glories.

Watching the butterflies and hummingbirds from our deck rail.

This is only the second turtle I've seen this year. We use to have quite a few hanging around.

A Sulphur butterfly on my potted butterfly bush.

Critter enjoying the yellow butterfly bush.

Huge aren't they?? LOL.

These daylilies are the wild daylilies found in Kentucky. My grandma brought them back with her many years ago. They use to be a pretty orange color. I don't know why they've changed to this color. Maybe our soil or our heat? They may not be as pretty as the use to be ... but they are the longest blooming daylilies I have. It seems like they bloom forever!

I have had my hummingbird feeder out in the flower garden every since we moved here. I decided that I wanted it closer to our kitchen window so that I can see and enjoy them more. So I had Pat strap the shepard hook to one of the posts on our deck so that I could hang the feeder there. It turned out to be one of the best things I've done this year! I have so enjoyed watching them up close.

We've had a ton of butterflies enjoying our butterfly bushes this year. This white butterfly bush is one of my favorite bushes. So much so in fact, I'm trying to get another one started from it. I have a small yellow and purple one too. I was at the nursery the other day and they had another small purple one with like 20 blooms on it. I couldn't pass it up at only six dollars. lol. If you love plants that attract butterflies, hummingbirds, bees and hummingbird moths ... this is the one to plant in your yard! It smells wonderful too!  :)

Has anyone else had a large amount of the hornworm's this year? Man, I was literally afraid to go outside in just my flip-flops after I looked down and saw one on my foot! LOL. They were everywhere! And yes, I stepped on a few! Ewwwww!! Nice thing about these guys though is that they turn into the hummingbird moths.  More specifically, the White Lined Sphinx Moth. That page shows a slightly different variety. They are amazing little pollinators and I love having them here.  :)

This video was added June 28 of 2008 to YouTube. This is not my video. Not only is the story absolutely touching (to MY heart) but the song on this video goes wonderfully! I've watched it several times ... and still find myself in tears!! Kudos on this awesome video! And Kudos to John Rendall and Ace Berg for bringing Christian to such a happy life!

Good Grief!! Can my smile get any wider?? This is NOT my video but one I could not resist sharing from YouTube. It was posted at YouTube March of last year so some of you may have already seen it. This is the first time I've seen it though... so it was totally new to me. And ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE!  Watch as they separate and then join in holding hands again. It's just TOO SWEET!!   :) 

Note* I've finally succumbed and became a member of Facebook. Feel free to add me as a friend if you like. But let me warn you ... I may not participate much there. However, Right now I am totally addicted to the 'Text Twirl' game (application) there. Are you on Facebook? And wanna play me? Add the application and then add me as a friend to play!   :)

Thank you Liz for nominating my space for the Weblog Award and thanks too for your wonderful words about my space on your blog. It made my day.  :) I'm not sure how many of these awards we are suppose to give out when we receive one but since Liz gave out 7 of them I will too ...

RedWillow Photography/Lisa - I enjoy visiting Lisa's site for her stunning photography.
Back to Nature/Kimmy - Kimmy is a good friend and a nature nut like myself. She also has some wonderful photography.
Sherri's Paradise - Sherri is also a good friend and a nature nut too ... She also has some wonderful photography.
Nodope/Joel- Joel has a wonderful sense of humor ... I enjoy reading his blogs for a smile.
On The Trail of Alaska/Kuskalana Steve - I enjoy reading about Steve's adventures as well as looking at his photography.
Here, There, and Everywhere/Heather - One word. Hilarious!
Skater Girl/Anna - She's fun, cute and smart and has an awesome space.  :)

I just wanted to share a collage of a few *shrooms* I captured from this year and last year. I love mushrooms and it amazes me how many different varieties there are. A couple of these were just taken a few days ago. The one in the center being one of them which I thought was really cute. I've never seen that type on our property before. It wasn't much bigger than a quarter.

For Mother's Day I bought my mom, sister and myself some Muscadet Lily bulbs. I made the huge mistake of planting mine in buckets that (I wasn't aware of) didn't have drainage holes. Mine suffered pretty bad and I'll consider myself lucky if they haven't rotted and will bloom for me next year. Hopefully we drilled the holes in the buckets soon enough for the bulbs to at least dry out. Mom's Muscadets did beautifully though! These are the photos she took of hers and sent to me. She tells me they smell absolutely heavenly! I'm so glad that mom's bulbs did this good and that she enjoyed hers this year. Still waiting to hear if my sisters have bloomed or not ... hopefully she'll have better luck than I did. Aren't these just gorgeous?? Thanks for sharing mom!!  :) Click on the photos to see them larger.

To me, these are some of the prettiest flowers I've ever seen. And they smell absolutely heavenly. I bought these last year for mom my and sister for Mother's Day. I'm so glad I got myself some too.  I couldn't wait to see them again this year ... and like last year ... they are stunning! Click on smaller photos for larger views.

*Note about my previous post ... It turns out that I did not save a baby dragonfly after all. I've been told that he is actually a Robber Fly. Look him up on Google and you'll see that he isn't a very friendly critter. He'll actually eat a dragonfly if he gets a chance. Oh well, my intentions were good but now I have mixed feelings about the new banner I posted here. lol.

I scooped this little guy up out of our swimming pool all soaked and wet. I wasn't even sure he was still alive. He clung to my finger for quite a while before finally drying off and then flew away.    :)  Click photos for clearer and larger views.

 

Click collage for a more clear and larger view.

Friday we went to Apple Annie's which is just a few miles out of Wilcox. About a 40 minute drive for us. We saw in the paper that the bi-colored sweet corn was ready for the pickin'. And let me tell you it is SWEET!! YUM! We bought 3 dozen but plan to go back and get more. It's that GOOD! I can't believe that I've lived here for the last 7 years and didn't know about this place! Pat says he told me about it once ... but that I didn't want to go then. Well dang, that WONT happen again! lol. The farm and the orchard are about 5 miles from each other. The orchard (Apples, Peaches and Pears) is just beautiful and has picnic tables scattered throughout. The  little gift shop is darling and filled to the brim with cute country stuff. The bakery had all kinds of goodies including lots of canned jellies, fruits and vegetables. We didn't eat at the Burger Barn but it serves apple smoked burgers and comes complete with a slice homemade pie and ice cream. I plan to go hungry and order one on our next visit. We did buy some peaches, peach honey and pat got some Onion Honey Mustard Dressing for himself. Oh yeah, and I couldn't resist a candle from the gift shop! After we were done at the orchard we headed over to the farm to get that corn. And of course before we bought the corn we had to try a freshly roasted one dipped in butter. It was hard to drag me away after that! This is a place we plan to come back to often ... Check out their Harvest Calendar and you'll see why! More photos of our visit HERE.

While the rain was a blessing for us it wasn't a good day for this little guy! I did take a Styrofoam cooler and turn it upside down and cut a hole/door in it. Set it out there by him but guess he was simply to scared to move. I'm sharing the short video of him in the rain. My camera is zoomed all the way and it's impossible to take videos without shaking the camera. So please forgive my jumping all around. Someday I'll invest in a tripod! The rain was just thunderous.

All this rain, close to 4 inches in a week, has been a  blessing! Our yard has seemingly gotten greener over night and the flowers are doing a happy dance! Have no idea what kind of month that is but he was 7 inches across! The biggest one I've ever seen and what a gorgeous pattern!

Today we got some very much needed rain. The first time Emma and Junior have even
seen it. It was a wonderful adventure for all of us.  :)  They are growing but their legs
aren't! lol. I've never seen such short legged cats. Click the collage for larger view.

Just thought I'd share a few shots of the flowers in my pond. Found the toad on a canna leaf in my pond just yesterday. Cute little guy huh? We've been busy since we came back from the trip to Greer, Arizona but I hope to share a few more deserving photos when I have time to post them. We have company coming in today and plan to do a little grilling and swimming this evening. Wishing everyone a safe and happy 4th of July! Click on the photo collage to view it larger.  :)

*Our son turned 22 yesterday  ... Man time really does fly!  Happy 22nd birthday Price!

This little girl really was a wonderful source of entertainment for me. I spotted her after Pat and the others took off to the lake for some fishing. I never could get her to eat from my hands but she loved the little dish of nuts and seeds that I offered her. Click on the collage to view it larger.

We rented a condo/cabin in Greer, Arizona for the 29th and 30th just to get away and spend some time with our boys. Luckily, it worked out that they could get off work to go with us. Click HERE and scroll down on that page to find and click on condo #29.  That's the one we stayed in. This place took my breath away. I've never seen so many pine trees in one place. Approximately 90% of Greer is National Forest, part of the largest Ponderosa Pine forest in the world. More interesting Greer facts HERE. 

Show Low, Pinetop and Alpine are all little towns near Greer and they are just as beautiful. Above is a small collage of some of the things that caught my interest while on small hikes. The middle photo is the condo we stayed in. I took a jillion other pictures which you can check out HERE if you're interested.

If you don't have a sense of humor about aging ... your life is going to be miserable. Or you're going to make it miserable for everyone else around you. Turning half a century is comical to say the least. The things we do and forget at this age is pretty dern funny. For instance, I now have 6 or 7 pairs of reading glasses (that I never needed before) that for some reason I can never find when I do need. OR ... I'll be trying to shove a pair on my face when a pair is already there. I would start taking those 'memory pills' to help boost my memory .. but I forget what they are called. Is it just me or are the large tee shirts now a size 2X that shrink to a size 0 after a month of washing? Cotton is NOT what it use to be. lol. And how is it that my shoe size has jumped to a size 8 from a size 6? Does the feet really get larger with weight gain .. or are the shoe sizes different than they use to be?

I can handle the fact that I pee a little when I laugh or sneeze these days. After all, I hear a lot of women do at this age ... right? But the hairs on my upper lip and chin now? Wasn't shaving my underarms and legs enough already?? Sheesh! To say nothing of the hilarious conversations Pat and I have had not being able to hear each other the last few years. We have literally become two "Old Farts". A subject probably best left alone. lol.

I'll be turning 50 August 3rd and the journey getting here has been a wild one to say the least. It hasn't all been happy .. but it hasn't all been sad either. I'm thankful to be blessed in more ways than I can count. I thank God each and every day for Pat (my husband and best friend of 23 years) and our boys. I'm glad to have made it this far with my good health and the little sense of humor that I do have. I find myself needing that 'sense of humor' more all the time.

For those of you that still ask ... I am still smoke free. I swear, not one puff! It'll be 6 months for me on July 17th. I've gained about 15 pounds. I am not happy with the weight gain ... but I am feeling a whole lot better otherwise. I'm trying to be more active ... hopefully, I'll drop the weight someday. Right now I can't worry about that. Being 'smoke free' is more important to me.