When the weather turns chilly...

we don't see much of our pups, literally.

Red-bellied woodpeckers eating mealworms

Our resident pair of red-bellied woodpeckers are feeding babies & it doesn't take them long to go through a couple hundred mealworms...

They left a few for the bluebirds -

Lake Gaston snowman

I wanted to do this when we had a couple of inches of snow in January, but the snow wasn't sticky enough. Today there was much better "snowman making" snow.

Red fox on a gray day

When I first saw this red fox this morning he was standing on our dock in the drizzling rain. By the time I found my camera, snapped one useless photo (through glass, plastic & screen), then changed the dead battery, I was lucky to get any photos at all. But he didn't seem to have use of his right front leg and his left back leg, so he didn't move very quickly and he rested frequently. Of the 30 photos that I took, here are the best ...

The Ultimate Bike Lock

Mealworms - not just for birds...

I keep my mealworm colony in the attic over our garage. But it's not just mealworms living there. There are also a few of these 5-lined skinks keeping them company. I think of them as my clean up crew. They can't get into the trays, but they will gladly take care of any that drop on the floor.





Her name is "Liz", the same name we have for all of the lizards. The day I took these photos, I was trying to teach her to fetch. I don't think she understood the rules. I would toss her worms, but she never brought them back.

One of these things is not like the others...

tree swallows

I took this photo the evening that our tree swallow babies fledged. I think this is one of the parents trying to coax the last baby out of the nest.

I love Lake Gaston!

View from the car window

She waited while I zoomed in a little...





I took this one just before she ran away. When she got up, I noticed she was wearing a collar - what's that all about? You can barely see it in this photo - click to enlarge, if you like.

Riding shotgun

Are we almost there????

No ugly shows here -

I saw this sign in a laundromat & thought it was cute. It just seems so "southern".

Isn't that my toy?

The cutie pie on the left is our nephew's 5 month old daughter. She has no clue how badly Pup 2 wants her toy!

Lake Gaston

Early morning (at least for me)

Flying daschund ears

Keil's first boat ride - he enjoyed it





and we got a kick watching his ears fly in the breeze.








Reminded us of Sister Bertrille (yes, we were alive back in the 60's)

Could they be any cuter?

mallard ducklings

Crest white strips?

This is Maggie, our friendly neighborhood golden lab. She has a great smile.

Not mine, of course

pretty...

Passing by

I'm not the only one who's enjoying this warm weather...

Flirting with danger

Look at them all dressed up in their summer finery. I think they were planning their trip home - I haven't seen a loon since I took these photos last week.





common loons