WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!!!

Joe shouts as he bends at the waist and studies the ground...

It's a common scene around here.


Then he stands and declares, "Florida has nothing on this place when it comes to bugs!"




And he's right!



"What the heck is that?!"

Go ahead and click on that picture and see it blown up to gigantic proportions... go ahead!

It was the color of an army tank and big as a golf ball!

Eeeew!

Lilies Everywhere

Whew! I said it wouldn't take me 2 weeks to get back... but it almost did!


I have to show you this...



Our summertime lilies. They're everywhere...

...in people's yards, outside of banks and restaurants, and flanking every kind of private and public driveway.




Mostly, though, they're along the roads!

They line the highways and fill...and I mean FILL... the medians.

The state of North Carolina even planted some in front of our house... we have about a 2000 sq. ft. area filled with yellow and gold lilies.

Thank you North Carolina. We love them.

- - - - - - - - -

Joe and I have been animal caretakers and undertakers the last 2 days.

Yesterday while I was enjoying my morning coffee on the patio, I saw Tahra (our timid, hide-in-the-garage, don't-pick-me-up, cat) scurry toward the bushes. While I thought her posture was a little peculiar, I didn't think much of it because she has been, to our surprise, spending a great deal of time outdoors lately.

Moments later, I saw her hustle back toward the garage with something in her mouth. "Tahra!" I yelled, "put that down... Tahra, No!" I chased her to the garage and saw that she had captured a chipmunk. She dropped it but it was bleeding badly and couldn't get away, as much as it tried. "Dang it, Tahra!"

I grabbed a pair of Joe's work gloves and picked it up. I couldn't let it just lay there, bleeding on the cold garage floor with the wicked cat looming nearby. Poor little thing was frightened, at first, but then relaxed and just breathed deeply. I held it gently as it's breaths became shallower and in about 10 minutes, it stopped breathing. {hmpf}

Then, there was the cottontail rabbit. It was also yesterday morning that we discovered a little baby bunny lying on the garage floor. No visible signs of injury, but she was just laying there on her side, barely breathing. Geez, Tahra, what the heck?!

We scooped her up and wrapped her in a soft washcloth. She wouldn't eat anything or take any water, but she laid in my lap, seemingly contentedly, all day. She seemed to get a little stronger, lifting her head and moving her front paws - we thought she might be okay. At home yesterday evening, she laid on my chest while I watched TV. She never came out of it, though, and died this morning. {groan}

Sorry... I should have saved the cheerful lilies for the end of the post!

We do have a happy ending, though. Fifteen minutes after Joe buried the bunny, he came home with a stray dog. Fortunately, ........

....... pardon the interruption.........

Okay, now I'm crying. We just reunited the stray with her mama! It was precious.

What I started to say was fortunately, she had a collar with a current immunization tag. We called her vet and the vet contacted her owner, Anne. Anne called us and we learned that the dog's name is Diva and has been missing for 12 days. She was a long way from home! When Anne came for her baby, Diva, it was a happy, tearful, licky, waggly, roll-around-in-the-grass-together, reunion.

We're happy. So is Diva and Anne!

Two Weeks Ago Today

Jiminy Cricket! It's been two weeks since I've posted anything.



I thought that when I arrived in this beautiful land, I would just have soooo much to write about; so much to share. And I do, but apparently for now it's to stay in the quietness of my heart because, truthfully, words elude me. Maybe I'm overwhelmed by the newness of it all. It's a lot to take in... in a really, really, wonderful way!



So, let me share in pictures... as I seem to do so often lately because, well, pictures are worth a thousand words!



This is Dexter's perch; his watchtower, from where he monitors all the goings on outside.




That is unless he needs to know what's going on out front; in which case, this is his perch! (Love seat has been Dexter-proofed by a blue sheet!)



We have snakes. This one is captured here tormenting my dogs. He was on the other side of the fence just spitting and hissing... literally sticking his tongue out at them while they went berserk!




Finally, he had had enough of that and he slithered away. Unfortunately for him, several days later he slithered into dog territory (their side of the fence) and it did not go well for him... it was a fatal mistake, as I discovered Severed Snakey. Eeew.

And that red clay dirt all over the stairs is from the day prior when the little punkins' dug a hole... a cavern... practically a tunnel... under the driveway, and threw the dirt all over the place. Just precious, they are! {{grumble}}





On the brighter side, I also discovered calla lilies in the yard. My heart sings. We have so many flowers. {{ethereal sigh}}




Our patio. I like to sit out here in the evenings (and I'm delighted that in July it's cool enough to do so!) and watch lightening bugs. They still intrigue me. In the mornings, I sometimes come out here with my coffee and bible study. The birds are happy and melodious in the morning! I enjoy the background music they offer.

Those chairs are from our Florida patio. Someday I'd like to replace those with wooden rockers... then we're talkin' NC porch!




Evening glow on the Queen Anne's Lace. Kinda dreamy.




I was meandering the property across the street, camera in-hand, of course, and stopped to drink in this sunset from one of the home sites. Beyond beautiful...

I think that's all for today. And I promise it won't take 2 weeks to return! Besides, there's 10,000 more where these came from, so stay tuned... ;-)

Cheers.