Bees & Flowers

I tried to get pictures of birds today.  I saw the Hummingbird but she was gone before I could lay my hand on the camera.  Same with the Flicker which is a kind of woodpecker.  It landed on the empty suet pellet feeder and then on the platform feeder and was gone.  The Nuthatch made repeated trips to the platform feeder but never stayed any longer than it took to identify it.  No chance of pictures of any of them.  And no hawk.

The flowers held still.  There were bees and bees on the Purple Coneflowers (echinacea).  I stood and watched them sorting through the centers of the flowers, collecting pollen for their leg sacs.

This Daisy had Japanese Beetles on it.  It was one of the few with them.  There aren't nearly as many beetles this year as there were last year.  There was a bumper crop then, they just about devoured my ferns.

The Butterfly Weed is still opening up new blossom heads.  I still haven't seen a butterfly on it.

The Black-eyed Susans (rudbeckia) on the side of the house have started to bloom.  Just a few flowers there.

While mowing the lawn I could smell the Stargazer Lilies but I couldn't see them.  Turns out that all of the flowers make the stalk top-heavy so it's lying down.  I lifted it up to take its picture.  I should get a string to tie it to the fence so it stands up.  Maybe tomorrow.

Today's toss was a tank top that I planned to wear to mow but I put it on and it's waaaay too big so into the toss pile it went.

The prompt today said to make a packing list for a trip to the Moon.  Tsk.  Such a silly prompt.  Let's see... a spacesuit, oxygen, crew members, food, my Kindle with a bunch of books and the charger.  That's all I could think of.  I don't want to go to the Moon anyway, I'll stay here on Earth, thanks.

--Barbara