Love was in the air...

...and hanging there (literally) when it comes to these two milkweed bugs.

This couple however, was not so acrobatic....but still, they had to figure out a way to back into each other's rear without using rear view mirrors (Gawd. Insects are so weird)!

This little perv was more interested in that other couple though...

...they just kept hanging and swinging in the breeze...I'm not sure this was a move that the one hanging upside-down had planned on because look at that expression!

Then there were these two tiger beetles. Love was on the rocks when it comes to this couple (again, literally).

She would take her middle legs and try to push that boy off and sometimes she was able to do that but he would just fly a big circle and in a flash, he was on her again. I think she was very, very annoyed with him. She just wanted.....to........get......him......off....of her.

Tiger beetle boys are obnoxious like that because they don't want any other tiger beetle messing with their girl. I'm thinking this tiger beetle girl would like to be a spider girl because 1. she would have an extra set of legs to push him off and 2. if she wanted to punctuate her feelings regarding his technique, she could bite off his head.

Further up the creek, the ebony jewelwing damselflies were flitting up and down and across and alighting on the big butterbur leaves and were experiencing love much more romantically.

The boy holds the girl's head (she's the one with the white dots on her wings)...

...and then they bend their bodies...

...to form a heart.

So, so pretty. It was hard to look away from such a thing.

Unless you were Tilly...

...or Bo (who was busy walking and drinking at the same time)...

...or even Bella...

...because not only was it a steamy day when it comes to insect love, it was a steamy day when it comes to weather...

...a day to just hang out and stay cool...

...and let someone know you love them. :-)

This could have been a pretty good photo...

...if it was in focus.

Same goes with this one...

And this one too...

...who is the one (partly) responsible for my camera's current state of wonkiness....the focus is always off...the camera can't quite figure out exposures after 2 pm...or when it's shady.......or just about any time in any light condition....

You see, Bo has an interesting quirk of grabbing things and then carefully carrying them away. When I was putting up birdhouses this spring, Bo wandered off with the level. When I was planting some copper iris, one of the irises disappeared with you know who (and that would not be his sister Tilly, my other gardening helper). In this photo you can see how sweetly protective Bo is of whatever he is temporarily holding hostage though.

When I was busy trying to get a dogwood into the ground a month back, Bo wandered off with my canvas bag with all my gardening tools (!!!!) and in the bottom of it was my camera. He's a pretty slow mover when he's got something in his mouth but I'm not sure how long he had that bag and it was heavy! And it's not like I haven't done things to that camera too (we both took a flying bellyflop into the creek a year or so ago) but I think the poor camera has had enough of the two of us and has just given up. Yet, I still use it......I haven't quite gotten around to upgrading to another for some reason. :-/

I can't get too upset with Bo though because there was that one time when he grabbed a bottle of water and brought it to me just when I needed it, kind of...

Speaking of bottles, bottles are his favorite thing to carry around. I had left a half-full gallon jug of water up the hill to use later (no water hook-up yet so I carry water jugs into the woods to water the few things I've planted). It came back down from the woods empty...

...and of course, carried further away.

Tilly has an interesting way of helping with what has to get done too. If I need something, Tilly is right on it. Literally.

As was this nursery spider, the hugest spider I have ever seen and it wouldn't move from its spot either, just like Tilly.

Tilly helped with planting a Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia)...

...and a river birch and a dogwood and some other things. Sentry duty was sooooo tiring however, she fell asleep under each endeavor before it was completed. When it got to the mulch part of planting, I'd try to roll the sleeping Tilly out of the way but she would just roll right back. I ended up just mulching over her (just her feet in this photo but she had been more heavily mulched with the other things I planted!)...

Tilly is such a silly dog. I wish I could take better pictures of her (even if my camera wasn't so wonky) but she is a very unphotogenic dog. She surprised me with this one though. This photo was taken around the time of the Royal wedding and Tilly looks like she found the perfect British-style fascinator/hat under that honeysuckle.

Anyway, back to my struggles with my camera, not with gardening (entertained as I am by those two dogs). A couple days ago I saw the most beautiful matte blue green katydid. The color of that bug was just exquisite but even with heavy manipulation via Photoshop, I cannot get that bug to look like what I saw.

I took this photo last fall and I think it's the same style of katydid, just a completely different color. They both have the same unusual looking pink and green eyes. Did you know that some katydids are a brilliant pink? I'm still on the lookout for one of those.

Anyway, once again, an out of focus shot...but at least some of the blue green color comes through on this rear end shot of the katydid.....

...as does my initial "M." :-)

I guess the thing to do TODAY is to go out and get a new camera but unsurprisingly, I'm off to go stomp around on my land in Kansas instead (even if it is 95 degrees). I have a garden crew waiting for me and I know they are anxious to get started working. Camera purchasing will just have to wait yet another day. :-)

Miami County Kansas Farm Crawl

That's what I did on Saturday. There were twelve farms to visit and one of my first stops was an emu ranch.

Those emu girls paced in pairs up and down their muddy routes but would they pose for a picture? No. They were too good at turning the other direction. I tried. Oh, I tried to get a good photo...but it was not going to happen.

Sleeping baby emus were a lot easier to photograph.

My next stop was an alpaca ranch and did they want to be photographed?

Again, no. When I walked into the pen, I was given a handful of alpaca kibble but even with that, I could not get them to look at me.

"Hey! You guys, over here!"

Oh heck. At least they were cute from behind.

And they all seemed to be very sweet since they were so busy kissing visiting children, as well as each other.

Finally, a head shot from an alpaca who knows she is beeyootiful.

This alpaca is more of a fretter...

This one looks like a horserabbit (to me, at least)...

And then there was this one.

I think there's a reason for that scuff on her nose because this alpaca was "in your face" nosy. Definitely some personal space issues. She got in close and rather than nibble on the kibble, she stuck her nose in my purse...

What a bad alpaca. I immediately left her to go watch the five day old baby who was busy chasing a chicken.

That baby was just fascinated with the chickens but the guard llama had had enough of baby shenanigans and took it upon himself to get things back to calm.

"You stop picking on those chickens, you baby, you."

Nudge. Nudge.

And then that baby found himself back with his momma. And from what I overheard, ready to take on those chickens again (once that guard llama was out of sight).

Did I covet emus or alpacas as future pets? Not really. But cows? A slight maybe...a possible 2%. I get such a kick watching cows when I travel down country roads. They might all climb on top of a hill to see who can get the highest, or on a hot day...all of them might go find a pond where you see nothing but cow heads popping up above the water. On Saturday I saw a group of cows hanging out in the woods beside the road which was a funny thing to see because cows are almost always basking in sunshine. Sneaky things. Carefully navigating the rights and lefts around all those trees.

These two girls by the roadside caught my attention, especially the one on the left (such an unwavering staredown!). They were small so I'm guessing they're probably teenagers, especially since they also had such attitude.

Then I was off to a winery which was actually very good. Like really good. I hadn't tried any wine from this part of the country in....more decades than two. And there's a reason for that (scuppernong Missouri wine, eeeugh, eeeugh, eeeugh). But the "Buffalo Red" was delightful and OMG, someone had made shortbread with rosemary in it and that was worth the visit itself.

Then I was off to a chicken/goat something farm. There was an interesting raised bed vegetable garden where 24 inch wide serpentine berms were made...it looked like a maze. It will be mighty interesting to navigate the winding 24 inch wide paths in the coming months. Why grow in straight rows anyway? So predictable the way of getting in and out of the garden. But what I found most interesting were the cut down hollow logs that would soon be containers for future tomatoes. That's an idea I'd like to try myself.

It was such an exquisite day. I saw a bluebird fly across the street. I got to see my first turtle in the road and of course I stopped and moved him to the other side. Knowing what I know about turtles, that little turt probably stomped back to where he was having such a nice rest in the sun and then traveled back across the street when he felt like it.

Places I passed had names like "Wooden Oaks" which made me wonder what oaks aren't wooden? Then there was "Lost Arrow." I wondered if they ever found it. I hope when I finally come up with a name for my spot in the country, it won't confound people who drive by.

My final stop was a wildflower nursery and vineyard. I filled up the golfcart with buttonbushes (Cephalanthus occidentalis) and then drove all of us all the way back home.

If you're familiar with gravel roads, that back window shows a significant amount of happy time spent driving in the country. :-)