July 7, 2024

This week the high point for me was the opening of the new Water Lily Buds into very pretty flowers, and next to that was the fact that the Raccoons didn't immediately start tearing up the lovely blooms!

Almost everything else seemed to be very much like last year's progression.  The major punctuation was the Dame's Rocket, the spring precursor to the Phlox of the Fall.  Last here is the Wild Bloody Cranesbill.  They started years ago with a couple of flowers but this year they have been blooming steadily for about a month!

The huge orange Poppies of the weeks before are no more but guess what - the Celandine Poppies are back - one or two at a time.   So yellow is again a popular color.  I'm not sure what the second batch are.  The Ranunculus (Buttercups) are still in the game!

We're looking forward to the ripening of the crop of Raspberries that is running the length  of the path from front yard to back.  Now we see that a good-sized patch of Blackberries is ripening up right where I park the car into them.  (Picture 3).   I'll be saving the berries in the freezer till there are enough to make some jam or cobbler.

Let's turn to the crittters!  I am still not very good at distinguishing kinds of Ants, but here are a few of the ones that I might recognize. the first seems to be a Nearctic Carpenter Ant. Second belongs to the Fusca-group of Field Ants and Allies.  Look at those fangs!  I don't know the third.

I didn't see many new Beetles that I recall. but this seems to be a pair of Oulema species mating.  Most of the rest of the Beetles/bugs seemed to be Bugs, and most of them were Zelus luridus (picture 2 - an adult and picture 3 - a nymph) and Empicoris errabundus (picture 4-this picture is probably a week out of range), but I keep waiting to see any further development of this species of Assassin Thread Bugs .