Yesterday was the first day I've been outside our barn home in almost three weeks. It was a gorgeous day, in the mid 80s, with a light breeze, and overhead, the sound of geese honking back and forth to each other as they made their way south. We enjoyed a walk down the road and then spent the afternoon planting trees.
With all the rain we've had lately, the saturated roads are an inviting place for these yellow butterflies to puddle, gathering the minerals they need. They seem to prefer this road to our driveway.
Our usual evening routine for years has been to sit beside our water garden, feed the koi, and watch the sun set. When we moved here, we didn't want an inground water garden, so an eight foot stock tank took its place. I brought my favorite lilies, but left everything else behind, and we bought a few new goldfish to control mosquitoes. But with the rain and other things, we haven't been able to get back into our daily routine since our vacation.
A glance or two at the stock tank pond while pulling into the driveway was enough to see that the water level was okay and lilies were still blooming, but the filter had been knocked over. Wind, I supposed. I did think it was odd that only the lilies in the center were blooming. A closer look yesterday and this is what I saw.
Not only was the only bloom in the center, but very few lily pads except in the center. There were stems that looked like lily pads had been clipped off, but it wasn't by me. A closer inspection showed the culprits.
Deer! They've never eaten my lilies before, but apparently have recently developed a taste for them.
The night before, we had just been saying that neither of us have seen any deer on our place in a long time. We thought they probably moved further away from people. I think now that they just started coming out at night. I like watching deer, but they can't have my lilies.
Linking to:
Nature Notes at Rambling Woods
With all the rain we've had lately, the saturated roads are an inviting place for these yellow butterflies to puddle, gathering the minerals they need. They seem to prefer this road to our driveway.
Our usual evening routine for years has been to sit beside our water garden, feed the koi, and watch the sun set. When we moved here, we didn't want an inground water garden, so an eight foot stock tank took its place. I brought my favorite lilies, but left everything else behind, and we bought a few new goldfish to control mosquitoes. But with the rain and other things, we haven't been able to get back into our daily routine since our vacation.
A glance or two at the stock tank pond while pulling into the driveway was enough to see that the water level was okay and lilies were still blooming, but the filter had been knocked over. Wind, I supposed. I did think it was odd that only the lilies in the center were blooming. A closer look yesterday and this is what I saw.
Not only was the only bloom in the center, but very few lily pads except in the center. There were stems that looked like lily pads had been clipped off, but it wasn't by me. A closer inspection showed the culprits.
Deer! They've never eaten my lilies before, but apparently have recently developed a taste for them.
The night before, we had just been saying that neither of us have seen any deer on our place in a long time. We thought they probably moved further away from people. I think now that they just started coming out at night. I like watching deer, but they can't have my lilies.
Linking to:
Nature Notes at Rambling Woods