Despite being so humid  yesterday that I could barely think, I did have some outdoor chores to attend to; watering, whiteflies, that sort of thing. Along the way, I met up with some wonderful surprises. I call it: Claudia’s Day of Discovery.

First up.

My constant check of the milkweed for whiteflies paid off, not only in getting rid of some them, but in this discovery:

A future monarch butterfly. And yes, those are eggs on the leaf, but they don’t look like whitefly eggs which are laid in a circular pattern and, sad to say, I’m now more than familiar with. Maybe Monarch eggs? Not sure. Have to do some more research. I also saw a smaller caterpillar on another leaf, but when I came back to take a picture, I couldn’t find it.

Then, as I started to walk back, I noticed some stray bits of nest making material on the clematis, which is held up by a metal trellis. I looked closer. Down under the top leaves, was a little nest. I had to pry back some of the leaves to take a photo and it isn’t all that clear, but here you go:

At first I though they might be wren eggs, but they tend to be buff colored with brown specks. These are blue, so I think they might be the eggs of a song sparrow. Very tiny eggs. I don’t know where mama was or – I hate to think it – if the eggs have been abandoned. I didn’t want to linger there in case I was being watched by anxious parents. I’ll try to casually walk by today and see if I see some bird activity.

Heading back to the kitchen door, I realized that I kept seeing a black butterfly. I was sure it was an Eastern black swallowtail, but, as I got closer, I realized it didn’t have the extension on the bottom of the wings that swallowtails have.

Anyway, this butterfly could fly and she did, but she kept landing on the pavement and staying there, while she pumped her wings over and over. This went on for quite a while, right outside the door. A bit of flight, then a landing, then pumping. I suspected it was a newly emerged butterfly. I took some pictures and did some research. It’s a Red Spotted Purple Admiral. They look brown here, but the wings have two spots near the top that are red.

Soon, another Red Spotted Purple Admiral joined her and they both pumped their wings. It was utterly fascinating. When Don came home, I headed him off at the pass and told him to come in the front door, so as not to disturb them.

I took this short snippet of video. It’s also on my IG account.

Isn’t it amazing?

Then, this morning, Henry and a bunny rabbit were happily coexisting as they chomped on the grass.

Oh, and Lonesome Dove was on the birdbath the other day, taking delicate sips of water.

All my critter needs have been met for the week.

I was about to commit to reading another author yesterday as I didn’t get any notice from the library that a Kate Atkinson was ready and waiting for me, when, at 4 pm, one came through. Normally, that would have been too late, but on Wednesdays, the library is open until 8, so I hightailed it over there – I use that word loosely as my back is acting up, so I can’t ‘hightail’ it anywhere – and brought it home with me. It’s the very first Jackson Brodie mystery she wrote – Case Histories. While I was there, I spotted the newest Chris Pavone thriller on the ‘New Fiction’ shelf, so that came home with me, too.

It stormed yesterday and it’s going to rain today. Saturday? 98 degrees. Sunday? 94 degrees. Heat indexes of 107 degrees plus. The local weather guy was saying we should all stay indoors, and we will, but plants will have to be watered, which necessitates going outside. Yuck.

Happy Thursday.