I was working in the yard yesterday while potty walking my dogs. It kentycky, the rule is....spray on the insect repellant & then the sun screen (I am pale & get 3degree burns easily from the sun). I cleared the weeds & grass that was overgrowing the sidewalk.......then I picked up the hose & was watering some of the grass. There landed on my arm, this beautiful little butterfly. It was tan, brown, with orange stripes & those pretty circles on the wings they call eyes were bright purple & more orange.

I lifted my arm to look at it closely & could see the little probuscus tickling my arm. This butterfly stayed there for over 15 minutes before flying off. Definitely insect repellant wasn't an issue. I started working on picking up my piles of weeds that I have been pulling & bagging them up to take to the trash. As I was doing that, the same little butterfly, landed on my other arm. Not wanting to hurt it, I got it onto my finger & stuck it on my shoulder.......go figure, it rode around on my shoulder the whole time I was working on the weed pile.....over 30 minutes. I had to take some branches to the pile of wood. It had climed down my back & when I checked in the rear view mirror of my truck, it had flown off. I went back to the weed pile & then landing on my glove (not even my skin) was the same little butterfly. Again, I moved it to my shoulder as I didn't want to hurt it while doing work........it stayed there for another long time.

They have the friendlyest butterflys here in Kentucky. Looking back, one early morning when I was potty walking my doggies, they were swarming all around me ....there were dozens landing on me. My initial instince with all bugs is to brush them off immediately before they bite, but these little butterflys are so sweet.

Last year, I had the luna moth on my back deck. This year, I had 2 luna moths around here.....sadly, one was dinner for the birds as the only thing left were the wings......the other one got into my garage. It was going crazy in there & I worked hard at getting him outside....only to have him come in again with the garage lite on (had to finally shut it of so he wouldn't fry on the light)

My other wildlife saga.....are the mice......I don't know how many there are hanging around getting into my house, but I have a humane trap that closes when they get the food out to eat. So far, I have caught 4 mice in that trap......sadly one died as I didn't realize it had gotten trapped in the trap soon enough & when I let it out, it had already died. The rest, I take way down the road & drop them off on the other side of the river.....the other side of the road so they can bother the cows & not me. Last night, I decided to put the trap back....just to see if there were any more. If you don't set the trap just right, they can get in & get the food & it doen't close behind them....so last nights mouse got away with the dogfood. At least I know there are still mice in my house that need to be trapped. Only one mouse per night in this trap.....but one by one, my house is being ridded of mice the humane way.......this California soft heart just can't put out the killingstuff for them. My friend said her house was so infested with mice that when she put out the mice poison, it killed so many, it smelled under her house until it got cleaned out.....eeeeewwwww. I know they aren't in my basement, but outside & finding their way into the wall as that is where they are coming through under my kitchen sink cabinet where the pipes come in......the house isn't sealed very well.

It is so cute when I dump the little mice out......they sit there for a few seconds with their huge little eyes bugging out......then they scurry off under the weeds & grass into the field were they belong.....NOT IN MY HOUSE!!!!!

I also have a friendly chipmunk that likes my back deck. I don't know where the ground hog went to......I smelled something bad the other day.....hoped it wasn't him that had died......but it's hard to tell as he wasn't looking good as he wandered across my deck.

I will stick to my humane mouse traps as long as I keep getting them & removing them....I know they aren't the same mice coming back...they each have been a different size. I should identify them with nail polish or something permanent....to make sure they aren't coming back....but I am sure I dump them far enough away that they would have a hard time crossing the river, the road, & running all the way back up the hill to find the opening to the house....chances.....slim to none.

Happy Labour day,
Debbie