Painted Lady and Jonquils

This morning I decided to take some pics of the blooms on our small unknown non-tree. When I got out there I found a pretty painted lady flitting from bloom to bloom. It was my 4th butterfly sighting this spring.

I was able to angle up so the sky rather than the fence was in the background

We got an early start hiking today - we were there by 2 pm! We went west hoping for dryer trails; we took the 2nd left then left at the 1st fork. Pretty wet and muddy but manageable. My daughter found a bone and on closer inspection it was attached to an entire decaying carcass of a small dog or fox or something. The head was even attached. We moved it off the trail and plan to keep checking on its condition cause we're hoping to get some good photos out of the deal.

We went south of the rocky ravine, crossed it, ate apples on a boulder in the stream, gave Eddie a few bites, let Eddie get a drink, let Eddie jump in a pool (we not so much let him as he just did it) then crossed on up to the other side. There were a good number of cyclists and even a couple of joggers. We also saw 3 off-road motorcyclists in full biking suits!

It's official: I have now lost count of my butterfly sightings. There were quite a few out this afternoon. I saw one like my first 3 on the ground and got a good long look. I'm pretty sure it was a goatweed leafwing. Of course the butterflies pose perfectly and there's no wind any time I don't have my camera with me! Short hike - 1 hr, 25 min.

This evening while playing ball with Eddie I noticed our first jonquils of the spring had bloomed:


And I also found this big-winged insect (lacewing?) on the tree blooms:



I thought it was worthy of 2 pics!

My plan for tomorrow includes getting up and out to the west side by 10 am in search of butterflies. That's a mighty big goal. My tapping is going poorly, but I'm still working at it. That's an even bigger goal.