The river photos below show that afternoon thunderstorms continue around us. We finally did get a little here in the Hollow—almost half an inch in the last week! 🙂 One day it rained a little off and on all day and cooled things off, but mostly our above-normal temperatures have continued.
It’s been too hot to be out to be outside much today, and I walked early. I hung laundry out on the clothesline before I left. When I glanced out the window sometime after my return, I noticed a big insect on the one of the sheets and, thinking it was a giant horsefly, went to investigate. What a surprise to see this Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis)! I often see them buzzing around the flowers in the garden (especially the Purpletop Vervain, Verbena bonariensis, shown below), but they never seem to rest. I had been struggling to decide on a topic for this post and was happy for the inspiration.
These are mostly from my rambles in the Hollow. The Monarch (Danaus plexippus) is on Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) in the meadow and is one reason why we don’t mow the milkweed. (It’s also a beautiful plant; look at the previous post.)
So we got some rain after the last post, and I’ve also seen some more fawns (finally). The tiny one was behind a neighbor’s house; the one at the beginning of the post showed up just a little while ago and is also pictured below.
Here’s a video of today’s little one:
Spooky sometimes brings her twins; they are as wary as she is. Here they are playing,
and here is one crying for its twin. (They found each other.)
I hear thunder. Besides, it’s time to feed cats and think about my own supper. I’ll try to post again soon.
French Broad Hollow Ramble 