Raining Snakes!!! Huh???

Grey Rat Snake-Chicken Snake 

Well you just never know what might fall out of the sky when visiting the woods as I learned some time ago! While traveling through a mature stand of hardwood trees

near an open field I was amazed when this snake landed on the windshield of my pickup truck. Now how many folks out there can say this has happened to them? Ha Ha! Well as it turns out this young speciman of a Chicken Snake had obviously climbed up one of the big hardwood trees and out on a limb. I assume he must have gotten a little excited when I passed under him and lost his grip on the limb he was laying on causing him to fall and land on my windshield. Chicken Snakes are non-poisonous and actually help by eating small rodents and other pests.
        
"A journey into the wilderness is the freest, cheapest, most nonprivileged of pleasures, anyone with two legs and the price of a pair of army surplus boots may enter."
                      Edward Abbey (1927-1989): American author and essayist

Leipers Fork, Tennessee

Leipers Fork, Tennessee is a place I happened upon by accident on a trip to Nashville up the Natchez Trace. It is one of the oldest towns in Tennessee and has a rich history and a real quaint atmosphere, the kind of place you want to spend a little or maybe a lot of time. The day I came thru town they were having a Chili Cook off (this years cookoff is Oct 16, 2010) and the town was a buzz with people and music and food and stuff. It is a very neat and interesting place to say the least and I will have to visit some of the other events they have there on a regular basis. Check out the events page on the link if you want to do something different one weekend. I snapped this photo of  a full size bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin sitting on a bench in the front yard of a local house.

"Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody"
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790):  American Statesman, Scientist, Philosopher, Inventor, Writer

Who Called the Meeting?

Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme)

     Caught these bunched up on an ole rotten, punky, piece of driftwood along the bank of the Tennessee River in northern Alabama. Seems they like each others company or they all like something on the piece of wood. Maybe just resting before they take flight again. Notice the very orange top side of the wing but the bottom side is all yellow. These are all the same specie in this picture.
          
"The difference between what the most and the least learned people know is inexpressibly trivial in relation to what is unknown."
                      Albert Einstein (1879-1955): German born American Physicist

What is Beauty?

Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae)

Thought I would throw a little orange at you. How awesome are the colors on this beauty? The picture to the right is a little out of focus but I wanted you to see the contrasting patterns and color of the bottom side of the wing verses the orange and black topside.

"Beauty as we feel it is something indescribable; what it is or what it means can never be said"
                 George Santayana (1863-1952): American Philosopher, Poet

A Sign of Summers End

Cloudless Sulphur(Phoebis sennae)

I wait with anticipation for August every year when the first little yellow sulphurs begin their migration. It starts slowly with only a few noticed every now and then, but gradually toward the middle of the month, the numbers increase and they seem to be everywhere. Can fall be far behind when these little beauties begin appearing along field and road as you travel most anywhere in the south. 
                               
"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."
               R. Buckminster Fuller(1895-1983):American Inventor, Poet, Philosopher

Would you have noticed the little lavender flowers had a butterfly not graced them with it's presence?

"I Was Looking Back To See"

Praying Mantis

I was looking back to see
If you were looking back to see
If I was looking back to see
If you were looking back at me.

Photo above reminded me of an ole song from several years ago by Jim Ed Brown ( I Was Looking Back To See)

I found this carnivorous insect hanging
onto a dead tomato vine in my garden. We humans like to watch other creatures, but how cool when they turn their attention on us. That is what happened here when I got a little too close to this Praying Mantis. They get their name due to the way they hold their front legs together as if praying. Praying Mantis are predatory insects and they eat almost any insect that gets within reach of their claws. There are accounts of a Praying Mantis catching a hummingbird. 

"On every stem, on every leaf,... and at the root of everything that grew, was a professional specialist in the shape of a grub, caterpillar, aphis, or other expert, whose business it was to devour that particular part."
          Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894): Physician, professor, lecturer, author.

Do You See the Beauty?

Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia)

Everyone is quickly drawn to the beauty of this colorful butterfly of the brushfoot group, but did you notice it had suffered some damage to it's left wing? Did you notice the beautiful round shapes on the wings? Did you notice the orange bars outlined in black on the fore wings? Did you notice the fuzzy, hairy appearance of the caterpillars body? Did you notice the beauty of the flower it rests on? Did you notice that more flowers are getting ready to burst open?

"Beauty in things exists in the mind which comtemplates them."
                   David Hume (1711-1776): Scottish philosopher and historian.

Awesome Transition

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)

The eastern tiger swallowtail belongs to a genus that contains around 200 species around the world. Different patterns of blacks and yellows dominate the color pattern of swallowtails but many other colors are present also.

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."
                 Maya Angelou (April 4, 1927-present): American biographer and poet

Butterfly or Flutterby?

Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor)

If you are like me, you probably never give much thought to butterflies as you go about your daily chores. I haven't either until I bought a book and started trying to capture a picture of the little creatures. I thought there were only 5 or 6 different kinds but there are literally hundreds of different butterfly species and they are some of the most beautiful of God's creatures. I never dreamed of so many colors and patterns. And just think, all this beauty came from a little ole worm or grub looking critter. The fall migration is on and I am going to try to capture as many different species as I can in the coming weeks.  I will share them as I can. Notice the orange spots on the

underside of the hind wings but are not visible on the top side.

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience"
             Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882): Philosopher, Poet, Author, Essayist