Garden tails, sewing projects, sleepy cats

I haven't made a dress in ages!
Mostly, I've been sewing outfits for Frosty...

Dorah is so tired! Such a hard worker.

We spent the morning sewing. I decided to sew a dress for each granddaughter. I need some notions to finish them, that is a task for another day. Sadie 'helped' by sitting on the fabric as I was preparing to cut out the pieces. I shooed her away. I have shimmery butterfly fabric for Jos and flying coccinelle, and other bugs, for Isabelle.

It's been chilly, but good gardening weather in the afternoons.
Sleepy cats, too.
Lots of cocoons about. I love how they shimmer, like gold, as they hang and morph. I'm not sure the second one, but the first photo is the Eastern Comma. I'll keep watching our mystery caterpillar, kept in my aquarium.

Every morning, here in the swamp, the dew is amazing.
Yesterday, I took a break, sat out on the bench. Buster came over, then Daisy, then Dorah. We all sat and watched the chickadees, Cedar waxwings, Goldfinch, Phoebe, as they flew hither and yon.

Dorah is a faithful supervisor.
She sits in the hole I dug for a plant.
This is the time of year for
creating new gardens.
The plants are 75% off!
We put Toad lily in this hole!

  

We're not sure what it is!

How many critters can one plant hold?

This is the plant!
Common Mullein

Buster relaxes after showing me the bugs!

I took the day off yesterday. I didn't shovel any topsoil. I did a series of small chores, that no one but me would notice.
Hubby went to the ball game, for some relaxation. I relaxed by puttering, and got brown paint under my fingernails.
Buster was sitting on the edge of the septic bed.
It scared me, as I heard rustling and didn't know what was there.

Felix preferred stealth mode!

But as serendipity goes, my boys often lead me to new sights and sounds.

First was the large spider with the stripe down its back. Research is an interesting thing in this day and age. Any fool can name something, and any fool can believe him! I have many resources I go to to identify my mystery birds. Wiki sources are not reliable, I prefer to go to the university sites, which reputable authors.
There are many hits for this topic of 'spider with stripe down its back'. I first checked my insect book, then realized that they are not 'insects', as they have 8 legs. SIGH. Arachnids.



What further amazed me is that there were two, of the same size and same species on the same plant. Apparently boy scout spiders; sharing, sharing, sharing.

Ants, of course!

Could have been 50 of these Stink Bugs!

Ants eating caterpillar turd?

Can you see the spider at the bottom right?

I went out to the front yard, and began to photograph my white irises, with Bleeding Hearts nestled in and around them. I found another spider I had to look up. 

She was fascinating. With PINK stripes! I went back later and found her munching happily on a Flower Fly (Syrphidae), which is a Yellowjacket mimic. The larva eats aphids. The adults pollinate flowers.
This one isn't going to pollinate anything anymore. It's a dog eat dog world.

Stilt bugs (Neides muticus)

Then there was this, I think, pair. Sigh. I think they were happy. "Hugging" as we told our 4-year-old granddaughter one time, spotting a miniature horse mounting his friend!
There were insects everywhere!

Can you spot the wee red spider?

Wild Aster and friend

 

This macrophotography is harder than it looks!

Stink Bug

Its belly bright green.

What a cooperative dragonfly