Happy Thankful Thursday!

Happy Thankful Thursday!

Go away Hurricane Florence!  I hope everyone who is in the path of Hurricane Florence stays safe . 


These are images from our walk to our lake on Labor Day Sept 3rd. It was a pretty sky day with puffy white clouds but hot and humid. I heard a few birds along our walk, a few Eastern Wood Pewees, White-breasted Nuthatches, Pine Warbler and the knocking of some woodpecker all heard but not seen. 

It was a pretty sky day, white puffy clouds here and there. 

Butterflies were the Monarch and various Swallowtail butterflies.

Just before the trail ended at the lake we saw one tree with red leaves.

One lone fishing boat on the lake.

Swallowtail Butterfly

There was one red leaf tree on the edge of the lake.

I am thankful to live so close to the lake, just a walk away. 
I am always thankful for all your visits and comments. 


Thank you Michelle for hosting Thankful Thursday. 
Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday


Happy Thursday, enjoy your day!

Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!

Shenandoah National Park

Happy Monday, have a great day!


These are some images from a recent day trip to Shenandoah National Park. We enjoyed the drive on Skyline Drive, hiked on the Limberlost Trail and a walk on the Big Meadows to see the flowers and butterflies.  

We saw lots of deer along the Limberlost Trail.

Eastern Bluebirds were a nice sighting at the Big Meadows.

Mushroom seen along the trail.

We saw lots of butterflies during our Big Meadows walk. 

Monarch on the Thistle at the Big Meadows.

These flowers were seen along the side of the Skyline drive.

 


Thanks for your visit today!  I hope you enjoyed my post and photos.

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

I hope to see you there. Thanks to the host today. Enjoy your day and new week.

As always I thank you for stopping by and as always I appreciate your comments.

Thankful Thursday

Hello & Happy Thankful Thursday!

For awhile we were in drought conditions and then the rain came. Flooded roads, washed away bridges and some water came in our basement. These are images of our lake, the dam and scenes from the fire road walks. I also included some of the full moon on July 27th. 

Full moon on July 27th, the eclipse could not be seen from our area.

To the lower left of the moon is the planet Mars.

July 26th , looking down at the dam gates open. 

A view of the lake and dam.  

July 26th, the Gunpowder River seen from the Dam. The reservoir 79.7 sq miles and the rural watershed is about 24,000. 

July 19th Prettyboy Reservoir, a blue sky day before the rains came. Our first eagles nest is located across the lake, it is great now we found a second eagles nest closer to our home and neighborhood.

A Swallowtail butterfly on the fire road.

July 19th, a group of Canada Geese hanging out on the lake. 

July 19th, the Prettyboy watershed, next to the reservoir. 

I am thankful for the rain, just not too much rain. 

I am thankful for all your visits and comments. 




Thank you Michelle for hosting Thankful Thursday. 
Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday


Happy Monday, enjoy your day and new week!

Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!

Saturday's Critters #238

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

These are some images of birds and critters from my yard and some from our local fire road taken around June 10-15th.

I've been seeing at least three bunnies in the yard, this one has a couple ticks on it's side.

The Goldfinches love the thistle sock.

The Gray Catbird is always looking for the suet.

From our walk on the local fire road, we see the Scarlet Tanager.

A Great Blue Heron on the nest, seen from the fire road.

A Swallowtail butterfly seen near the fire road.

A juvenile Great Blue Heron has been seen in my yard , this time on my deck railing.

The Heron has been seen in my neighbors yard, this heron walked all the way around my house. I saw it pacing in front of the gate like it wanted to come inside the yard. Finally it walked toward the back of the yard, I think it can climb the pine trees branches back into it's nest.

I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments! 

Here is a list of my linky parties;

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.

Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Critters #130

Saturday's Critters #130

Happy Saturday, it's time to share your critters and post. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post.. I appreciate everyone who is linking in with this week's critter party.

I had a nice break, the week just flew by. I am sharing some backyard birds and critters from in or around my yard. I seem to find some kind of critter everywhere I look.

A cute Carolina Wren!

Our pond frog.

A Swallowtail butterfly

Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

A neighborhood deer seen during one of my walks on the fire road.

As always thanks for the visits and the nice comments. I also thank everyone who is linking up and sharing their critters.. Happy Saturday, have a great weekend!

An InLinkz Link-up

To see more beautiful birds and cute critters, check out these two memes below.

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.  Also check out Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting this fun meme.

Birds, butterflies and blooms

I am linking up with Fiona's Green Day and Misty Dawn's Camera Critters and Today's Flowers

These are some shots from around my yard and a pretty female Orchard Oriole. I was a happy birder to see the Orchard Oriole show up in my yard one day.

The female looks like a larger size Goldfinch, 2 inches larger and  the beak is a little different. It has the white wing bars and is a summer bird for my area.

Another day I saw this same bird or another one just like chasing a crow across my yard. I have a feeling they could have been nesting nearby or it was protecting it babies.

My butterfly bushes are great for attracting the butterflies. This Tiger Swallowtail is a common butterfly seen in my yard.

I am pretty sure this is a Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly.

My Goldie girl  at the lake, she has had another haircut and is looking more like a yellow lab than a golden retriever.

My Black-eyed Susans are looking especially pretty this year. It is the state flower of Maryland. I am hoping to link up with Today's Flowers. Which has been on a break and will be starting back up this weekend on the 18th. I hope, I missed the gorgeous flowers.

These are a couple of my trumpet vine flowers, they grow on what hubby and I call the monster on our deck. It seems the  hummingbirds love the flowers. They are a great natural nectar for the hummers. I have watched the hummer almost get lost inside one of these large tube flowers.

To see more cute critters please visit Camera Critters and Green Day and Today's Flowers

Special thanks to the wonderful host Fiona of Green Day, Misty of Camera Critters and the M. Luiz of Today's Flowers.

I hope you enjoyed my critter post and flowers. Thanks for stopping by, i hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

Birds, Blooms and Butterflies

Hello, I am linking my post up with Mosaic Monday and Ruby Tuesday. I hope everyone had a Happy Father's Day!


This is a link to my You tube video of my backyard bird sounds and the Hummer. If you turn the sound up loud you can hear the Great Blue herons juvies in their nest. The juvies get loud when the adult flies back to them with food.

These are some shots I took of the Bluebird taking a berry to feed its young in the nest and a couple shots of the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds. The flowers are on my deck and the hummingbirds and the butterflies seem to love my blooms. I have some petunias and lantana in these photos.

Tiger Swallowtail

Black Swallowtail

I hope you enjoyed my birds, blooms and butterflies and to see more great mosaics and photos please visit Mary's Mosaic Monday  and the other well known Mary at Ruby Tuesday  Thanks to both Mary of the Little Red House and Mary of the Work of the Poet for hosting these two fun memes. Also, thanks for stopping by to visit me and I hope everyone has a fantastic week.