Sunday, July 3, 2011

We've Been Quiet For A Week...

....in a good way. Life is full and rich and crazy. Summer burst upon the scene like a hot hypnotist. Everything rises by silent seasonal instruction, "when the temperature reaches 80F, you will send out flowers and shoots, you will produce tendrils that climb the strings, you will turn a strawberry red."
Heatwave, we're having a heatwave. Not only that but we are in the midst of dragonfly season and the season of squirrels lying flat on their bellies in the shade. One day there was a cocoon by the front-yard hose,
and then there was a Ctenucha Rubroscapa come out for its first time in the sun.

I once saw an orange-headed lizard on the road. It ducked so fast Roger missed it. Maybe I imagined it. That could happen, right? But I looked out the door on Sunday, just before I pulled down the blinds on the 95F western side of the house and saw this guy.
What? An orange-headed thing. I remember googling that the first time. It's a skink. Yes, a Gilbert's Skink. Wikipedia says they're mostly not out and about. This one ran under the frame of the door. They like to hide. Ain't that the truth. I can totally relate.

14 comments:

  1. That skink knows how to deal with summer heat.
    Glad you were busy with good stuff!

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  2. Blogger is being stingy with photos tonight - I can't see any except the first one.

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  3. That is a really interesting looking moth with great markings. Neat shot of the skink.
    So glad you have finally warmed up. Enjoy. We are so hot here the birds are panting.
    Your beds are looking good.

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  4. I am like the skink -- I try and hide in the shade on days like these....oy, it's hot.

    No heat stroke from garden work!! (Great days for drying clothes, though, eh?)

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  5. I thought about going under the house to get cool------until I saw how crowded it was! lol :)

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  6. the garden looks busy! and the critters in the yard.

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  7. What a cutie that skink is!

    The moth is beautiful, but the cocoon is very intriguing indeed. Can you tell me what it's made of? It looks more like the kind that is made from scavenged bits than one that came entirely out of mama moth's body.

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  8. So good to hear from you again! I love the photos,too. Happy Summer!

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  9. Great photos! Glad to see all is going well.

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  10. Great pics! Here it felt the last days more like autumn - sweater weather rather than t-shirt weather. No good weather for pics. Well, I do not like heat, so I can not complain...

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  11. Great post. That skink would look absolutely terrifying if you didn't know how small he is.

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  12. Love your photos - especially the cute shot of the skink peeking out from unter the metal. The moth is exquisite. It's nice to have things seem quiet for a week, or two, or three.

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  13. never heard of or saw a skink! you come up with some fascinating creatures! we got a small taste of a heat wave in southern OR with its 85+ degrees after spending a week on the central OR coast in 70 degree sunlight. all of that was a big shock to us given our cool PNW summer this year. no home grown veggies for us this year - not enough sun or a long enough season. we only have 7 weeks of summer left here and have not even made it to 75 yet!

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  14. Definitely summer here too. Looking forward to fall already. Thanks for dropping by and commenting on my garden blog entry. I am not doing too well at blogging or reading other blogs these days. Nice to have some contact with old blog friends at times. Glad to hear that Roger is doing a lot better now!

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