We named her "Toto"

For those that didn't know we lost our other Toto in a car accident August 22.  At the time we thought it best not to replace him.  Well, when I saw four little Rat Terrier puppies on craigslist yesterday that looked just like Toto, we had to get one!  We decided to also name her Toto, like the dog on the Wizard of Oz.  Did you know that the Wizard of Oz Toto was a female?  I didn't know that or we wouldn't have named our other Toto that name.  Meet Toto our baby girl puppy!  She is 10 weeks old and looks like she will fit perfectly into our family.  Charlie is enjoying her now though it was an adjustment for both of them the first day as you can see by the images below.  Toto will probably outgrow Charlie as she is a larger Rat Terrier and has the paws to show for it!

Autumn flowers attract pretty moths and butterflies

This image below is the dried part of a blue wild-indigo wildflower.  I think this part of the flower looks ugly when in bloom, but like it dried and photographed at sunset!

This dried ironweed wildflower took on a pastel hue with their hairy seed pods.  They are normally purple and can take over a country field.

I like the teal-colored, out-of-focus background on this dried purple coneflower taken with my macro lens!

These Hedge-hog prickly-poppy wilflowers bloom late in the year and its name fits it perfectly! Prickly!!!!!

Another late bloomer is the dotted gayfeather wildflowers which attracted this silver-spotted skipper moth.  I read that these moths almost never visit yellow flowers but I caught them in the rare act on the second image below on some yellow goldenrod.

The painted lady butterflies were very much in abundance this past season.  They seemed to be everywhere when driving along our country road.  Here's one on a dried thistle wildflower.

Sunflowers and a cute little pest!

When I first saw this green and black spotted bug I thought it was a green lady bug.  After researching, I discovered there is no such insect!  This cute little bug is a major agricultural pest, as it eats or damages the leaves of crops.  Along with a few images of this beetle, there are also some macro images of sunflowers to include one with a honeybee.  Did I mentioned that I LOVE sunflowers!  Enjoy!

Sunset Buckboard Adventure!

We enjoyed an evening of food and fellowship with some good friends Saturday night.  After dinner, my hubby "saddled up" the 24-horse tractor and the kids pulled their parents on the buckboard!  Here are a few of my favorites images from the buckboard adventure!  Enjoy!

Beautiful horses!

Remember the baby horse from last year?  She has grown into a beautiful horse. The first three are of her and with her mother.  I love the tenderness between both of them and was glad to be able to capture it.  Also included are some images that "screamed" for me to convert to black and white and also sepia tone, along with a funny image of a horse sticking his tongue out!  Enjoy!

 

...ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Over a course of a couple days, I watched two baby sparrows as they were fed by their parents.  I wondered as they brought food to the babies where in the world did they get the food?  It was so hot and the ground was so dry; but somehow they managed.  It's so cute when a baby bird opens its mouth up real wide!  Below are images captured during this feeding process. You'll notice one of the baby sparrows poking its head out from the right side of the birdhouse. Also, the last image is a male sparrow which I suspect might be the father.

Jace takes his family to the aquarium!

Our trip to Florida originally was to celebrate our great grandson's 1st birthday.  We bought a Tampa CityPASS which got us into five Tampa attractions to include the Florida Aquarium.  I wasn't sure if Jace would be old enough to enjoy the aquarium, but you will see by the images below that he enjoyed himself.  I'm glad I was able to get in a couple of the images with this time!