Wildlife

It is turtle egg laying season again. Our dog practically broke my neck in her eagerness to check out this turtle on our embankment the other day. We made sure that dogs and children watched from a considerable distance. M commented, "Mommy, turtles lay eggs so slowly!" Yeah, well, it took some time for her to be born, too, as I recall...

We have lots of ladybugs this year. Unfortunately, I think it maybe because we have so many aphids.
And lots of other weird and wonderful bugs have been making an appearance recently, too. Also less wonderful is the start of mosquito and evil-orange-squash-destroying-bug season.
My husband took this photo of a bee. Luckily, we seem to have lots of these.
My husband also took this photo yesterday from our yard. Birds Birds Birds.
And, finally, it seems to be a bumper year for frogs. The girls find them all over the place. Big sister frog...
And little sister frog...
We even had a baby frog on the inside of our toilet window last night.

bugs

I have heard about the bee shortage and was getting a bit worried about our strawberries, but have started seeing these tiny bees around in the past two weeks













And our strawberries are finally starting to strawberry!














The aphids are TERRIBLE this year. But they do seem to have attracted many ladybugs. I hope the ladybugs win!














A bit fuzzy, but the lady bug shedding its skin was kind of cool.

trees and bugs

I have been seeing more and more insects around. Spring is here! Some bees, so hopefully the strawberries will get going. The aphids are also out in force. Hope the ladybugs can keep them under control. And I saw some of those horrible orange beetles that eat all our vine veggies yesterday. sigh.










Well, now we know why this tree was having some problems. Caught in the act!













My husband gave the avacado tree a drastic trim, but it seems to be fighting back.














My husband saved and planted apple seeds from the better apples we at in the fall, and they are doing quite well. Especially now that he has thinned them. Usually I am left to be the designated "murderer", though thinning isn't my favorite either.