Saw my first Red Admiral, couldn't catch a picture of it. Rats. Of course my kids say "I see those all the time", but then they also told me all the grasshoppers were butterflies!

I finally got both of my butterfly books in (thank you, Amazon): Butterflies of Oklahoma, Kansas and North Texas and Butterflies of North America and I've enjoyed reading the latter very much. So much to learn!

Also, thanks (very, very much) to a list member, I was finally able to make a choice on a new camera. I had a job come in that paid enough to cover the cost, so I'll order that within the next day or two. In the meantime, I'm trying to get the hang of working with more manual settings so I'll be ready.

NOW, if only the leps would come back. It's been a wasteland here for the past week. We're in a phase between flowerings, so there's only a limited amount of Vernonia baldwinii to attract them out in the pasture...not too much else. It rained all last week and now the heat indices are in the 105-110 degree range and I'm a wuss since having heatstroke about ten years ago.

I'm still working on the plans for the butterfly garden up by the house. I've sent off some Centaurea americana seed to a couple folks, and getting ready to send out more. If anyone else wants some, let me know.

BTW, I don't know if any of you are interested in planting your gardens in raised beds, but Home Depot is having an online sale on 4'x4' raised bed kits $9.00 each (with free shipping) through the 19th. It's actually a very good price. They're backordered, but you won't be charged until they ship, so it can't hurt to try.

That's the news from Lake Hugo! ;)