Sherry, congrats, congrats .... you are walking in tall cotton! So much activity down your way. Lovely photos and thank you for sharing. Hope your husband is growing stronger.

The first eggs I usually see around here are the pipevine swallowtails but something 'helped' me this spring by eating off every new sprout on the pipevine. I cut it back by about a third from the top late winter, so I would get a lot of new sprouts on the vines. It was looking so good and then, within two nights, something ate every new sprout and even the few little leaves. I've never seen that before. I wonder if a woods rat would eat a vine that way? That's the only creature, other than a raccoon, that I can think of that might possibly have been able to climb up an 8 foot trellis like that. Do you think a raccoon would eat such a plant? Now the vines are putting out even more new shoots so maybe it will turn out to be a good thing (if whatever has a taste for the new shoots doesn't come back for another meal). Always something new to see or learn ... :-)

Mary

That's odd, Mary, the only critters I know of that might eat your new leaves are deer. Rabbits MIGHT eat them, but they couldn't jump that high! :) Do deer ever wander into your yard?

The new shoots will help should a Mama pipevine swallowtail come your way. I've only seen one this year, a male, so my vines are growing, undisturbed. I'm wishing for some disturbance! :P

Sherry

As usual, stunning photos Ms. Sherry. What a lovely moth.

Had to come back and study the little cat photos again. I've never seen the tiger nor a red admiral cat before. Really great photos, Sherry.

You asked about deer. No, my back is fenced plus being in the city, deer are seldom seen close by. There is a ravine across the street behind the houses that has a creek which runs several miles back into a large military installation. Occasionally I've seen deer wander this far into the city by following that ravine and creek bed but I've never seen them come up along the street. My back is fenced, too, although I suppose fences don't always stop deer. It is just the strangest thing. I couldn't believe it. Whatever it was came two nights straight and ate every new tip and almost all of the leaves on the pipevine. It also chewed off milkweed that I had on the growing tables on the deck. Some were in small pots and others were still in the planting containers I winter sow in. The tops were neatly chewed off of the milkweed seedlings and larger plants were chewed down. It even ate the tiny first leaves off of the Pipevine seedlings I started by winter sowing. My beautiful little A perennis milkweed that was blooming was even eaten. Everything is recovering nicely but I'm always leery to go out in the morning, afraid it has returned to eat more plants. :-)

I saw a female pipevine SW laying eggs on the vines this afternoon. Also saw another butterfly but it was in and gone so fast I couldn't ID it. Maybe the Butterfly activity has finally begun here.

Take care, Sherry. Caring for a loved one takes a big toll on the caregiver so remember to stop and rest when you can.

Mary

<img src="//ic.photobucket.com/albums/y89/PucPuggy/LTSCat.jpg"; alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

Excuse me, I was testing something that apparently no longer works!

Thank you Mary! Caretaking does indeed take a big toll on you. I'm trying to stay rested and happy.

Sherry