Spotted around my yard

Here are a couple of friends spotted around my yard recently:



A beautiful butterfly resting on the deck railing. Note to self: Hammer in nail soon.

There are dragonflies swooping around the yard everywhere, but only when I don't have my camera with me. I did manage to catch this one in the front yard, where he was taking a rest on the branch of our (unfortunately) dead cherry tree.

The deer, of course, are frequent visitors. They are especially fond of tomato plants. Fortunately I found this out at the beginning of the growing season, as they ate the tops of the plants before they ever bloomed. So I just kind of gave it up for a loss. There was one tomato plant that had grown in the shelter of a huge squash plant, and was hidden enough from the deer so that there were three small green tomatoes growing on it. And then one day I went to water the garden and there was the plant, pulled up out of the garden but not eaten.

So the next day, in broad daylight, I watched a doe come up to the garden and start investigating. She started nibbling on the tomato plant that was lying beside the garden. Mr. GV stuck his head out the door and the doe startled and ran into the woods. The funny part, though, was that she kept the entire tomato plant in her mouth for the first half of her run, then finally dropped it. lol

Love those deer! Wish I could feed them so that they would leave my plants alone, but feeding wild animals is a huge no-no. Next year we might put a deterrent in the garden. Or just plant a lot extra.