Various Bugs around the yard

Seems like we've got a lot of dragonflies this year, more than I've ever noticed.   I saw four different kinds in our yard today.  The top picture was the best shot I took today.  Another kind of hummingbird moth came around too.  This one was harder for me to get decent pictures of it than the last one we had here.

Lake pleasant New York

Fidelco Dog Benefit Ride

Sunday we went on a very large group ride to benefit the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation.  I hadn't really paid attention to what they do before.  I was very impressed how much they support the military and the guy in charge, CEO, CFO, President, whatever you call him, he's a down to earth , all around , just plain nice guy.  Although it was a long day, I 'm very happy we went

I rode on the back of Ray's motorcycle because it was hot and I really wanted to take pictures, here we are going up to the town we live in actually, we rode from Bloomfield CT, through Hartland, Canton, Avon , Simsbury and back to Bloomfield where we started.  We are about 1/2 way in this pack of motorcycles so there is this many bikes behind us!

They have a field of flags for fallen soldiers which was new this year, you can buy a flag in memory of a soldier for $10

They had police on hand to block every intersection so we could ride right through all the stop signs and lights.

Demonstrations were done so we could see how they train the dogs to do various things.  There were a lot of dogs there that are in training walking around with the volunteers who foster them.  They are SO well behaved and don't jump around and bark at each other or try to play

Hummingbird Moth

I chased this little bugger all over the yard tonight.  It was most interested in the bee balm.  This one seems a little different than the one I took pictures of in NY a couple weeks ago

Despite the heat, the flowers are still beautiful

This is the top of mint, I didn't know they flowered, they sure spread a lot, and fast, I am a bit sorry I put it in my garden.  If any one wants some (in a pot) let me know. I Have a lot of it.

 I forget a lot of flower names but I think this is some kind of phlox

Bee Balm

Attracts a lot of bee's, it's fun to watch them fly from flower to flower and see all the pollen on their legs

Orange Lily

Not sure about this one but it came from Lori's garden, I love it!!

I always think the greens are weeds and rip these out but then I miss a few and realize they are flowers, I need to pay more attention to what plants are vs. weeds

Globe thistle, they don't do much but turn a real pretty blue, I think I like them because they remind of of fireworks

Duck visitors

This is the mother of the gaggle of ducks in the first picture

Indian Lake NY

We took a drive to Indian Lake looking for moose..... no moose, just a turtle...

My friend Barb came to visit

She works for one of the insurance companies I work with and lives about an hour from here. 

Lake Pleasant NY

Waterfalls

Beecher falls NY

Road trip on a foggy day in search of waterfalls.  We found them!  The day before we went looking too and were unsuccessful

We patiently waited....

Got a few bug bites, met a new friend and had a nice time just sitting down at the lake for an hour today after we had gone moose hunting down a 12 mile dirt road, no luck on the moose...

Happy Fourth of July 2013!!

Every year I come to our house in NY for vacation for the 4th and the town has a huge parade with fireworks after.  I dragged my camera and tripod down to the lake this year hoping to practice getting some pictures.  Hope you enjoy them..

I finally saw a beaver

I was hoping for a moose but I'll take this.  I've never actually seen a beaver this close, it was swimming so nice and quiet and then just floated off into the distance

Lazy Sunday

I sat on my deck most of the day just reading, listening to the birds and practicing with different settings on my camera.... I'd say it was just about a perfect day..