A nice long hike at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve!

 

I finally got on the trail at Pruitt for a nice long hike. 

It was less hot, less humidity with a breeze! 

Those days are few and far between in the summer months.

I took my time and took wildflower photos to my heart's content.

I saw 4 Bobwhites and 1 deer and a Hawk (no photos) but I took my time and enjoyed 2 hours in nature.

A quick photo of the wild honey bee hive, still active.

One small airplane flying overhead,

as well as Swallowtail kites and buzzards.

It was a welcome sight to see the Eastern Meadowlark and I enjoyed the song they sing.

Velvet Ant

The old shed with all of it's rustic beauty.

And a spider.

I got back to the Jeep and thought there was NO WAY I would stop for another pretty flower and neat bird. I had apple slices to munch and water to drink and I was ready to go home! 

But as I drove the dirt road to the hwy, I looked out in the pasture and saw a family of Sandhill Cranes.

So I took my one last ounce of energy and got out to walk the fence line and take pics. 

They walked and I tried to keep up!

Mama staying close to the young one!

Papa with all of the brightness of his colors! 

And the little one trying to keep up!

Getting to see the young Crane and this beautiful family was worth the effort!

I hope you find a nice day to get outside this week!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

  and Mosaic Monday HERE !

Little things might go unnoticed!

 When I hike in the woods, I keep an eye on all of my surroundings! Critters in the forest, birds in the trees, bikes whizzing past and bugs on the path. My attention even gets drawn to the airplanes in the sky!

So when I get home and see that I've captured something tiny in a photo, I'm always thrilled.

Praying Mantis (about one inch long)

The tiniest dragonfly I've seen!

A beautiful orange dragonfly!

Caterpillar that looked translucent!

A fence lizard that was only about an inch and a half long!

A huge spider web....

with a Spiny backed Orb Weaver. ( I think these little spiders look like tiny alien spaceships!)

Which may account for the UFO I saw deep in the forest!

 

Let's zoooom in to get a good look at it! lol

And if that's not strange enough, this is a Green Hover Fly!

Ornidia orbesa  More info HERE.

It was literally hovering at eye level when we walked a trail deep in the woods. 

I was surprised that my camera could see it. I almost walked into it! 

Above : Butterflies and an ant on the sunflower.

Below : Butterfly Pea 

Now let's just hope those little things called dust particles go unnoticed around the house! I don't hike every day so I have time for housework. But then, there are so many interesting things to do that some things get overlooked! We haven't seen a 'new' movie in a long time so I ordered 2 movies on my wish list last week and we've watched and enjoyed them both! The new Little Women with Saoirse Ronan as Jo and News of the World with Tom Hanks. My husband and I both read the book (well both of them now that I think about it) and we were very pleased with the News of the World movie. It was tastefully done and I fell in love with the little girl, Helena Zengel who plays Johanna. I hope she'll be in lots of good movies in the future. 

Have you watched any good movies lately? Or taken a hike? Or dusted your house?

I'm joining Angie for Mosaic Monday HERE . 

I’m joining Thankful Thursdays and

I like Thursdays HERE too! 

Sharing 'this and that'!

 I was going to title this, 'the beautiful and extremely ugly' but that didn't sound very 'inviting'! 

But it's another week of seeing neat things as we hike. 

The weather is so gorgeous that we are hitting the trails just about every other day! And one day we made TWO hikes! Don't ask....we won't try that again any time soon! We were BEAT!

The little pond at Pruitt is perfect for horses AND birds.

And they are always SO beautiful! 

I have never seen so many butterflies as this year and we saw one we hadn't seen before.

I think it's a Viceroy!

Not great photos but what do you think Debbie?

And I met a fellow 'lady hiker'! YAY! She was a delight to chat with and has made lots of interesting hikes. I hope we see her again soon! She is the beautiful part of this post!

There was only one other car parked where we park so that started the conversation.

You know I love stickers on a vehicle! 

We've seen a couple of caterpillars that look like Halloween.

And a scary spider that has a face.

Hubby took my photo on the Florida Trails.

And if the photo I took of him looks a little askew, it's because he is taking a photo of a snake and I'm not standing still! lol It was a harmless Black Racer....but I was anxious to keep moving!

A neat spider web....

and one with water droplets!

And now we're out of here! For those that celebrate Halloween, the spiders and webs and snakes are for YOU! 

Nature can be scary! But don't be skeeeered! Get out there and ENJOY!

I’m joining Thankful Thursdays and

I like Thursdays HERE too!