Pearly Eye Butterfly

Creekstompin' & Fishin'

Its hot.

So we did water activities for the holiday.

A little crawdad hunting

A little digging in the sand

Some splashing

 Lots of wading

And creekstomping

And discovering new things.

 Then ending the day drowning a few worms

Ahhhh, summer......

Delightful Dirigibles

Glimpses of the 500 parade balloons

Memorial Day Sentiment

The spirit of this day has not changed.

It remains a day to honor those who died defending our freedom and democracy.

Time for a Parade

Today I volunteered as an equestrian escort for 

a horse unit in the 500 Festival Parade.

There were 3 equestrian units in the parade,

the Wells Fargo Stagecoach,

the Indianapolis Mounted Police, 

and

the Mounted Color Guard

Caisson Platoon.

Lots prep goes on behind the scenes

to get theses steeds ready for the parade.

 The Wells Fargo hitch arrived in a huge semi trailer.

These horses are pros and have done lots of parades.

There are actually 20 of these hitches that travel all over the country.

The stagecoach

The mounted police didn't really need an escort. 

This was just another day at the office for these horses.

Then there were the Caisson horses, 

four 17-hand Percherons & a black Quarter horse.

The Caisson Platoon participates in military funerals,

with the draft horses pulling a caisson carrying the casket,

and the smaller riderless Quarter horse saddled 

with empty boots facing backwards in the stirrups,

 representing the fallen soldier.

Today the Caisson Platoon was the color guard,

carrying the nation's flag & the Indiana flag, flanked by guards.

The guard horses carry sabres.

 I walked with the Caisson unit.

What an honor to meet these special horses!

Its a hot job, 

but somebody's got to do it!

Bugs

Been seeing lots of bugs.

Here's what I've been able to capture.

Great Southern White Butterfly

Spider & web

Black Winged Damselfly

(male)

Black Winged Damselfly

(female)

Unknown fly with yellow spot

Turtles on a Log

Sunday Sentiment

Sightings This Week

The deer are sporting their bronze summer coats.

 Mallards in the creek

 Firepinks are blooming

Red tailed Hawk soaring

Mossy Log Goes Undercover

March 12

March 19

March 28

April 29

 May 17

Just Floatin' Along

I went kayaking today with a friend.

 Prefect weather, 72°, sunny & calm.

l

  Spooked a few herons

 Saw iris blooming at the water's edge.

Saw a purple martin occupying a wood duck house.

And we found a box turtle, as well as seeing 

painted turtles, water snakes and carp spawning.

Serenity...