Gabb's checkerspot ~ 05/27/06 ~ Garland Ranch

Gabb's checkerspot
Chlosyne gabbii

I'm fairly sure about this ID, even though I have never heard of Gabb's until I looked it up. If anyone has any additional thoughts, please let me know!

ps 03/07/10 - Art Shapiro confirmed my ID.

acmon blue
Plebejus acmon

ps 03/10/10 - I very much want to call this a square-spotted blue (Euphilotes battoides) simply to have a new species on my blog. However, given the length of the orange band all the way to the HW apex and lack of FW checked fringes, I'll concede it must be an acmon female.

pss 07/01/11 - I updated the embedded links. Now that I look at the picture again, it's obvious this individual does not have the bold squarish spots on the underside typical of Euphilotes.

black-tailed deer ~ 04/18/06 ~ at home

deer and pride of Madeira
Echium candicans
Boraginaceae

These are probably the very first pictures of deer I have from home. It was so exciting at the time to see them in the park below our balcony... but now it's a bit mundane, so much so that we get a bit peeved when tourists block our driveway in order to take pictures of the deer. The purple flowers are pride of Madeira.

ps 11/19/10 - Now that I look at these pictures again, I wonder if these were triplets with their mother.

rainbow from 9th St
April 13, 2006

This was taken just a few days after our wedding from my husband's old house. I should note, it was an exceptionally rainy spring.