Holy Buckets of Wildlife Galore

I have said time and time again that it surprises me how little of the east coast flora and fauna I know. I don't know if I thought I'd remember more of it (I did live in CT until the age of 10. Not the same? OK. Fine), or if I thought it wouldn't be so different, or if I didn't think of it at all. But the amount of things that I see/hear/smell that I have to look up somehow is amazing, and continues to knock my socks off. I feel like this may be lost on some...

Case in point - here's a recent conversation with the manfriend:

     Me (starry eyed and full of wonder): There are so many different kinds of butterflies! And spiders! I barely know any of them! We didn't have nearly this many in California!
     Him (looking at me like I may, in fact, be insane): We just really have a lot of bugs.

Ok. Fine. But still. I wake up at 3am to a cacophony of bird and bug song, and dammit they don't stop. Ever.

And the snakes. I  personally have only seen one Copperhead so far. Unfortunately (and this is NOT my normal MO) Mr. Copperhead had to go - he was inhabiting one of the metal containers that has since been transformed into an herb bed, and would not leave. No amount of stones thrown against the metal sides would get him to budge, and he was not only in my garden, he was right where the chicken coop is gonna go. So he had to go...

But I have also seen a Mole Kingsnake, a Rough Green Snake, and a Black Racer. I am happy to see these guys, as they aren't venomous, and unless you're dumb or you accidentally corner them they won't bite. The presence of a Racer also means the lack of a Copperhead, and they all eat small animals and bugs and the like. So the Black Racer sunning himself in my garden is totally OK by me.

I will spare you spider pictures. Mostly because I don't take any, but also because there would be too many for your page to load - regardless of your connection speed.

Mole Kingsnake sunning himself across my driveway.

Black Racer

Finally no longer eating my veggies

So many lizards! (sorry the zoom on my iPhone gets pixelated)

That black blob is a cricket. Two seconds later there was no more black blob.

What is this flower? No, I didn't grow up here and I have no idea...

The goddamn honeysuckle is EVERYWHERE.

It's hard to find a nook on the property without some sort of flower on it at the moment.

More irises from my godmother!