Nat Geo in Our Own Backyard

It's no secret to those who know me best that I love nature and all that she has to offer. Travis and I make a yearly trip to Death Valley (our 2011 pictures will be coming soon) just to see the Spring bloom, and we're always taking day trips to our local natural monuments. I try to bring a little of nature's beauty to our home by having plants both inside and outside. Of course, we end up attracting some pretty interesting visitors.

Meet Hector. I found him hanging out on Weasley's cage a few weeks ago. We wanted him to stick around, so we put him in one of our luscious potted plants.

Every morning and every evening we checked on Hector. He seemed very happy in his new home.

Then one day, he was gone. I was so sad, but I knew he had probably flown off to a bigger, better plant where he could catch more bugs. After all, a boy has to eat!

This past weekend much to my delight I spotted Hector once again on Weasley's cage! I was so excited. We scooped him up again and stuck him back on the plant. Yesterday morning as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, Travis called me out to look at something he claimed was "so cool."


See that ghost image in the middle of the picture? That's Hector's old skin! He must have molted it the night before. Fascinating, don't you think?

He's now a very happy, much bigger boy.

We also have other visitors that come to our yard regularly most notably hummingbirds. We have three hummingbird feeders on our property, but the one in the back yard seems to get the most action. Let me tell you, these little birds may be beautiful, but they are fiercely aggressive! They will fight each other in mid air for the prize perching position. Once there, they refill their energy tanks with yummy sugary food.

Yup, we have our own little version of Nat Geo in our backyard :)