The wildflowers have been incredible in the Gila National Forest this summer. We have had much more rain than normal and the hills are as green as Ireland. We have heard from locals that this is not a normal summer as far as rain amounts go. The grass and flowers on our hill is waist-high in many places. I never expected this much growth!

I’ve been trying to document every wildflower I find. Here are a few of my favorites:


Even the bugs here are beautiful!

Besides being unusual, normal type bugs are in unusual places! Do you think this one was trying to catch a hummingbird?
We’ve been welcomed outside our front door daily by this checkerboard lizard.

These black-tailed jackrabbits are practically tame. They seem to love the apples I’ve thrown out for wildlife to eat.

I didn’t know what to expect as far as snakes went in this part of the country. I thought that we would be overrun with rattlesnakes. That hasn’t been the case. I did see one rattlesnake but it was in lower country about 20 miles from here. I have seen one rather large garter snake. It was at least 3 feet long.

Oh, and one last thing – the hummingbirds we have at our 3 feeders is nothing short of extraordinary!

Summer is close to being over. The nights are getting longer and they are getting cooler. I’m really looking forward to seeing what fall has to offer!