A mysterious bug

Note: This post has been updated... the mystery is solved. See end of post.

On Sunday, I happened to notice a hole in the dirt in my flower barrel in front of the garage. It was about the size of a dime. I wondered what made it but didn't really think too much about it, and I pushed some dirt into it. Then a bit later, I notice several more holes scattered around in the dirt. They were a bit smaller and looked like this:

That bit of wire fencing is there to keep the cats/kittens out of the flowers. Well, it sorta helps... but not too much, as you can see. At least it keeps them from digging and... well... you know what cats do... in the dirt.

I then noticed bugs going into those holes in the dirt. Hmm. You can see a couple of the bugs in the air in the above photo and this next one (click to enlarge). There was a bit of yellowish color on them, and I wondered if they were young bumblebees. Of course they were flying pretty fast, making it really hard to get a good look.

I managed to get a closer picture of one of the bugs and decided it's not a bumblebee. The yellowish color I saw seemed to be just pollen on its legs. But I sure don't know what they are. Anybody else know?

Georgie was determined to be in the photo shoot, too, so here he is. :) Don'tcha just love his nose?

And here's another shot of the beautiful osteospermum, while I'm at it:

Update: Thanks to commenter Annie Dee, I now know that they are ground bees. You can see pics of many different kinds of them here.

Hiding again

Remember back in April when I showed you one of Josie's favorite hiding spots? I told you she had another favorite spot, and I managed to capture her hiding there again one day.

Same hallway, different room. Can't see her, can you?

Nah... still can't see her!

And if she looks away, you STILL can't see her!!!

Okay, so she got busted, and took off before I could adjust the camera settings for a better shot, but...

... I found her! :)

BTW, I mentioned her limp in that post. As of now, the limp is gone! The first glucosamine product didn't seem to help any, so I tried a different kind after that was gone, and two weeks later she had completely quit limping. I gradually tapered the dosage down until there was none left, and she hasn't had any for at least 3 weeks, and still no limp. Maybe once the glucosamine is totally out of her system, she'll start limping again... or (hopefully) whatever it was has healed and she won't have the problem again. Time will tell.

Just pretty

My dahliettas have started blooming again. So pretty!!

I usually bring the pot inside overnight, just as a safety precaution to make sure no 'coons go digging in them. Saturday night I forgot, but they hadn't been damaged overnight, thank goodness. There was a bit of dew left on this top bloom, which made it extra pretty:

And up closer:

I love these sturdy little flowers, and I will surely plant them again another year.

Oh, no... there are more!

It must be a good year for turkeys. I noticed another hen and five chicks on our lawn Saturday morning.

These chicks are considerably smaller than the ones I showed you earlier.

So this makes a total of 4 hens and about 17 chicks. Yikes!

They like to roost in the machine shed. You want to make sure you aren't standing underneath any when you go out there!

American Girl doll Rash Guard Surfer Top and Boy Cut Shorts

I've been squeezing in some sewing time here and there recently, a little bit at a time. I finally finished an AG doll outfit that I had cut out a couple weeks ago. It's a rash guard swim suit, another Friday free pattern from Pixie Faire. 

In case the fabric looks familiar, I only had two old swimsuits to get it from, so this outfit sorta goes with the swimsuits I'd made before, and I've used part of one suit for panties, too. (Good use for those old suits!) 

I like how it turned out, except that my decorative topstitching leaves a lot to be desired. My sewing machine didn't like going over the bulk of the seams, even though they weren't really that bulky. But the fabric was thin and a little slippery, so it didn't work the best. I think if I made another, I'd just skip the contrasting topstitching. That was what took the most time, plus changing thread colors back and forth. Otherwise, it was pretty simple to make, if you don't mind sewing on thin, stretchy fabric. The stretchiness makes for an easy fit, though, and it wasn't even necessary to put elastic in the waistband.

I hope Courtney's Marie Grace will be happy with it! At least she won't be getting any rashes on her arms when she goes surfing!