It's the Little Things

We had a chore to do in PF today, so we packed Skye up in the Lead Sled and took her to the dog park to get some of her ya-ya's out. Unfortunately, no other dogs came to visit while we were there, so she had to be content with running around on her own, which doesn't work as well. But she had fun sniffing the weeds.

The weed du jour, Oxalis, which gave it's name to oxalic acid.

Oxalis /ˈɒksəlᵻs/ is a large genus of flowering plants in the wood-sorrel family Oxalidaceae comprising about 800 of the 900 known species in the family. The genus occurs throughout most of the world, except for the polar areas; species diversity is particularly rich in tropical Brazil, Mexico and South Africa.

Many of the species are known as wood sorrels (sometimes written "woodsorrels" or "wood-sorrels") as they have an acidic taste reminiscent of the unrelated sorrel proper (Rumex acetosa). Some species are called yellow sorrels or pink sorrels after the color of their flowers instead. Other species are colloquially known as false shamrocks, and some called sourgrasses. For the genus as a whole, the term oxalises is also used.

There were a few butterflies around, but none were cooperative except this Eastern-Tailed Blue, a male from the powder blue on the upper surface of the wings.

Then I saw a few feet away, four more of them "puddling" on an old dog poop. I was so impressed I didn't even clean it up.

I also found this orange skipper, which seems to be a run-of-the-mill Sachem.

Apparently, the dog park wasn't near enough exercise for Skye, as she started nagging for another walk shortly after lunch. So off we went. The beach was all but empty, the fossil hunting poor (4 teeth), but the weather was nice, mid 70s and breezy from the south.

Most of the interest was on the walk home. A dash of color in the wetland?

A Blue Flag Iris, the native swamp iris. I took the starts for the blue flags in my pond from this very spot about 20 years ago.

A brush bunny on the side of the road got Skye excited. It let us get within 2 leash lengths before it got sufficiently concerned to hop off into the bushes.

A Yellow Flag Iris, a non-native swamp iris, slightly larger and more robust than the Blue Flags, in the ditch/stream at the bottom of our back lots. Considered invasive, I don't see enough of them to be worried about them taking over.