Yellow Tiger Swallowtail

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I've been away for 12 days while we moved. We are all settled in at Donnie's house, and now the fix up on my house begins so that we can put it up for sale.

Since the rain stopped a few days ago, I've seen a lot of butterflies in Donnie's yard and mine. I finally had a few minutes to take some pics yesterday. This shot was by far my favorite. The leaves all around the sides really gave the shot a nice framed of vignette feel I thought. This was by far the sharpest shot too.

Yellow Tiger Swallowtail on White Butterfly Bush

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A quick break from primering the front porch rails at Donnie's house today.  First butterfly I've seen in days but then it's the first sunny day we've had in weeks!

Here's a collage showing the primer going on.  We'll do the actual paint tomorrow.  Rain held us up this past week, but we're finally drying out at least a bit.  The real paint will be a cream color to match the gutters and aluminum trim around the windows.

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Happy 4th of July!

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Taken at the Fuquay-Varina fireworks display last night.  Thankfully the rains held off to the south and west! Donnie did a great job avoiding traffic and getting us to the same fantastic spot that we watched the show from last year.  The show went on for about 15 minutes and had some really great fireworks.  I think this is the first time Madi has been with us, and she enjoyed the show too.

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Wet Hibiscus

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Still painting daily but I'm hoping we'll finish up inside tomorrow.  The front deck rail will still need to be painted or stained.  If it ever stops raining that is.

Going in and out of Home Depot for supplies all the time gives me the opportunity to frequently visit the garden center.  We got 10+ inches of rain in June.  3+ inches is the norm.  Every time we turn around, it's raining again.  Sure makes for pretty wet flower pictures.

Top Down Bottom Up

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Donnie and I ordered two new top down bottom up Levolor mini blinds from Home Depot, and Donnie installed them today.  I love the light filtering effect and the ability to have privacy while still letting let in and allowing me to see out.

The Fun Days of Summer

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Nothing says summer like the kids having a good time in the pool!

On Fire

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I haven't had a chance to take many pics this week, and  I've missed several days posting:-(  We're still painting every day trying to finish repainting the inside of Donnie's house.  Everything is coming together and worth it but at this point I'm ready to be done. We bypassed the closets first go around, and now that we are on or ahead of schedule, I am going back and doing them.

We were in Home Depot this morning for supplies, and I went to the garden center for suet and to looks at the flowers.  I came away with some lovely coneflower pictures as well as some wet lantana flower shots.  It felt good to stop and smell the flowers for a few minutes.

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