The sight of 100's of butterflies must be awesome! I rarely get butterflies in my shady yard. Lucky sight for you!! It's a sign they LOVE your yard!

It's a shame that there's so few Monarchs left compared to what there used to be. I've seen one in my yard this fall and I know that one other came earlier...I'm raising a Monarch caterpillar, the only one that hatched from the few eggs I found on milkweed one day. But I've seen isolated single Monarchs flying by when I'm driving around. Today I went to an area above Medina Lake's dam...there's still some water out by the dam, although I didn't get very near it. Quite a few things blooming now. And it was great! Mostly there were oodles of the small Snout butterflies (one of the big influxes that defy logic by going south to north), a few Variegated Fritillaries, a few NOID butterflies...but what was really exciting were the Monarchs! Apparently quite a few migrating Monarchs were going through there this afternoon...maybe wind currents that blow through the hilly lake area and canyons there bring them for the easy ride...maybe, not sure. Not a single Monarch that I saw today had stopped, all were up and flying. So no pics of them. Guess with the sunny day after the rainy days, they just have to get going. And I'm grateful for the 1.5 inch rain I got lately, and for the cooler weather. Just one thing wrong with October...it's only 31 days long!

Can you tell what this one is, Linda?

No Monarchs landing here last evening. I kept checking, like a kid watching for Santa's sleigh. I think I was late to the party and they'd already passed our area. Fascinating that they seem to know what the weather's going to be like on their trip to Mexico. I look for them every spring and fall, but have never seen them in such a mass as in 2006.

Must have been a beautiful day, Linda. Hope the lake is filling again. Those Snouts are hood ornaments up by the lake along Hwy 71.

Debra, it might be the Southern Skipperling, can't tell for sure, though. Yes, Sandi, seems like every time there a big snout event, more people head for the carwashes. I've got some stuff on my windshield that needs to be washed off, not to mention the grill in front.

The Monarchs may possibly be a little late this year. I found this website for a ranch up by our lake place last year. I started to contact her , but we really didn't see many b'flies then. We're supposed to have rain late tonight and much cooler temps tomorrow. I'll hold out hope that we'll see some as we're close to Barton Creek.

http://texasbutterflyranch.com...

Looked like it had two sets of wings, piggybacked

Snout Butterflies gathering on Poverty Weed out by the dam.

And today, I saw a Monarch on the Frostweed at the front of the property. Yay!

I came in from work early this morning at 5 am. It was COLD!!! My car said it was 49º?! Already??? I am going to have to get going on that greenhouse NOW! It might take me awhile to get things moved if weather gets any colder.

I'm just in from moving pots of hibiscus to the side yard. Too pretty of a day to be inside!

42.1° last night. Brrrr! Wonder when the next cold front will be here.