looks like the heat wave has taken a hike.  Hopefully that is the last of the season.  92 F is just too hot for September, and we've had no rain. A few places had some storms recently but we got barely a few drops of water here. 
Next week they are predicting a few rainy days.  In the middle of the week, which would be perfect!.

Sister and I made another trip to Meadowood Nursery, that only carries native plants. Got my Dutchman Pipe vine.   I'm going to try to grow it up the bird feeder (the patio umbrella skeleton) and see what happens.  I contemplated some plants specifically for shaded areas, but I'd have to clear out one more section of the bank...and I already know I'm not going to get that done this fall.  There's always next Spring....right?

We got to see a spicebush caterpillar on their spice bush.  In their water plant area we were watching a snake who was very happily chasing around some small frogs.  He didn't appreciate our intrusion and would stick his head up high to check us out, flicking his tongue all the while.
The woman that runs the nursery was telling us of her son (I think) who is part of the monarch watch at the bird observatory in  Cape May NJ and that they are reporting epic numbers of monarch butterflies! I guess all the hype about the dangers the monarchs faced this past year paid off.  Out of curiosity I did go to their website and they reported that week two of the Monarch Monitoring Project has been off the charts. Counted 145.76 Monarchs/hour! The previous week 2 census data from ALL years averaged 34.02 Monarchs/hour. And they reportedly tagged 1800 monarchs. Can you imagine?? 

If you ever see a Monarch with a tag, it actually has an email address and phone number on it so the ID number can be reported.

An interesting fact I took from their website:

The arrival of the Monarchs in Mexico coincides with the Day of the Dead, a holiday honoring family and ancestors in Mexico. Monarchs are believed to be the spirits of the ancestors returning on the Day of the Dead.

It looks like the chipmunk had gone back to work covering up the hole I made, because it was completely filled in!  I'd left the shovel there, and even the head of that was covered.  So I uncovered the hole again, just to see what would happen. LOL  Am I bad, teasing the chipmunk? 

The other day when I got home, he was on my porch railing standing up, stretching as high as he could go. That's not high of course. I've no idea what he was trying to do or where he thought he was going to go.  There is a bird feeder hanging off the roof a few feet to his left, so that may be what he had in mind.  Hate to break it to him, but I don't think he's going to make it up there. Then again, if he would follow the squirrels he would know to go to the end, climb the tree and jump onto the roof.   It's startling if you don't know it's squirrels because it sounds inside like they weight about 50 pounds as they land and run across the metal roof!
It's a shortcut to their favorite tree, where their corn cob is put out for them.

The other day I saw a full sized snapping turtle.  Which means it was HUGE. It's not one of the ones I usually see. He appeared to be flawless. No scrapes, holes, bruises on his shell.  I tried to get a photo of him but when he saw me he ducked down into the water and pushed himself under some debris and pressed against the bank.  I tried to pry him loose with a piece of tree branch but he's rather strong and dug his back legs in. I could barely budge him. I really wanted a good look at him too.  He was going upstream, so I assume he was heading for the fish that hang out in the deeper corner.
I wonder if the babies survived him.

the small birds have been very active and I'm seeing more fights at the feeders.  You'd think it was winter the way they are behaving!
Here's a male house finch and a black capped chickadee.  The house finch is a relative newcomer to Pennsylvania, first sighted here in the 1950's. (it originated from western America.