Odds and ends from today

I covered a lot of ground today.

Here's a Carolina garden spider, sometimes called a writing spider because of the zigzag patterns she weaves in her orb web to attract insects. We saw her at Botany Bay WMA.

We are seeing some effects from being on the far edges of tropical storm Fay. The waves at Edisto Beach are normally very easy. The camera doesn't show it very well, but these were very strong, probably ten feet high.

At the Grove Plantation, headquarters for the famous ACE Basin reserve, we were lucky enough to glimpse a wood nymph butterfly. He was well inside a small shrub and very hard to get a good shot at. They are not common and it was the first time I'd ever seen one.

We got a laugh out of this sign we saw. This small building had been little rural gas station with beer and goodness knows what else offered. It closed when the owner died and stood idle for months. This is what is going to open there now.

And today's squirrel Olympics features the Peanut Hang. This competitor will have several points deducted for letting his legs come apart and not keeping his toes pointed.