Fragile Fritillary

This Gulf Fritillary looks very fragile. . . his hind wings falling apart. He was resting on a sunflower by the garage early this morning.

This crop of sunflower is beautiful, if not plentiful. They are mostly planted in sandy soil enriched with hundreds of pounds of used cat litter. . . which helped them survive the long, dry days of August without any irrigation.

I've had to retreat temporarily from planting the next crop of sunflowers as it is finally raining (and lightning). When the lightning lets up I'll get back to it. Dell-Roy and I sat and watched the rain for awhile. He refuses to let me doctor his ears which are infected. He wasn't too pleased with me picking ticks off of him either. We're going to attempt to reintegrate him into the house as soon as I finish my current health care regime (in about two weeks). Helen, the blind cat, (named for Helen Keller) is still too wild to capture.