A butterfly and a mysterious shrub!

"Bet you can't guess what I'M up to? (Don't feel bad...no one else could either!)"

Today was the perfect summer day! The sky was clear all day, it was warm, and there was a light breeze.

But it was 35 degrees when I woke up this morning! Good thing Steven and I covered the potatoes, squash, and tomatoes! The tomato house is on the left. There is squash under the blue tarp and the PVC hoophouse behind it.

Behind the PVC hoophouse is the potato patched, covered with old sheets and blankets.

That's me starting to uncover the potatoes. Steven found my camera unattended...

Steven kissed me and I turned into a butterfly! (If you remember, HE turned into a toad when I kissed him on a previous post! lol)

All you sharp botonist people...can you tell me what this bush with the whitish-blue berries on it is? I know it isn't Elderberry because the leaves are smooth-edged.

This is the whole bush.

These flowers are past their prime, but if I've identified it right from my book, they're Fireweed.

I was standing in the garden about to take a picture of the solar panels and this bird flew up. I caught it in flight.

Now it's sitting on the edge of the composter. The gray tank behind is a stock tank we keep in the garden for hand-watering.

There are four of the solar panels. The others are on a turning pedestal in the yard. Steven is hoping to move these onto the tower with the other ones before winter. Since we can't turn these to track the sun we lose a lot of their charging potential.
You can see the ham radio antenna on the roof of the cabin in the background.

Our raspberries are finally getting ripe. There are far fewer than usual, and they're about 3 weeks later than normal.

Purple flowers with yellow centers. Who knows that they are? They're all over in the woods around the edge of the yard.

Last but not least....the goatling tethered out to graze.