Plans are meant to change. That's all I can say. The weather didn't cooperate with the time that I had to spend on the trails. I only ventured to the trail once this week and when the clouds rumbled, I walked as quickly as I could with all my camera gear so I could get back to the parking lot before the storm hit. I made it home with a little time to spare before the rain began.

Thunderstorms lit up the sky and dropped a deluge of rain and hail. Luckily the hail dropped elsewhere and spared my garden and flowers. The blossoms are all intact and the mid to late summer flowers are just beginning to open. There is an abundance of buds on the coneflowers and the beebalm. They are favorites for the bees and the butterflies.

I haven't seen the swallowtails lately but there have been numerous smaller butterflies in the yard. The bees have been busy pollinating all the blossoms in the vegetable garden. At times I wonder how they are able to fly with all that pollen stuck to their legs!

I did see an odd sight this week on my way to work. I saw elk twice on my travels. The first morning there were five of them crossing the road. The second morning there were three grazing in a hay field. They didn't seem bothered by the fact that I came to a quick stop to jump out and snap a couple of photos. What fun to see them where you least expect it!

The remainder of the week looks great in the weather department. It doesn't appear to want to rain so I'm going to try my best to get to the trails this week.