As I was leaving from cat sitting this morning, I saw a dark blob on the garage floor. Miss Spider stayed put long enough for me to go to the car, get my camera, and take a couple of photos. And then she scurried off.
Tag: fauna
A Garden Update
My sedum is finally getting ready to bloom. The little buds are starting to take on a pink blush, and a few of them have popped their outer skin.
As I was photographing the sedum, I noticed that 1) my volunteer basil plant has gotten ginormous and B) there was a praying mantis hanging out in it.
I’ve also got something else volunteering in another bed. I’m hoping that some of the seeds I planted last spring finally decided to grow. Otherwise, it’s just a weed. It’s got buds forming, so I should know soon, either way.
And speaking of things I didn’t think were going to grow, the purple aster I got from a coworker is blooming! The grounds crew scalped it not long after I planted it, and then it got hidden by the basil, so I didn’t notice that it had come back.
Gray Moth
This little guy was next to the door leading to the laundry room.
Wing
It stormed last night, and this morning, there was a wing from either a moth or butterfly stuck to the window by my cubicle. The wind must’ve thrown him up against the glass.
And now, a rant.
I’m just about fed up with drive-by blog spammers. One of the art-related mail lists I subscribe to gets a steady stream of people who only post in order to funnel traffic to their blogs. It’s annoying as hell. “Hi, I don’t care enough to actually participate in this group, but I wrote something cutesy-puke on my blog. Please drop by! Andalsoplustoo, don’t forget to leave a comment! Hugs-n-Kisses!!!” How obnoxious!
If whatever cutsey-puke crap they’re blogging about is (presumably) off-topic for the group, then posing a “come visit” link is also off-topic, right? And if it’s actually on-topic, then why the hell can’t they just share their damned story with everyone and be done with it? I mean, what is the point of a discussion forum, if people are just posting links to outside fora, instead of holding those discussions within the group?
Bumblebee
I just love echinacea. I was bummed when the seeds I planted didn’t sprout, so I’m really happy about getting some from my coworker. The bumblebees seem pretty darned happy about it, too.
These were both taken with the Lensbaby 2.0 with +4 macro filter.
Echinacea with Bee
Mr. Bee’s little trousers are packed with pollen.
Dogbane Beetle
The plant is called, strangely enough, dogbane. It’s in the milkweed family.
Eastern Tailed Blue
Eastern Tailed Blue (Cupido comyntas)
The little brat wouldn’t open his wings for more than a couple of seconds. I wanted to get a photo of the uppersides, because they were bright blue. The undersides were muted and a little bit greyish. (And yes, he. In summer, the females are brown, but the males are iridescent blue.)
Horse Skull
One of my mom’s friends is a sculptor. When I was up there a few weeks ago, we went to her studio so I could meet her, look at her work, and take photos of some of her horse bones.
I’m working with a kit lens, which isn’t great in low light, even with the aperture wide open. Then again, it might have helped if I’d remembered to boost the ISO. Duh! At 200 indoors, I’m lucky anything turned out.
Deer Skull
This, along with a cardboard box of ribs and a wooden tray of vertebrae, was on my mom’s front porch. I forgot to ask where it came from, and I’m not sure I want to know why it was hanging out on the front porch.
red paper boat 