Tag: fauna

Pets

Teh Cute

Shelly

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Three Wise Monkeys
Credit: Graham C99

Last night, the coyotes were having a raucous good time, with lots of yiping and howling. They spend the warm weather in the larger section of forest, a few miles away, then move to the smaller section of forest behind where I live during the cold months. I’ve been hearing them in the distance for the past week or so, as they moved closer, but last night they were right outside my house. Coyotes are shy animals, and even when they’re close-by, I rarely actually see them. I know they aren’t a threat to me, but knowing that on a logical level doesn’t stop the hair on the back of my neck from raising up. Last night, they were close enough that I could hear their feet crunching on the frosty gravel of the lane, as they passed by.

It’s interesting that they returned on the night of solstice.

Harriet’s reaction to coyotes has always amused me. She pretends they don’t exist. I know she can hear them, but she doesn’t acknowledge them. If dogs came that close to the house, making that sort of racket, she’d be in a tizzy, but not so with coyotes. It’s like she’s trying to impersonate all of the Three Wise Monkeys at once: “I cannot hear them, I cannot see them, and I will not speak of them.” If you point them out to her, she looks at you like you’re smoking crack.

Photography

St. Andrew’s Cross Spider

Shelly

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Apparently, all argiope spiders are commonly called St. Andrew’s Cross spiders, for the way they stretch their legs into an elongated X shape while sitting in their webs (I had erroneously thought that the name came from the large X pattern many of them weave into their webs). My particular spider is Agriope aurantia, otherwise known as the black and yellow garden spider, yellow garden spider, orb weaver, and writing spider. They’re non-aggressive, but even if they do bite, their venom isn’t generally bothersome to humans.

Photography

Autumn Photoblogging

Shelly

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St. Andrews Cross Spider (Argiope aurantia)

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The grasshopper was hanging out on my deck this afternoon. It’s a little late in the season for bugs, but it’s been warm, so they’re still active. There was something cricket-like chirping away last night, and the evil Japanese beetles are swarming.

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We’ve had a few nice sunsets recently. The third photo is of the last full moon, rising in the east, with the Belt of Venus.

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I had been dubious about the trees turning color, but we seem to have gotten enough rain in time. Most of the leaves have dropped, after last weekend’s blowing winds, but I got a few photos before that happened. I love the contrast of the oranges, yellows, and reds–lit by the near-setting sun–against the heavy, grey clouds.

Auntie Em! Auntie Em! As I mentioned, we had a hell of a storm over the weekend. It had been super windy during the day on Saturday, but warm and the sky seemed to clear up a bit in the afternoon. That night, the wind picked up, with gusts up to 65mph. Yikes! I woke up at 1:45, scared half to death. There aren’t any storm sirens, because I live in the country, so I turned on the television to see if there were any weather alerts. The Terre Haute stations, which usually have the best weather coverage for my area, were still on regular programming. ABC from Indy had radar up, but, because Indy is the center of their universe, they weren’t showing or discussing what was going on in the southern part of the state. Bastards!

A little after 2:00am, CBS from Terra Haute started covering the storm. We were under a severe thunderstorm warning, but as far as the radar and coverage went, the storm didn’t sound all that serious. It slacked off a bit, then it started to hail, then all hell broke loose. Um, that’s when tornadoes usually occur–on the back end of the storm. And they’re often accompanied by hail. Yikes. Luckily, all we had were heavy straight-line winds. The folks south of us, though, were not as lucky. [ETA: According to Wikipedia, 25 people died. It was the deadliest tornado to hit the state in 30 years.]

Tangent Alert! While I was flipping channels, looking for storm info, I came across an episode of Soul Train. That show is still on? Oh my. What really caught my attention, though, was the animated Soul Train logo. How rude! I looked to see if I could find it online, but couldn’t. So, I shall attempt to describe it. Picture an animated, silver steam engine. Picture it with a big, fat penis on top. Picture the penis ejaculating spasmotically. Picture the train thrusting in time to the penis’ spasms. O ick. Perhaps that might explain why the show airs at 2am?

I’m supposed to go to Chicago tomorrow night, so see Bauhaus. It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, though, which I’m bummed about. Rory-cat is having surgery this afternoon, and will hopefully come home tomorrow, so I’ll have to stay home to keep an eye on him. He spent a week and a half hospitalized for a severe UTI, struvite crystals, and recurring blockages. I brought him home yesterday and he blocked again. He was in good spirits, soliciting attention and chin rubs, but he wasn’t eating, drinking, or eliminating. Clearly, he was blocked again. The last resort is surgery to have his penis amputated and to widen his urethra. Hopefully, it will successfully solve his problems, and he’ll be able to have a good quality of life. He’s a damnfine cat, and I think he deserves to have a shot at having a good, comfortable life, if possible.

Photography

Saturday Photoblogging

Shelly

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Last Monday morning was foggy and crisp, one of those mornings when it finally feels like autumn is on the way. As I left for work, I noticed there was a spider web on my television antenna. I took a couple of quick shots of it, hoping at least one of them would turn out half-way decent. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any good, clear images. I think this one, though, after cropping and playing around with some channels, turned out pretty cool. It almost has a watercolor feel to it, though I didn’t use any filters. That’s due to the graininess from being blown up, along with the color and contrast manipulation.

I had considered cropping it even tighter–eliminating as much of the aerial as possible–but decided that I liked the rusted quality of the supporting pole and the juxtaposition of the natural web with the industrial feel of the antenna.

Pets, Photography

The Rain Came

Shelly

Saturday night, a weird storm system moved in. I got photos of the beginning of it, while the sky was patchy and there was still some cloud definition. At one point, there were puffy clouds to the south and crepuscular rays streaming from behind a stand of trees to the west, all while it was gently raining.

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The contrast between the hyper-saturated greens of the grass and trees in the rain and the grey skies above was striking. Hopefully, the long dry spell hasn’t killed my little walnut trees. They were starting to get pretty bedraggled and unhappy looking.

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I also got some pictures of a Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly and of a Pearl Crescent. Every time I changed position, the swallowtail would flitter off until I’d settled down again.

The little Pearl Crescent barely landed before flying away, so I only got one half-way decent photo of her.

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Pearl Crescent

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Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)

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Female (left) and Male (right) Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

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Spicebush Swallowtail (black) and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (center) which seem to be mating (!), with Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (right)

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Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

And, now, the obligatory dogblogging. Harriet Brown, Queen of Bones, has been enjoying the fact that there is no one else to covet her hoard. She has taken to gathering up all her chewies, making a pile of them on the couch, then lying on them while she naps and chews.

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Uncategorized

Fireflies

Shelly

I stayed up a little later than I intended last night. I usually try to go to bed by 8:00 on work nights, because I get up at 4am. Last night, though, I didn’t get to bed until around 9:30. I let the dogs out at nine-ish for their last potty break. It wasn’t quite full dark yet, but the fireflies were unbelievable. Over the past few years, I’ve noticed that their numbers have decreased. Last summer, it was rare to see more than a handful on any given night. Last night, though. Oh my. There were hundreds and hundreds of little twinkling faery lights. It was gorgeous. I sat on the deck, watching them and listening to the dogs wuffling around in the grass. After awhile, the twinkling became hypnotic. It was difficult to determine their relative distances, which made it seem as if space were collapsing. It was an odd, claustrophobic sort of feeling and I was reminded of one of my mom’s favorite poems, Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Renascence.

And, speaking of happy bugs, I discovered a stand of milkweed growing in the scrubby area between my fence and my neighbor’s fence. Yesterday evening, big, fat, lazy bumblebees and some sort of swallowtail butterfly were feeding from its flowers. I didn’t get a picture of the swallowtail, but I think I got one of a bumblebee. If it turned out, I’ll post it. The spangled fritillaries are back, too! I’ll try to get photos of the whole gang.