Insects are cool

Insects....Love them or hate them.

I used to hate them with a vengeance. 

Years ago a neighbor girl who was 9 years old used to ask me to go 'bug hunting' with her. I went along, she had her net and she'd net insects and tell me what they were. I'd photograph them.

She and her family moved away, but my fondness for searching for insects continued.

Below is the much disliked Japanese Beetle that everyone really dislikes. They do quite a bit of damage to certain plants and are horrible pests. This year's batch has been mild or they dislike the flowers I've planted.

 My absooooolute favorite insect in July is the Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. They are hard to spot but patience is a virtue. Every day starting mid July when the Monarda or Bee Balm in the garden start to blossom, I go out no matter how hot is and sit in a shady spot to watch for them. 

They are fast like the Hummingbird which is also active on my Bee Balm. Each year I think about taking the outhouse down but the growth of flowers around it bring in the bees, hummingbirds, and the Clearwing beauties.

The one below was by the house which surprised and pleased me. 

I used rapid fire tracking and took two shots and composited them together for the shot below.

 

I like to do that with butterflies also. To me it shows their quick movements.

I just think they are so unusual and beautiful.

Now that you have seen the pretty ones...

How about my August Favorite Insect???

Phone shot. Yes, I got close...

I walked through thigh high grasses and weeds in the neighbor's meadow and squatted among my 'friends'.

I used to be afraid of these spiders but I realized that they are not interested in me at all. If you bump the grass that their web is on, they disappear into the grasses and return once you are gone.

Soon there will be thousands of them with larger webs

I just think they are so cool!  [Long lens]

I can't wait to find some of the very large ones. They are absolutely beautiful.

I leave you with the Buck Moon setting Thursday morning.

alive...

After a week of feeling like crap, I'm finally doing better.

I found out what it is like to be short of breath and feel as though I was wading through mud up to my shoulders. It is not a good feeling and I empathize with anyone who has experienced this.

This was a strange one for me. Sore throat for a day and then a fever for a day. Finally, the feeling of not being able to breath for days. I could breathe, but the feeling was horrible. 

I did get out last Friday early in the morning to see my friends the Orb Spiders and enjoy some quiet time before the tree guys came in with their machinery.

I don't think I will ever see this sort of scene without gasping. Just imagine if you were afraid of spiders, how would you react?

This is about 5 acres of meadow and it all looks like this when the Orb Weavers are busy. They actually are around in the spring, but they are tiny. They mature in the fall and the Females build large webs, the males sometimes build webs too.

More about Orbweavers here from the BugLady who writes for UWM Saukville, WI. Her site is full of cool information about insects. She actually has a featured blog for Bug of the Week.

A small Orbweaver according to the BugLady's latest news on Orbweavers, this could be a male...

Beautiful webs...

All I know is that I had to carefully poke my lens alongside one web to photograph this spider from the side. I was looking to get the dew drops on its body and the amazing maze of webs behind him/her.

This year has been pretty sad for butterflies. I saw one Monarch flutter by this week and am hoping that my Zinnias attract more! I spent one afternoon chasing a Swallowtail earlier this summer on the Bee Balm, but haven't seen one since late July.

When I look back on my archives on I noticed that I didn't get a lot of shots of Monarch until the start of September. So perhaps I need to be patient and keep an eye out for them. I had shots of Monarchs from September 1st through October 2nd.

A shot from last year:

In the meantime. I'm going to be grateful I can breathe much easier and I actually feel like making supper.

No more spiders today. Maybe I can find some awesome and cool looking fungi this weekend now that I feel like doing something again!

Blistering Hot & Spiders!

This was Sunday's view from the ridgetop. I usually can get a decent shot from different parts of the ridge, but this year, no one on this ridge is growing soy beans. My choices to see the sun rise this year are slim. I have to walk a mile to get an open view of the sky without corn blocking my views.

Our hollow doesn't see the sun for about an hour or so after sunrise. The sun has to come up over the trees on the ridge to shine down on us. In a way I miss places I used to live where I had a fairly clear sight of the horizon. But I'm used to it now after 29 years [this coming weekend].

The humidity and fog are intense in the valleys in the morning. The shot below is from when I drove down to the gas station in Readstown for some milk. It was taken in Infrared that was the camera I had with me. The valley fog from the river was dissipating but it still makes me stop and admire it after all of these years.

Infrared Shot

Before the sun gets into our hollow, I get the chores done and make sure the tanks for the ladies have fresh water. The mules are spending a lot of time down in the Buckthorn Forest where the sun doesn't shine and there always seems to be a bit of air movement.

Our mornings have been like this muggy, foggy, and a very high dew point ---> that leads to the discomfort of being outside. If one's sweat doesn't evaporate, one does not cool off.

I did the smart thing on the hottest of days. I organized and re-organized my files regarding our financial paperwork. I need to get together with my daughter in law and have her teach [or reteach me how to do a spreadsheet]. I could do this at one time, but can't remember how to do it now. I learned over 30 years ago.

I did stuff I normally don't do until the first day of fall. I organized my 'junk' room and cleaned it up again. So I can make another mess.

My early morning walk this morning to check fences revealed that one of the critters was in a spot she wasn't supposed to be in. Tsk, tsk. After some chasing, I got her settled back with the others and moved on to go into the neighbor's large and wild meadow.

This was the view.... 

A huge meadow filled with spider webs from Orb Weavers or Orb Spiders. 

I saw it the day before when I didn't have a camera with me. I couldn't resist climbing through the fence [I'm allowed to hike there whenever I please] and explore.

I found lots of empty webs, and quite a few occupied webs.

The spiders don't bother you if you bump into their web, they just scuttle off into the grasses or bush they built on.

Imagine that they remake or build a new web each day -- or night? How industrious is that?

I used to be so afraid of spiders until I met a 9 year old girl who wanted to become an entomologist. She and I would go around and look at spiders and any other insect we could find together. I started photographing them with her and of course, I found a new and exciting subject to 'shoot'.

This stunning beauty is in one of my wilder flower gardens. I won't go in and pull weeds or anything until she is done for the season. 

I'm going to go out early again tomorrow morning and each morning to try and get glimpses of these beautiful creatures. At least until they are done for the season. 

I find them to be so amazing and so oddly beautiful.

Fence Checking & Weird Stuff

Usually just after sunrise I head out to do a daily fence check. I can walk the meadow admire the changes each season brings. The grasses have seed heads and are waiting to drop them. 

The Queen Anne's Lace is beginning to bloom and the milkweed is just about done blossoming.

If there is a good morning dew or fog, I get to stop and admire my favorite spiders who start to appear in abundance at the end of July through August. Orb spiders.

Orb Spider shadow!!!

If I stand quietly just after dawn along our fence line, I can watch the deer emerge from the woods and cross the meadow to the east of us.

In another few weeks and up until gun season, I'll probably sneak out a few times a week to sit in a tree with my camera and watch for some does and bucks in velvet. It is fun to catch them on the trail cam but even more exciting to watch them in real time.

I collected some Queen Anne's Lace to dry while out walking.

I just love their beautiful patterns.

Down in the valley I found an area that had a curious slime mold growing all over the place. It seemed to grow at the base of little plants and small saplings. Odd, but not so odd because of all the rain and humidity we've had. It makes for perfect growing conditions for slime molds.

One of my favorite slime molds to find is fresh Dog Vomit Slime Mold. AKA: Scrambled Egg Slime Mold or Fuligo septica. It is hard to miss as it is such a bright yellow. The patch was very tiny. It probably only is visible for about 24 hours.

I was SO excited to find this tiny patch!
[I know, I am odd.]

We are coming up on the great months for finding all sorts of cool Fungi and odd things growing in the forest. I can't wait!

Anyway, this was my morning walk. Checking on my mules and checking on the fencing.

Have a great week.

Observations

I am so lucky to have an Orb Weaver set up in my Petunias!

Here she is on the day when I discovered her. 

Next day...she had her first catch! She is holding an insect but I couldn't get any closer than this without disturbing her.

She then wraps her victim up in a tidy package.

I imagine she ate it or stored it somewhere for when she lays her eggs?
And she awaits her next victim.

Crab Spider on the buds of a golden rod.

I did use a macro lens for this and it was nearly impossible to see if I was getting this tiny spider! 

Goldenrod action last night. Ants were crawling up and down the plant. I wonder if they were hunting tiny aphids?

These were all found near the house and neighbor's meadow since I am still under the watchful eye of the other half. 

Queen Anne's Lace. This is by far my most favorite wildflower of late summer. 

Morning dew

Late evening flower

Queen Anne Lace seeds

They are just so interesting! And they smell nice too. 

What is your favorite wild flower this time of year??? Hmmm?

Things are quiet on the home front. The mower was delivered and Rich already used it before the rain set in. 

One small step each day. I count today as a success so far.
My little pressing and drying experiment is going very well!

Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Purple Vervain, Cosmos, Bee Balm, and Lavender. And guess what? I have no idea what I will actually do with them!

Have a most excellent day.

I'm going to close my eyes and listen to the light rain.