Found this single butterfly wing on the ground.

I choose to believe that the butterfly shed this wing

and grew another in its place

so it could become

a more unique

and beautiful creature.

Mike is a girl

Mike is a girl.  I'm still going to call her Mike.  We don't need no stinking gender restricting stereotypes around here.

My favorite nerds at www.bugguide.net identified Mike in record time.  She is a type of Orb Weaver.  And we know that she is a she because she was sitting up high in a web that she built.  The males of the species do not build webs.  They spend their lives wandering around looking for chick-spiders to hook up with.  After they mate, they die.  That must be quite the one-night stand.  (I'll bet he doesn't even cuddle when it is over.)

You might be familiar with a very famous Orb Weaver:

Ain't Entomology fun?

Mike the Giant Spider

I'm calling him Mike the Giant Spider.  Don't ask me why.

He is huge!  That main body is about 1 inch long

 He's just creepily hanging around the back yard
and didn't move much when I poked him.

I hope he's still there tomorrow
so I can try to get better pictures.

other people's words

i thank You God for most this amazing

day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything 

which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today, 

and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth 

day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay 

great happening illimitably earth) 

how should tasting touching hearing seeing 

breathing any--lifted from the no 

of all nothing--human merely being

doubt unimaginable You? 

(now the ears of my ears awake and 

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

ee cummings

This is all I have these days - other people's words. Finding my way back to my own.  Hopefully soon.  It is hard work to awaken the ears of my ears and open the eyes of my eyes. 

I've been "frassed"

The bug nerds have spoken.
This lovely lady is Peucetia viridans.

And even better is that someone left more detailed information for me: "This is likely a female after it has created an egg sac because its abdomen is so small."

The bad news is that same knowledgeable person decided my pictures "aren't needed for the guide" so she 'frassed' them.

According to BugGuide.net:

Frass is insect debris. Poor quality images, images from outside the U.S. and Canada, and those that otherwise do not add value to the guide are moved here. Images will remain here for 30 days after the most recent activity so that comments may be viewed. After that they are automatically removed by the system.

Ouch.

Apparently, I add no value.  I'm okay with it though.  I'm not hurt, BugGuide.net.  I wasn't expecting a long-term, meaningful relationship or anything.  You should know that I was only using you for your bug knowledge.  

It seems so sudden.  Just what the heck did you want from me?!  I gave and I gave and I guess it wasn't good enough.  

You were my first, you know.  I had never found a Bug Guide quite like you.  I thought this would be something special.  It's okay...sniff...there will be others who will appreciate my value....sniff.  

Sure, we can still be friends.  Maybe I'll stop by some time and bring you more pictures and we can....no?  Fine.  We'll always have Libellula croceipennis.

Let's have the boys from New Edition (the original boy band) sing us out...

Science Saturday

 www.bugguide.net

This website is the best!

I don't know why it makes me so happy to find out

the names of the bugs in my yard, but it does.

Valley Carpenter Bee

Xylocopa varipuncta

And she's a female!

I love that there is someone in the world who knows that.

 I bet you thought this was a Flame Skimmer.

You're wrong.

It is a Neon Skimmer - Libellula croceipennis. 

Duh!

(Do the kids still say that these days?)

Green Lynx Spider

Peucetia viridans

or

Peucetia longipalpis

It is still being hotly debated.

I'm hoping for longipalpis because that is much more fun to say.

Silver Garden Spider

Argiope argentata

(I still see a monkey giving us the finger.)

Scudder's Bush Katydid

Scudderia furcata

(sounds like an Italian curse word)

or

Scudderia mexicana

He's a male.

Okay kids.  Class dismissed.

The question is not what you look at, but what you see. 

Henry David Thoreau

Black Bee

It has been a while since I've taken any pictures of bugs.  This is from May of 2009.  I never got around to posting it.  If you click on the pictures, you can really see the details.

Two things I found out while searching for the identity of this creature:

1.  There's a website where you can post pictures of bugs and people will try to identify them for you.  I am so excited by this!!!!  www.bugguide.net

2.  Black Bee is a position in the Karma Sutra.  I'll leave it to you to find out more about that if you are interested.

A spider's day

A spider


running from two crazy hoes


trying to save her egg sac.

And how was your day?

Nothing to say so you get to look at bugs

Same one from Tuesday night. He was still there the next morning, so I had to take more pictures.

Creepy crawly in my yard last night

Doesn't this look like the face of a monkey wearing a hat (and giving us the finger?)

Bug of the Week!

(Okay, so it's more like Bug of the Month, but it took me a long time to do this picture with the words and the weird font with the different colors and I'm not changing it!)


tiny, out-of-focus spider suspended above the leaves
motionless and quiet
I am tall and shaky
How can I capture your stillness?

This week's.......

Since this has obviously become a regular feature of my blog, I might as well give it some proper respect. So here it is! You know you've all been waiting for it!

Introducing - the always captivating... sometimes creepy... never disappointing.....






I was spraying some organic pesticide on my plants this morning.



And then I saw this green spider-like creature.



I had to stop spraying the pesticide.



It's easy to be the merchant of death when you are oblivious to what you are killing. Like launching a Smart Bomb from 600 miles away.



It is harder to kill things when you are looking right at them.

Yes, that's right. AGAIN with the bugs.

You might just see an ordinary dragonfly.


But look closer...



Click on the pictures and they'll get bigger.




It really was that red.



Fascinating.
Like a beautiful nightmare.