I was all set

I was all set to do a quick post about....


...this red-tailed hawk I saw at Lake Isabella...




...and this rather vivid wall at a program yesterday....(Wow. That's...really....something...anyone feel like KABOOMING?)


But a quick romp in the back yard with the dogs led me to this...really fantastic bug.

A wheel bug, to be exact.

I first learned about these really cool bugs from Nina's blog. I always wanted to find one in our yard, because it seems that whatever she has in her yard, we have in ours. I was starting to take it personally that we didn't have any wheel bugs.
And halleluia, we do.
They are so BIG. I thought it was a leaf.

And it was devouring a yellow jacket. Yeeeeeee-eeessss.


I was completely enthralled with it. It's one of the good guys...taking care of Japanese beetles and other pests. I was nearly nose to nose with the thing, and then I had the thought, "Hmm. Do they fly?" Getting the mental image of me running like a mad woman, screaming and tearing off my shirt as I bolt across the yard made me take a few steps back.
Then I noticed a smell. Hmmm....did I step in dog poo or is this bug annoyed with me?
Researching them, I learned that they have two scent-sacs that it everts from its anus when annoyed. Oh boy.
Totally click on the pictures. It's really a beautiful bug.

Hodge-podge and a convicted sex offender at the end

Yesterday, I was on the phone with Trixie, discussing things like beading, Sarah Pahlin and sick kids. I saw a raptor-shaped flash out in the backyard. I stood up, and there was a red-shouldered hawk on the fence by the prairie:
"Trixie...there's a red-shouldered hawk in my yard."
"Omigod, really????"


Haven't seen too much raptor activity this summer. The appearances are cyclic.
No bands on this guy.


And then Trixie had to one-up me by talking about the northern harrier hanging out at her house.
Kill-joy.

Isabelle likes to bead whenever I have my beading stuff out. She made a necklace and a bracelet for two of her classmates:

I gave her the planning tray so she could see what the finished project would look like. She did alternating red and purple beads, and it took her almost an hour to string them all. It was perfect. Lorelei's more of a wide-variety jewelry designer.

While waiting for the school bus, I was bored and shooting macro shots of the street. I was pleasantly surprised at the texture hidden there:


Each of these stones are about 1 centimeter wide. A tiny wave of rose quartz, diminutive flecks of blue. Beauty is all around us and we just have to stop and look around once in a while (I think that's a Ferris Bueller reference).

As the bus was arriving, a four-leaf clover peeked out from the weeds growing around the storm drain:

I've read that scientists have isolated the gene that makes a clover grow four leaves, so finding one is not so lucky anymore. Who cares. I found it on our anniversary, so I pressed it and put it in a bag with the date. When we are old and in the Home, we can read the bag and reminisce.

We have been watching this grasshopper in the prairie for a few weeks. Always on the same plant, not too interested that we are near:

The biggest grasshopper in the world. See? It's as big as Hooper!

I had a great program today at a retirement village near RAPTOR. About 100 seniors, which is a nice change from cute little rugrats. I can pull out different jokes with adults.
Storm was fiery as a firecracker, as usual.

But he's also very patriotic.

Now the bad story:
I was just telling Geoff about this nice lady I met while waiting for Isabelle's bus. Lorelei and I had both the dogs with us, and as this lady was getting out of her car, her dog got out too and did her business in their yard. Nellie is usually mildly interested in other dogs, but Hooper does his big loud YODEL and dances on his hind feet and paws the air with his front feet.
This attracted the attention of the nice lady and her daughter, so they came over. Adorable little three-year old (hearing impaired...got to brush off some of my sign language skills on her).
So I was telling Geoff this nice story, and he laid this one on me...
While doing a story about types of neighbors for one of his magazines, he came across this website (I've searched stuff like this before, but it's been years.)
Family Watch Dog.
And there's a convicted sex offender living one street away. He's 21, and while it doesn't go into gross details, it says "sexual conduct with a minor" which sounds like he was maybe dating someone underage, like a seventeen-year old? I know they specify if the victim is under the age of 13....but still.
We looked further and there are a disturbing number of sex offenders in the area (like, more than ZERO!) A few old nasty-looking crackers convicted of "illegal use of Minor in Nudity-Oriented material or performance", and a strange-looking little woman living near Lorelei's school.... convicted of RAPE.
What. The. Hell.

I've shot this otherwise nice post all to Hell and back, but there ya go.

Great big ball of fun!

It's a bit early to have an "International Rock-Flipping Day" post, but this was just too cute to wait.

Lorelei gets credit for finding this utterly cool pill bug.
Call them sow bugs. Or rolly-pollies. Or lawn shrimps (who came up with that one?). The technical name for them is terrestrial isopod, which makes them sound more interesting (and makes them crustaceans!). I've seen their marine cousins at the Newport Aquarium...well, their really honking LARGE cousins:

An isopod that is about 18 inches long. I thought I was hallucinating.

So, Lorelei showed me the "big pill bug!" that she found, and I have to say, it was the most interesting pill bug I ever saw:

It wasn't a drab gray like the other ones we have around here. A very snappy, bright yellow pattern...and it was at least an inch long.

He unrolled his cute little self and realized he was on his back, and the legs started flailing...


I set the camera to "video" and we helped him on his way, with a High Five (for figuring out what he was) and a song:
(If you can't understand her, Lorelei is telling me that pill bugs "eat their own poop". Good Lord. What other tidbits is she storing in that adorable little noggin?)

Where I've been

I've been picnicking with my family.

(photo by Isabelle)

I've been marveling at my children marveling at nature.


I've been rescuing invalid black swallowtails from our street.


I've been staring down stained-glass leaf hoppers.


I've been making jewelry I can be proud of.


I've been playing with a new toy.

(I asked for the ability to do Powerpoint presentations during my programs, and RAPTOR got me a new lap top and digital projector. I do tend to get what I want....but then, I am quite charming.) :^)



I've been watching a barn owl perch in the sun for the first time.


I've been watching a turkey vulture molt.

The life list is growing (and a few non-bird species of Florida)

If I added correctly, my life birds in Florida came to 13. That makes my life list 199! One more and I can get one of those "200" pins!

My life birds from the trip:

Common Peafowl (Countable in Florida! Woo Hoo!)
Muscovy Duck (domestic) (Poop. Not countable.)
Brown Pelican
Anhinga
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Common Moorhen
Laughing Gull
Eurasian Collared Dove
Monk Parakeet
Loggerhead Shrike
Boat-Tailed Grackle

Florida isn't just about birds and beaches. We saw so many lizards, crabs, butterflies...All different from what we can find here in the Northern reaches of Southwest Ohio:
The Anne Kolb Nature Center in Hollywood, Florida looked promising for birds, but you know what? I saw Zero birds there.
As we drove in, I saw a sign that gave us a preview of what we would see:

Land crabs? Cool!


I went back after a thunderstorm and there were hundreds (thousands?) of small, medium and large crabs scurrying everywhere. The small ones (about the size of a quarter) were covering the boardwalk and would scuttle out of the way as I stepped through. The big ones were in their dug-out mud holes and would disappear before my eyes as soon as I noticed them. It took a lot of finesse to get this picture. If you click on it, you will see that he is nibbling on that leaf!


The butterfly action was nice. I saw no butterfly there that I could immediately ID, which is so fun! This one is called a white peacock.
We also saw a great fritillary and this guy:

Zebra longwing.


We walked under this guy on the boardwalk:

A Spiny-backed orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis) It looked like a colorful beer bottle cap from underneath. From what I have read, this is not a spider you have to worry about killing you or anything.

As far as I can tell, the lizards we saw running all over were Florida Scrub Lizards. I don't know from lizards...I'm a bird gal.
This one was found by the girls in the middle of the street at the Nature Center:

A baby, obviously. The other ones were about 6 to 8 inches long, and this guy measured in at a whopping 2 inches long. He hopped right up onto my hand, then jumped onto Isabelle, who thought it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to her.



Anyone wondering if we saw alligators?
Um, HELL YEAH. We saw alligators that were way too close to us.
We visited the Everglades on two different days (more on the first time in another post). Finishing a walk along one of the levees, we came to a boat ramp where some young guys (and one small girl about Lorelei's age) were fishing. 30 feet into the water was an alligator.
An eight-foot alligator:


The guys were at least smart enough to lead the little girl away, but they were not smart enough to leave themselves. We kept our distance, knowing full well that an alligator would consider
one of our children a nice meal. And that a full-grown alligator can run up to 35 miles an hour for short bursts. We retreated to higher ground to take pictures. The gator got to within 10 feet of the fishermen, looking very interested in what they were doing. I'm sure gators learn quickly that fishermen will toss out the guts as they dress a fish, so fishermen=free meals. But we were not going to allow our kids to be in any danger. We got in the car and later drove by to make sure there was no carnage. The fishermen's car was gone. Or maybe the gator ate them, then their car?
(A sobering stat: I read that of the last 20 alligator-related deaths in Florida, 10 of them were kids under the age of 13....that is plenty for me to have had an unbreakable grip on the kids)

Sunday at the old homestead

I love Indiana. I may live in Ohio now, but my roots stretch all the way across the state line.

Mom's weeping cherry tree is taller than her house now.

I love my Macro function. Anyone tired of close-up flower pictures?
Too bad.

Isabelle is the Bubble Queen. It can keep her occupied for an hour straight. That's a good thing.

And Lorelei is the Queen of Photo Ops.


I had to tackle and hold down Miss Thing to get a picture of her laying on the grass.

Look! It's Earl's Uncle Ralph!

Mom's pond is teeming with critters. Water striders, diving beetles, crayfish, bullfrog tadpoles and two different types of snails. It's a great place to go "pond scooping".

Sorry. This is a really bad shot of a crayfish.

When I first saw these guys, I thought I was looking at a fish (though there haven't been fish in this pond for about 30 years) because they were the largest animals in the pond. Then I thought they might be really really big tadpoles. But I saw two different kinds...orange/brown ones, and green/brown ones like this. Salamanders??? Newts???

I don't know from salamanders. Who knows what kind of salamanders or newts would be living in a pond in southeastern Indiana?

Another type of snail. Some had the pointy type of shell, and others had the classic swirl shell.


And what trip to Indiana would be complete without some four-wheelin'?
My sister-in-law is storing this four wheeler for her Dad until he can find a place for it, so I took the girls for a high speed spin around the pasture and through the back field. I thought they might be scared, but since they are MY girls, they loved it to no end and begged me to go faster! I look sort of demonic in this picture. Sorry. I was trying to look happy.
I will catch seven kinds of Hell from my mother-in-law for this picture.

And a continuation of Sunday Sketches...I need a new pen: