Monthly Archives: June 2012

Symbiosis

I took these photos on June 6th and thought you might enjoy them. The musk thistles that I’ve been so fascinated with are also hives of insect activity.  All kinds of bugs make their home within the plants’ spiny leaves.  I thought these ants were using this thistle as an ant nursery, but they may have been harvesting honeydew from the aphids living there. Either way, I found the activity quite fascinating.

I am testing out the “gallery” feature of WordPress, but I have also posted the photos on SmugMug, in the likely event that WP flattens the photos’ color.

Day 182 – Great Basin Whiptail

I spied this creature out in the undeveloped portion of our 5 acre lot.  He was about six inches long, though he should have been longer. You can see that his tail is growing back, so it isn’t as long as it can be (up to two body lengths, according to this site).

Day 181 – Hiding in the petals

I was able to work from home today and that meant that I didn’t have to leave the house early in the morning.  Taking advantage of the extra time before my “work day” started, I headed out to photograph the backyard in the early morning light. Today was watering day and the flowers still held droplets of water from the sprinklers.

And then there is the purple sage . . .

The flowers are indeed lovely, but they also attract some six-legged creatures.  I’ve given up trying to avoid them, and now seek them out.

After fighting with VPN and reports all day I slipped out into the backyard once again, and guess what I found hiding in the roses? Anyone know what this little guy is? And he was teeny. A grasshopper? Cricket? Locust?

Day 180 – Squeaky

The same day I bought the catnip toy I also bought another toy that I  thought  would be a sure-fire winner with the cats. It’s a lightweight ball with a mouse in it.  The mouse squeaks when the ball is shaken or bounced along the floor. I thought the cats would dig it. Eh, not so much.

Nina, on the other hand, can’t get enough of it.

Day 179 – Facade

Today was one of those crazy-busy days. I spent most of the day in a training class, got caught up on email and then this evening I led our local freethinkers meeting. This is the roof above the Mexican restaurant where we met.

Day 178 – View from a ladder

This ladder is leaning against our house so I climbed it and got a higher view of the grape-vine than I usually do. Then I looked down and there was Buddy hanging out on the walk.

Lilacs in the yard.