inkstitch

a thrift post, just because

Because it was cute.

Because it was cheap.

Because I'm a sucker for Wendell.

Because wood toys are always better than plastic.

And because I need a quick post.

Have a lovely weekend!

On the table tonight:  Enchiladas

for cuteness sake

The bugs on the counter are gone, except for the caterpillar in his jar, waiting to become a hummingbird moth, and a very beautiful tiger moth whose wing was injured, which we mounted.  The new life and nature we are experiencing most now, are puppies.  Omigosh, these are the cutest ever!  Can we have five dogs?  Is there really anything wrong with that?

Orthoptera

I'll admit it right up front: these are not my photos.  I'm all in for the whole bug-catching thing, I am.  And I don't mind one bit that I have an entire collection of creepy/fascinating living things on my kitchen counter, right there where I chop my tomatoes and butter my toast, the praying mantis twisting its little head around watching every move I make, lick-lick-licking himself like a tiny, scheming cat....  No, I don't mind that one bit.  But I've got to draw the line somewhere, and a photoshoot with a grasshopper ready to spring, that's my somewhere.  I like a nice mason jar between me and my bugs.  You want wicked cool backyard bug photos?  Go visit Liz.  She's good like that.  Now that said, I give you the current residents of my kitchen counter (and yes, they have pet names):

We've got Hopper

Manty

Kate

The ants (no names)

Dinner for Manty (No names here either. That just seems wrong.)

Ick

Sphinx

Baby Sphinx

And even Speckles

All on the kitchen counter.  Right now.  We have read a lot about latin names and thoraxes and orders and larvae and amazing diets...  Some of these little (big!) friends we will release after watching for an hour or a day or two.  Some, like our Baby Sphinx, we intend to keep for awhile.  Just yesterday we watched our caterpillar burrow down into his jar of earth to make his chrysalis cocoon.  We have put dark paper around the jar in hopes that he will settle right up against the glass.  We also watched Manty bite the head off a small grasshopper.  All very cool. 

In closing, I have just two things to say: 
1. Caterpillars make a lot of poop.
2. I am sort of glad autumn is upon us.  Bugs are soooo much smaller in the spring.

On the table tonight: More corn on the cob, garden tomatoes, squash, salad...and maybe our first canteloupe! Woo!

Photo credits:
1. http://www.grasshoppercontrol.com/
2. http://www.naturesbestcreations.com/
3. http://unmuchodetodo.blogspot.com/
4. http://www.livescience.com/
5. http://www.utextension.utk.edu/
6. http://outernode.pir.sa.gov.au/
7. http://lifeinthebigtree.wordpress.com/
8. http://flickr.com/photos/quizicalcat/2539290792/
9. http://www.daylife.com/photo/07d6g9p9d216v