What's Bugging You?

On any given day you can find me multi-tasking somewhere in the yard.  Weeding, gardening, watering, goofing off, umm, I mean, being very productive at something, all with camera in hand.  And more often than not, when I am trying to photograph something a little bug flies in the way, or sits in the way on whatever it is that is patiently waiting to be remembered forever in a photograph.  These little bugs apparently like to be photographed so I oblige them, then shoo them away.  Then we head inside and google away until we figure out what it is.

So, this post is dedicated to all things that are bugging us up here in the north.

Scudder's Bush Katydid nymph

This cute little guy will not be cute much longer.  It is in general a Scudder's Bush Katydid baby or nymph.  Scudder's Bush is a generalized category for all sorts of these katydid's and until I see it full grown I can't tell you specifically which one.  And when they are full grown they are not nearly as cute as this.  From some other photographs I found on the web it probably is a Fork Tailed Katydid or Scudderia furcata to be scientifically correct.

Brown Leaf Katydid

I didn't realize this little guy was actually a bug until I tried to brush it off and it started to crawl away from me.  I left my dirty gardening thumb in the picture so you can see how tiny he is.  Still not totally positive if the identification is absolutely correct but it is the closest I could find and I could not find the scientific name.

Clavate Tortoise Beetle

This is one weird looking bug.  When we were de-potato-bugging our potato plants I saw one and told the kids "Eww, bird poo" and then it flew off.  What?!?!?  So we found another and snapped some pics and googled away.  It is a Clavate Tortoise Beetle or Plagiometriona clavata.  Seems like they can do a little damage to your plants so we are going to have to watch our for these little guys.



Colorado Potato Beetle or Potato Bug

Our nemesis!!! We hate, hate, HATE, these little guys.  Although they are really kinda cool looking.  And they are awesome at the whole color coordination thing.  But they do terrible, terrible things to our poor potatoes.  So we have been busy plucking them, their larvae, and their eggs off of all three rows of potatoes.  Ugh, can't wait for their season to be over.

Green Metallic Bee or Augochlora Sweat Bee

This was one of those get in my way moments.  While the kids were loading up the paddle boat at the dock I was wandering and finding little flowers hidden here and there and saw these little flowers.  And this little bee kept buzzing in the way.  He was very pretty though.  I found him called by those two names there.  Scientific name is Augochlora pura.

Long-Legged Fly

Flies, flies, they are everwhere. . . and usually much uglier than this green jeweled beauty.  Not much more to tell other than that, scientific name is Condylostylus and there are a number of species names after that depending on your region.

I have no words of wisdom for you on this one.  Have you ever tried to google "spider" to identify one?  Creepy!  It just makes me squimish and I can't get very far, so for now she is our friendly brown and black spider.

Loads of butterflies

cute fuzzy caterpillars



Jeweled Dragonflies

So many things to "bug" us around here.  And don't get me started on the bugs!  Har, har.  Anyway, so many more pics to show you but my computer is starting to drive me nuts so I am signing off for today.  Love, hugs, and kisses to you all.

Chasing Butterflies

So when I set out to blog, it wasn't for the purpose of spreading my philosophy on life with the world.   Those of you that read it, know what it is here for.  So please pardon this momentary interruption.

We have a couple of parties to attend this weekend and being my crafty little self I have been busy creating gifts.  In the process I also created a couple of bookmarks for Aubrey and her buddy.  In doing so I was rifling through my collection of quotes and searching online for quotes that would fit with my photographs.  In the process I found this:

"Realize what you really want. It stops you from chasing butterflies and puts you to work digging gold." -William Moulton Marston
How sad is that?  Why would one ever want to stop chasing butterflies?  Wouldn't chasing butterflies bring you much more satisfaction than digging for gold?

In chasing butterflies, majority of the time you will not actually catch the butterfly.  But think of all you do catch - you take in the beauty of the country that surrounds you, you find joy within yourself, butterflies are more often than not around flowers, so not only do you get to chase butterflies but you get to stop and smell the roses.  Chase them with a friend and you also get to become closer to another human being.  All those things can help you to appreciate the beauty of Jehovah's creation.

So now how bout that gold digging?  What do you get?  A whole lot of dirty that's what!  How long do you have to dig for gold before you actually find gold?  A long, long time that's for sure.  And where does gold get you?  Just about nowhere.  Sure money can buy you fancier things, better clothes, a bigger house, but does that make you happy?  Nope, not always!  Mostly it does the opposite.

So I say, go on, chase those butterflies.  If that is your entire aim in life, then chase them better than anyone else.  Grab a buddy and chase away, you will be happier than if you had pockets full of gold!

Thank you, I will now be stepping off my platform and returning to updates on our life here in Michigan.