Cicada Killers and rain lilies

In the hot air of the barn...should have set a ruler beside him - easily two inches long...
most of the beetles roaming the floor are about an inch long so this guy was a giant among beetles.

OK. OK. I have been dragging around the past few days. Some of it is my miscalculation. Some couldn't be avoided (well, it could have been, but that's another story.)

I have had to avoid any blows to my face (no, not a face lift - dental stuff). That should be an easy challenge as I don't have to dodge anything coming at me most of the time. I don't pick fights (not that kind anyway). I don't run into doors or otherwise miscalculate things that might strike my face (I may bruise my shins and arms...that sort of thing. And we need not discuss the fall of a few years ago at the back steps or the face plant at the springs. Both of those were freak accidents - really!).

Hobbes is generally very gentle (he just wants to sit in my lap). Scruffy jumps, but he jumps up and never makes contact. He really tries to avoid physical contact all together. Poor dear only occasionally licks me - as if he wants to be affectionate by ambush...no big display. Paddy, on the other hand, jumps up and tags me. She head bumps me whenever and wherever. She is oblivious about the damage she can do. I have walked around for weeks with bruises on my scalp and face when she has "nudged" me too hard or misjudged her power and my location.

So Hobbes gets to sit in my lap. Scruffy can be escorted in and out of the house. But Paddy only gets to visit with a fence in between. Thus extended walks are out for now.

DH and I did walk to the park yesterday morning. We were a little stunned by the GREEN of everything. It only takes a week of rain to refresh the grass and woods. It will only take a few days of summer oven weather to brown and crisp everything up again.

So we enjoyed the cool and the green. We noted the rain lilies blooming in many yards along the way.



Photo from Statesman.com

The bugs were few, but (to borrow a word from my dear nephew) ASTOUNDING.  I was thinking about the wasps I have been noticing over the past few days. These creatures are huge - over two inches in length with a wider wingspan. They looked like giant yellow jackets at first. They did not seem aggressive, but were so impressive as to create more than a sense of awe...in fact, they have caused me, a girl with a history of wasp misadventure, to stay "way clear."

Today I discovered quite a large beetle at the barn and then a polyphemus moth at the door to my office building.

I have always been fascinated by insects, but the insect collections of the 9th graders who once lived with me created more of an obsession. I still collect a few odd specimens when I run across something special (and dead). I do not collect and kill them anymore as a general rule unless someone has a good reason for needing the creature. [I am waiting for word from a young biology student right now about the moth. I am willing to attempt a capture for science. But I will need directions. It has been almost half the children's lives since we wandered around with collecting jars and nail polish remover soaked cotton balls, stalking street lamp light and other places insects might gather.]

I remain enamoured and excited by most sightings these days - except for the wasp nest at my back door and the mosquitoes terrorizing DH.




A creature waiting at the door of the building.



polyphemus moth (Thanks to Josh for the name. I am sure it would have taken a bit of looking up to find it.). Note eggs in the upper right hand corner.

She was easily six + inches across and stunningly beautiful.

Update: Student gathered the eggs and moth. We anticipate photos of entire life cycle in the near future.

NOTE: Cicada killer photo is not mine - from Statesman.com.