Residence Sunflowers – Part 6 – Itty Bitty Facehugger

Last year I have shown you bright yellow crab spider who was munching on bees. This year I did not see a grown-up one, only this one little baby. Still white, slightly translucent and tiny, about the size of a pinhead. Sorry for a bit blurry pictures, but the little bugger did not stop, it kept wandering about and performing strange gymnastics. And I have forgotten to take my monopod with me, so this is shot completely freehand.

Jack’s Walk

When Jack jumps into the water at the park or the river he’s accustomed to the ducks scattering away from him. Today this small flock of ducks didn’t scatter. Instead, they swam towards him and then dared him to come in. Now, Jack isn’t one to go looking for trouble, but I’ve seen him stand his ground around dogs that are a lot bigger than him. He once took on a huge German Shepherd and was holding his own until we broke it up. “Take that,” Jack snorfed, kicking up dirt with his back feet as walked away. He had swagger that day.

He did not have swagger today. Jack actually let those ducks keep him out of the water. Every time he went forward the ducks came forward. If he turned to the left so did the ducks. If he turned to the right so did the ducks. Those ducks patrolled that shore like warships in formation and Jack finally walked away. I think he made the right decision. They might be small, but those ducks meant business and at a ratio of seven to one they had the upper ~~hand~~ wing.

Residence Sunflowers – Part 5 – Bees

Of course. But not as many as I would like, unfortunately.

Our neighbor had beehives in her garden – her brother in law was a beekeeper. But he died a few years ago and none of his two sons took over. And thus bees disappear from the landscape, one old beekeeper dying at a time

And even solitary bees are becoming distressingly rare as they are increasingly more deprived of suitable food sources due to excessive rapeseed cultivation in our country because rapeseed brings biggest profits to the corporate oligarchs ruling our agriculture. Rapeseed all around is for bees about as healthy as nothing but dry bread and water is for humans.

Jack’s Walk

While I was waiting at a stoplight today I watched a woman bend over to pick up her dog’s poop. She wore an expression of total disgust on her face and after she’d bagged the offending item she held it gingerly between her thumb and index finger as far away from her body as her arm would reach. She then took about 10 steps, stopped and set the bag down in front of a light standard and walked away.

I’ve seen bags of poop on the ground a few times and I’ve always just assumed that someone forgot it. I’ve done that – set the bag down while I fiddle with my camera and then forget to pick it up.* This wasn’t that, though. This was deliberately making her dog’s poop someone else’s problem. Someone like me who walks with a trash bag because I don’t like litter. I think there should be a rule that if you aren’t prepared to deal with your dog’s shit then you shouldn’t have a dog.

*I almost always go back to pick it up.

Residence Sunflowers – Part 4 – Bugs

Not sure what these are doing there, but they sure do like them sunflowers, the green and fuzzy parts especially.

Funny thing is that I get the best results with macro photography with my cheapo macro lens that I have build from a magnifying glass, paper tube and a thread reduction ring for lenses. But all pictures made with it have significant chromatic aberration. Someday I will write about how to correct it in Photoshop. The first photo in this post is ideal for that.

Cornflower

A lovely blue flower courtesy of Avalus who says,

A beautiful Cornflower, next to a field of wheat. Since last year, farmers are encouraged to leave the borders of their fields unplowed and many plants have found new niches. I have cycled this road for over 7 years and these are the first cornflowers I have seen there. I hope next year, there will be more.

Jack’s Walk

Jack doesn’t do a heavy shed in the springtime because normally we go to the east coast for the summer. There he swims in the cold water of the Gulf of St. Lawrence almost every day and he needs a bit of extra fluff for insulation and added buoyancy. This year we fooled him, though, and stayed home in good old hot and humid Ontario. The poor boy spent his summer with too much hair and despite all the hot weather he kept his undercoat. Now, as the weather cools down Jack has finally decided to shed all that hair and OMG is there a lot of it. His undercoat is blondish and it wads up in tufts that pull out like feathers and explode into handfuls. It’s almost like magic. That photo was taken after only a few passes with our Marcus Magic Comb and there seems to be no end to the hair that comes out. I can brush him until my arms are sore and still the hair keeps coming. Anyone want to borrow a dog for a few weeks?

Residence Sunflowers – Part 3 – The Thieves

Yellowjackets are lousy pollinators. From a gardening point of view they are pests. They scavenge and steal and eat whatever they find and sometimes destroy. In this particular case, I have caught one munching on the stem. The wasp has bitten into it and probably munched on the sap. It definitively was not just cooling off its heels in the shade, her mandibles were moving and she took her time on that spot.

What the ones on the leaves were doing I have no idea, but I never saw one even near the blossoms.

Holidays: Wednesday Wings

Parakeets firmly own the city of Barcelona. I know they are pests. they’re also cute.

Jack’s Walk

Our weather has turned cooler over the past few days and the change has been enough to make me take stock of the season. It seems so soon this year, but already I can see the signs of summer passing into fall. The undergrowth in the forest is thinning out and the edges of a few leaves have started to take on a hint of yellow or brown. Fields have been harvested and the farmer’s markets are filled with autumn fare – beets, carrots, squash, potatoes, even the apple harvest has begun. It’s my favourite time of year.

Residence Sunflowers – Part 2 – The Buds

I do like the way sunflowers look even before they fully blossom. There is something soothing about the deep fresh green, fuzziness and the prickly look that speaks to me.

And some of the residents seem to prefer the green buds over the fully open blossoms.

The circle of life

Nature as we imagine for children is this sweet place with fluffy bunnies with chequered hankies, and when we grow up we still call it “Mother Nature” as if it were some nurturing, benevolent entity. Actual nature doesn’t care for that shit. It’s a cruel and violent place where 90% of baby bunnies don’t get to see a second summer. But in nature, death is never wasteful. One animals tragic death is another’s lucky find. So here’s an unlucky shrew and a been grass snake, and some very happy insects and ant.

Residence Sunflowers – Part 1 – The Neighbourhood

Today was a nice day, and I decided to take my camera and dance a bit around the row of sunflowers that my father has planted this year. I think we will plant them every year, they are beautiful and bees and bumblebees love them, as well as a plethora of other creatures. So this week stay tuned for some pictures from that.

This is the whole lot, looking east in the morning.

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Residence Sunflowers – Part 6 – Itty Bitty Facehugger

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Jack’s Walk

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Residence Sunflowers – Part 5 – Bees

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Cornflower

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Holidays: Wednesday Wings

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