Wet Paint

I am repainting the trim on my house this week, and today was the priming step. There will be one coat of primer, and then probably two coats of paint. I expect to see a lot of this:

Only one bug got caught today, that I know of, but there's more to come. I think its little footprints in the primer are adorable, but when I found it it was stuck. I unstuck it, but I don't know if there was permanent damage done. I hope not. But we get a lot of bugs wandering around on our house, and the trim is a favorite hangout for spiders, so I hope they are all put off by the smell or something. If spiders have a sense of smell, which I have no idea about.

Anyway, I had a lot of work to do today in the yard (I mean, I was standing in the yard the whole time I was painting the house, so technically I was working in the yard), so I didn't have much time for bug watching, and didn't take a lot of pictures. I also found a Backyard Bug of the Day almost as soon as I walked outside, so there was no need to make a thorough survey when I needed to get to work. It will be a bit of a bare bones blog today.

So... Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I think I posted a picture of this bug once before. It is a strange one - it's like a clump of dirt with legs.

 But then it turned to face me, and its face looks like a triceratops.

 It was slightly iridescent, too.

So cute, and weird, and goofy. And so shocking when it flew away! I wish I had been able to get a closer shot, but it didn't want that.

Backyard Bud of the Day:

Common mullein. A very cool plant - it has these broad leaves that are almost like a flower themselves before the stem starts to grow, and then it gets to be about as tall as me.

I have often seen plants with this:

And now, thanks to... okay, I can't remember where I found this out, but there is some kind of insect that lays its egg in the stem of a plant, and that swelling is because there is a larva developing in there.

Gratuitous milkweed photo:

There are now so many blooming in front of the house that I can smell them as I walk up the front walk.

This was Bud of the Day about a week ago...

It's nice to see moths "in the wild."

By which I mean, not on my front porch. It's probably just the lighting, but it doesn't look like this moth's wings match.

Okay, now for some Arachnid Appreciation!
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 This spider was a gorgeous iridescent rosy gold.

 And it's abdomen had a cool pattern on it.

 I've zoomed in on this picture to show what it has in its grasp.

 Remember I've talked about the ant/aphid farming thing? I've always wondered what was in it for the aphids, because it seems like kind of a raw deal for them, especially because I have read that the ants chew off their wings so they can't get away, but I found out from those bug documentaries that the ants herd them to a good food source, and protect them from predators, so I guess the arrangement works out well for both. But see the spider in the lower right hand corner of this picture of the ant farm?

 Apparently that protection from predators is not foolproof.

 This spider has a nicely decorated web.

Here's a closer look at the spider.

Painting in the morning. I hope I don't catch any bugs this time!