Time... Off.

We have many ways in which we observe the passage of time. This morning, while I was doing something I really didn't want to be doing, I was literally watching the clock, and feeling the agony of each slowly passing second. For measuring longer spans, we notice the growth of a child, especially one whom we don't see very often - you can't help but feel the way time speeds by when you realize a person you knew as a baby is now taller than you. For an even slower mark, we can watch the growth of a tree. Though maybe it's not that slow - there is a tree in our yard that was about my height when we bought the land, and is now taller than the house that was not there when the tree sprouted. In between are the changing seasons. I have my own way of observing those - by the background in my pictures. With a macro lens, most of the time the background of a picture is nothing but a blur of color. I can detect the seasonal changes by the color of the blurred backgrounds in my daily photos. In the early spring, when the bugs are coming back but the trees and other plants are not awake yet, the background is gray and brown. As things start to leaf and bloom, the blurs turn to pinks and bright greens. Eventually those colors are replaced by deeper greens in the summer. But this time of year, the background is very often yellow, red, or brown. Soon it will be gray again. I am heartened by the appearance of the greens and pinks in the spring. The fall background are more melancholy to me.

By the way, sorry about the lack of blog for yesterday. I had a long day, away from home, and though I did do a bug walk before I left in the morning, I was so wiped out by the time I got home late last night that I decided I was taking the day off. The results of yesterday's bug walk were not especially interesting, or I would have made the effort. There just wasn't much out there. It was chilly, and sunny, and there were almost no bugs around.

Today was rainy and downright cold, but when the rain stopped (after 1/4 inch, of course), I did get a chance to go out, and found a few things. Little spiders, mostly. But we'll get to those at the end.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I think this might be called a frog hopper. I honestly don't know if it's been Backyard Bug of the Day yet this year, but I don't really care today. It was cute, cooperative, and covered with rain, so it's the chosen one. (I checked. A similar bug was BBotD a few months ago, but not this one).

Random Bugs:

 Poor, bedraggled bee.

 Pupating ladybug.

 Assassins!

Even assassins are inconvenienced by the rain.

 This is kind of weird. This is a picture I took yesterday of that dead caterpillar which is still stuck to the side of the tree.

 Here is a picture of it I took today. I am not sure if you can really tell what happened, but it has... expanded. It had shrunk quite a lot, and I think it must have dried out, and after being rained on I think it was reconstituted, basically, and swelled up again. The pictures probably don't show this, but it's a lot bigger today than it was yesterday. It doesn't even look dead now.

 I just spent an hour uploading pictures, and the blog quit on me, so all of that work was lost...

Starting over...

 The saddleback caterpillar is getting so big! Note also the mouth area wrapped over the edge of the leaf it is eating.

 Can you see the fly?

 How about now?

More insect physical comedy. Ant, ubiquitous aphid, passing each other on opposite sides of a twig. Notice the yellow background color of autumn.

Now I will inundate you with ladybug pictures.

 This is a bug I posted a while ago that I think has Gollum-like eyes. It's tiny, and there are a whole lot of them that live on this rock, and zoom around really fast. I have always wondered what they were finding to eat on the rock, but now I realize that there are lichens and what look like some kind of algae living on the rock, and that's what these bugs must eat.

 Also on the rock: an aphid. Because they are everywhere.

Looper, hanging out.

Somehow in this picture I managed to get just the face in focus. Nice that it looked up so I could get that shot.

Here's that charming face zoomed in.

 Cricket. Female, by the looks of that spike that I hope is an ovipositor.

Aside from one picture, all of the shots I have today are of one kind of spider. I have a lot of them. It is a very cute spider, and there are currently a lot in the yard. Very low creepiness factor. Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Six-Spotted Orb Weaver. It didn't have an orb web at the time, but was zooming across silk threads strung between the sprigs of a goldenrod plant.

This is a different spider, but I think the same species.

I don't know what kind this is.