Being Lizzy Bennet

Today I walked around my backyard like my favorite literary character, Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, my hem(s) six inches deep in mud at least. I wore my tick-repellent pants for the first time in ages, because it was warm enough that there could have been ticks around (I didn't see any), and those pants are too long. The ground is still saturated with water, and though it is frozen underneath after all the cold weather, the top is thawing. The water can't drain down deep, and stays near the surface, and so... I squelched around the backyard and ended up with cold, wet, muddy pant legs flapping around my ankles. I spent that time pondering what it must be like for animals that spend the winter burrowed into the soil. I did not come up with a conclusion. I assume they have their means of adapting. I considered the possibility that they would crawl out of the ground because of it, but I didn't see any sign of that happening. I was hoping that because today was warmer (and muddier!) even than yesterday I would see more bugs, and maybe more kinds of bugs than yesterday, but that was not the case. I am pretty disappointed. On the other hand, I ate my lunch outside today, so even if a day in February that reaches into the 60s doesn't deliver the expected bug bonanza, at least it was still a gorgeous day.

The only insect I saw today that I did not see yesterday was this:

 Moth attracted to the porch light in the evening.

There were more candy striped leaf hoppers out today. I even saw them on more than one tree:

 

 The caterpillar was back.

I saw a lot of midges and other tiny flying things, but they were all zooming past, not resting somewhere to be photographed, until this one I found on the porch in the evening:

There were a lot of spiders around today. Most were in places I could not get to with my camera, but I got a couple for Arachnid Appreciation:
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