Nope – not even close

I asked a question in the last post title, and answered it in this one. The temperature actually got a tad warmer, held up by a front that brought rain with it, and the green treefrogs (Hyla cinerea) happily took advantage of this brief spring. I’m still a little surprised, thinking they’d be in deep enough cover to prevent freezing and thus not venture out casually, but I’m read more

August collection

No, not the month of August, but the adjective ‘august,’ meaning reputable, refined, and noteworthy.

Okay, yeah, it’s the month. And I looked it up just for giggles, and the none of those are synonyms for august anyway, which list, ‘dignified,’ ‘distinguished,’ and, ‘imposing.’ So much for my high-school English classes…

Regardless, there’s read more

I like these bushes


If you have the faintest interest in doing arthropod photography, you could do a lot worse than getting yourself a butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) or three. They’re readily available most anywhere, come in a variety of colors, and most importantly, have a very long blossoming season while attracting a significant breadth of insects, as well as hummingbirds on occasion. read more

The same and different

I just received a gout of photos from the blog’s official central US non-correspondent Jim Kramer, from his trip through Wyoming, which I will be featuring here as soon as I can get to it. Unfortunately, this year seems to be trying to prove to me that I can’t set aside much time anymore, so I’m not exactly sure when this will be, but sometime before the Tricentennial, I’m read more

Still got the creepy thing going on


One of the problems with ornamental plants is how much maintenance they might require. The Girlfriend has a new rose bush that she really likes, and last year it got decimated by an early and earnest attack of inchworms – this was in contrast to another rose that came with the property, that remained almost entirely untouched. This year we were ready, and as the season started, read more

Look now, look all around


Okay, that’s probably not the best lyric to use in the title. It’s the beginning of the chorus from ‘Planet Earth,’ the first release from Duran Duran, but the very next line is, “There’s no sign of life.” I’m using it ironically, so it’s okay – in fact, I get bonus irony points because I think hipsters are dipshits. I’ll read more