I predict…

… there will be more posts coming in the uncertain future, with photos and trivia, and perhaps some changes to the regular content.

There. That sounds much better than my excuses for not posting something substantial now, right?

Maybe not.

Anyway, I’ve been juggling various tasks and projects, and I have two posts definitely in the works – the problem is, one is about mantids again read more

Mantodea reditum

That means, “return to the mantids.” Maybe. Probably not – it’s Latinish, one of many languages I have mastered not in the slightest form whatsoever.


Lest you think something has terrible happened to my mind, I hasten to assure you that I have been keeping tabs on the mantises, even when I haven’t been posting anything. There is now a vast size read more

But how? Part 21: Assertion

So, I started this category many moons ago with the idea that it would be used to answer (mostly unasked) questions that religious folk like to pose towards atheists, essentially showing how a secular standpoint covers more bases than it’s usually given credit for. At times since, the structure of posing an initial question hasn’t really worked, yet I still felt that the topic fit in read more

In my defense

… he says, with a touch of self-consciousness and insecurity.

First off, an apology for being away as long as I have, especially when I said I’d be following the progress of the hawks. I’d actually started this post many days ago, but while it was in draft form, a little over a week back, I was away for the day and the hawk fledglings chose that day to leave the nest. I’d read more

The real May abstract


For reasons unknown, I had it in my head yesterday that we were in June, with only thirty days, and thus had to post the month-end abstract yesterday. After midnight, a glance down at the date/time bar on the computer screen reminded me of my error, which I was willing to let go until I spotted a better abstract while sorting images just now. The blog auditors will be wondering read more

A select few

It’s true only a few special people would not only notice details like this, but photograph it in fine detail. I’ll let you supply your own definition of ‘special’ for these circumstances…

In clearing out some areas of the yard the other day, I disturbed some wet leaves and wood pulp and exposed my friend here, obviously suited to a hidden and protected existence. I read more

Month end and Monday color

Anyone is free to pick on me regarding my definition of ‘abstract’ for this one, and I won’t argue – it doesn’t really fit with my own definition. But it’s what I have from a month that included few choices for a month-end abstract. This fritillary butterfly, which might be a Speyeria hydaspe, went well against the streaked background, which read more

Let me take this opportunity

Cruising through the botanical garden early yesterday morning, the very first thing I happened across was something that I’ve, honestly, never spotted in ‘the wild’ before. Which is pretty surprising to me, considering how often I specifically go out not just into prime habitats, but actually looking for snakes. You can put this down to rotten observation powers if you read more

The snakes are taking a beating

While I’ve been keeping an eye on the progress of the red-shouldered hawk chicks, I’ve been having difficulty recording it due to a lack of free time concurrent with decent weather – we’ve had way too much rain for my liking. Yesterday I finally got it together, and the hawks were happy to oblige me.

The chicks are getting quite sizable now, able to move about with almost read more

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