Long Time No Post!

 Hi everyone!  

Just a post to say I'm still alive.  :D  

All the kids are doing great in their post-high school studies and soon careers. Since the last post, I went back to school too.  It's been a few years now, but I've managed to become a PhD candidate in applied mathematics.  Hopefully a couple more years and I'll be ready to start off on a brand new career myself.  

Days have been filled with learning and teaching undergraduates mathematics and more origami.  

It's been happy.  I hope everyone who reads this has also had good fortune and if not then, may the future smile at you.
 

Skipper on scrub oak at Roxborough State Park,

This fly does a good job of pretending it's a bumblebee.  It's with a Light-Blue Beardtongue, or Narrow-Leaves Penstemon.

I love sitting in this clover and taking lots of pictures of bees.  According to "Guide to Colorado Wildflowers" by G.K. Guennel, it's Yellow Sweet Clover, Honey Clover or Melilotus officinalis.

Spring Re-emergence

I've returned to the blog-o-sphere with a new, functioning camera, a Canon EOS T5i.

 It was a beautiful day with lots of bugs to find. I'm not sure what kind the Spotted Towhee bird found. As for the others, I think the butterfly is a fritillary, maybe a Northwestern.  The ant is herding her aphid cows on a yucca.  The green (or gray depending on your point of view) sweat bee is in the flower of a ball nipple cactus.  The hover fly is on a daisy, I'm not sure if it's a spreading or a sprawling daisy.  Finally, the unknown species of dragonfly is on some thistle relative. Sorry for the lack of specificity on that last one.

The Knowledge Dogs Protect Us From

I found out during spring yard cleaning. It was nerve wracking, but then I like creepy things. I also have a great first line of defense. Here's the background: I occasionally circle the tennis courts and bring home the unwanted escapees. Go to Petsmart and three tennis balls are at least $5. I'm cheap. As you might guess, freebies lead to abundance. My backyard was carpeted with the things. May geek that I am, I wanted to count them so I organized them. Woofie was immediately interested, but then she loves to play ball. (See Imminent Tennis Ball Seizure.) I think it was her careful examination of each ball that made me notice at all. I grabbed the camera because I thought it was funny that she was being so picky. Sorry the pictures are a little rough.

She started to "kill" the ball, common dog play. I caught a glimpse of something shiny on the ball and was worried it was a tack or a nail. As I got closer, I realized that my previous double quotes needed to be edited out.
She realized I saw and decided to let me in on her secret. She apparently killed it before it could camouflage to an actual tennis ball again. Here's a closeup:

I never knew. I realize now just how much she does to protect us and keep us from worrying. I wanted to celebrate her prowess:

Here are some previous kills I found once I knew what to look for. The last two pictures, I think, indicate a scalped mutant and in a separate location its oddly crusted brain.

So What is It?

I've gotten a few higher ed opinions about what this may be.  Most of my measuring devices are very crude, but it is hard like chert and breaks like chert.  I like chert.  However, the dots and patterns in the rock suggested to me that there's something more going on.  Ideas?

Long Time...

 For those of you who have been waiting, longing and pining for my next post.  Here it is.

This is (as far as I can tell) the flower of a Carolina fanwort.  Zoom in and you'll see the spiderling about to "balloon".  A spiderling sends up a bit of spider silk, catches the wind and sails away to its new neighborhood.  The spider species is ... uh ... I don't know, it's hard to tell with little ones.

As for why it's been so long, bummed-outted-ness.  In a stupid accident, the drive with years of photos fell about three feet.  Backups are sporadic due to lack of funds.  Camera is failing, or lenses.  Definite bummed-outted-ness.  The data recovery is estimated to be between $800 and $900.

I'm still figuring out the whole emotional part of this event.

That's One Impressive Pansy

Why are pansies considered weak? I guess calling someone a nosegay is too politically incorrect? Rose is a verb. Daisy is too Dukes of Hazard. Iris is anatomical. Poppy has drug inferences -- or sounds like your grandfather. Bird of paradise has amazingly narrow targeting potential. Day lily, night lily.

This pansy is one of hundreds taking over the neighborhood.  Hardy little fellers.

Spider Satisfaction and Insect Fix

This summer has gone by very quickly. Our lives have been up in the air (see my Blogspot Pivot blog for more info), so we've not had enough adventures. But there are still insects and bugs for my jonesing.

The orange jumping spider is a species that I've caught up with twice, each individual had recently caught prey. I flipped the leaf over to get better lighting, but the spider wasn't overly eager to pose.

Next is a group of bees which are members of a mystery species. I saw a similar group a couple of years ago. Like last time, I spotted these near dusk. They congregate on grass seeds, some flying off and then coming back to the same stalk. I'm not sure what the social structure is, but they do seem to be a group of some sort so they aren't solitary, but then, I saw no evidence of a physical hive. I have to read some more bee books.

Super Weevil

I was thrilled to get a good shot of both sets of wings. As amazing as they are though, beetles still look pretty comical when they fly.

Rubber Shell and Other Local Trash

Here's logarithmic trash. I think it's a part of a balloon. We found it walking in one of the local creeks.

Web-cicles

 Jumping spiders affix a safety line before making a jump. You can tell if a jumping spider has been around because of the single strands of thread draped over leaves and branches.

It got misty, windy and frozen quickly enough to form horizontal icicles.