Perched High

Halloween Pennant dragonflies perched in the sun on common mullein plants. Hundreds of them could be seen over this old quarry sight in Hamilton County, Ohio. (Look carefully and you can also see a grasshopper).

Somebunny's Beautiful

Look at Garnet. She's returned to full health.  Totally worth the effort involved in healing her.

The Process of Pupation

Last Monday the Hickory Horned Devil larva stopped eating.  That told me that they were ready to rest in preparation to pupate. I figured it would take about a week based on the notes I made last time I studied them. I need to mention here that we left for Michigan the first week of August and my mom and brother, left with implicit instructions, cared for them while we were gone. We originally started with 14 larva but we released 10 of them into their native habitat prior to our trip. The first one started the process of pupation last night.  Here's a pictorial of what's happened in the past week.

 Full grown HHD

 Full grown at just over 5 inches in length

 The larva begins to change colors and burrows itself into the ground...

 Once in the ground the larva rests there for about a week...

 When it is ready to pupate it resurfaces.  As you can see it has reduced its size by about 3 inches while resting.

 It starts another color change...

 Molts its exoskeleton and continues to turn color...

 The exoskeleton

 And finally forms a pupa which rests on the surface until next spring when it will hatch into a Royal Walnut moth. The pupa is capable of wiggling and will respond to sound and moisture when drops of water are added near by.

This is another one of the larva which began to resurface this morning. It will probably pupate this evening into morning.

Oak Rabbit Puzzles

I picked these cute little rabbits up at the Paradise Wild Blueberry Festival when we were in Michigan. I couldn't resist. The gentleman that made them was extremely talented and had a number of other animals that I was temped to purchase as well. These are 1.5 and 2.5 inches tall. Not something Andrew can duplicate as they were cut with a laser and we don't have one of those. )-:

We are Red-y

Classes start Monday. We converted to semester's so we go back three weeks earlier this year than last. (Of course I have been there most of the summer anyway so the only difference is that there are a lot more people around making demands-LOL).  Homecoming is also earlier this year.  Usually in October this year a month earlier in September.  The theme is Rolling Out the Red.  Groups on campus are competing in a contest by submitting photos of their organization or department showing they are Red-y. This was our contribution engineered by moi:

 

Red-Y?

 

We are!!  HSS=abbreviation for our department name.

Spider Sighter

That would be Andrew. He spied this little furry guy in the prairie grass at Darby Creek today.  Isn't it cute?

Holiday Road

Last week we went north to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It's about 800 miles from our home. Our first stop was Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.  We camped in the Retro Haven ('73 Bethany pop-up). Highlights of that portion of the trip included:  copper mining at the Caledonia Mine, canoeing in Union Bay and seeing beautiful scenery and a spectacular sunset, and rock picking on the beach near the Presque Isle river, hiking and a visit to Lake in the Clouds.

Smiling now because we haven't yet spent 3 hours in the blazing sun chipping rock. LOL

 

Doe and triplet fawns in the Iron River

Lake in the Clouds

 Hiking and creeking

 Presque Isle River

 Union Bay-my birthday canoe trip

 Serenity

 Andrew's birthday sunset

Our second stop was Paradise, Michigan where we stayed at Taquamenon Falls State Park Lower Falls Unit.  Highlights there included: more beautiful scenery, a canoe trip down the Big Two Hearted River (made famous by Ernest Hemingway even though the trip he wrote about was actually done on the Fox River), freighter watching off Whitefish Point, the pancake breakfast at the Blueberry Festival and a blueberry picking trip on the way to the Crisp Point Historical Lighthouse.

 Another spectacular sunset

Whitefish Point- Algoma Progress and Walter J. McCarthy Jr. in the distance.

 Pebble Posey (photo taken for the International Beach Project)

 Family pic-did I mention we got another Bichon?   JK

 On Sunday I made bb muffins. They were delicious!

Crisp Point H.L.H. before the storm that hit while we were four miles down the beach with 50 pounds of rocks in our pockets

After the storm

Fireweed

 The Big Two Hearted River

 

Mouth of the Two Hearted at Lake Superior.

We came home with about 200 pounds of rocks between beach picking and copper mining.  The stones on Lake Superior are so beautiful one can't help but fill their pockets.

Let's Party!

I came home from work tonight to find a party of sorts (with a full smorgasbord) going on in our backyard. See for yourself...

Lots of good eats...

Catch me if you can...

The Real Fun...

...is just beginning!  Look how much the Hickory Horned Devils grew this week!  Grandma took good care of them while we were on vacation. She said they were little chow hounds and really put away the leaves.  All the dark spines that cover their bodies are sharp but the larva don't bite. They are 52 days old today. Probably within the week they will pupate. Then we get to wait until next May to see the adult Royal Walnut Moths. Right now they are in an aquarium on our kitchen table. I can hear them chewing their Sweet Gum leaves as I type this post. They are actually quite loud and it is interesting to watch them chew and eat. 

The Most Fabulous Birthday Cake Ever!

My brother sent us off on our camping trip to Michigan (more about that soon) with a fabulous birthday cake from our local bakery. Always a favorite, but this year decorated with beautiful dragonflies, it tastes like a hostess HoHo; in other words decadent and delicious. My birthday was the 14th and Andrew's was the 16th.

Just Hangin' Around...

...practically doubling in size every day....

A Rare Find

Andrew found this large and beautiful piece of rose quartz in southern Delaware County and brought it home to me knowing it is one of my favorites gems. Rose quartz is a rare find in Ohio as most of it in the U.S. is found out west (although it can occur anywhere that clear quartz occurs).  The well known gems citrine and amethyst are both quartz. 

Identification of Rose Quartz:

• Chemistry: SiO2.
• Colour: pale-pink to rose-red
• Cleavage: None
• Mohs scale: hardness 7
• Luster: Vitreous
• Transparency: opaque to translucent, rarely transparent
• Refractive index: nω = 1.54-1.55
• Birthstone: January

 
History:
Throughout history, Rose Quartz has been a symbol for love and beauty. Today it is known as the “Stone of Gentle Love” or the “Stone of Unconditional Love”.

Although not much is known historically about Rose Quartz, beads were found in the area once known as Mesopotamia (today’s Iraq) that date back to 7000 BC. Rose Quartz jewelry was known to be crafted by the Assyrians during the time span of 800-600 BC, and it is believed that the Assyrians along with the Romans were first to use this stone. The Romans used it for making seals as a sign of ownership. They also considered it a strong healing stone. Egyptians believed the pink stone prevented aging.

Rose Quartz has traditionally been given to newborn babies to help in their transition from the spirit world to the physical realm, gently integrating the two and helping with adjustment. This stone is also said to help mend broken hearts or aid in easing emotional trauma.

Geographic distribution:
Rose quartz occurs at many pegmatite locations all over the world. Especially in Madagascar, South-Africa, Namibia, U.S.A. (South Dakota), and Brazil (Bahia and Minas Gerais).

Source

Merrily We Roll Along

I thought you might like to see Daisy in her re-purposed jogging stroller. It got it for $16 at Once Upon A Child. A "real" doggy stroller that isn't even heavy duty is $90. Not. When we went to South Carolina in the spring Daisy wasn't up to all the hiking/ beach walking that we did and I ended up putting her in the bike basket more than I had intended. Her knees bother her with overuse and she starts to limp. This way she can still go hiking with us and and we don't have to worry about wearing her out.  Dogs wind down in old age just like humans. Daisy likes riding in her new stroller.  I put her in it yesterday to show my mom and brother and she just beamed with pride.  I made a red cover/visor to protect her from the sun (not pictured here). Andrew had some material that he bought for $ 2 at a garage sale to make a sail for his canoe and I used some of it. The original was missing but the brackets were still in place.  One thing I really love about this mode of transport is that if I want to stop along the trail to look at something Daisy can sit and relax (and not wrap her leash around my legs) while I am doing whatever.  There's a pocket in back for stuff like water and sunscreen etc. Quite the bargain don't you think?

 

Here's Daisy at Walnut Woods Metro Parks last evening.

The Cotton's A Bloomin'

Finally!  Thought it would never bloom. Weird weather might have been a factor. In the south it's hot and dry not hot and rainy.  Last year I got all pink blooms. This year we got white, pink and burgundy. It's actually burgundy cotton so one would think the blooms would be all be burgundy but apparently that's not the case.