Attack Of The Mantid

Today was very traumatic. I was working in the garden when I was suddenly attacked by a vicious praying mantis. The thing was downright brutal! I saw it coming but couldn't do a thing to stop the ensuing carnage. I'm now mentally scarred for life, at the very least I'm sure to develop an acute case of mantiphobia. I'm grateful it was a baby, an inch long at best, had it been a full grown adult mantis I may not have survived! Fortunately my camera was within reach so I was able to document the attack. Now I can show you the evil monster.

There it is, plotting its brutal attack, moments before it threw me to the ground.

Surveying the carnage and its nearly unconscious victim.

A Robin's Nest

A pair of robins decided to build a nest in the climbing rose just outside my kitchen door. They are industrious little buggers, it took them all of 2 days to build the nest, flying back and forth all day long getting little twigs and pieces of plants.  It amazes me that they can build something so solid, which will last for a couple years, using nothing more than a beak.

It's been a couple weeks since they finished so I decided to have a look inside the nest to see what, if anything, was in there. Fortunately for me the nest is low enough that I can stand on a stool, reach up and fish the camera through the rose ending up in just the right position to photograph the nest and its content. I can't see what I'm photographing but after 5 or 6 shots I finally got a decent one. As you can see there are 4 pretty blue eggs waiting to hatch. I'm hoping the parents haven't been scared away by all the activity happening so close to their nest since they are just a few feet from my kitchen door. They probably aren't real fond of seeing Zeus laying in the window watching them either, lol.

I'll keep an eye on them to see if the eggs hatch and if the babies get fed. If they survive, they better learn how to say "Cheeeeeeese".

Supersized Blueberries

I have once again won my annual battle with the catbirds, go me! Every year it's a struggle to keep those feathered pests away from my blueberries, they are determined little buggers and usually manage to find a way through, under or around the netting I use to cover the plants. I only caught a couple intruders this time, so more berries for me.

For my efforts I was rewarded with enough blueberries to completely fill a half gallon pitcher, with a mound of berries on top. That was just the first harvest, I'll be picking more over the next few weeks as the rest continue to ripen. One plant in particular had huge fruit, some of the biggest blueberries I'd ever seen. They taste even better than they look, so I'm off to eat more.

The coin in the pictures is a US quarter for comparison.

Garden Critters

Assorted critters and insects I've photographed in my garden over the years. Click the slideshow to enable full screen capability at Picasa.

Gardening Time

Spring has sprung and my plants are growing like mad already. There's not been much to speak of in the way of flowers yet, but they're coming.

Since I seem to always be working in the yard or garden I figured I may as well show everyone some of what's in it. I'll try to keep the photos organized chronologically so you can see it as it progresses. There's a few in the Garden album now if you wanna see the real early stuff.

Just remember that I have an ancient relic of a digital camera, and the wind doesn't always cooperate and let everything stay still when I'm trying to photograph a plant. Bottom line .... some inevitable poor quality pictures. Send me a new 13 megapixel digital with 20x zoom and I'll be happy to take better ones. And a tripod too! Maybe some lights while you're at it. Some other lenses would be good too. Yep, I'm greedy.

Of course, this probably won't make a bit of sense since I copied this post here from another site and there are no photo albums here.