Saturday, August 16, 2014

Transformation of the Comet Darner

I was tending to my gardens this morning and saw what appeared to be a cellophane wrapper in my lilies.  

It wasn't cellophane.

Hubs reported that it was a newly emerged Comet Darner and while it is common other places, it is quite rare for us.  

He told me to watch it for a few hours and I would see how it would change.  
The wings are clear and glassy.  Just slightly lined.  The body is just filling with blood.  You can see how it isn't completely filled up yet.  
(A hair blurry.  If I got any closer, it would have flown away.)

The wings are lined.  The body is changing color.

Look at how the body has changed as it has dried in the sun. 

Class dismissed. :)

Friday, August 15, 2014

The tall and short of it.


My cousin and I have always been close.  Obviously, Jenny is a hair taller than me.  That's why in high school we shared a locker.  I had a locker next to her boyfriend and so we shared.  She could use the top shelf and I could use the bottom.  I could never use the top anyhow because I couldn't dig anything out of it if it got in there.

We took the girls to the Cleveland Zoo today.  I won't bore you with zoo photos.  There were a few interesting things:
1.  You could feed a giraffe a lettuce leaf for $2 each leaf.  I told my friend that I need to rethink my employment.  I said that I could probably make my salary in a few days at the zoo.
2.  A lady decided to jump one of the common green space fences to lay a blanket out and to change her child in the middle of EVERYONE.  She was about 20' from a bathroom with a changing table.  I know because I just used the loo with my cousin's daughter.
3.  There were some interesting clothing choices.
4.  It was 70 during what is normally the dog days of August and yes, I wore the coat all day.  I still have it on.
5.  I talked Jenny into working the zoo backwards and I think that was a good thing.
6.  We had a delightful picnic at the table right in front of our car.
7.  They need bigger bathrooms.
8.  The critters seemed happy.  There was even a bunny snacking on grass in the flamingo enclosure.
9.  Happily, we skipped construction traffic.  We weren't certain of our success until we got almost all of the way home.
10.  We didn't enter one gift shop.
11.  We didn't purchase one food product, though I did see a woman who had her child lose control of his hot dog while shedding his bun.  She paid $4.50 for it and went back and asked for a replacement.  I was stunned that they gave her one.
12.  We didn't run into rude people.
13.  Our kiddos were good.  :)

We had a great day!