Kid shoot…
Sasha started ballet classes, got new clothes for Christmas (including pink cowboy boots!), and Forest remains…Forest. So we did a photo shoot!
JB
12/31/09
A little Romance…
Here’s the winter catalog for Romance Diamond Company, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The designer was Tony Steck at the incomparable DOXA; clean, simple, and on point…
JB
12/31/09
Congratulations….
Congratulations to my Blog, now officially the 7th most popular hit when searching google for “spiders that eat cardboard” !
JB
12/8/09
UPDATE: Thanks to your support, I’m up to #2! Thanks!
JB
12/21/09
Hornworm
Click any image to em-biggen
If you’ve grown tomatoes, then chances are you know what this is, or at least you think you do. If you said tomato hornworm, then “BONK!”, thanks for playing. This is actually the low-life cousin of the tomato hornworn, the one with the nicotine habit: the tobacco hornworm.
Tho similar in word and deed, the tomato horn worm (when viewed from the side) has eight V-shaped stripes and a black “horn”. The tobacco hornworm has 7 oblique stripes and a red “horn”. Both are common in Arkansas gardens and if it’s eating your tomatoes, then it’s a tomato eating bastard no matter how many stripes it has.
I happen to think that these are some of the most visually interesting insects in our region. Camouflage, confusing your enemies with ambiguous anatomy, and boasting of powers you don’t possess are common survival tactics in bars the insect world. The hornworm deploys all three tactics in it’s effort to take the “T” from your ”BLT”. If you’ve ever searched for a hornworm on a tomato plant, you know about the camouflage; they are very difficult to see, tho the damage to your plant is evident enough…these guys are voracious.
This is the head of the worm. Pretty basic, really. Mouth to eat with, legs (sharp little claws included) for grasping plant stems, eyes for seeing “what’s for dinner”. Pretty basic…except for the eyes. They’re not really eyes. They just look like eyes.
Here are the real eyes. Tiny little bug eyes. The other “eye” is designed to confuse and/or intimidate potential predators. But, it gets better…
If one big eye is confusing to your enemy, several big eyes must be really confusing…and, to my mind, a bit creepy.
How cool is that?
Here is a close-up of just one eye. Understand, this is strictly a surface feature. A painting, basically. Poke it and it doesn’t blink. Rub a finger across it and it’s perfectly smooth. Yet, the detail is astounding. Notice the pupil, the high-lights, the slight shading under the “lid”. A truly beautiful and realistic design…
Here’s the worms tail, otherwise known as “faux head”. Like a cross between a manatee and a unicorn. Cute, actually. And kind of intimidating.
“Look at me, I’m a big…something. I have big eyes and a big mouth and a GIANT stinger/poker thing sticking out of my head! You should run away before I stingpoke you and eat your heart!”
So I guess it goes like this: Sharp-eyed bird spots movement in the tomato patch=camouflage fail. Bird attacks the intimidating sting/poke faux head, creating enough diversion for the real head to react/flee. Bird is confused by undulating eyes, unsure if he’s dealing with prey or predator, and if so, how many. Worm uses this momentary confusion to get away from bird by hiding under a leaf or dropping to the ground. Worm=Win, Bird and tomato patch=Fail.
A gratuitous aphid joined my photo-shoot of this beautiful and interesting caterpillar. Next time you are weeding the garden, look closer at any hornworms you find, they really are well designed. Then, smash that sucker into the ground and don’t forget to share your tomatoes with me…I love tomatoes!
JB
11/03/09
What will the winter weather bring?
Well, if you believe the Government, chances are this winter will be average, weather wise. Accuweather says we’ll be colder, with average precipitation. And the Farmer’s Almanac says we’ll be colder and wetter than normal…Ice and Snow! I’m gonna go out on a limb and predict at least one 8″ snow and also a day of 70˚ in February.
JB
10/31/09