TINY grasshopper (grey, tan, camo colored)

Soooo tiny, like the size of my pinky finger nail. anddd, it looks like little tiny wings on its back, but it's just two tan dots that are part of the pattern.
I like to think of them as evolving dragon wings.

Loooooook at his amazing old man, stone henge, pouty, big nosed face!!!! it's like something you see in a nursing home.
A face i love!
xoxoxoxox

Bug and Dog and Gang

When things shift, for me it always seems to be a violent shift.... but an invisible one. It's like a horrible fart that makes no sound, but the smell wakes you in the night, and you think WTF has that dog been eating in the woods?
My life... silent but deadly... smelt it but didn't delt it?

I have a dog now. My neighbors dog who is known as the neighborhood "whore dog" (AKA, Bruiser) - because he can't seem to stay at home. He doesn't say why and it doesn't matter how he ended up back at my house... he is here now. A big bag a gluten free dog food, and I made him his own pillow bed from some wool and fabric. He seems content, and has not yet run away.
I was feeling a bit more then disappointed this week, because the local primitive & outdoors living skills classes (called Firefly) was happening and i missed it due to having to take the Flagyl anti-biotics to kill the mean, evil, worthless giardia (parasite) that was plaguing my intestines.
And kill it, it seems to have done. Kill many things. No more diarrhea! YAY... but oh the fuckin' side effects that linger and my body is eager to throw off toxins, which means now the waves of nausea are again my pal. A friend I have to tell to go away.
I chant over and over "but no more diarrhea!"

I have noticed with the weird weather we are having this summer (it never gets hot here, and now it is downright chilly!)... the variety of bugs has shifted a bit from last year. I have seen maybe 3 live mosquitoes all summer. Had only one night of No-See-Ums.... and the moths are slightly different too. And remember the giant bug that got in bed with me? The Palo Root Borer Beetle....
here is a video of one outside, looking for a place to lay eggs and then actually laying them in a dead log outside the Luck Cabin!......


My animal gang is my joy, entertainment, my drama, and my laughter.
If you replace "my animal gang" with "my future man" ... that totally sounds like a terrible 'walk on the beach' personals ad. ha ha. I bet these guys would love to walk on the beach too... maybe i can book that whole animal crew and myself a plane ride to the Caribbean, the donkey would love it.
XOxOXoxOX

HUGE Black Ant (with golden stripes)

I was peeling back some bark on a dead hemlock tree, which is laying on the ground near my cabin.... mindlessly, i ripped a big piece off and found the biggest ant ever under there!!! Big ant, with big ant egg sacs... and no other ant like it in sight.
A giant loner.
Jet black with light golden hairs and rings on it's back end...
A dark loner.
An ant who doesnt lay but a small amount of eggs, it seems to manage on it's own.
A single loner.
Does anyone know what kind of ant this is?
XoxoxXO

Tan Moth, with green/blue and yellow stripes on head

I have never seen one of these moths in my life, and i think it's won a special place in the corner of my heart that i have reserved just for bad ass moths.
The contrast of the green/blue fuzzy head stripes.... with the subtle shades of tan in outlined waves on it's wings... omg, it's too cool. Sometimes understated beauty is best.

There were actually several of these moths all in one spot outside my front door. Has anyone ever seen one of these before, or can give me an ID on what type of moth it is?
XoxOxox

White Moth with Black Spots

Freaking beautiful! I haven't seen one like this in many many years... maybe since i lived in Baton Rouge, LA.

It's like a white cheetah, or leopard! Anyone want to ID this moth, and what it's caterpillar looks like too??
I Looooooove eet!
XoxoxoOX

HUGE Ass Bug! Whoa...

When this big bug entered my bedroom, i seriously thought it was a giant Louisiana cockroach at a glance..... fast moving, brown, huge, with those roachy legs!
Then it jumped in bed with me... omGAwd. Now i am not a bug-phobe as ya'll know, but this thing was making crunching noises and sounded like it was the size of mouse coming towards me. It kept crawling under my covers and under my pillow.....
since i don't usually sleep with strangers, i told him to get out of my bed.
It moved fast and furious, i could hardly get a good picture of it. And i could tell, this bug had bigger brains then most insects. It seemed to know things....
It's called the Palo Verde Root Borer .... a big name for a big boy. :)
XOxoOX

Orange and Black Butterfly

Just pretty.


XOxoXOX

Mating Ladybugs

CUte! Little ladybugs mating on woodland nettles....
(woodland nettles sting, but not nearly as bad as stinging nettles...)
there was a whole lotta shakin' going on!
XoXox

Strange Shrimp Headed Bug (with wings)

OMfreakin'Gawd.... check this insect out! What is going on here? It's amazingly freaky, uncommon, and almost looks like a bottom feeder from the ocean, but with tattered dragonfly wings!
Antenna a bit like a moth... legs strong like a grasshopper or cockroach.... construction like an alien from a horror movie.
If you saw this thing and it happened to be bigger then you, you would know for sure it was your last moments.
Mr. ShrimpHead got irritated with me taking photos of it, and opened it's damn mouth only to reveal a BIG yellow abyss, looking like the gates to hell, or like maybe a whole 'nother bug in and of itself. Bug monster within bug monster..... like looking in the hotel room bathroom mirror, where your reflection never ends.

I touched it very lightly once with a stick and it was very quick to be aggressive..... I backed off because I didn't want that yellow mouth piece to touch me. Ever.

Anyone know what kind of creature this is?

XOXOoXoo

Lunar Moth On My Porch

When I was a teenager a boy i liked gave me a book that identified all the moths and butterflies in North America. I obsessively looked through the book over and over, flipping through pages, building up the the climax page which held the huge mysterious lunar moth....( akin to probably teenage boys when they got to the centerfold of their dad's dirty magazines.)
The Lunar Moth, i thought, was the most beautiful moth on the planet (not counting the ones in Madagascar) and I identified with it's ghostly quality and the fact that it stood out like a sore thumb. It very obviously wasn't like all the other moths or even the butterflies.
People would ask what animal I would like to be if i could be any in the world... I wanted to be a lunar moth.
I thought the chances of myself seeing one were about as good as seeing a unicorn.
Only one other time in my life have I seen a live, fully in tact Lunar Moth in real life.... and I had no idea that I would have a second chance to see one, and that it would feel completely epic also. Maybe it's cause they only live for a week, they really only come out at night when i stay inside.... i thought the last time was a flook because it had flown to a light inside that house in Big Sandy Mush during the night and got caught in a room so in the morning i got to see it.
This time, i found the lunar moth on the ceiling of my front porch during the DAYtime and almost let out a squeal when i realized it was there.
Lunar Moths seem to be very laid back, easy to put a finger under and have it crawl on... like a bird that's been trained. When it crawled onto my hand, it opened it's wings and showed it's complete "headdress" of awesome-ness. It's owl eye markings, it's wide huge wings, curling tail, it's fuzz was that of a small animal. Gentle outlines of the wings, and the purple/lavender furry stripe across it's top wings looks just like velvet.
A shy face, with magenta/purple-ish legs, and a ghost white body, so white it's almost shocking this creature survives in the wilderness as it does.

It is like, i had a special visitor... one i wasn't expecting, one that's presence is so strong i start wonder if it's a sign (i know dorky, right?), that i actually got to see and hold something so important to me, something i wish for but never think will come.
It makes me wonder what other wishes will come to my front porch.
XOxoxoxX

Bugs!

*********
It is finally warming up here... and i am seeing more insects then I have seen in so long (another reason the cold season sucks)!
Here are a few crawlers & fliers I saw in the last two days... (ya'll know how i LOVEeeee bugs, but OMgAWd.... i got to see the most beautiful lunar moth too!!! More pics to come later.)



XxoxoX

Where Have I Been?

Only the trees, birds and bees know for sure. :))

Remember my To Do At The Luck Cabin (even though i can not live here year round for the rest of my life) but I am going to keep doing stuff anyway LIST?
Me either. I'll have to go look at it.
But, I think i have been getting some of it done....
Let's just say I have been 'taking out the trash' in my life - in with new out with old.

***
1. First big change... I put up a gate on my road to keep strangers in vehicles and 4 wheelers and gators OUT, and keep JuJu the donkey IN. So far it's working it's function really well. I already planned on doing this, but the point was driven harder to get this gate up for JuJu patrol when a bobcat came and killed 6 chickens and my female duck. (I found the bobcat tracks and no other tracks around.)
One big drawback, JuJu started trying to eat my house. Ya'll may argue this, but it is just to get my attention and be an asshole... she has hay and green things and a salt lick to eat. She learned quickly that eating the house made me come out the house and be mad.... she don't care about the mad part. :0
BTW -Did I mention this gate also helps keep out random rednecks? Yay!

2. Then I started finally doing all the laundry that had been building up, got my Lehman's Hand Washer drain unclogged... hang drying clothes and sheets on the line, when the sun finallllllly shined day after day.

3. Got all the literal trash loaded up in my truck and my uncle's truck... which lead me into....

4. a house cleaning SPREE! You know the neglect is bad when a 425 sq ft house takes over 3 days to get cleaned up. To be fair i was cleaning outside too, plus cleaning out my soul and disposing of outdated relationship knick knacks, etc....

5. NEW GUTTERS (hooked up to rain barrels)! woo! the old gutters were ripped off the house during the winter by the extreme amount of snow and ice on the roof (bent the thing right in half like a twist tie). Now the new gutters are hooked into the rain barrels!

6. Did i mention taking the trash out of my love life & heart? I did a dance about it for myself and my friend Heather (the one who had brain surgery recently & is going through a break up). Watch it HERE if you dare, cause it's got pazzaz and passion.

7. Outside shower is FIXED! yay! There was a tiny amount of PVC piping left on there and it had of course cracked during the winter. I had stop valves put on the shower for winter time and all the piping for the cabin & outside shower are now PEX only. None of the pex ever broke.

8. BUGS.... of course. I have been looking at all the new bugs coming out. Moths and caterpillars and flying crawling, wiggling things.
9. and i am working on getting vitamin D.... a nice tan with freckles, sunshine, every moment i can, every moment till my skin says it's reached it's daily dose. After this winter.... the daily dose is alot higher then normal.
10. And lastly.... i FINALLY got my passport in the mail! Now i can run away at anytime. to. well. Anywhere in the world. Being the smarty pants i am, i am saving money for when the moment comes... because one thing is for sure, I won't spend another full winter up here at this cabin by myself. Not cause I am pussy, but cause I have done it and learned that it's not safe, healthy, normal, or good for one person to do alone. Not at this property. So I will be ready with "get out of jail" card just in case I go out with a big bang.

***
I love change. It's so good.

XOXOOOX