chiaroscuro mule deer morning

Always a sucker for chiaroscuro,

this morning I got a treat. =)

I wonder if it's exhausting being that beautiful all the time.

xobb

2 bugs 4 u

1. This bug landed on my arm at a party Saturday night (since, natch, I was sitting outside), and I was DELIGHTED. This photo is from last August when I found the exact same thing (but that was the 1st time) on my sunflower plant:

Less than a centimeter. Wee small, adorable creature.

The bugguide page on this pup, Dictyonia obscura, says it's a planthopper.

What I saw during this year's encounter is that in the right sunlight, it's wings reflect bright, metallic gold. SO beautiful. And the wing windows cast the COOLEST shadows on my arm. So sweet.

Of course I showed everyone.

Can't take me anywhere...

2. Saw this on our wall a few days ago. I heart the heart on its back. I'm gonna need to look this up. But, right now I'm hungry. =)

This was also small, maybe about 1 cm?, so rest assured it bears NO resemblance to a cockroach in real life. Super quick general guess is hemipteran?

Okay, I had to look.

Looks like a member of the Ligus genus, per bugguide, to me. Common name mirid plant bug, in the Heteropterans, which fall under Hemiptera, so I'm liking my super rough category guess.

Hello!

A wee bit fuzzy, but a friendly angle.

K. Now I really gotta eat something,

then do my gym duties, etc.

I hope these 2 bugs helped brighten your Monday.

If you're into that kinda thing.

=)

xobb

mammalsamongus

1. baby squirrels in the a.m., backlit to be even cuter.

2. due to the above, my garden is 100% doomed. hosed.

not even gonna talk about it. oog.

3. charming deer friends grooming, including ultra-preggers doe

w/what I presume is a daughter from last year.

Facebook bb friends have already seen this.

(Pardon horrible lighting, they were in the shadows, plus major croppage.)

4. So, is this a kangaroo face, or what?

Hello, convergent evolution!

Anyhow, expecting fawn dropping soon.

Can't wait to see those little spotted creatures tottering by. =)

5. Oh, and it's probably just me, but I thought the lighting

on these weeds this a.m. was pretty.

Non-native annuals need love, too. =)

xobb

deersnax & peekaboo

Just photographed this deer enjoying our grape leaves,

but didn't notice until I uploaded it onto my computer

that another deer's reflection was in the frame.

=)

xobb

mmm, petioles....

Strawberry rhubarb pie.

A.k.a. Fragaria x ananassa Rhea rhababarum-petioles pie.

Per Wiki:

In botany, the petiole ( /ˈpiːtɨoʊl/) is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem.^[1] 

Apparently rhubarb leaves are poisonous,
but other parts have a powerful laxative effect.


Again, wiki:

"Its roots have been used as a laxative for at least 5,000 years.^[13]

The roots and stems are rich in anthraquinones, such as emodin and rhein. These substances are cathartic and laxative, which explains the sporadic use of rhubarb as a dieting aid."

Messy.
(oh, really did not plan the laxative then "Messy" comment/photo. pardon.)

Only recently did folks start eating the petioles
'cause sugar was super expensive, and ya need a lot.

I decided that my weird summer cold (never get them) needed vitamin C
and other intangible ferocious plant compounds,
so I'd bust out this pie to heal myself.

Very interesting factoid re: rhubarb's value, of yore, also from Wiki:

"A measure of the value set upon rhubarb can be gotten fromRuy Gonzáles de Clavijo's report of his embassy in 1403-05 to Timur inSamarkand: 'The best of all merchandise coming to Samarkand was from China: especially silks, satins, musk, rubies, diamonds, pearls, and rhubarb....'

Diamonds, pearls, and rhubarb.* Cool, eh? =)

One of my favorite bosses informed me years ago, much to my delight,
"Pie was originally a breakfast food."

"'Cause rhubarb is a girl's best friend!"

Take that, cooties!

bb

*If anyone starts a gardening blog and calls it Diamonds, pearls, and rhubarb, I want credit. =)

baby squirrel break--'cause we all need one

 Relaxing on the porch, this afternoon, with mom.

This next one is from yesterday.

The mom lay like that, looking exhausted, for quite a while.

Poor thing. I'm thinking 4 baby squirrels in the house all day is rough.

She looked perkier today. Perhaps she's getting the hang of it all. =)

xobb

Phriday photo quiz...

What are these for?

Feel free to let your imagination run wild.

=)

Hints to come, if it's apparent they're needed.

And, yes, I will address the earlier quiz (radiolarian).

You know, later.

Happy weekend!!

xobb

2 days. TWO DAYS. And this....

Growing freakishly fast.

Same plant & catkin.

June 5

June 7

Now the plant is a smidge bigger than the catkin.

2 days ago, the catkin was behemoth v. coty.

The other pumpkin cotyledon,

June 5

June 7

48 hours and the coty is almost entirely obscuring the catkin,

in a bid for ever more real estate.

To be continued...

If I don't get strangled in my sleep by a rogue pumpkin vine....

=)

xobb

2 images 4 u: other business later

=) 

Will post answer to quiz and praise all the brave participants soon,

as well as send THANK YOUs to all the thoughtful commenters

on my conservation conversation (I just LOVE that those words are nearly twins).

All you guys rock.

In the mean time, 2 goodies from yesterday's adventures:

According to my reading of www.californiaherps.com

(a beloved and infinitely valuable web resource, for me),

this is a young greater brown skink, a.k.a. Plestidon gilberti gilberti.

Looks like it dropped & regrew part of its tail, already (the grey tip).

Discovered when I, cruel gardener that I am,

removed a garden-bed-defining log to amend soil, etc.

He or she skedaddled, but kindly waited until after I took a few shots.

Sweetheart.

Also, wandered up into our (woefully neglected) orchard, a VERY rare behavior, 

and was shocked to find this: cherry tree very much alive and producing fruit!

I ate 6. YUM.

k. dassit! xoxobb

cuddling cotyledons, and sage goes wild

Plot 1 overview, filled with adorable cotyledons, post summer storm.

Each variety is planted 2 or 3 times, several seeds each site,

approx. above & below their labels.

Despite the fact that I found (on pinterest) a super smart and cheap way to

make veggie plot markers (painting rocks), haven't done it yet. =)

What I really should do today is get into my grubbies,

and pull weeds 'cause we got real summer rain, yesterday.

And my least favorite weeds are vulnerable and naive right now.

Every day afterward they will be harder, more tenacious, prickly, and mean.

Anyhow, baby pictures!!

To provide scale (in addition to the 1st above), I moved one catkin

from this shot to the next one, so you can see that

though the catkin is almost as wide as 2 leaves here...

... the catkin is only as long as 1 pumpkin cotyledon leaf.

They're huge! And crazy cute.

And here's it's sibling (w/giant catkin):

*sigh*

adorable

Can you tell it rained catkins,

during the super windy part of the storm,

before it rained water?

These are all yellow crookneck:

Makes me glad I planted more than one at each location,

'cause in the middle pair, the 1st one is perfect,

the 2nd one was really munched hard.

Black zucchini squash:

I kept that tiny volunteer (weed) in the shot (top left),

'cause I know months from now, when the weeds have had a chance,

I'll dream of these days, where there were almost none.

So, my sage plant looks AWESOME right now.

No idea why. I don't do a thing for it.
Well, I did rake the dead leaves away from the base.

So much sage, so little time.

=)

D'ja get any rain??

Are you gardening this year?

Pics posted somewhere we can ogle?

xoxobb

Random Biology Vocab Quiz today!! =)

This morning, as I feebly descended our stairway,

en route to, as they say, la salle de bains,

my otherwise-really-not-awake-as-it's-455am-brain says what to me?

Does it wish me good tidings?

No.

Does it tell me, "Yippee! We're gonna have a great day!"

No.

Does it ask me if I slept well?

No.

It says:

radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian 

radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian 

radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian radiolarian 

*sigh*

Apparently, another biological term has been located by the

night shift brain-cleaning crew, found languishing in a corner,

and they are warning me to define & use this word,
or they're going to chuck it.

So, now you get to either show off, or learn, or a little of both. =)

Without looking it up, wild guesses encouraged,

What is a radiolarian?

=)

All answers speak well of your bravery, and render you a participant

in this, the human adventure we call life. Congratulations, in advance!!

Correct answers fetch even more glory as you also are, apparently,

also a stunningly bright student of life. Pray submit your comments, below.

Happy Monday!!!

xobb

chicken cherry pop

Since it's hot, I took some kinda old cherries,

plunked them into a bowl w/ water,

and popped it into the freezer.

Then, a few hours later, took this into the coop,

hens following me inside.

Haven't seen them since. =)

Victory!

bb

p.s. squash cotyledons popped up today, photos soon.

& the planet asks: What has bb done for me, lately?

The following navel gazing is shared

so I can process my thoughts,

get some of yours,

and later, perhaps, define a goal, formulate a plan.

Some kinda new project.

To be documented here. Maybe. =)

I am interested in your thoughts,

and your experiences,

while I wend my way through this,

so please don't be shy about commenting.

PART ONE (of, say, 3? 4?)

So, backing up: I've been pondering.

It is said that I am a conservation biologist.

My (shockingly tiny, esp. given mental, physical, & $$ cost)

M.S. "diploma" says I am a conservation biologist.

My Society for Conservation Biology membership says I am a conservation biologist

(tho' this can be bought, so is weak support).

I worked for the NPS for 13 years trying to aid and abet

the health and welfare of U.S. native ecosystems,

pretty good evidence for conservation biology actually getting done.

bb checking % cloud cover during rocky intertidal monitoring for the NPS,

or flouting her duties and ogling brown pelicans.

Presently I work (on call) for an environmental consulting firm,

wherein I attempt to help inform clients what may be at a site

(natural features, species, or habitats w/ legal protection)

and how they can avoid, minimize, and/or mitigate impacts to same.

And help co-workers, in whatever way, to do the same.

I think this counts as conservation biology, as well.

Pacific gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer catenifer)

 happily climbing snake-charmer co-worker

during transport out of harm's way.

We actually save animals from being mashed.

That, in my view, is good.

However, when I'm not working,

am I still actually conserving the planet's resources?

Am I still a conservation biologist?

Someone who is a hair stylist can cut hair at any time.

Even if they have not cut hair lately, they can still call themselves that,

as they have the skill set. This I believe.

But, how meaningful is a conservation biologist title,

if one has the skills, but is not, on a regular basis, applying them?

I sort of feel that it might need a higher standard.

If I am not improving the planet, or promoting

or facilitating cons. bio. in some way,

does it count?

Perhaps I morph back into a conservation biologist "by training,"

or "biologist," or "ecologist," or some such.

Wonderful toad shot by Walter Siegmund.

I don't think waxing poetic about how much I enjoyed seeing

the California toad* in my garden this week counts.

Even if I do blog, tweet, or name-your-social-media about it.

Of course, I reduce, reuse, recycle as much as I can stand,

fending off consumer-zombie impulses.

My wardrobe is fraying dangerously close to hobo-chic.

And that's all part of my cons. bio. ethic, and very important to me,

but it's not doing conservation biology.

It's conserving resources, but that's not quite the same thing.

I mean actually moving native ecosystems closer to healthy and whole.

So, the question is: Have I? Lately?

And the answer is: No.

Not really.

I do have some ideas re: how to remedy this.

That's later.

In the interim, though, I would like to know what do you think

(all 2 of you who are still reading).

• To what degree does one need to continually earn one's title, to be worthy of one's own self-description?
• Do you have a job or hobbyist title you feel you have earned, or continue to earn?
• Do you get to keep the title if you aren't active in whatever it is?
• If so, do you have a vague feeling re: how long you get to keep it until it sort of expires?
• Or, is it more important not to do the opposite of what that title implies (like a consv. biologist killing rare species, destroying habitat, and eating the planet willy-nilly)?

This is leading to something, I promise.

=)

xoxobb

(*Anaxyrus boreas halophilus; formerly western toad, Bufo boreas halophilus; thank you www.californiaherps.com!)