adult katydid in the garden, lovely green, with red eyes

These are all large photos, so clicking on them will be rewarded.

Based on my reading, this is a female.

It moved gingerly, once I made it nervous,

moving slowly forward on the cosmos flower.

I left, so it could continue doing whatever it needed to do.

I remember thinking "Hm, I thought they'd be faster."

Only when I looked at the photos on the computer

did I realize it was missing 2 of 6 legs.

One of the missing legs was its giant jumping rear leg. Yikes!

I'd say if you're missing 1/3 of your walking appendages,

being ambulatory at all is an accomplishment.

Will try and figure out its genus (or whatever I can) soon.

Anyhow, three (apparent) katydids in a week.

Cool!

=)

biobabbler

snow is a no go

So, no go snow. Foo.

Friends cannot visit, after all, due to physical phaulter down there (in addition to mine), so apparently I’ll be nursing my ankle, doing pilates/yoga videos, and NOT bringing you marvelous pictures fresh from the Sierra Nevada.

But, I can, over the next few days, post pictures on any of the following themes:

• Big, crazy fire of 2008 (view from our property, among others, the Yosemite fire in all the papers and national TV)
  
• Best bobcat photo
  
• Great snake shot
  
• Fresh from the East Coast pics (mostly Boston)
  
• Mega manzanita
  
• Abstract nature shots
  
• Hawaii glamour shots
  
• Yosemite glamour shots (sky and rocks and water, usual themes)
  
• Yellowstone glamour shots
• Mount Rainier glamour shots
  
• Mount Saint Helen shots
  
• Cool flower/bug shots
  
• Garden rocking hard shots
  

YOU (my audience of, what, 2?) get to pick. So, whomever comments gets to pick, and if more than one person replies, then I’ll pick the most popular topic (if there is overlap). Or one per day. Something reasonable.

Otherwise, if you say nothing, I’ll just put up what I want. =)

xoxo the biobabbler

thank heaven my doctor has good taste...

May have to temporarily change my name to biohobbler.

Went to doctor’s office today to have him check out my ankle. Happily they shoved me into his packed schedule. Kind of them.

I must say he has the BEST magazines. Read Smithsonian (African lions, as studied by researcher based deep in Midwest) in the waiting room, and was devouring an article on the potential secession of Greenland (aided by global warming, interestingly enough) in Outside mag. when my doctor arrived.

The conclusion is a sprain of some sort of an ankle tendon, no x-ray needed, and that if I keep up the RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) action and up my ibu a bit, I can at least TRY snowshoeing this weekend, as long as I “have an exit strategy.” I said we’d be bringing sleds…he smiled, and escaped to his other 99 patients.

Nothing like a quick trip to the doctor to make you grateful for your health. Invariably there are people there with MUCH bigger health issues to make me feel grateful.

Plus, they took my blood pressure and it was 110 over 60. SWEET! I actually said that out loud when the nurse told me. I wonder why they tell you your blood pressure but never say your weight or pulse? Is there a reason for that?

Anyhow, hoping for the best, and have surfed web for extra pair of snowshoes to buy to complete our set. LOVE the MSR snowshoes—a-MA-zingly easy to use. I’ve never needed the fins ‘cause the snow out here is so heavy and wet, but we’ll buy them just in case.

Oh, and I’ll bring my camera for SURE so I can show you the Sierran snow and skies.

xoxo biobabbler

P.S. 2 days ago chased either a sharp-shinned or a Cooper's hawk out of the garden. I believe it was going for the little birds there, not my chicken, but nevertheless, continued my "cursed varmint!" vigilance. Cool bird to see, though...

where is the line?

Yeah. So. Was getting psyched about seeing friends (impending visitors chez-nous) and going snowshoeing this weekend. Really psyched.

Because:     I    LOVE    SNOWSHOEING.  Seriously. Guaranteed happy if I’m warm, dry, and snowshoeing. And I almost never go.

So, yesterday doing exercise DVD (that I’ve done before) which involves jumping (an imaginary) rope. My ankle started to hurt a tiny bit. Felt stiff, really. So, I stopped jumping and did squats instead. Fine.

Then, when the exercise was mountain climbers, I thought I’d try them. Ankle still felt stiff. And I thought, well, what about the “walk it off” thing guys do in football? Sometimes that works.

So, kept jumping and then BAM, I felt real pain. Stopped immediately and thought – oh, crap. Snowshoeing! I felt a hot pain in a very small space on my ankle, which reminded me of the pain I felt in my right ankle when I’d apparently chipped the bone.

So, I did the rest, ice, compression, and elevation thing and took Ibu and hoped (and hopped) for the best (e.g., extremely short-term injury).

So my question is, where is the line between pushing yourself during a workout, and overdoing it? Hmmn?

From what I've been reading, strengthening supporting muscles (like calf, ankle, quadriceps, hamstrings) may reduce my risk of future injury, and is an approach I intend to pursue.

Nevertheless, I wish I could actually SEE the line between pushing myself through a tough workout vs. pushing myself too far. I’d be very happy to stay on the good side of it. Really. But, clearly, it evades me.

You?

xo biobabbler