December 3, 2007

It's hard to believe that as much time as I have spent outside in all my years, until Saturday, I had only been stung by one insect (at age 27, a bee stung me). My second sting was actually a caterpillar. An "Io moth" caterpillar, to be exact. With visions of a nice winter topiary, I was loosely pulling some strands of ivy that had spilled over their container and started to root under a large oak tree. The sting was quick and caught me off-guard, but as I swiftly jerked back, I thought I saw a chartreuse green flash among the normal fall browns and golds. I looked all around the leaf-litter below, and decided that it had to have been some kind of sting since the pain was intensifying, and my finger was immediately turning red and swelling. I finally found the culprit wrapped in several leaves that were caught up in a strand of ivy.

This is the second unusual moth caterpillar I have found under that oak tree in the past few weeks. The last one was an Imperial moth caterpillar, and it was enormous! It was easily thicker than my thumb, and 5-6" long. Before the Imperial find, I knew little about caterpillars, but thanks to the internet, I was quickly able to identify both of them. I wanted to know what they were before I returned them to my garden... Below is a couple of (bad) photos of the Imperial moth caterpillar; I wanted to take it to the front flower bed in time for it to dig overnight so it would be less likely to get attacked by a wasp. Oh, in case you're wondering, the Imperial moth caterpillar does not sting.

December 5, 2007

I'm working on an article about raising backyard chickens, so I've been trying to get some decent "portraits" of the hens to go along with the article. This is Paula Dean, a fluffy Buff Cochin (received as day-old chick from McMurray Hatchery on June 26). If you aren't into chickens, bear with me...

December 6, 2007

December 15, 2007

I had the opportunity to photograph a beautiful bride early this fall. She was up for anything, and we created unique images that range from playful to dramatic. After several hours of shooting, we ended up racing to finish before a storm rolled in. Abby and Dustin's wedding is in February, so I'll post more with the gorgeous dress after the big day.

December 20, 2007    I have so much to post, and I will soon have time to get caught up, since tomorrow is my last day of school for the year. I promise I have been taking pictures--and I actually have time and energy to edit them (at 11:15 P.M.), but I left my card-reader at school... So, within the next couple of days: updates on both porches, a (big) butter bandit, and property-line drama.

December 22, 2007   

The pictures below were actually taken on December eighth. The railing is recycled; the church next door, Victory Family Fellowship, removed them a couple of years ago when they enclosed their porches to enlarge the building. They were about 1'  too tall, so the guys cut them and then reattached the rails to the posts.

The Butter Bandit...    First of all, anyone who thinks baking cookies isn't hard work should make a few batches. I had both ovens going this week to make over 200 chocolate chip cookies for my students. I made another run to the grocery store for more butter during my conference period on Wednesday, then rushed home to let Sargent out. I left a box of butter on the counter to soften, so it would be ready when I returned from work. Huge mistake. Our counter-surfing canine could not resist. He tore through the box and consumed three of the four sticks of butter—wrappers and all. I’m not sure if he was interrupted by my arrival, or if he was actually full and decided to save a stick for later… Harper generously battled the after-work crowd at the grocery store for replacement butter.

‘Tis the Season—to always have a camera near!

December 23, 2007

In a fleeting moment of unison, my niece and nephew had a tea party. The time I spent trying to keep up with these two reminded me of why I love digital. I never could have captured these images with my bulky medium format camera.

Katie will be three in March, and Dean is just over a year old. We combined their Christmas pictures with Dean's one-year-old photos, since I have such limited time to shoot. Once Dean was cut loose to play, he was very entertaining to photograph.