The Little Things...

The yard felt strangely lonely when I went out this morning - no bluebirds coming and going, no sweet song being sung.  I am feeling the pangs of an empty nest.  Fortunately, it was a hot day and the conditions were perfect for ...a macro safari!  Nothing better to lift the spirits!

I found several interesting insects, this being one of them.  I don't believe this is a species I've identified before - it's a member of the longhorn (Cerambycidae) beetle family.  As if you wouldn't know that straight away looking at it's long "horns".  And it's in the Flower Longhorn subfamily - beetles that feed on pollen.  Beyond that, I've drilled the ID down to Genus Etorofus plebejus.  And I can tell you that there is not a great deal of information about this species on the web.  I'm happy to have met him, though.  I'll put a lateral view in Extra.  

I also found a bumble bee species that may be a new one for my garden.  I need to send the images out to an expert for verification, but fingers crossed.  I'm always very happy to find native bee species, and so happy that we don't use any toxic chemicals in our garden.

MIL is doing well, settled back in at "home" again, with no memories whatsoever about being in hospital this week.  Small blessings, I guess.

Day two for the week at the gym today.  I decided to take yesterday off just because I felt I'd overdone a bit the three days before and my body was complaining.  I felt great today, so the day of rest was just what I needed.  Today I did treadmill, rowing and upper body weights.  Tomorrow will be just treadmill probably.  We'll see.

Planning our next RV adventure...stay tuned...

As always, thank you for stopping by.  And Happy Hump Day.

xo
Debbi