The Art of Being Green

When you have the potential to be about 1.5 inches in length and fairly "girthy", it pays to blend into your surroundings.  Which is the case with this big female Fork-tailed Bush Katydid.  I would have walked right past her had I not seen one of her very long antennae wave deep in the greenery of some zinnias.  I coaxed and teased her into coming more into the open at which point she did what katydids do and jumped.  Right onto my green shirt.  I will confess that my very first instinct was to swat her off my chest (while screaming and flailing, no doubt) but I contained myself and placed my hand in such a way that she'd jump onto a nearby plant (as opposed to, say, my face).  Once in place, I commenced to photograph the hell out of her until she'd had enough.  They are such fun to photograph and I'm always happy when I find one.

I had a wretched night and wasn't able to get to sleep until a little after 4:30 so I slept until 9:30 this morning.  By the time I came downstairs, my poor Hubs had cleaned up two piles of dog vomit.  Jax, in the way of cats and dogs, was unfazed by the whole thing, while Hubs was visibly pale.  (Our deal with dogs is that he cleans up anything that comes out the back and I clean up anything that comes out the front.). I gave Jax a small portion of kibbles later which he did fine with, but will go easy on his dinner tonight.  He honestly seems to feel just fine although he's sleeping maybe a little more than usual.  Didn't stop he and I from having a nice long sniffy walk this morning.  My guess is that he nibbled on something when Hubs had him out this morning and it kicked his stomach.  

One monarch flew today in memory of those who've lost their lives this week in the terrible flooding in Pakistan.  

And I had some dark with peanut butter today.  Delish!

xo
Debbi