jademermaid | Entries tagged with moths

This morning's visitor is an Oleander Hawk moth. Really, really beautiful!

The Luna'pillars are doing great, by the way--getting nice and fat!

So, I started raising luna moth caterpillars about three weeks ago. They're still munching away, and though they are growing slowly, they are definitely growing! Here's a pic:

You can see the difference if you compare this picture to the one here.

This morning:

2 miles Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds Super Fat Burning.

I'm sore. I have committed to not taking off any days for a month, so I'm going to push on through.

I am noticing that while my belly doesn't stick out as much, it is starting to droop a little. Let's hope I can get things tightened up with some Pilates in a week or two.

Last night's visitor:

Imperial Moth:

This one did not like posing for pictures, until she got to look into the lens. I guess she wanted to show her pretty face!

Marquis was a columnist for the New York Sun in the '20s, and wrote a brilliant series of free verse poems about life, beauty, art and passion. He claimed that the poems themselves were actually written by a cockroach named Archy who was possessed by the soul of a reincarnated poet. Each night, Archy would body-slam one key at a time on a typewriter, slowly, painfully banging out his life, one line at a time.

Mehitabel was his best friend, an alley cat possessed by the reincarnated soul of Cleopatra. You can learn much more about Marquis, Archy, and Mehitabel here, and here..

the lesson of the moth
By Don Marquis, in "archy and mehitabel," 1927

i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires

why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense

plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instant and then cease to
exist than to exist forever
and never be a part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves

and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity

but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself

archy

I was up early, because I wanted to do some work outside before it got too hot. I planted the butterfly bush and the marigolds, killed a few squashbugs but it wasn't too bad this time. I pulled up a lot of grass that was growing over the walkway, and rearranged the rocks around the sunflowers, and trimmed the dead leaves from my adopted sunflowers from Rhonda's place. I think I will lose the small one, but the big one looks to be doing pretty well. This week I still have to trim the plastic around the new bed, plant my herbs in it, and I still have a few more rocks to fetch from the shrine area to line the edge of the second bed. Then I want to try and start some seeds and see what I can get to grow.

Today StellaLuna had our first intensive choreography day, and it went very well! We actually had plenty of time to go over the choreographies we are working on, and I think we made a lot of progress. We were there for almost four hours, and my body is sore! That's okay though, I'm probably going to be sore for a while if I keep on the current workout plan I have scheduled.

My fascination with large moths has been going on for a couple of years now; it's an enjoyable and learning pastime for me. The whole thing really started because I am here at night and I have a pretty bright patio light, so all sorts of night bugs come by to visit. The luna moth caterpillars are doing well, by the way. I think I may have lost a few, but it's hard to tell because they shed their skins as they change into each instar. I'm still hoping for the best, and they are still eating and pooping!

Tonight was the first time I got a visit from one of these, so I brought him in to get a few pictures and then put him back out. Pictures don't do him justice, he is a very handsome guy! Those bottom eye spots are a beautiful purple/blue, and against the ginger brown of his body it was just gorgeous. I think I'm becoming a moth freak.

Male Polyphemus moth. (Named for the cyclops Polyphemus.)

Update on Corey: Everything seems to be okay, the specialist said that it's a bacterial infection that happens to be resistant to the antibiotics he was on (Keflex). It is, and I found this to be a source for much picking at the boy, a poo-borne bacteria. So, obviously he's been sticking his finger in his butt when I'm not looking! Anyway, he starts a new round of antibiotics and then hopefully the swelling will go down enough that he can get back to work on flexibility. The surgeon won't put in the new tendon until he can bend the finger so it touches the inside of his hand. Anyway, I'm quite relieved, I had all sorts of bad scenarios running through my mind.

Thanks for all your good thoughts, people.

In other news, I have started with a new group of Luna moth hatchlings, and this time the walnut tree is green and full of leaves (if you weren't around, I lost a whole brood in the spring from the sudden frost), and the little green boogers --which is what they look like-- are eating like mad! I'm very happy about this, and I keep the jar next to the couch so I can spy on them all the time. So cute.

I got a pretty good picture of a few of them, look how much they are eating!They are tiny, I should have put a penny in the shot so you can tell, but they are about the diameter of a pencil lead, maybe. When they first hatched, they were about the diameter of a paperclip wire:

( Behind this cut is a picture of my dreads last night after Rose went at them again. I hate being patient. I want them to be locked up and ropelike now, but they are on their own time frame! )

Current Mood: determined

I went out this morning to collect the moth eggs, and I was sad to see that all of them, save one, were not on the screen. I kicked myself for not collecting them before bed, I had counted about 16 eggs yesterday.

I searched around on the patio and found 6 eggs, so I have those, and I plan to raise them in a container of some sort, I may have to buy something, we will see. I am hoping that maybe when these hatch, which should be about 8-10 more days, I can find some outside too, and get them inside to feed them. This moth did not lay her eggs near a food source, and I'm not sure how good they are at locating their own. I know what to feed them though, so that sould be fine. I'm still bummed. If I ever get this chance again, I will know to just bring the female inside and keep her contained as she lays her eggs. I am excited to see them grow.

The female died at about 10:00 am. It is so sad to me, that they only live for a week, only long enough to mate and lay more eggs. They are so beautiful, even in her death pallor white color; she is fragile, like a bow tied from silk.

Remember that luna moth on my screen? I was pretty sure she was just going to die, her color has gone from creamy lime to pale celery-tinged white, and she hasn't moved for a week.

She started fluttering like mad just now. She's laying eggs! On my screen. Unless they are perfectly round shiny poo balls, that is. I'll get a picture up, but I'm off to class right now.

I got one! They were going nuts by the feeder yesterday evening and this morning, but the little buggers are hard to get a shot of! I took about ten pictures, this is the only one where you can see one clearly. I will keep trying to get a better one, but I'm still pretty stoked!

( Cool cicada image behind cut )

This little lady showed up on Friday, but I only just now unloaded my camera. Turns out she is a female, because she has thinner antennae than a male would have. So, a female Luna moth shows up on the weekend of Diana's festival, and is still out there today, hanging on my screen. How perfect!

I hope she isn't going to die, apparently they lay their eggs about this time and then expire. They also lay their eggs on black walnut trees, of which I have several. On the other hand, I hope she found a mate and did lay eggs, they are so rare, I usually get to see one per year and that's it.

They are a lovely lime sherbert green that can't really be captured in photos, but at least I have pictures this time! Every time I see one I am amazed at how otherworldly they seem.

I ate like a voracious pig yesterday, I just couldn't stop. Then I realized that the problem is that I am horny again. I replace sex with food, does anyone else do that? I simply can't get enough sex, and then I eat. I discovered pornotube last week and that is pretty cool.

Anyway, I feel all bloated today, and somewhat disgusted. I did a two mile walk DVD, and I plan on doing the drills before bed.

Last night I had an interesting visitor to the screen:

It's a bad picture, but it's obviously a Satanic moth!

Just kidding. It is called a Clymene moth, but it sure looks like it's sporting an upside-down cross to me!

Speaking of moths from hell:

http://www.mda.state.mn.us/invasives/gmguide.htm

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And since

amazon_mel posted what books she is reading, I thought I would too.

The Land of Remorse: A Study of Southern Italian Tarantism
by Ernesto De Martino

Classical Living: Reconnecting With the Rituals for Ancient Rome
by Frances Bernstein

Oxford Latin Course, Part I (2nd edition)
by Maurice Balme

More mothiness.

The white one is a White Flannel Moth, (Norape ovina)

Moth update.

The brown one has been identified on a bug finding group as a Walnut sphinx moth
(Amorpha juglandis).

My mom has, I think identified the other, as a Fall Webworm (Hyphantria cunea Drury). I think she may be right because my walnut trees get those huge websacks in the fall. We had to cut one tree back and burn the branches, it was so thick with them.

Today there is a bright green katydid on my screen, along with a couple of large common sphinx moths. I get lots of those!

I get some very interesting moths and bugs drawn to the light on my sliding glass door, and I thought I might start recording and figuring out what some of the more interesting ones are.

This fuzzy guy has been hanging out on my screen for a couple of days now, and is as wide as my palm. Keep in mind I have huge hands!

After some Googling, I found out that it is an Imperial moth. So see, I do not just watch porn on my computer!

The other day, I saw what I am almost positive was a White satin moth, though I think they are native to Europe. Is it an invader? Anyway, it was very pretty and had a much more lovely maribou-like hairstyle than this one: