Stink bug nymphs

Stink bug nymphs, LOTS of them! James found them under some rocks.
(Heteroptera)

One bright bug

Milkweed assassin bug
Zelus longipes

(nymph)

Jumping what?

Remember Mexican jumping beans? Those always fascinated me as a kid. But I digress. James and I were walking through our Wildscape late Friday afternoon when he stopped to examine the turk's cap.

"I wonder what's eating them?" he asked, fingering a chewed-up leaf. One of many chewed-upon leaves.

Beetles, I thought.

Wrong.

A closer look turned up a lime green caterpillar. Then another and another. I reached out and touched one. FLICK! "Did you see that?" I exclaimed. "It JUMPED!" I laughed and laughed. It was the craziest thing to see a caterpillar actually JUMP. James was flabbergasted, too.

Last night, I finally identified our leaf jumper, using our caterpillar field guide: a yellow scallop moth (Anomis erosa). The folks at Bugguide.net this morning confirmed the ID.

UPDATE JANUARY 9, 2012–The experts at Bugguide.net never give up. I just recently received updates to my inquiry. Seems our caterpillar is not Anomis erosa but instead Bagisara sp., a member of Noctuidae family (owlet moths)!

  

Wildflowers

(Photo by James)

The Indian blankets are still in bloom. And the greenthreads put on a second bloom this past week. The horsemints have joined the party. James shot this photo of flowers across the street.

Trumpet vines in bloom

(Photos by James)

The eight trumpet vine transplants that our neighbors, the Murrahs, gave us in summer 2007 are growing like weeds and blooming blooming blooming. They are beautiful.

Just had to share!

Squirrelly corn

(Photo by James)

What do you get when you mix fox squirrels and a Wildscape?

Wild corn!

As you can see, the corn crop planted here and there throughout our Wildscape by our resident squirrels is coming along GREAT! If we'd planted the corn ourselves, I'm sure it wouldn't be doing as well as THESE are. We're getting a big kick out of the crop, which has begun to put on tassels and ears!

Beetle hunting and love at the market...

Last fall, I traveled to Brownsville for research on a magazine article I'd been assigned. For two days, I followed entomologist Ed Riley while he hunted and collected beetles. My article, "Beetle Mania," just came out in this month's issue of Texas Parks & Wildlife.

And my long-awaited piece in Guideposts finally made it into the June 2010 issue. "Prime Cut," which shares how James (Hearn) and I met, originally won me a place in the 2008 Guideposts Writers Workshop. I am so blessed...through the story, God fulfilled two special dreams of mine–finding true love and writing for Guideposts.