Since our one snowfall, it's mostly been raining a lot. We did have one frosty morning, last Friday. Kate and I were admiring the frost while I walked her to school, so as soon as I got home I grabbed my camera and took some pictures.
I used the macro lens, which is kind of tricky. I suppose this sort of thing would really be better with a tripod.
(Warning: this post contains creepy-crawlies. If you do not like creepy-crawlies, feel free to not read this post.)
Roly-polies. Pillbugs. Sowbugs. Woodlice. Small terrestrial crustaceans. In Newfoundland they call them carpenters.
We have them.
(Illustration by Kate. See the rolled-up one?)
Last week I took Kate and Andy out for a walk around the bike path. Kate picked up a roly-poly that she found crawling across the road. She brought it home and named it Turtle.
Poor Turtle did not make it through the night. (Let us pause for a moment of silence....) So I went looking online and found some information, and this cute video, about how to keep pillbugs. It looked like it would be pretty interesting, and not difficult.
A couple of days after that we went out around the bike path again, and asked our neighbors Glory and Sky (담이와 하누리) to go with us. They packed along some Choco Pies and 귤 (little oranges) and we had a little picnic. We had some fun turning over rocks and looking at worms and things, and then we found some rotting wood that was full of pillbugs. Pillbug heaven. We put some of the wood in a plastic bag that I had brought along to put our garbage in, and brought it home.
We put the pillbugs and their wood in a little tub we've had sitting on our back porch. It used to have a flower in it, and now has a lot of dirt, dead leaves, a bit of moss, and something else coming up volunteer. A good home for pillbugs! Doug went out and picked up a spray bottle so we can keep things damp. (But not too damp.)
Kate drew some pictures to tape around the tub so the pillbugs would have something to look at. She's been having fun watching them and picking them up and naming them things like Daisy and Pug Bill. (It eventually dawned on me that Pug Bill is an anagram of pillbug.) Most of the ones we found are the non-rolling variety, but we do have a few rollers, too. We've been giving them little bits of fruit and corn. So far they seem to be doing okay!
Kate expounds upon pillbugs. (I have no idea if there are really 37--I have not counted them.)
I learned how to say pillbug in Korean. They're called 쥐며느리 (chui myeo neu ri), which means "mouse's daughter-in-law."
I tried getting some pictures with my macro lens. This is not easy. They keep moving.
It's interesting to see how their armor plates fit together, and the shape and texture. They are pretty cool little critters.
I had lots of chances to try out my new lens on flowers and bugs. I ended up with a lot more throw-away shots than keepers (especially on the bugs--darn things keep moving around) but I'm learning!
The morning after a rainstorm I took some shots of the water droplets on the flowers. This one was especially fun--I didn't notice till later that you can see the car (upside-down) in the water drops.
My mom has these flowers called Autumn Joy Sedum in front of the house. They attract lots of bees--big, beautiful carpenter bees, bumble bees (I didn't get any pictures of those), and honey bees, as well as butterflies and flies. Of course all of these attract a fair number of spiders as well. My sister Betsey, who loves bugs and has worked several summers collecting and cataloging bees, says she's going to plant some of these flowers at her house (when she has one).
Out of consideration for my friends who don't like creepy-crawly things, I have made these thumbnails very small. Don't click unless you really want to see.
