Warm Fuzzy

We get alot of graffiti at work. We normally have to clean the small amounts of it off benches and what not. This was in the women's toilet near the town hall. It has since been removed, but it made me go 'nawwwwww' when I saw it. If your computer is struggling to pick up what the writing says, it says 'You look beautiful <3'. The particular toilet block it was in doesnt keep a mirror as they typically get smashed and ruined. To see this, kinda made my day.

Oh To Be Little

Im afraid to say that Im running out of things to say about fungi. My knowledge on them is quite limited, other then how to kill the ones that affect plant growth. So for something different, I thought I would give you some form of mushroom/toadstool ... from the perspective of a fairy. Enjoy.

Home bodies and Nomads

I would like to stress, I dont study insects or arachnids. I know enough about them to maintain a garden, however I do love to learn about things. Curiosity is a magnificent thing and learning should never stop! So, after a bit of research I classified spiders into my own groups. To me, they are either Hunters or Gatherers. Hunters are like the little guy in the photo, I think that he is a little baby huntsman. They are spiders that go out and hunt food for themselves. They typically have very noticeable eyes, with 2 that are particularly large as they usually require good eyesight to find their prey. Gatherers are web building spiders, they sit and wait for insects to get caught up and then wrap them up in silk for a later meal. Their eyes are small as eyesight isnt as important to them. The reason I tell you about the eyes is it is how I tell them apart. If the eyes are tiny or hard to see, then its a spider thats web has been destroyed and is on its way to build another. I feel a little bad for this as it is typically me who has made the poor little bugger homeless. It is has quite large eyes, then it is a gatherer and usually a nomad, wandering from place to place. Please note, this is my own rule of thumb. There are and will always be exceptions to this rule.

An Early Start

This was taken the week after Super Moon in June. I had an early start at work as my leading hand had time off and I needed to start at the bunker to put the bins out. The sun was barely peaking from the hills behind meand the moon was beautifully framed between the trees. I honestly love mornings like this at work. You feel like the only person in the world, its very calming.

Little Nymph

I met this little guy a few months ago. Ive been so busy of late, I have quite a back log of photos that I will eventually get round to putting up. This is a young preying mantis, its hard to get photos of the nymphs with their arms outstretched. They typically keep them close to their body, from what I understand they do this to help with camouflage. I enjoy finding them in the garden as they help to keep the pest insect population down. Interesting to note, as the preying mantis grows and matures, its diet also changes. With quite a big difference of size between the first nymph stage (a few millimeters) to adult (up to about 15-20cm in length), they will eat anything that will fit in its mouth. So the Tiny nymphs will sometimes cannibalize each other after hatching or eat tiny insects such as aphids. It is impractical for the adult Preying Mantis to eat such tiny prey, as they would struggle to hold them in their front forelegs, so they tend to eat larger insects like bees, beetles and such.

So Small and Dainty.

This is one of my favourite native plants. I love it because of its tiny little dainty flower. Its called Thryptomene (Thryptomene saxicola) and it is honestly such a bland little shrub til it flowers, from a distance it looks like the plant has turned pink. The leaves are about 2mm in size and it is typically a small compact little shrub. You need to give it a good prune after flowering to encourage new growth, otherwise it has a very bad habit of getting very deadish and woody. The flower come in 2 colours, either shades of pink or white. They are usually less then half a centimeter across and look similar to Geraldton Wax flowers. The reason for this is the plant is part of the Myrtaceae family and the basic round 4 petal shape is typical of that family. They grow best in full sun and detest being wet, however will benefit from an occasional deep watering in the summer. They are a forgiving and rewarding little plant and I hope you'll come to love them as much as I do when they are in bloom.

Bazookas

We recently had a heap of Tulip Bulbs donated to the counsel from Araluen Botanic Park. The easiest way to plant them is with these things. On the end you dig into the ground, there is a little flap that you open by standing on the lever at the bottom. This creates a little hole in the ground where you drop a plant/bulb down the shoot, lift the contraption and press the dirt around the plant. This makes it easier to plant things. You then press the small lever at the top and that closes the flap and you start again.They are called a Pottiputki and I really wish I knew what silly person decided to call them this was thinking. Nobody knows how to pronounce it and when you do say it right, nobody knows what you are talking about. I call then Bazookas. I wish more people would call them this. I gave them this nickname because of how we use to play with them. At a job I had many years ago we had to use these all day, so to liven things up we would open the flap and lay the 'Bazooka' on our shoulder with our hand on the grip handle at the top. Someone would come up behind you and tap you twice on the hard hat, call "Clear" and you would press the little release lever making the flap close with a loud CLANG. We were easily amused.