Name that cat!

Calling all you caterpillar experts out there. While trying for macro photos of the goldenrod growing by my back porch today (yeah, the weeds really are this high around my house!), I discovered this caterpillar. I noticed it would rear up at me when I got too close.


Here are some close-up photos. Any ideas what it might be? Using one Internet site, I thought it looked like some type of looper, but it didn't make an inchworm-type loop while I was observing it.

You can click to em-biggen.

Edit: I may have figured it out. A photo and link on "What's this bug?" led me to this photo on Bug Guide, and the following ID:

The caterpillar of the Goldenrod Hooded Owlet Moth. Its host plants are asters and, wait for it - goldenrod! Don't you love it when things come together?

Last Cicada Post

Are you tired of hearing about periodical cicadas? I hope not, 'cuz I have one last report for you about these odd and mysterious insects.

As you may recall from my post, and the posts of others, like this one from Nina and even this, the Cincinnati area has just experienced the second wave of "17 year locusts" within four years. Periodical cicadas live most of their 17 years underground, emerging briefly to molt and live short, busy lives as adults that fly, sing, breed, and die within a span of about 6 weeks. Southwestern Ohio is fortunate to exist on the territorial boundary lines of two different emergence groups of cicadas, Brood X which emerged in 2004 and Brood XIV, which visited us from May through early July of this year.

As this post by Nina shows, female cicadas cut small slits into the tips of branches to deposit their eggs. The damage to the bark causes the twigs to die and fall to the ground, where the newly hatched cicada larvae return to their underground existence, feeding on tree roots until it is time to fly again.

The overall effect is called "flagging," and it looks like this:


For mature, healthy trees, the end result is a little judicious pruning, like getting a hair cut. Young saplings or small ornamental trees can be severely damaged, however, and so are often swaddled in a cheesecloth blanket for the duration of cicada season.

Thus ends the cicada saga. Say "good-night" to Magicicada spp. for another 17 years. I look forward to the next eruptions, Brood X in 2021 and Brood XIV in 2025. I wonder what the intervening years will bring, and where I will be when that magical event next rolls around.

Tortoises, Lizards, and Snakes: Oh, My!

The Greater Cincinnati Herpetological Society was at Harmony Hill Winery today, and I spent some time observing the scaly visitors they brought along. By far, my favorite was this guy, Dopey.


Dopey is an African Spur-thigh Tortoise, and very engaging. My first view of him was as he was trying to escape, trucking across the gravel driveway in a most determined fashion. Bad idea, Dopey. As a creature of the most arid parts of Africa, you wouldn't survive long in the humid Ohio River valley, especially once cooler temperatures arrive. Better to stay with your friends, who will feed you zucchini and other yummy vegetables.

"mumble, mrrph, munch, munch.
Yum, yum! Fresh zucchini!"

As I lay on my belly to get a tortoise-eye view of Dopey, he trundled on over to check me out. Don't believe that "tortoise and hare" myth - this guy could move! Soon, he was too close to photograph, even without the zoom lens, and I had to stand up to avoid being mistaken for lunch. I did get this great shot - my fave pic of the day.

"Gotz veggies?"

Another cool critter was this Blue-tongued Skink. He really did have a blue tongue, which he stuck out at me after the shutter clicked on my camera. Every time. I didn't get a blue-tongue picture, but I did get to touch him. He didn't even feel alive, more like some kind of plastic, neither warm nor cool, just "there." For the record, he didn't appear to be that impressed by me, either.

"Dude! What big ear-holes you have!"

Of course, any reptile demonstration has to have the obligatory snake-around-the-shoulders person, and this group had not one, but two. I'm not afraid of snakes, but I am cautious around the big ones, and really cautious around the really big ones.

This is a Dwarf Burmese Python. It felt like linoleum, smooth and pliant.


This is a Boa Constrictor. It felt like... Actually, it felt like I should stand far away from a snake this big. Good grief! You can't even see all of it. Where is its head, for goodness sake?

I don't want any comments about this photo.

Shame on you! I know what you are thinking, and I disapprove.

Friday Funnies

This week, we take a break from "LBJs" (Light Bulb Jokes) to study the differences between northern dogs and southern dawgs:

DOG OR DAWG?

To all you dog lovers out there and those who understand the difference between Yankees and Southerners... A Translation Of Yankee Dogs To Southern Dawgs

(Yankee) German Shepherd Dog
(Southern) Poh-leece Dawg

(Yankee) Poodle
Southern) Circus Dawg

(Yankee) St. Bernard
(Southern) "Thank Gawd, Here Comes The Whiskey Dawg"

(Yankee) Doberman Pinscher
(Southern-2 versions) Bad Dawg, or Dobimin Pinches

(Yankee) Beagle
(Southern) Rabbit Dawg

(Yankee) Rottweiler
(Southern) Bad Dawg AND Mean As Heck Dawg. Good dawg to guard the still.

(Yankee) Yellow Lab
(Southern) Ol' Yeller Dawg

(Yankee) Black Lab
(Southern) Duck fetchin' Dawg

(Yankee) Greyhound
(Southern) Greased Lightnin' Dawg

(Yankee) Malinois
(Southern) Another kind of Poh-leece Dawg

(Yankee) Blue Ticks, Red Bones, etc.
(Southern) Prize Coon Dawgs

(Yankee) Pekinese
(Southern) Mop Dawg

(Yankee) Chinese Crested
(Southern) Nekkid Dawg

(Yankee) Dachshund
(Southern) Wienie Dawg

(Yankee) Siberian Husky
(Southern) Sled-Pullin' Dawg

(Yankee) Bouvier, Komondor
(Southern) "What The Heck Kinda Dawg Is That?"

(Yankee) Great Dane, Mastiff
(Southern) Danged BIG Dawg

(Yankee) Any dog that raids the hen house
(Southern) Egg-Suckin' Dawg

(Yankee) Any lazy dog
(Southern) Good fer nothin' Dawg

(Yankee) Any dog that's dead & buried & gone to Rainbow Bridge
(Southern) Best danged Dawg I ever had

Do you want to see more pottery?

Sure you do. Even if you don't, I'm showing you anyway.

First of all, the "dragonfly plates."

There are four of them, and they are all the same size, 7.25" in diameter. They all have the same dragonfly imprint in the middle, and so that makes them a set. They survived bisque firing without any major flaws, but the rims are, shall we say, not the best.

This one is the best of the bunch, the last one I threw and the last one I trimmed. I'm very happy with it, except for one thing.


During the firing process, it developed a crack in the underside. It doesn't go all the way through the plate, and it is on the bottom where it is less noticeable. I am going to glaze it anyway; sometimes the glaze will fill in cracks and hide them.


Here is a close-up of the dragonfly imprint. I used a rubber stamp and pressed it into the wet clay.


I am going to experiment a bit with the glazing, painting each plate a different solid color, and then applying a thin wash of "Saturation Gold" over the base glaze in an attempt to recreate a dragonfly's metallic shimmer. Wish me luck!

Here are the dragonfly plates with the base coat of glaze applied. Hmmm..... One thing I didn't count on was the glaze filling in my imprints. The dragonflies are much less visible now. Well, I will let these dry and reconsider the gold overglazing.

glazes, clockwise from upper left:
Grape Jelly, Blue Rutile, Forest Satin, Chun Plum

Here are some finished pieces:

This little tumbler is only 2.5" high, but it is the perfect size for a drink of juice in the morning. Yup, it's "Blue Rutile" again. I never tire of this glaze.

I like seeing the throw rings inside.

Another in my series of pump dispensers, this is "Forest Satin.


I don't know what this is, perhaps a handless mug for hot cocoa, but the glaze is "Hot Tamale."

A sugar bowl in "Grape Jelly."

and a matching creamer.

This bowl is done in a low-fire glaze called "Snapdragon." Initially, it is white with white crystals in the liquid glaze. When it is fired, the crystals turn red and green.

I like it!

Finally, my sister's Christmas present. I have been working on it for a while, nervously waiting for something to screw up in each stage of the process. It is back from final glazing, and I must say, it came out pretty well. I am going to show it to you, but you have to promise not to tell her what it is. It is a secret until Christmas, OK?





Seriously, don't tell her.





I'm not kidding. I'm trusting you all to keep this quiet.

OK, here is it:

(She reads my blog.)

DYF

Many years ago, I saw a television interview with Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson about wildflowers. Her legacy to our country, of course, is the promotion and protection of America's wildflowers. She was showing the interviewer several different flowers, naming each species as she came to it. When she passed over one flower, the interviewer asked her, "Mrs. Johnson, what is this flower?" "Oh," she said, in her lovely Texan drawl, "that's a DYF." "A DYF?" the interviewer questioned. "Yes," she said, "a Damned Yellow Flower."

I was young enough that I was fascinated by any cursing, even mild curse words, and unlike today, swear words were very rarely heard on TV. Mostly, it came as a huge shock to me to hear the word "damn" come out of this very classy lady's mouth. It blew me away.

It wasn't until much later that I realized how true her words are. Just as sparrows are relegated to the group "Little Brown Jobs" and roundly cursed by all but a few enthusiasts, yellow summer and fall flowers give me the same feeling of dread. "Oh, no," I mutter under my breath, "another DYF."

It's that time of year again, DYF time.

I can get the odd-shaped flowers, like Common Mullein, Verbascum thapsus.


And this one I know - Butter and Eggs, Linaria vulgaris.


I figured out this one on my own - Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis. It is a biennial, native and found in prairies. (Susan, you should get this plant.) It is pollinated by Sphinx Moths, and the seeds are eaten by wildlife.


Here's another I sussed out all by my own-self: Bird's-foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus. This one's not a native; it's a perennial imported from Europe.


Its foliage reminded me of alfalfa, and it turns out, I wasn't too far off in my guess. Originally introduced as a cultivated forage crop, then planted as a cover along roadways for erosion control, it has now gone wild, and will quickly overtake areas of disturbed soil.


Like alfalfa, it's a member of the pea or bean family, as you can tell by its elongated seed pods.


But, when I get into all those yellow daisy-like plants, with their ray flowers, my eyes just glaze over. They all look the same to me. (Maybe some of these are the same, I can't tell!)

I think these are two separate plants, but I'm not sure.

A.
(above)
Coreopsis sp.

B.
(above & below)

B is Jerusalem artichoke, Helianthus tuberosus
Thanks to Donald The Birder
(and flower-guy)

Oh, wait - I know this one - Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia hirta. That's one down.


But, what is this thing? All I know is it was tall, like about 6 feet, and along the edge of the woods.

Wingstem, Verbesina alterniafolia
Thank you, Donald (the Birder) and
Keith (the Clermont County naturalist)
for this ID.

Some kind of sunflower?

Some kind of goldenrod?

Edit: Here is the foliage for the first goldenrod:This flat-topped goldenrod is probably
Lance-leafed Goldenrod.

Some other kind of goldenrod?

And more of the plant of goldenrod #2:This plume-type goldenrod is either
Early or Canada Goldenrod.

What the heck is this?

Maybe agrimony?

Another view of the "Maybe Agrimony," showing its growth habit.

And this close-up of the foliage

Chalk it up to just another DYF, I guess.

Small-flowered Agrimony
thanks to Jason for the complete answer

(Click on any of the above photos to enlarge.)

More DYF notes, Aug. 24:

Thanks to comments from Donald and Jason, and an e-mail from Keith, and also because I bought yet another field guide, I have gotten some names on several of these yellow flowers. Still some questions remain, because exact species names depend on plant details I didn't capture in my photos.