Summer's Last Hurrah...

Two lone hibiscii still in bloom in mid-September, the last flowers I saw (we are a few weeks past peak)... The pink is the bush hibiscus that has naturalized everywhere (generically "Rose of Sharon") including my yard, and the white is Marshmallow (which is native) that can be found all around the freshwater ponds in Cape May Point State Park.

Glad somebody thinks it's fall...

Goodness knows, summer seems to have returned after the teasers of mid-50° nights we had the other week. But just as retail stores are decked out in Halloween and other autumnal decorations, this little caterpillar is showing off its fall colors.

A coworker gets a bit miffed at people making up new names for beasties that already have names that have been used without trouble for a very long time (that's a Brit for you). But I have to admit that I like "Halloween Paint" much better than "Camphorweed Cucullia" for this glorious little creature... (And before you ask, it turns into a dull little brownish grayish moth, whose only distinguishing feature is a furry "hood" over its head. Here we call them "Hooded Owlets" but the British name for the moth group is, admittedly, more fun: Sharks.)

Lovely little dragons...

Seaside Dragonlets, to be precise. (For once, the female of the species is more colorful!) 2013 has been a fantastic year for dragonflies, and the Avalon yard was swarming with these wee beauties (only a couple of inches long) at the end of July. They are the one odonate species that can handle salt water in its nymph stage...

"Obelisking" to keep cool (lowers the exposed surface area)...

Have patience...

And a back-up plan.

Luckily I remembered in time that the Stone Harbor drawbridge had been throwing tantrums this summer: The large bit of blacktop in front of me was my get-away zone if the bridge had gotten stuck more permanently on the fourth attempt to close... Had time to finish my lunch, too!

No carnage, all cuteness...

Found this gorgeous little thing (Red-banded Hairstreak) at eye level in some giant fennel at the gardens up the road from my place in mid-July... A relatively quiet year for butterflies, but what we had were pretty spectacular.

Talk About Timing...

I bought a battery-powered LED lantern the other day. And had batteries of the right size that were charged, so I put them in it. Ooh, nice; that was worth the money. I had, however, neglected to do any grocery shopping, and the fridge and freezer were echo-ingly empty.

Who knew that I'd have cause to use the lamp twelve hours later and cheer an empty breadbox?!

This is the road at the end of my driveway, 2:45am. That's the witching hour out here, 2 to 3 am...

I had rolled over in bed a bit after 2am, awake enough to know I was awake--or maybe the box fan shutting off woke me. In the years I've lived here, the power company has done an increasingly brilliant job at keeping the electricity flowing. There's pretty much only one reason the power goes out around here these days, and that's when a utility pole comes down.

Yeah, that'll do it...

Freaking unbelievably, all three people walked away from this with hardly a scratch. I'm willing to bet they had on their seat belts.

The nice fat cable wrapped around what's left of the front end of the car (a Lincoln, I was told) might quite possibly be the cable that belongs to the cell tower located on the property adjacent to the sheared off pole. Or it was one of the local phone company's brand new fiber optic replacement cables... (Guess we're lucky anybody was able to call for help. Although one emergency person and a neighbor did each have a carrier that apparently doesn't have a relay on the tower.)

I've been living fifteen years now on the worst stretch of highway in the county. Too many curves on an undivided "rural" two lane for the (scarily large) size of the "traffic and driving rules? what rules?" contingent. The former property owner's mother, who lived in the house on the edge of the road (whereas I live way in the back) was killed merely trying to pull out of her driveway. I knew that going into it the purchase, but I felt the land and house were worth it. I still do, despite the one fatality on this bit of blacktop that I know of in that time (not counting last year's deer).

I only went out to look at this one because I didn't hear sirens within a few minutes. There's a handful of us that live out here and the fire house is a half mile down the road, so usually we get sirens soon after a skidding and/or crashing noise and lights popping off.

Our 45 mph speed limit doesn't command the respect it should (some more enforcement would be nice), but adding a double yellow line through the entire residential/multiple blind curves stretch has helped despite the cereal-box (or Cracker Jack box, if you're old enough to remember those! not that you get free cheap plastic toys in either these days) -licensed driver here or there who ignores it (some more enforcement would be nice). What mostly does it in for the utility poles (and the occasional driver whose time on this earth is up) are people falling asleep at the wheel, as reportedly happened in this case.

(*pphff* We only rated one firetruck…?!)

Many thanks to all the emergency personnel: police, fire and rescue, and kudos to one of the line owners who had a truck on scene within the hour.

The view the next morning:

Uh-oh. Luckily, I was going left.

Admiring the carnage. (Click to big-ify; you'll notice that pole isn't actually touching the ground...) I asked the cell-tower serviceman who was sitting in his van at the end of my drive as I left if any/all of these companies had a wall back at the office that had photos of the most impressive pole smash-ups. He replied, "Sadly, we do."

This photo begs the question: How many electricians does it take to change a lightbulb? It's hard to see, but I counted eleven (11) trucks, not including the traffic and my own pick-up on the far right. But take note: My streetlight is ON. Nearly twelve hours to get the power back, and the road was closed for quite a good bit of that time. Accidents along this stretch take out a three mile section that necessitates at least a five mile detour for folks. I have mentioned this state road is one of only three north-south highways in the county...?

I think I might be okay to stock up on frozen dinners now. But with all my luck I bet the sale is over.

NOTE: It wasn't actually as bright at 3am as these photos appear (it being well before even a summer day's dawn and the power being off) and I wasn't using a flash, just a long exposure time with the DSLR set on no-flash automatic. And a tripod. (I may not have been completely coherent myself at 2am, but I did finally convince myself that yes, I really needed the tripod if I was serious about taking photos.)

Snake in the (sort of) Grass.

Technically, it was in the irises... I was sitting on my deck last week, braving the bugs and heat, when the iris leaves next to the front walk started waving in the dead-calm air. So I watched intently to see what would meander out of the garden and was rewarded with great views of this little neighbor of mine. This is only my second sighting of Rough Green Snake in the fifteen years I've had the property. And it was in nearly the same location; the first one I found was coming up the steps I was sitting on to take some of these photos.

Find the snake! (Click photo to bigify.)

Hint: it isn't in focus.

This species is relatively small, only a couple of feet long

and maybe as fat around as a "safety" crayon at the widest point...

Snake in goldenrod.

Vivid demonstration of why some butterfly caterpillars

(especially swallowtails) mimic snake eyes...

Funky Fly.

Couldn't resist shooting this thing. It's a good size beastie, maybe a bit more than a half an inch. The bristle-ly back was a bit disturbing, but look at that face!!! Might be another Tachinid fly. (Sooo many insects sometimes makes ID problematic. And sometimes it's only entomologists who care to name them all...)

(I'm sure I saw that funny little schnoz moving in and out. Weird...)

Shoo, fly...

No, wait--you don't buzz annoyingly or bite. You can stay.

Crane Fly. (Sorry, I gave up trying to get it to species.)

What's with the funny little balls-on-sticks things on its abdomen?*

Long-legged fly. These are even better looking in profile. Fly on stilts!

I managed to ID this gorgeous itty bitty to the Tachinidae family and then gave up.

(And what's with the funny little plates sticking out of its abdomen...?*)

* Vestigal wings. Most flying insects have four arranged in two pairs; flies have just two (one pair). That's why they are in the family Diptera - "two wings". See, three years of Latin in high school actually did pay off! 

Not to be seen for another 17 years!

Or 13, or whatever year and whatever "brood" it might be...

Periodic Cicadas from Belleplain State Forest. I was about a week "late" for the full effect, but as it was it was pretty impressive. A good strong humming background noise, groups of insects on tree branches, and enough flying around to have a few land on me.

(Why you should have a quick release plate on your tripod.)

Well, hello there...

(Smaller than the yearly cicadas, and completely different coloration.)