Kansas Dresners
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Out on the Land
Tuesday we had Max's Parent-Teacher conference (he's a bright kid with 5-year old issues; we knew that); while we were conferencing, Max played with his friends, then we went out for a visit on their Kapoho land, which I'd never seen before.
¶ Wednesday, November 22, 2006 0 comments 
 | Max and the girls spent most of the time gathering flowers and playing in the kids' tent. |
 | Here you can see them circling back up the hill towards the site of the house-to-be, while Lisa gave us the tour and I took, of course, pictures. |
 | This is a Papaya blossom, and some small fruit. It's one of those odd trees that fruits on the stem, not on the branches. Looks quite alien, actually, but we've gotten used to it. |
 | I haven't seen a lot of ladybugs around here, actually. |
 | These Yellow Garden Spiders are pretty much harmless to people, but they are inches across and can catch small lizards.... |
 | Lisa's got a lot of food plants, but also some really neat flowers. I don't remember what this is, though. |
 | Or this. I just missed a bee in this shot. |
 | My favorite is apparently called a "Mexican Sunflower" and it attracts "nectar moths." I love it, and the light was perfect for catching hovering insects. |
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Nature in the Neighborhood
In the yard
Last Sunday, Max and I went for a "dog walk." Lots of flowers and bugs.
¶ Wednesday, November 22, 2006 0 comments
 | The lemons have just started being ripe enough to use. |
 | These will take a couple of months before they ripen properly |
 | Rock spiders make these great networks of webs. Tough ones, too. |
 | Saw these while mowing. Cut them down after, I'm afraid. |
Last Sunday, Max and I went for a "dog walk." Lots of flowers and bugs.
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 | One of the reasons I do clear away Rock spider webs from our fruit trees is that they can catch and eat bees. I like spiders, but not when they interfere with my crops. |
 | Another in my "take a picture of flying things series. This plover was hanging out in the parking lot of the park we went to, flapping around every now and then. Hey, you gotta start somewhere. |
 | Max spotted this one for me. It's a jumping spider. |
Family in Color
¶ Wednesday, November 22, 2006 0 comments
 | Yeah, we're cute. Max loves it when we all coordinate. |
 | Max loves to come to campus with me, on off-hours, and draw in my office. Sometimes there's a classroom or two open, and he can check out where Daddy works. |
 | He still needs help with the spelling, but the forms are coming along pretty well. |
 | Cute. |
 | As far as Max is concerned, campus is a buffet. There's crackers in my office, and when we get down to the library and its snack stand, there's fruit cup. |
Camera Fun
¶ Wednesday, November 22, 2006 0 comments
 | So, everyone needs a quest. My current camera quest is to catch things in flight. I've been really struggling with getting the autofocus to cooperate with birds. But I've been practicing on dragonflies! |
 | The thing about dragonflies is that they tend to fly in circles, hunting patterns, so if you figure out their route, you can stake them out. |
 | During the recent Leonid shower I tried to take some long-exposure shots, hoping to catch a shooting star. No luck, but I did get Orion. Thirty-second exposure produces streaks as the stars rotate. |
 | Sometimes they just sit there. |
 | This is on some kind of vine. I love the tight-wound look of the buds. |
 | Yeah, I've taken Helliconia pictures before. But when the colors are this good, I'm gonna take them again. |
Max Having Fun
¶ Wednesday, November 22, 2006 0 comments
 | Max's favorite new toy this week is the exercise ball he got from his cousins. Given his druther's, he'd roll everywhere. |
 | Well, that's not entirely true: he'd bike some places, too. This picture's from a week ago, but we went out biking this afternoon, too. Aside from the rain at the end, it went well. |
 | These Nene geese, our sometime state bird, were wandering around the backroads of Hawaiian Paradise Park. So were we, that day. |
 | Max is still getting good use out of that Gnomie costume from Halloween. |
Pretty Pictures, Two Weeks Old
No rhyme or reason, but these are some nice pictures I got right after my last update.
¶ Wednesday, November 22, 2006 0 comments
 | This fella wandered into the house and hung out for a couple of evenings. He was very patient with my attempts to get close and take a picture. |
 | Saw this one at Max's school (I take a lot of bug pictures while waiting for Woody to finish up with the music sessions, it seems. I'm not complaining, mind you; I love taking bug pictures), and I love the way it seems to use bee coloration for protection. |
 | It's not easy taking pictures of flames. This is from Max's Lantern Walk ceremony. |
 | Ginger, at the Mamo market in Hilo. If you think this is a stack, you should see the truckloads going down the road. |
 | It amazes me that after four+ years, there are still flowers at school that I hadn't noticed. In this case, it's more that I'd never gotten a really good picture before. |
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
I mowed the lawn today, Oh Boy...
Some of these plants are deliberate:
Some of them were planted a long time ago by other folks.
And if anyone planted these, they didn't tell me. They're weeds, basically, no matter how cute they are.
¶ Tuesday, November 07, 2006 0 comments
 | Mint. We've almost killed this a couple of times, but we've got it really going this time. |
 | Avocado. This is our second attempt to grow one; the first one is buried under tall grass somewhere in the backyard. This time we're going to stick with pots for a while. |
 | Max brought this pumpkin seed from school last week, and just about overnight, it sprouted. Not sure what we're going to do with it, long term.... |
Some of them were planted a long time ago by other folks.
 | Ohia lehua, official flower of the island. If you look close, you can see the bees, I think. |
 | Helleconia, a particularly bold specimen. |
 | This is a Bird of Paradise at the airport. I was waiting for the garage guy to come get me, so I could get the car back, and I had the camera.... |
And if anyone planted these, they didn't tell me. They're weeds, basically, no matter how cute they are.
 | I just noticed the clover today, actually. Love the little flower. Couldn't find a four-leafed version. |
 | This very small flower grows on a kind of high grass. |
 | This grows on a vine, very aggressive low spreader. |
 | These grow on top of our shed. The trees ove the shed have dropped so many leaves, which rotted into soil, which feeds these plants.... |
I mowed the lawn and the lawn won...
Actually, most of these pictures aren't from the lawn mowing today (I had the day off for election day!), but I thought all the creepy-crawlies ought to be in one place.
¶ Tuesday, November 07, 2006 0 comments
 | This little fella's about a quarter inch long. |
 | These crickets are everywhere. This one was on the car at the gas station, but we've seen them at home, etc. |
 | Imagine my surprise when I looked up from my office desk and spotted a spider on my third-floor window! |
 | Last but not least, ants. Ants at school, ants at home; ants in groups and ants alone. |
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