Winsome Water Weighted Web

Outside mi casa this morning. He/she has had this web strung up for over a week now, impeding my ability to trim the hedge. I don't want to destroy it as it's far too cool to look at every morning.

*A friend just informed me that it's a crab spider.

Dragonfly For Darren

When giving the Electra truck and trailer a pre-drive check yesterday morning, I came across this little critter, hanging out by the one of the trailer's rear wheels.
A very cool, very large dragonfly. According to one of our warehouse guys ("Fast Dan" - we used to have a "Slow Dan", but he was fired), it had been flying around "as if it was on crack" when he arrived for work about 20 minutes prior. I'm wondering if it smacked off the trailer.
For a dragonfly, it was pretty large. But since it may have been injured, it remained motionless long enough for me to snap a few pix.
I knew my buddy Darren "Canoelover" and odonata lover would be quick to ID it. Sure enough, his response followed the posting of this last pic to the Electra Facebook page.
Thanks for the ID, Darren!

California Curiosity - Critters pt II

Celeste found herself an acrobat beetle the other day. Had fun playing with it for a few days until she finally decided to let it go back into the wilds of Carlsbad.

cute huh?

Outing With The Nature Girl

Living in California, Celeste sadly hasn't had as much time in nature as she did when we lived in Monona. Whether she was exploring our large back yard or paddling her kayak in Lake Monona's Sqaw Bay, she was always on the hunt for critters and finding peace in the natural world. Although we live a short distance to the beach, she's still hasn't fully warmed up to the ocean, preferring quiet and calm lakes.

This afternoon we headed out to Calavera Lake in north Carlsbad to do a little exploring. Calavera Lake is a small freshwater lake in an ex-quarry, now nature preserve. The area is also has a decent network of unmarked mountain bike trails. I rode there with a friend a few weeks back and will return to get a better lay of the land.

(crappy photos alert - all I had with me was my phone)

Bringing a small bait net, a few toy buckets and a bug net, we hit the perimeter of the lake on the search for frog, fish, tadpoles, etc.

She managed to snag a couple of *very* small fry at this spot. One pictured below at about eleven o'clock.

Being a true kid, she did manage to slip and fall into the lake up to her waist at one point. No biggie, she shrugged it off and continued her quest and found a few snails and snagged a damselfly.

All in all, a great way to spend a couple of hours with my grrrl.