Another Weird Bug!

The Walking Stick

The Phasmatodea (sometimes called Phasmida) are an order of insects, whose members are variously known as stick insects (in Europe), walking sticks or stick-bugs (in the United States), phasmids, ghost insects and leaf insects (generally the family Phylliidae). The ordinal name is derived from the Greek "phasma" meaning an apparition or phantom, and refers to the resemblance of many species to sticks or leaves. Their natural camouflage can make them extremely difficult to spot.


I found this one in the doorway to my shop one morning. It was not a good place to hide so I moved him to the grass, where you can barely see him!
I've found a lot of walking sticks here, but they were green, brown or green and brown striped. This is the only cream-colored one I've seen!


And this is an anole lizard, that eats bugs! I love lizards, too!


And this is my baby, Oscar. The wonderful weinie dog! He sleeps in some very awkward positions!

I've been really busy with orders this week, so I've had several stones just sitting on the bench, with the bezels all ready to solder. Maybe this weekend I'll get them done!

Weird Bug Of The Week

The Robber Fly (Asilidae)


It took some searching to find out what this one is! I finally found it!
This one was in my house one night last week. My son and I took pics then took it outside. It was a really weird looking bug!

Here's the info from Wikipedia:

Insects in the Diptera family Asilidae are commonly called robber flies. The family Asilidae contains about 7,100 described species worldwide. All robber flies have stout, spiny legs, a dense moustache of bristles on the face (mystax), and 3 simple eyes (ocelli) in a characteristic depression between their two large compound eyes. The mystax helps protect the head and face when the fly encounters prey bent on defense. The antennae are short, 3-segmented, sometimes with a bristle-like structure called an arista. The short, strong proboscis is used to stab and inject victims with saliva containing neurotoxic and proteolytic enzymes which paralyze and digest the insides; the fly then sucks the liquefied meal through the proboscis. Many species have long, tapering abdomens, sometimes with a sword-like ovipositor. Others are fat-bodied bumblebee mimics. Adult robber flies attack other flies, beetles, butterflies and moths, various bees, ants, dragon and damselflies, Ichneumon wasps, grasshoppers, and some spiders.

I don't like the fact that they kill butterflies and dragonflies, but the others I can live without!

Not a lot going on around here besides work, but that's a good thing! I'm just chillin' in the house right now, cause the shop is a sauna in the afternoons. If you have any extra rain, send it my way! :)

Ode to Lisa!

Lisa, over at Lisa's Lovlies makes some gorgeous jewelry, and she does it assembly line style! I took a cue from her style and tried it out. I made all of these at one time!

Morgan Hill Poppy Jasper Ring

Pipeline Canyon Agate Ring

Willow Creek Jasper Doublet Ring

Colorful Onyx Necklace that I'm donating to the wildlife rehab. (Changed my mind about the dragonblood)

Vintage Lucite and sterling necklace


There was another ring, but I burned a hole in the bezel wire, so I have to start over on that. Thank goodness it happened early on! It was a small one too, so no great loss.

I have a LOT of stones to set, and more on the way. So I have plenty to play with!
But tomorrow I have 4 orders to make so I guess I'll play later.

Dragonheart

I finally got to make something new!


The first one is a dragonblood jasper necklace. I love dragonblood jasper! The red streaks really do look like blood. I'm donating a piece to a charity called Wings Of Hope, and it might be this one.

They are a wildlife rehab facility here in Louisiana, and the only one in this state that rescues bats. Since I love animals, I'm donating to their auction.

The ring is just another stamped one, but without a spinner. I'm kinda tired of spinning rings! :)

It says-
love you once, love you still
always have, always will

I'm working on several more pieces but today I'm being lazy. It's 12:30 and I haven't even showered yet! :) So I'm off to do that now.

Weird Bug Of The Week

Okay guys, here he is, and you've probably all seen one once or twice. We call them Granddaddy Longlegs around here!



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Opiliones"

Harvestmen are eight-legged invertebrate animals belonging to the order Opiliones (formerly Phalangida) in the class Arachnida, in the subphylum Chelicerata of the phylum Arthropoda. As of 2006[update], over 6,400 species of harvestmen have been discovered worldwide, although the real number of extant species may exceed 10. Well-preserved fossils have been found in the 400-million year old Rhynie cherts of Scotland, which look surprisingly modern, indicating that the basic structure of the harvestmen has not changed much since then. Phylogenetic position is disputed: their closest relatives may be the mites (Acari) or the Novogenuata (the Scorpiones, Pseudoscorpiones and Solifugae).[2]

Although they belong to the class of arachnids, harvestmen are not spiders, which are of the order Araneae rather than the order Opiliones.

In some places, harvestmen are known by the name "daddy longlegs" or "granddaddy longlegs".

In other news: It finally RAINED! WooHoo!!! Sunday morning at about 5:30 it started thundering so loud it was deafening and lightening was striking trees right behind the house, but I didn't even care! I was just so glad to see it raining. We got several inches and Monday was a lot cooler. I hope it rains some more!

I haven't got any new jewelry to show you. I've been busy, but it was all orders from my shop that you've all seen.

OH! I did get some new tools from Beaducation, while they were having their $th of July sale! Yippee! I got some ring bending pliers that I LOVE! I don't know how I've gone so long without them! I also got a new Fretz riveting hammer, (Love it, too!) and new sheet metal shears, and Lindstrom flush cutters. I so love new tools! I'm an addict! :)

Weird Bug Of The Week

I've decided to do a series on my blog! Wierd Bug Of The Week!

I know I've already had one this week, but we'll just pretend it was last week. :)

Okay, here's this weeks bug:


"Graphocephala coccinea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Graphocephala coccinea is a meadow and woodland-dwelling species of brightly-colored leafhopper native to North and Central America, from Canada south to Panama.[1] Common names include candy-striped leafhopper, red-banded leafhopper, scarlet-and-green leafhopper and red-and-blue leafhopper.

G. coccinea is about 3⁄16 of an inch (5 mm) long and has vivid blue (or green) and red (or orange-red) stripes on its wings and the top of its thorax combined with bright yellow coloration on its head, legs, abdomen, and elsewhere.

Leafhoppers feed on plant sap with the aid of specialized mouthparts."

He's a tiny bug, and I didn't realize how colorful and neat he was until I got the closeup macro shot. The world is an amazing place if just look down sometimes!

This is the view into a birdhouse on my front porch! Inside that hole is a tiny little wren. I see it's mom bringing it bugs to eat all the time. Today he's got his little mouth open trying to cool off, because it's still over 100degrees out! Poor thing!

And this I have no idea what it is! I found it on the ground while I was looking down! It's hard, and kind of woody, and really wierd!


So look down and see what interesting and tiny things you find!