Bugs and such

A biggish fly, about 3/4-inch long. This picture might be useful to a fly anatomist.

Like a sailor going through a case of beer . . .

One of the hazards of crawling in the grass is the creatures who would take advantage of your proximity. This adult female American dog tick decided to make its home inside my right ear. I had other ideas. I won. Photographing it was tricky -- ticks can move surprisingly quickly. I put the TC-201 teleconverter on, as well as the flash and the (somewhat unwieldy) O-Flash attachment. Then I foolishly tried to make the picture hand-held, rather than setting the camera on a tripod, focusing on a spot, and moving the little arachnid to that spot. Oh, well. Can't redo it because the tick has gone to wherever it is that ticks collect their eternal reward. She is perched on one side of a pair of curved tweezers.

This guy would blend right in on a rose bush (such as the nearby multiflora roses, the result of a terrible trick played on us by the U.S. Department of Agriculture). But it kind of stands out on a blade of grass.

I arrived too late to hear the little squeaky voice saying, "Will you walk into my parlor?"

I don't know what kind it is, but I bet Roy does!

A male wolf spider. Next time you're sitting in the grass and think there is something crawling on you -- you may be right!