Week of July 12

I want to spend more time again outdoors shooting.  We'll see if time and money come into alignment to do it.

Finished another model for printing though it is far to expensive to make.  I need to modify the ghost model to not have a base.  Initially I really enjoyed having them by a single piece but I think I will take advice of my peers back in grad school to separate the base from the actual mantis.  Considering a mixture of marble and stainless steel.  There is a hole in the mantis' base for a rod.

Still waiting on my lighting equipment to arrive from SF.  Uhaul in San Francisco screwed a lot up and we only get one of our Uboxes on time.

Weeks of June 28th July 5

Up at Ted's place waiting for things to happen.

On the drive back into Nebraska. There was a tons of simply gorgeous light in eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. It seems whenever I drive through that area the light is amazing. Unfortunately since it has only been suicide runs between Omaha and SF on the interstate the scenery has blown. I did see the best sunset of my life out there a year and a half ago when I first took Bree out to SF.

Weird little floating cotten gnat thing. Found it in Old Market. I had found a fluffier one with more interesting wings in Garden of the Zodiac but it flew from me before I got to the car.

This little bugger was hopping around the yard for a few days unable to get past this retaining wall to get up the tree with its nest. Parent was still feeding it so I left be for awhile. Once it was clear that it couldn't figure the wall out I helped it over and it disappeared into the foliage that is this yard.

Mites

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The little orange dots on these mantises are the bane of my photographic existence.  I had managed to avoid them for years but finally earlier this year I was cursed with them from not one but two sources.  Mites can come with crickets, flies, fruit flies, and other feeders, I got mine with crickets and fruit flies.  Under the correct conditions they swarm making quite an ugly little mess.

I thought I had managed to get rid of them after my initial swarm but either they got reintroduced or were not fully killed off.  Pretty sure I got them from crickets I got from a certain pet store (I couldnt help it, their prices are so good and my fly vendor lost my order) so here I am again having to fastidiously clean everything once again.  Unfortunately it means the wonderful moss I've been growing in some of the cages must be destroyed as well.  Such is mantis rearing.

The mites themselves are not particularly dangerous for the mantis unless encountered in extreme numbers or the mantis is injured.  They mostly chill on their face to grab snacks as the mantis eats.  Luckily I can get photos of mantis mite free if I shoot within a the first few days after a shed being as the mites get literally left behind with yesterday's clothes.  Otherwise I can't really get them off the mantis, trust me I've tried.  There's only so long you can scrape at a mantis' face with a razor blade before she decides she's had enough.

Updated with more photos 10/24/18