Vacation Part IV: The Gardens

My last full day of vacation resulted from a miscommunication between me and my "godson."

However, I believe everything happens for a reason. Since I missed the trip to the Omaha zoo I decided to check out the Sunken gardens in Lincoln. There was construction around the garden so I parked in the Lincoln zoo parking lot and checked out the Rose Garden first.

                                                          
                                                              Garden decoration
 

                                                Purple flowers for my friends Anne and Bonnie.

                         If you look closely you can see the Sunken Garden from the Rose Garden.

                                                   Entryway into the Sunken Garden

                                                               Close-up of the dome

I'm not sure you can call this "macrophotography!?" I spend a lot of time following this beauty around so I could get a good photo. I kept thinking "you really need to get a real job so you can upgrade to a Nikon and get some zoom lenses."

I tried to take a photo of myself; I wasn't going to show this picture but I actually like the composition! My face is almost perfectly symmetrical (don't look at my eyebrows) and then the foliage in the back just sets the picture up.

I asked a random stranger to take a photo of me next to one of the fountains. See I learned from not asking someone to take a photo of me and the newlyweds.

Pretty lotus in one of the water fountains. I decided to head back over to the Rose Garden to find my car but I was stopped by this plaque.

I looked at the plaque and I decided to just sit on a bench and rest. I sat there for 45 minutes; just me, the insects, the plants, and the Goddess. I didn't think about my thesis, looking for a job, trying to find a man so I can start a family, how irritated my major adviser makes me, my biological family, my "family" (I love you guys and gals), or anything else. I just sat still and watched the bees trying to pollinate the flowers and the herbivorous insects (grasshoppers) doing their thing. It was a spectacular 45 minutes!

Nebraska Craziness

So I decided last weekend that I couldn't take it anymore and I drove with a friend to Nebraska.  We stopped in Lincoln and meet with a couple of her friends for lunch.  Lunch wasn't great but her friends were quite nice.  Then we drove to Fremont where I had scheduled an appointment to get some color done.

Of course, it wouldn't be a trip to Nebraska during the winter if it didn't snow while I was there.  So after the tat I drove in a winter storm to meet Don in Bellevue.  They had closed the shop due to the snow but Don had dinner with us and stayed in the hotel room with us.  The next day, we went to a record store (you can't take a trip with my friend Carlie without hitting up a record store) and then went to the shop so I could add a few more piercings to my right ear.

BTW- the initial piercing did in fact hurt. The one on the top was the worst and I may be reconsidering if I get the other ear done. However, I think Don did an excellent job and as one of my friends said, "I like it and it looks natural." We drove back after we had dinner with Don.  In case you were wondering, YES this is how graduate students roll!

NOTE: I had another moment regarding "HIM" and now I keep singing this song in my head.  There are days where I can't understand the human brain and how it works.  However, I'm hopeful that some day, he won't be on my mind or that when I think about him it's only in passing and not for days on end. However, I digress and I hope you enjoy the video.

Lab 7: Insect Zoo

Yes, I realize that I'm behind on getting my post done this week. Unfortunately, I got sick on Tuesday and today was the first day that I felt well enough to venture out of my apartment for anything other than the doctor's office.

PHOTO: "Rain forest tree" in front of the zoo.

Last week we walked over to the KSU Insect Zoo and were given a tour by the zoo's director, Kiffini Holt. She talked about the zoo's mission and how the zoo works to fulfill that mission.

PHOTO: Honey Bee exhibit

http://www.entomology.k-state.edu/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=442

We went to the zoo to get some "inspiration" for a poster that we are creating for class. These posters will be displayed the first week of December and will be voted on by tour groups and faculty members. Of course, if you want to have a tour with me you can vote on your "favorite" poster as well (HINT, HINT)!

PHOTO: Giant Prickly Stick (one of my favorite exhibits)

I chose Dragonflies since they are one of my favorite insects, I'm already working on a Dragonfly project, and I would like to do a Ph.D. on dragonflies.

The tour didn't really help me with deciding how to present the information for my poster. Kiffinie did tell us that usually they have kindergartners and their chaperons for tours. So, this confirmed my suspicion that lots of photos with color contrast and little words will capture the kids attention. Fortunately, dragonflies are highly photogenic and come in a wide variety of colors. Additionally, they are predators so they also have a "cool" factor. The complexity of my project comes with balance- dragonflies have a "complex" life cycle so limiting the text to explain how their life cycle works may be a challenge but I think I found a photo to help with this.

PHOTO: Jungle Nymphs (how many insects do you see in this picture?)

Part of our assignment is to embed two of our "wow" pictures. So here are the photos that I consider the "wow factor."

Mating Dragonflies

Dragonfly nymph eating a fish

I just noticed how grainy these photos look so I may need to find different photos or see if I can fix the photos with photoshop or something.

I enjoyed going to the insect zoo; I have been there several times but this was the first time I was there since I moved back to Kansas. Of course, I enjoyed looking at the tarantula's and Kiffini has created some "ecosystem" exhibits that are quite good. I suggest that people go over to the zoo to see the insects and look for the "changing" exhibits.

This week we had our FINAL insect byte:

http://ent612.wetpaint.com/page/cigarette+beetle stored product insect

I have another FREE BLOG WEEK! CARTOONS!!!

So since we had an exam our teacher extended the deadline for the discussion blog which as you may know I posted last week.

So I have another week where I could find a couple more cartoons (to be honest I had already planned them out) for my "godson" and hear what his mom and dad have to say about watching MORE insect cartoons.

So first up: Happy Halloween (Samhain for those of you pagan inclined)!

For all the growers out there- this is what the caterpillars are doing in the spring in your field, garden, flower pot, yard, etc.

And finally but most importantly, another "dragonfly" for Matthew! To be honest the insects are actually damsel flies but I'll save that discussion for another day.

I hope everyone enjoys their week & has a Happy & safe Samhain!!!

We did have the sunflower insect byte due this week & wheat (links below) is due the following week so I took care of both of them so I could free up some time for research writing (YEAH RIGHT!!!).

http://ent612.wetpaint.com/page/tumbling+flower+beetle Sunflower Pest

http://ent612.wetpaint.com/page/orange+wheat+blossom+midge Wheat Pest

Ah- so before I forget I rode me bike through City Park on my way home & another lace bug rode with me home. They are so pretty- at least I think they are pretty but I'm an entomologist what can I say? Lace bugs are pests on ornamental plants but I still like them maybe I would like them less if they wanted to munch on my "balcony garden."

Eggplant Lace Bug
Photo from organicgardeninfo.com

(On far Right) Sycamore Lace Bug Photo from marietta.edu

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7428.html Follow this link to learn more about lace bugs as a pest.

Lab 5: The benefits of “overachieving”

This weeks lab assignment was to compare the results from last weeks lab. However, I did this with the last blog so I get a “FREE” blog week.

We spent the lab time briefly discussing the results and how we could compare our results to the class at large. In addition, some of us stayed to see the greenbug alarm response. Unfortunately, I did not take any photos but with my camera they would not have really shown anything.

However, I did take a look for some videos and I found this cartoon discussing biocontrol in gardens. It's cute so good for the kids but it's a bit inaccurate regarding releasing lady bugs. My suggestion for lady bugs is to release them a few houses from yours and then pray that they migrate to your house.

Here is another video which talks about biological control and how you can use it for gardens.

This week we had to turn in another insect bug byte so the link for my insect is below:
http://ent612.wetpaint.com/page/corn+flea+beetle

And just for fun- I found another insect cartoon!

Free but not FREE week

This week we didn't have lecture or lab. I'm sure your thinking that meant that I would have some more free time to use in order to focus on my proposal, right? NO!!!

We had multiple assignments due last week and this week. So I pulled those together and made all the deadlines. WHEW!!! Maybe, NOW I can find some time for my proposal.

So, if you want to see the insect bytes that I pulled together go to the links below.

http://ent612.wetpaint.com/page/alfalfa+weevil

http://ent612.wetpaint.com/page/bean+leaf+beetle

I decided to find some videos of insects eating so check them out if you have time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQSIm-kqDig Dragonfly eating a horse fly



Preying mantis taking out a mouse, YES I said mouse; this is NOT for the faint of heart



Assasin bug feeding from a vampire bat