muscatine mayfly.

Well, isn't this disgusting? Hoards of winged insects plastered against tavern glass. Kyle, George and I recently visited Muscatine, Iowa and this is what I remember...mayflies.
Because these bugs so thoroughly grossed me out I had to do a little research bout' em'...what did I learn?

1. Male and female mayflies have two sets of genitalia.
2. The larval stage lasts for over a year.
3. The adults live anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours. They are a short lived creature and their primary function is procreation (which happens mid-air with double genitalia, interesting).
4. The insects have mouths but they are vestigial...their mouth serves absolutely no function. Why does it even exist?
5. They are related to dragonflies and damselflies.

Overall, I'd say that the mayfly is a silly creature. I don't understand why they exist, they kind of scare me, and they come out like a plague. I hope I don't run into them again.

everything is so small.

http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=43

While I walk, I stare at my feet...that's why I find so many things. I found this guy by my big toe. He was about as big as my thumbnail. What a neat lil' specimen for my photo archives.

why, hello. you're an eagle.

It was a bright, blue, crisp day. Buzzards, Herons, Kingfishers, and Cormorants were ubiquitous but not easy to photograph. My bad luck was beginning to frustrate me until we spotted a giant eagle nest deep/high in the timber. Sadly...it was too deep in the timber to get a good shot. I was about to put my camera away when I heard an ear piercing shriek. The eagle in charge of the nest decided to make her presence known. She did not want us near the nest. I've never seen a bird make such intense eye contact with humans before. She was flapping, shaking her head around, and vocalizing her distaste for us. I snapped a couple shots, apologized to the bird for disturbing her peace, and we got the hell out of there.

poem for a porch.

Her plastic body, filled with dirt
just birthed a baby flower.

The summer sun she bathes upon
gets brighter every hour.

A brittle vessel, filled with seeds
that never feel cool air.

This lucky one, born of a thumb
will wait for solar flares.

My marigold garden is looking pretty fine.

I noticed my flower's proliferation yesterday. Little, tiny marigold greens are popping up all over the place. I was clumsily weeding when I saw the marigold babies. I yanked a few (by accident) before I realized what they were...in my defense, I am not a gardener.

A list of things I like about marigolds.

1. they smell odd.
2. I've heard they attract bees.
3. orange, yellow, etc!
4. Nirvana wrote a song about them.

enjoy the song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqhh9Vvi0mA

wow, another fantastic trip to Des Moines.

Des Moines is never a bad time. When you live in a rural area you learn to appreciate all those things you took for granted. . . Like bars that make drinks in Tiki cups. This is a photo at the bar in Fong's pizza. One day I will drink out of this monkey's head. Jeez, it seems like everything I think/talk about is Fong's pizza. I love that place. This time we had the Thai Chicken pizza. It came with cilantro and peanut sauce. Delicious.
Nice little addition to the sign, skateboarders. Good work. Now all the roller-blader folk are going to be offended/hurt.

Wall DRAGON has captured my imagination. I've been thinking about dragons a lot, I don't only think about Fong's pizza. Too bad the wall dragon bar wasn't open, I would have enjoyed sitting with a tiki drink under the beast. That damn place is never open.

its been a good bird week.

This Robin, named Bandit Rodchester, has a zip tie on his ankle. My only guess is someone hand raised him before he flew the coop. He's been hanging out at the campsite for over two weeks. I can hand feed him mulberries.
These are the turkey vultures of Buzzard Island. I don't know why they hang out on the wood pile but sometimes there's as many as 50 turkey vultures walking around. It's pretty gruesome.
Cranes from the wall of Fongs Pizza.
Iowa has pelicans. This still shocks me. Why are you here? Why?

i drew. i was a kid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gz1DIIxmEE