Hello Muddah.....

Been having great fun at nerd camp. Took some picture postcard photos today.


Stepped on this moth. Yup. It's a gift.


OK, everyone here said I was crazy, but I think this one has a design on it's body that looks like a tiki torch, so I dubbed it Manduca tiki. You see it don't you?

Nerd Camp

If you had any foolish thoughts that D might be something other than pure nerd, lay those thoughts aside as folly. I just realized today that I'm at moth camp. Any pretense I had of containing even an ounce of cool has evaporated.

Let me introduce you to the fastest tongue in the west. Hyles lineata. The white-lined sphinx moth.

Hey, it's not all moths. Here's a pretty awesome beetle.


A praying mantis eating a sphinx moth for breakfast.

Geometrid moths.


Another hawkmoth.


Lots of dirty brown jobs (Noctuidae).


I learned to pin....properly....by a real entomologist. I learned a little about butterfly and moth morphology. I have looked at diagnostic characters under scopes. I have oooohed and awwwwed over caterpillars. I have already begun my shopping list of things I need to buy to do my research the right way. I've got some great, interested classmates that I really enjoy spending time with. The food is great. I've listened to corny jokes about statisticians (and laughed), and endured endless ribbing about my accent. I am trying desperately to care about the butterflies we chase during the days. Maybe I'll collect some of those for you tomorrow. Let me leave you with this.

You haven't lived until you have examined caterpillar fracts. Just look it up.