Tag Archives: bugs

New Camera and a Butterfly…

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I discovered that my Canon PowerShot A610 camera ( photo ) was recently replaced with a newer camera with higher megapixels and a larger LCD screen… so I made an impulse buy on Friday and bought a Canon PowerShot A640 ( photo ). I received the package today and started using it.

I gave my older camera to my nephew JR for his birthday today. He’s using it now at a concert he and his friends are going to.

Here is one of the first photos taken with my new camera.

West Coast Lady Butterfly on Marigold

I had a tough time trying to photograph this butterfly. It would not sit still and everytime I approached it, it fly away… but eventually came back.

I’m not exactly sure what type of butterfly it is, but I just noticed it today for the first time this year.

The Start of Veggie Bed #2

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When I got home from I went to check if the fly I took a photo of yesterday was still there. Instead I found this ladybug. This Coleus must be a popular bug hangout!

Ladybug on Coleus

I was surprised that a Bataw (Filipino name for edible Hyacinth Bean) plant that we planted last year survived the winter and is growing again! My Mom placed a bottomless soda bottle over it to act as a cloche. These are supposed to be annuals.

Bataw Survivor

Finally, This evening I started work on building up the walls to my second vegetable bed. The walls are made of two levels of scallop bricks which I have to stack scallop to scallop. For stronger support, I have to make sure the ends of each brick are staggered. The tricky part is constructing the corners. I only got one end semi-done because it was getting dark.

Starting to Fix Veggie Bed #2

Here’s a photoset of what I did last year with the first vegetable bed.

Fly on Coleus

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Fly on Coleus

This fly didn’t want to get off my new Coleus, so I shot a picture of it.

Telegraph Hill + Lens + Coleus Pots

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Today (Tuesday), I ate lunch at my desk, but later it was a little slow, so I decided to walk around. I went up Telegraph Hill again, but it was a lot warmer than my previous hike, so I was panting… I took a couple of photos including a massive clump of that mystery weed I’ve been wanting to ID… I also found it’s flowers. I’ll post those later. I also saw a Passiflora that seemed to just be growing wild on the hillside. I don’t think I got a clear shot of it though.

When I got home I got the package of the Telephoto and Wide-angle Lens… I was very pleased with the company because they also upgraded my shipping to two day air for free and included a free Lens Conversion Adaptor, a free Mini Tripod, a free Lens Cleaner (Solution, Tissue and Cloth), a free Brush/Blower and free Packing Popcorn! All this for the price of two lens which was about $30 each. I think the deserve an A+!!!

There was a little bit of light, so I planted a few Coleus pots.
Coleus pot #11: 2 ‘Kong Scarlet’ cutting (from last year) + 2 ‘Kong Hybrid’ seedlings (seeds I harvested last year)
Coleus pot #12: ‘Joey’ (He deserves a pot of his own)

I noticed that a few of the remaining Coleus (that I haven’t potted up) are quite leggy and infected with more mealy bugs!!! I think I will have to decapitate these and reroot them. I took a look at some of the others that were already potted and I think I will have to do the same.

Bugs on the Swiss Chard

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We’ve been having weird weather. Last weekend was sooooo hot, reaching the low 90s on Sunday. Throughout the week it’s been getting cooler and cooler, then this weekend, we got rain again. It’s actually not bad’ it’s kinda nice not having to water outdoors.

Before it rained today, I was cutting down more of our bolting Swiss Chard (in vegetable bed #1), because I want to fix it up and start my vegetable garden. At the same time, Calli was running around exploring the back yard and my oldest brother came to visit and was pulling out the Peach leaves with Peach Leaf Curl.

As I was pulling up the Swiss Chard, I found a whole bunch of bugs. There was a couple of Ladybird Beetle larvae, which I relocated to our aphid stricken Italian Plum tree.

Swiss Chard   Ladybird Larvae

Soldier Fly?   Unknown Bug

I think the left photo above is a Soldier Fly, but I’m not sure. If you click the photo and view the large version, you can see the details of its purple and blue eyes. It has an interesting pattern.

As for bug on the right… I don’t know what that bug is, but I’ve seen them in our Persimmon Tree. They are slow moving and very very shy. This one was very good at hiding from the camera. I’m surprised I got a photo of it.

I can’t wait to get the lens I ordered on Friday. I also got myself a 10x Macro Lens which I hope will give me more detail with photo like above.

You Can Now Zoom Into My Flickr Photos…

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One of my coworkers told me that he was not able to zoom into my photos on flickr, which I thought was weird because I could.

We figured out that flickr has a setting to disable the “All Sizes” button, so I turned that setting off and now everyone can zoom into all my flickr photos…

Try this one (Click the “All Sizes” button on top of the photo):

Mosquito Eater?

Late Night Planting (Again)…

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I woke up in the middle of the night… or should I say very early morning… and left like planting.

I planted four more Taro sprouts I found, along with two Ginger sprouts. Hopefully, the Ginger will grow and not die like the previous ones.

I also cut the Forsythia right below where the roots have formed and replanted them, this time giving them more space and only putting two in each pot.

A few of my cuttings have these ugly looking white/beige bugs that kinda looks like tiny little long oval dinner rolls. They have a white web thing surrounding them. I tried to hand pick them, but I don’t think I can get all of them. Some are about 1/8 of an inch, but many are just 1/16 of a inch or smaller.

A Little Green Suprise…

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Although I haven’t been able to garden much this past week and a half, I have been checking the plants after work to make they have enough water. I’ve also been keeping an eye on the seedlings and they look fine.

This morning as I was weeding and dead-heading in the front yard, I spotted a Praying Mantis on the Dahlia. At first it freaked me out, but then I ran to get my camera. It’s weird because I’ve only seen one Praying Mantis in our garden before… so I’m wondering if this is the Praying Mantis that I brought home on July 7th.

The Praying Mantis on the Happy Single Dahlia

Grooming Praying Mantis (Note the deep purple foliage on the Dahlia)

… and speaking of bugs that freaked me out, I saw this spider on our patio last night…