Crab Spider In My Garden 082612

My friend Shawn and I do home brew recipes fairly regularly, and sometimes he likes to add flavorings to his batches.  He wanted to try some peppermint, so I told him I would pick some fresh sprigs from my garden for him to use.  These are the piles I picked from this past weekend:

Before starting to clip all of the flower buds from the mint sprigs, I noticed that there was a fly on one of the leaves that wasn't moving:

Upon closer examination, I noticed that the dead fly was in the grasp of a crab spider:

So of course I had to grab my macro lens:

The spider's natural camouflage works well.  Here's a sweat-bee that just landed for some nourishment, unaware that the predator was waiting:



Opening up his front pinchers in anticipation:

 The eyes are fascinating:


Waiting patiently for the sweat-bee to inch closer:

This fly was in the wrong spot at the wrong time:

The crab's pinchers sink in to drain fluid from the fly:

Through with his latest meal, the crab spider returns to await his next victim:

Daphne 081912

At 5 months, she has grown considerably already. Typical of Labs, she's asserting her digging, chewing, and tearing up skills.

Daphne is half Labrador and half Standard Poodle. She's already outgrown her first collar, and her food intake has doubled as well.

Typical outside look: mouth full of dirt and grass. I have to constantly keep her from digging up my garden. We haven't worked in the flowers/shrubbery in our new yard yet, but I'm sure she'll have to investigate them, when we get them started.
                                    

Trying to reclaim an earler hole she dug in the yard. I put the rake over it for the time being. She's just been caught trying to pick up where she left off.

She's a great dog.

Surveying the back 40.

Keeping watch for critters in her yard.

Day Of The Dead Statues

Piper 081412

Garden Haul 080412

This morning's haul for the most part (zucchini squash was picked about a week ago) from my garden. Three different tomato types, Chocolate Beauty sweet peppers, hot banana peppers, mild & hot jalapenos, some tender yellow squash, and last night's home brew pint glasses.