Funnel Weaver Spider (a.k.a. Grass Spider)

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We discovered this funnel weaver spider's home in our backyard in late July. These spiders are very common around Grand Junction, CO. this time of year.

Everyone knows how big an egg carton is, right?

Now you know how big this spider's web was.

If you look carefully, you'll see the spider in the funnel opening.

My best efforts to capture a clearly focused picture of this creature were stymied. I don't know exactly what this is for sure, but it is probably an Agelenopsis sp.

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Sphinx Moth Caterpillar Eats and Grows

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The caterpillar on Thursday July 5th, 2012

Look at the bottom of this page for day by day progress pics.

The caterpillar eats quite a bit daily.

Monday, July 9th 2012

Tuesday, July 10th 2012

 Note: On Wednesday, July 11th 2012, this caterpillar dug down into the soil at the bottom of its cage to get ready to enter its next stage. We'll see what appears after a while.

Wednesday July 18th

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Sphinx Moth Caterpillar in Grand Junction

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We found a sphinx moth caterpillar in our driveway in the Redlands this week. This one appears at first glance to have an "eye" near its rear end on the top of its body. It's head can also appear a bit oversize and flattened because of the way that it almost tucks it back into the front portion of its body.

It is similar in appearance to pictures of the Achemon Sphinx (Eumorpha achemon) that I've found online.

It is also somewhat similar to the Satellite Sphinx Moth (Eumorpha satellitia). So for now I'll just call it a Eumorpha sp. (even though I think that it is most likely an achemon).

Assuming that it is an Achemon Sphinx caterpillar, you can find pictures of the moth that it will become here ~ http://bit.ly/NbQ54q

You can clearly see the "eye" towards the rear of the caterpillar (all that remains of the caudal horn, which is lost after the 4th instar). Apparently these caterpillars are extremely fond of grape leaves, Virginia Creeper, and other similar vines.

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Beatrix the Backyard Toad

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Rachael was pulling weeds in the backyard and found this toad.

Not sure what kind of toad this is... maybe a Western Toad?

We're calling her (him?) Beatrix.

We're going to try to create a "toad habitat" in the back yard that will (hopefully) be as inviting as the weeds were before they were picked.

Update: We kept Beatrix for one night. I put about 12-15 adult crickets in her cage, and by morning she had eaten every single one. I created a little toad pond in the back yard near the bushes where we released her. Hopefully she'll be as happy there as in the weeds.

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First Harvest from the Garden

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We were finally treated to the first harvest from the garden.

Everything got off to a late start this year due to an extended winter.

I can't wait for the tomatoes to be ready!

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Pasta with Fresh Herbs and Vegan Sausage

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My fiancee makes the best pasta sauce I've tasted using fresh oregano, basil, rosemary and Field Roast Grain Meat Vegan Italian Sausages. Try them if you can find them. I would pick these over real sausage any day.

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Yellow Squash Soon!

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Harvest time is just around the corner.

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Grand Junction Garden in June

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After a rocky start, our garden seems to be doing quite well. We discovered some small squash, peppers, and tomatoes this morning. Here are some pictures.

Zucchini Gold

Chocolate Beauty Peppers

Tomato Flowers

Roma Tomatoes

The squash / cucumber bed.

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What is Still Alive?

What we have in our garden now is mostly a 2nd generation of plants. Not one of the seedlings that we raised in the living room survived more than a week out in the new garden. We're not sure exactly what went wrong, but it could have been a number of factors all put together. The night after we planted the seedlings the wind started howling. The next day was windy and cool with a little bit of rain. I also think that the plants were too weak due to not enough sunlight in the living room. Anyway, a few tomato plants have survived from our initial planting (none that we raised from seeds), but we lost all of the melons, squash, and peppers from that attempt. Two weeks ago now we went out and bought some new young plants from the nursery down the road, and they all seem to be doing fine. So we have several varieties of peppers, squash, melons and tomatoes. These seem to be doing fine, and hopefully they'll continue to thrive. I'm a novice at this gardening thing. I'm considering this year a learning experience. Maybe we'll actually get a few good veggies as well.

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Last week of April 2011

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Hannah and Bean in the recliner.

Started the week with a seedlings ready to be replanted.

So we got some wood and started putting raised beds together.

The three raised beds came together pretty quickly.

 A full truckload of garden soil from the local nursery.

This would be exactly enough to fill two beds.

A layer of newspaper to help keep weeds in check.

One bed filled - about 200 shovel loads full of good dirt.

Frost on the day after it was filled. We'll have to wait a while...

Visited the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose.

This museum houses a very interesting display of original artifacts.

A beaver dam on the Colorado River trail in Grand Junction.

We saw one very large beaver and two smaller ones.

A late snow nearly a week after it was filled.
We'll have to wait a bit longer still...

Bean asking if she really has to get up so early.

Scarlet, Bean and Hannah waking up this morning.

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Pie Plate Hibiscus

These amazing pie plate hibiscus flowers are growing in our neighborhood, on 1st Street, in Grand Junction.

Rachael's hand and a pink pie plate hibiscus.

My hand behind a gigantic red pie plate hibiscus.

The house is nice too.

Looking through the white picket fence.