Living In The Garden - Part 2 (The Mantis & The Rose - 09/30/2019)

Thanks for checkin' out the Bsombin' blog! Before we move on to the next lowrider event, I wanted to go back in the archive and pull out some more old images (aside from the museum tours). I had these pictures of a praying mantis that had been living in the back yard on the rose bush, in my archives. I realized, after finding the pictures, that I had actually started a segment on the little critter and forgot to continue adding to it. I looked up the old post and realized that these images should be the next post in the segment and decided to pick up were I left off with the segment. I think this is a new record for the most time between updates in a segment, though.

Sadly, the little mantis in gone. They only have a life expectancy of about a year. So, I'm sure she's long gone, by now. I started learning about mantises while she was living in the rose bush. I was able to determine that it was a female because of the number of sections her abdomen had. Females have fewer sections and the sections are wider. While males have thiner abdomens with more sections. Females have have 5 sections and males have 8, usually. If you look closely at some of the pictures in these posts, you can count the sections of her abdomen. She lived there for several months before disappearing one day. And during that time I was able to get a lot of pictures of my little green neighbor. I learned a lot about mantises during her stay in the rose bush. So I'll be sharing some of the stuff I learned as I post the images. ...Like how to tell male and female mantises apart, for example.

Image From The Past...

The first thing I'm pulling out of the archives is a single image that could have been taken recently. But it was taken on 09/17/2019. That's about how far back the unposted content goes. ...So you get an idea of how long this stroll down memory lane will be.

 Check back soon to see the "DiVinci" display that was at the Ronald Reagan Library back in September of 2019. That up next, along with a lot of automotive photography! 

Living In The Garden - Part 1 (The Mantis & The Rose)

When I was little, I was told that seeing a praying mantis was good luck. Over the years, I've paid attention and feel that there is some truth to that. Good things tend to happen, for me, after I see one. Which is one of the reasons why I have come to love these little critters. I love photographing them too. They are fascinating creatures. Their eye trip me out. They're like orbital sockets that turn in all directions. So, they can look at you while you are standing behind them, even if they are facing forward. They look like little aliens to me. I could see them getting on a little green spaceship and flying away one day... 

Recently, I have been seeing a lot in the garden in the back yard. So I have been collecting pictures of them and all the other critters that I have been finding in the bushes while shooting the mantises. This particular mantis has actually been living in the rose bush for a couple of weeks now. I've been getting a lot of pictures of her, since I first noticed her. I learned that you can tell the sex of a mantis by counting the sections of their abdominal. Females have 6 while males have 8. The males' abdominal sections are smaller too. I've been keeping an eye on this female since she started living in the rose bush. Whether or not they are actually luck isn't something I can prove. But, I will say that I've been having some great things happen in my life ever since she showed up...

I'll be sharing more from the garden, in-between all the other content I will be sharing, since I have been growning my collection of critter pics. As always, I have a lot more art, pics, poems, and stories to share. So check back soon for more Bsombin'!