Entomological interests

I love bugs. 

When I was in the 6th grade I had a very cool teacher who had a meticulously organized insect collection.  Each insect was carefully labeled with its name and where it was collected.  I decided to emulate her and create my own, with which I took first place in the science fair.

To this day I remember a particular experience with a predacious ground beetle (an inch-long black beetle common in the Pacific Northwest).  Friends of mine down the street found it in a puddle and brought it to me.  Because it was already dead, I mounted it on a pin and put it on the back porch because my mom wouldn't allow the box of dead bugs in the house. 

About an hour later one of the legs started to twitch.  "You must have hit a nerve," my mom assured me.

Another hour passed to find the beetle twirling in circle on the pin like some sort of macabre carousel animal.  That wasn't just some weird nerve twitch.  Nope - that critter was full-on alive. 

I still love bugs but I haven't put one on a pin since that science fair collection drew to a close. 

Every time a Monarch butterfly flutters by I stop and stare, wishing it well on its long journey.  When the gorgeous three-inch-long blue dragonflies whisk around my yard in the afternoons I cheer them on, knowing that they're helping to manage the mosquito population.

But I especially adore bees.  Even though one of my earliest memories is of being stung by a bumblebee when I was about 2, I still love them.  I often find them warming up in the morning sun because they didn't make it home last night.

I would love to get a beehive someday, wouldn't you?

Cylons, Homer, and honeybees

NOTE: I started this post on Thursday and didn't get to finish it because Gene was hounding me to watch Battlestar Galactica with him.  Who am I to deny him a Cylon fix?

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 After working in higher education for the past decade, I'm used to being the one to stand waving while others walk away.  So it was really weird yesterday to be the one heading toward something new and leaving others behind. 

My staff team took me to Serafina for an adieu lunch.  As we stared at the menus, slack jawed about the drool-inducing descriptions, Krista proudly pointed out the top line that said that the restaurant sources their food locally.  She had even selected the restaurant for that reason!  Thanks, Krista!  Lip-smackin' deliciousness ensued: English pea soup followed by butternut squash ravioli with sage butter and crushed hazelnuts.

As a good-bye gift, my team gave me a very cool apron, 2 books, and a set of nesting bowls made of recycled metal containers.  Granted, the "Fast Actin' Tinactin" bowl is a wee bit odd, but the orange juice and striped turpentine bowls are way cool.  They've all found a new purpose in my new office.

Nancy Gardener has been recommending this first book for ages and I had never gotten around to getting it.  Funny how that works, eh?

Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades: The Complete Guide to Organic Gardening by Steve Solomon

The second book has a picture of a bee hive on the front. The lure of urban bees is getting stronger each year.  I even figured out where to put them: on the flat roof of our back porch.  Too bad Gene is allergic.

Fresh Food from Small Spaces: The Square-Inch Gardener's Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting by R. J. Ruppenthal

I have a feeling how I might be spending my newly found 10 hours each week.