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Once in a while you can get shown the light….

…. in the strangest of places if you look at it right.  That’s how the song goes. It came to mind today after a whirlwind of life changing events occurred in a matter of minutes.  The day started off fantastic with some serious life goals being accomplished and then out of the blue things turned 360 and the life of a loved one had been lost forever.  After all the hectic madness that comes with a day like today, for a brief moment, I was shown the light in the strangest of places (being the dark, sad state of mind) and thankfully I was able to look at it right,  Two beautiful woodpeckers frolicking as the thunder storm rolled in.  I watched this pair, who are mates for life, and was reminded of how important family is and how we must stop to appreciate them more often.

The moral of this story if there is one… Life is short. #LiveItAndLoveIt  Remember your roots and tell your family you love them <3 DSC_8825

To learn more about the bird, go here
To learn more about the song, go here

Silver Spotted Skipper Caterpillar / Larvae

This October we put up our Halloween decorations which included the stretchy fake, nylon spider webbing we hung between two trees.  I believe it was the third week of October on a Thursday evening, the weather was nice and I was out looking over our decorations when I found this beautiful Silver Spotted Skipper Larvae atop the mess of nylon spider web.  At the time, I had no idea what it was called so I snapped a quick picture with my iPhone 5 so I could research it.

IMG_6551b(iPhone 5)

Saturday morning I went out to see if the caterpillar was still there so I could take a few more pics with my iPhone 5 Macro lens and my Nikon.  When I returned I found that the Caterpillar was indeed still there however something was different.  There were white fuzzy things around the caterpillar.  I had no idea what they were so I just snapped a few pics and captured a short video clip with my iPhone 5 and macro lens.  I was very excited to have found this creature and photograph it.

IMG_6628(iPhone 5 w/macro lens)IMG_6648(iPhone 5 w/macro lens)
IMG_6683(iPhone 5 w/macro lens)
IMG_6697(iPhone 5 w/macro lens)
IMG_6725(iPhone 5 w/macro lens)

DSC_6836-Recovered(Nikon D3100)

DSC_6820-Recovered(Nikon D3100)

After taking the above photos, I went back in to do a bit of research to find out what exactly the white things were. After about 20 minutes of unsuccessful searching I went back out to take a few more pictures and was shocked to find that the yellow jackets had devoured it.  I had never seen anything like that before and just couldn’t believe that they were eating it. Much to my surprise after reading more I found that this is just a normal part of the life cycle.

I felt sad for the caterpillar but I was so intrigued by the whole event I couldn’t help but take a few pictures of this also, as it was my initial intent to document the caterpillar for as long as it was around.

The images below are a bit graphic and may not be appropriate for all.

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CAUTION

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IMG_6728(iPhone 5 w/macro lens) IMG_6732(iPhone 5 w/macro lens)

DSC_6844-Recovered

(Nikon D3100)