This  web log was added to my website to showcase the beauty and sometimes harsh realities of nature.  I add things as the inspiration hits me.  I have resisted posting “hot button” issues… that is until now…

As anyone knows (who does not live in a cocoon) there is a rather important Presidential election fast approaching.  While I will abstain from bombarding you, my readers with my own personal pick for President, I am at this time compelled to react to one issue in particular.  That issue is the proposal to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

I am continuously disappointed in the short-sightedness of the  human animal.  I am also disappointed in our perpetual conceit.  Contrary to the beliefs of some, the ANWR is not a “useless place” on this planet.  It may have no use to humans for development or as a vacation hot spot.  We may see this drilling area as “an ugly, vast wasteland”.  It is easy to justify destruction of an area like this by first ridding our consciences of any guilt.  After all, what good is a land like this anyway?  And it isn’t very big…really…

If we look into the future, I mean WELL into the future, hundreds maybe even thousands of years from now when our great grandchildren’s grandchildren will be here as we are now, it seems to me that the wise thing for our species to do at this time is to reach beyond what we know today and seek solutions that are sustainable for our lives now  and for those who follow us.  Drilling in ANWR is a temporary fix at best.  It may not seem so  temporary, as it may bring us our beloved oil for awhile.  But what about later on?  Isn’t this as good a time as ever to be bridging the gap between destruction and sustainability?  If not now, then when?   We have the technology.  We have the brilliant minds who are ready and willing to take that technology to the next step into implementation, which will indeed bridge that gap.

The problem here lies in the funding.  My husband has worked in the alternative energy field and we have good friends who are blazing new paths that will benefit all of us in the future.   But a lack of funding has these brilliant minds in a stranglehold.  I am not just saying this out of ignorance.  I am experiencing what is happening on the front lines of this issue, because my husband is on the front line of the alternative energy issue.

When oil is drilled, it then has to be piped somewhere so that it becomes a “usable” commodity.  Pipelines run for hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles.  So one cannot simply show a photograph of a drilling area and say “well, this is IT folks.”  That is simply not the truth on this matter.

I have traveled around the world.  I have spent real time in “barren” places.   It never ceases to amaze me how much life thrives in places that seem at a glance to be uninhabitable.  It is an ignorant point of view that land like this has no value.  Life is everywhere, even in “useless” places.  It may not matter to us, but it does matter to the many creatures, some great and some very small, that call places like this home.  Why does land have to be of some kind of value to man to be worth saving?

The real issue to me is the idea behind our desire to drill in Alaska, or anywhere else for that matter.  If we allow this kind of thinking to prevail, it will be business as usual for our species.  It seems that until we no longer have a choice on matters like this one, we just can’t seem to step up and push ourselves to be at our best and do what is really right.

The time has come.  It is here.  I believe it is now time to rise up to the best of our potential and put the propaganda behind us.  We are not mindless robots.  We are thinking beings who are now faced with tough choices.  It is my hope and dream….that we make wise ones…

September is a wonderful time to watch butterflies.   Some migrate south in autumn.  Others end their life cycles right here a bit later in the season.

The beautiful Monarch butterfly begins his long journey south to Mexico in September.  They can be seen just about anywhere flying clumsily along in the often brisk winds of autumn.  Food sources such as this are a very important part of their migration.

A Golden-banded skipper (below).  This little fellow is showing some wear on his wings.

The amazing Pipevine Swallowtail (next photo) is an iridescent blue over black.

The male orange sulphur butterfly (below) creates stunning contrast against a purple backdrop.

A little female orange sulphur butterfly appears almost white until the sun shines through her beautiful translucent wings.

This stunning male Giant Swallowtail has the same flower nectar on his menu as the Monarch.  This is a very large species of butterfly.

Giant Swallowtail butterflies can be a challenge to photograph, as their wings quiver in a constant fluttering motion, even when they stop to feed on nectar.

A fast shutter speed freezes the constant flutter of those big beautiful wings…

The fall hummingbird migration is approaching.  Tiny hummers become especially ambitious around our feeder when they sense a need to tank up on calories before their long flight south.  Aggressive competition among them increases too, usually with a female taking the top position as queen of the feeder.

This little female Ruby Throated Hummingbird shows off an itty bitty attitude that is so classically seen in hummingbirds in September.

Below she sticks her tongue out at me as an apparent display of her sassy, diminutive character.

It is easy to forget when viewing close up photos that are enlarged as these are, that her tiny head would easily fit into a thimble.

Late summer in east-central Kansas is spider time.  Summer begins to loosen its grip and signs of autumn are felt in cooler, dryer air.    Huge  webs created by an assortment of orb spiders begin to emerge en mass, draping themselves high in the tree tops, in our gardens and all over our decking.  Some spiders spin in the evening and take down their great webs each morning.  The beautiful black and Yellow argiope (often referred to the zipper spider, yellow garden spider, banana spider, or golden orb weaver) is one of the most beautiful of these great web engineers.  Her web stays up day and night while she hangs upside down patiently waiting for dinner to come flying or crawling by.  “Welcome to my home, said the spider to the fly…”

An adult female golden orb weaver (photos above and below) positions herself nicely for yummy things to come.  A light misty rain rolling through in the morning lit her great web up with sparkly diamonds.

Females of this species are much larger than males.  Although she is big enough to deliver a bite, she is not poisonous or aggressive.  She liked my camera too, and proved to be quite photogenic.

The Golden orb weaver is capable of creating as many as seven different kinds of silk using several different glands that supply her spinnerets.   The different types of silk have varying amino acid compositions and can vary in the stickiness of the silk as well as it’s thickness.  She uses these differences as a capture strategy while building her great web.

In order to grow, spiders must periodically shed their exoskeletons.   When the spider is about to shed, the inside layers of its skin are digested.  The spider anchors her legs on part of her web, hanging upside down.  The top of the carapace splits and the spider literally falls out of her old shell.  She doesn’t fall to the ground because she is anchored by a strand of silk from her spinnerets.  She expands in size as her new skin dries.  She can even grow back a new limb at this time if one was lost before.

These beautiful creatures have a life span of only a year.  So when the cold of winter begins to set in, our beautiful girl will see her last days.