You may recall that I posted about my tiger lilies earlier this year, the lilies that I had thought had been lost but now were found!

Well, as you can see above, they are currently blooming!

There are only three or four plants now, though. I think there used to be many more. At any rate, after experiencing their near-loss, I’ve been working on propagating them. I moved one indoors earlier this year; unfortunately, it didn’t make it. I planted some of the fresh bulbils from the lilies in another patch outside, but none appear to have taken yet and it doesn’t look promising there. I have another batch of bulbils indoors and some of those are starting to root, so I will keep my fingers cross on that batch!

You can’t pull one past ol’ Speedy. Not easily however.

You may remember Thursday’s post, “From Death, Life.” Speedy didn’t think it looked real. I assured him it was. Still, he thought it look plastic-y.

Well, it was real. It was just that the color was altered in Photoshop. I was just playing around with things, and adjusted the hue on the leaves. I wound up with a purple color that I thought looked more interesting.

You can see the original above.

Of course, Photoshop expert Speedy thought something was amiss. Alas, he thought it was just a plastic plant. Shame, Speedy, shame. With the extent he uses Photoshop, you’d think he’d recognize the handiwork.

Then again, maybe he’s a GIMP user.

Coming into the office yesterday, this beauty was on the brick wall outside the door. Fortunately, she wasn’t frightened away by people walking by. I managed to get a shot of her before she flew off. But, then she still didn’t fly off; she stuck around.

So, I was able to catch her. Later at home, like 1:00 a.m. in the morning, I cleaned out an old aquarium. It was already set up, just nothing in it except the remains of a few dead insects. So, cleaned that all out and put it back together. Then, placed the dragonfly in the aquarium to take some photos.

The idea was to get pictures in a semi-natural setting.

Of course, she gravitated toward the corners, where the glass, glass corners and outside of the aquarium could be seen.

So much for a semi-natural setting!

At any rate, I did get a few decent shots. Not a lot of really good shots, though. One of these days, I really need a close-up lens. Of course, before that, I think I need a new camera. But, that’s another story for another day.

What none of the photos accurately convey is her green color, which is much prettier than how the green shows up in any of the images.

I released her this morning. I thought she’d be eager to fly away, but she seemed content to stay on the iris leaves where I placed her. I’m sure she’ll be long gone before I get home this evening. If not, well, I guess I might take some more pictures!

One of these days, I need to get a close-up lens…

A Daring Jumping Spider, also known as a Bold Jumping Spider. It is a common spider in the continental United States, except for the west coast.

I always liked these as a kid because they looked like little tarantulas. These are one of the rare spiders my mother didn’t kill, for the same reason. They are not related to tarantulas. That’s probably a good thing because these guys can jump as much as 50 times their body length. I don’t think you’d want to see a tarantula do that!

The daring jumping spider averages anywhere from a half inch to a little more than three-quarters of an inch in length. That means they could potential jump as far as 3 feet and 3 inches!

The jumping spider is an active hunter. They don’t build webs and wait for dinner to come to them. Like the assassin bug, the jumping spider hunts down their next meal!

The jumping spider does not rely on mental manifestation or daydreaming of his next meal, hoping it will arrive at his doorstep. No, the jumping spider actively seeks it out!

The jumping spider works hard during the day and sleeps at night, as most people do. They are curious and not easily intimated, which makes them successful and are, not coincidentally, two of the keys of success for humans as well!

So, if you should see one of these spiders, think of the lessons you can learn. And, wave to him. He might just wave back at you!

A black and white cat in a black and white world.

You don’t have to go all-color or all-grayscale. You can mix the two to create a more interesting shot. The magic of Photoshop!

Many people are familiar with cicadas, most notably the 17-year variety that reaches adulthood every 17 years.

Fewer people, however, are familiar with the 170-year cicada. This fellow spends nearly two hundred years underground, growing and growing each year. By the time they reach adulthood, they can reach heights comparable to a five story building.

Unlike their smaller cousins, the 170-year cicada will feast on animals as well as plants. Being so large, it is difficult for them to get their sustenance from trees, as they can not easily suck the liquids from a tree. Animals make quicker and easier meals.

Suicide is generally recommended if you should be cornered by one of these creatures. Being impaled by their proboscis and having your body drained of its fluids is a generally painful way to go. Best just to jump off a cliff or a tree or whatever height you can reach and let the creature slurp your remains from the ground after you’re already dead.

These are endangered species, so shooting at them to save yourself is against the law.

The last brood of the creatures was back in 1839. Worldwide, some 96,000 people were reportedly killed by these giant cicadas.

So, April showers did bring May flowers!

Too bad it’s raining right now, and is supposed to do so for the rest of the week.

A picture says a thousand words, no?

Almost in focus!

It is some variety of a cinquefoil. Not sure anymore what type.

It’s a pretty low maintenance bush. You can virtually ignore it and it keeps on going. Used to have two of them, but now just one. So, it’s obviously not invulnerable!

It is also a member of the rose family!

I have previously lamented the loss of the tiger lilies which I had for many, many years. You can see one (lower left) in the image above from 1993.

Last summer was quite dry, and I don’t recall seeing the tiger lilies at all. The summer before was dry as well. I think there were tiger lilies then.

Earlier this year, I looked where the tiger lilies have been for many years. All that I could find were the rotted out roots of plants long gone. I found some bulblis I had previously collected, but hadn’t planted. They were dried out but I gave them a try anyway. As expected, no luck.

You know, I would have opened this post with a picture of the Tiger Lily flower, but, apparently, I haven’t taken a picture of one in years! Obviously, I didn’t have any pictures from 2007 or 2008, but I looked further. Nothing. None since getting my digital camera back in 2002.

I might have some photos from my old 110 camera; in fact, I’m reasonably sure I do. But, I didn’t feel like looking through all those, then scanning them in. (I haven’t digitized all my old photos yet.) But, I had started digitizing some of my old videos last May, and I found the image above in a video. Yes, that was about the best clip I could find. No flowers though.

Anyway, I was outside a few weeks ago, and what did I see? Tiger lilies! Yay! They are coming back. Some did survive after all. In the hopes of not “losing” them again, I dug one up and brought it inside. It’s still doing well, but not as well as the ones outside:

That photo is from April 18th. They’re taller now.

I think I need to either move the indoor one to a sunnier window, or move it outside. I think I’ll try it in a sunnier window first. If it doesn’t grow better, then I can look at moving it outside, probably to a different location than the other Tiger Lilies, just so I can have them established in more than one location.

And, this year, I’ll have to remember to take pictures of the flowers!!! (So long as there is no drought!)