Last Week...

...was a very busy one at work. Even us outdoor types have paperwork to do and mine caught up with me big time this past week. Since I was stuck inside most of the week, Mr. Swamp took the camera to work with him. I foresee a new camera in our future ;)

In addition to work and camera tug-o-war, we experienced thunderstorms, power outages, and phone line difficulties. Sometimes everything happens at once. At any rate, I simply couldn't find the time to blog. Hopefully this week won't prove to be so trying.

I did manage to get out and about a little bit after work one day and Mr. Swamp joined me on a short jaunt along one of the trails near the house.



We found this woolly aphid with mites -- that's my watch band it's sitting on.



And we noticed that there seemed to be some sort of millipede convention going on. There were hundreds of millipedes clumped among the mossy patches on the trunks of the beech trees. When I have the time, I intend to research this curious behavior -- we haven't noticed it before. Have to think it is somehow, you know, sexual in nature.




The cricket frogs are out in force, making their "castenet" calls. This little fellow was hiding in plain sight. Never did manage to get a sharp picture.




This clump of fungi measured over sixteen inches across. There were five such clumps around the base of a dead American beech (Fagus grandifolia).

Here's an up-close shot