These are probably out of order, but I’m so goddamned far behind at this point (like a month behind!), I’m not sure it matters that much. Anyway…

So, in spite of how difficult it is to determine the gender of a goldfish, and especially a lone goldfish, I can state with authority that Sprize is indeed a girl. A very egg-bound girl that I honestly thought would die because there were no males around to get her to expel the eggs, but that picture was taken quite some time ago, and she’s still alive, so perhaps she’ll make it after all. Anyway, I had told C how big Sprize was, and I don’t think she believed me, but here’s one with my hand for scale.

This enterprising ‘pider picked a perfect spot over by the outside light, under cover of the patio, and scored a nice, fat moth.

I haven’t seen it since, so I’m going to guess something ate it, but I did have one Monarch cat. I’ve seen only four (possibly five–couldn’t tell from the distance) adult Monarchs this year. Poor guys; at this rate, they’ll be extinct in a few years.

With no chance of ever becoming extinct…large milkweek bug nymphs. I don’t kill them; they do feed on milkweed, but take nothing from potential Monarchs, and cause no real harm because I don’t care if the seeds are viable or not.

Wandering bullfrog over by the patio door. I got to it just as Onje noticed it, so I scooped it up and put it in the pond. Onje did not follow it.

Horrible picture–phone + digital zoom as far as it would go–but the red-topped blob is BR, and the blob on the opposite side is BBBR, who has learned to eat from the feeder.

Considering I had 90-100 caterpillars this year, I don’t see very many adult Pipevines. This one is either brand new, or at most a couple of days old; he was perfect!

Little…checkerspot, I think. They nom the crap out of my coneflowers in spring, but don’t do any damage that bothers the plant. This little dude was just perched on morning glory vine, hangin’ out.

Carolina mantis nymph, over in Sarah-Flah’s Giant No-Mow Flowerbed. That flowerbed is such a jungle; I’m sure I have more manti-dudes than the one or two I’ve seen, but I’m sure they’re all in that flowerbed because no one will disturb them there…because no one can get through it!