Crumby's Favorite Photos

Sometimes there are photos Crumby just likes for reasons he can't necessarily explain. This is one of those.

Apparently, Mallophora fautrix is the common, small beekiller in these parts.

Bees with Mites

Espying mites on bees creeps Crumby out. It reminds Crumby of those times when Ray got practically covered up with seed ticks. How would you like to have hundreds of seed ticks situated in your nether regions where the sun don’t shine?

Anyway, seeing these few mites on this bee creeps Crumby out just like the ticks on Ray. Seems like the mites tend to afflict the Megachilinae more than the other bees. Crumby has another shot of a different Osmia with a great many more mites than can be seen on the depicted. Mercy! But also, the bees head in that other picture is out of focus. Dang. So we couldn't present that other one on the venue, which otherwise, would have been more exemplary of bees with mites.

This particular bee, as has already been noted, is an Osmia species. According to the Brackenridge checklist, these parts feature four Osmia type bee species. But of course there could be more. Man alive?

This picture is also with the 60d and 100mm.

Rayetta’s Butterflies -Callophrys henrici

Let me borrow the new camera.

No. The bugs are not all worked out yet Rayetta.

I don’t care, Crumby. I want to use it, now.

I’m warning you Rayetta. It’s not as much improvement as we anticipated.

I shall be the judge of that.

Later

Hmm. Crumby’s right. But maybe we just need to get used to this new gear. Then it will be way better.


All righty. The first serious damage with the 60d and Canon 100mm macro is Henry’s elfin, a newly documented species for the CB. Henry’s elfin is at least the 82nd documented butterfly species for the CB. But we have lost track.

This picture is upside down. That’s because the picture was taken when the butterfly was upside down. So I turned it right side up so everyone could better espy the characters of Heny’s elfin.

We also have plenty of probable Osmia on the red bud. Yet Crumby has so far failed to get a good picture. It’s the equipment.

Ecology Action Photography

Ecology provides a great excuse for action fun. Like imagine if this picture was a movie, how lively would it be? Yes. In movie mode all these bugs are frisking about merrily. Well. Maybe not exactly frisking. But they would be sort of bobbing up and down maybe. Excited bobbing!

Another great thing about action ecology is the average photographer that took the picture is not obliged to identify any of the depicted. Many may not believe that Crumby can easily identify the various flora and fauna elements seen here. But he’s not fixing to. Because, it’s ecology action photography.

Merciful Goddess! It’s already fixing to be spring. Yet Crumby is still going through all last year’s photos. Oh well. You can’t have too many photos to look through.

More Life as a Terminal Consumer (Global Patriot)

For those who don’t know, a terminal consumer is the same difference as being at the tip top of the food chain, only better. Better because a terminal consumer is not content with or limited to mere meat. No. A terminal consumer can also consume camera gear, amid everything else, the meat, etc. Yes. For the terminal consumer, life is a cornucopia.

What will you do without freedom? Hold it. I mean what will you do without Craigslist and Ebay? Goodness!

Crumby has been so busy shopping for camera lenses lately. So busy. So very busy that Crumby has practically given up documentation, that whole point of possessing all those camera lenses in the first place. Dang! All those lenses have become their own dern raison d’etre.

Shopping for all those lenses has practically consumed the frenetic yet obsessive Ovate. Yes. Crumby rises early, to check the newest listings always seeking the best deals. Yes. Crumby sits in his laboratory, the shades drawn, the stygian darkness penetrated only by the eerie flickering of the lcd. Mercy! Crumby scarcely has time for fondling his newest acquisition, so obsessed is he with more, more, more. More!!!!

Alas. Crumby must get a grip (accidental pun). Crumby must modify this lifestyle or way of life. Remember Crumby. Long ago there was more to life than global patriotism. Hark back, Crumby. Hark back before it’s too late.

A Fig Beetle

These are regular at the CB during sunny times. As with most scarabs, Cotinus mutabilis features cool antennae. It's like they have tiny hands on those long stalks.

Elbow Bush

One of the first shrubs an aspiring botanist comes to learn in these parts may be elbow bush (Forestiera pubescens). (Man alive. It is surprisingly easy to misspell Forestiera as Foresteria). Elbow bush gets its name from the close to right angles the twigs make coming off the stems, much like if one held ones forearm at a right angel to the back arm. Isn’t that interesting.

But the actual interesting characteristic of elbow bush is its astonishingly early flowering time. Here we are on February 16. Yet elbow bush is in full flower. What pollinators are around on such an early date? Well. Honey bees are around. But hundreds of years ago there were no honey bees in these parts. So how did elbow bush get along back in those days?

The flowers as here depicted are indicated by the yellowish-green coloration. Stands out fairly well against the other interesting colors of a typical Republico winter. Who's to say it's not beautiful?

Did everyone get their sheep sheared on Imbolc? My Goddess I am hope so.

Insects are Strange Creatures

Your average insect is far different than mammals. Even the insects that sport hair, a characteristic we normally think of as a mammalian trait, are far different than actual mammals. So when an insect does something that seems rather normal or average, we may take note. Like in this example, a Eumenes fraternus, is blowing a bubble. Isn’t that nice. We can all relate to an organism that blows bubbles. Because we, as children, blew bubbles.

The CB swarms with potter or mason wasps. But Crumby can only identify a few of them to species.

Living with a Genus Call

Last year, Crumby discovered the muth genus Harrisina. In that genus, Harrisina, three species are currently recognized by most that count, meaning experts. But, as often turns out, Crumby is not among those that count. Because, Crumby can’t recognize the species.


Here we see a Harrisina that showed up at the CB during the spring. See. It’s on Ilex vomitoria which flowers in spring. Note how shiny blue it is.






Now let’s check out a probably different Harrisina that showed up on Solidago altissima which flowers in fall. See. It’s coloration is not so shiny blue. In particular, the wings appear to be a dull black.

Furthermore, since the second picture is more of an ecology picture, there is a bug also featured. That bug is most likely a member of the genus Ochriminus, also a small genus with just a few species recognized by the current experts. But check out those interesting bands. The camera didn’t make those bands. Those bands are a feature of the actual bug.

Er. You know. Come to think of it, maybe the featured bug is a convict bug, recently escaped from one of the Tejas Republic's notorious, privately owned correctional facilities. And the bug hasn't found any new clothes since its escape.

More Repressive Desublimation

What’s the most popular dslr camera in the whole world? Ha! Easy that, it’s the Canon Rebel. But how many Rebels would Canon have sold if they had chosen the name Goosestepper, instead of Rebel?

You may know that Karl tells Ray, then Ray tells Crumby about Karl’s many tracker business adventures. Seems like one time Karl the Tracker Druid was on the trail of the curly tails belonging to widely wandering stray pigs. But those particular pigs must have been enchanted because they could wander freely from one reality or alternative universe to another. What were those pigs wandering for? Easy that, those pigs were after more peanuts.

Peanuts here, peanuts there, peanuts grow, everywhere. Well. Maybe not everywhere. But the peanut does feature a distribution as a food crop over a great many alternative realities or universes. Our own miserable universe is but one example.

Long Karl tracked those pigs that some call swine. Yet for a change, the journey was not especially arduous. That’s because enchanted pigs know where to go for the good life. And all Karl had to do was follow along. Plus, before they all departed Karl had loaded up plenty of provender on Ajax,, not only provender for Karl, but also provender for Prissy, Karl’s smart saddle mare, and also for Ajax, Karl's pet or trick mule, yet bearer of the burden. So they were all well accoutered even during those rare times when the pigs lit out from one pasture of plenty, seeking another.

At last though Karl espied those pigs off in the distance. The time was ripe for a pig or swine roundup. Yes. There those pigs were, rooting up peanuts in the peanut patch. But this peanut patch was not just any peanut patch. No. This peanut patch was incredibly vast. Yet the rows of peanuts stretched as far as the eye could see. Like forever they stretched on and on

But there was also in that same vast field of peanuts a beautiful young lady whom Karl did also espy. Yet Karl, in addition to being a small businessman, is also a gentleman. So Karl headed over to visit with the beautiful young lady. It took awhile, longer than Karl felt like it should have took, but at last the threesome eventually reached the near vicinity of the beautiful young lady. But the beautiful young lady was much vexed. Tears streamed down her silky cheeks. Yet those cheeks were beautiful despite the flow of tears. Here’s what those cheeks were like together with the tears. The tears were like newly melted ice running off a glacier. Yes. Those cheeks were white like a glacier. Except where they were red from the rouge the young lady applied during her ablutions of the morning past. And now that rouge was getting all missed up by the outpour of the glacial melt.

What ails ye, beautiful young lady? Karl wanted to know.

It’s those pigs. Those pigs are devouring all my dad’s peanuts. And I am set here by my dad to watch over the peanuts. Yet those pigs have et up a great many already. Whatever am I fixing to do now?

Never fear. You now, through those sad tears, espy before you Karl the Tracker Druid. And these are my companions and business partners, Prissy and Ajax. Would that we knew your name and so could address ye thusly!

I am called Olwen. Yet my dad is also a terrible big giant, grown gaunt and fierce from want of enough peanuts to keep him satisfied. And now those pigs yonder are still gobbling up my dad’s peanuts. Boo-hoo-hoo.

But then Prissy did her imitation of a famous talking horse on the TV so that Olwen could only cheer up, not least for being addressed as Wilbur by a talking horse. Once Olwen was cheered up, Karl says. Olwen, I see you have there a Canon camera. What model is that?

Ha! This is my new Canon Goosestepper. Dad got it for me. I use it to document various facets of life among the peanuts.

Do you have a telephoto for it?

Yes. I have the 70-300.

Would you mind putting the telephoto on your Goosestepper. I would very much like a photo of those pigs yonder. That’s because my client, whose pigs those are, is incredibly anxious to get some reckoning on his pigs’ disposition. Here’s my card. Please just send the picture to my e-mail when you get a chance and Mary will take it from there.

Who’s Mary?

Uh. Mary the Virgin is the secretary or gofer at my small business.

(Actually, Mary is Karl’s third or maybe fourth wife. However, Karl sometimes passes for eligible while on the job).

Anon, Olwen dutifully changed out the lenses on her Goosestepper. Then she took a few shots of the pigs. Want to see?

Course they all wanted to see what the pigs looked like on the LCD.

Just send the best one to Mary the Virgin at my e-mail please. Now we must hastily go and round up those pigs before they root up all your dad’s peanuts.

Off they went after the pigs. Except Ajax got to stay behind with Olwen. And to keep Olwen’s spirits up, Ajax did Francis the Talking Mule imitations.

Now Prissy is a quick and nimble saddle mare. So Prissy started out at a fast walk. Then she broke into a trot. Anon, Prissy was at full gallop. But it seemed like to both Karl and Prissy that they were taking an awfully long time to reach the pigs. Plus the pigs, weren’t going anywhere. And they still weren’t getting any closer to the dang pigs.

Mercy! Prissy neighed. What’s with these pigs? Hold it Karl. I need to catch my breath.

Hmm. Karl panted in sympathy. Those pigs are clearly enchanted. We shall need to employ some Druid Magic to counteract the enchantment surrounding those pigs.

Once Karl did the Druid Magic on the pigs, Prissy rounded them up in short order. OK you pigs. Ordered Karl. Head that a way toward that mule and young lady.

The last picture Olwen took with her Goosestepper that day was of Karl and Prissy herding the pigs along back toward their original time, reality or universe. She used her wide angle lens so that Ajax, bringing up the rear, then Karl and Prissy in the middle, with the pigs at infinity, would all be in sharp focus.

Be sure to send that one to Mary too please. Karl implored.

The Long Struggle Continues, Forward

Try to identify all the bugs in your yard. Go ahead. Try it.

Actually, here at the CB we are making pretty good progress on all the different bugs except for the bees. Well. That’s good progress on all the bigger bugs. The really tiny bugs we are not actually attempting to identify except casually or by chance. There is plenty to do even with just the bigger bugs. Crumby here defines bigger bugs as those approaching, but not necessarily reaching five millimeters in length. Or, bugs definitely exceeding three millimeters.

Here is a smidgen of a moth Crumby figured out just this morning after a two day comparison of pictures on Bugguide. This one may be Anacampsis levipedella. As may be seen, it is an ornate member of the genus, featuring red eyes, some metallic vestiture and checked legs.

Possibly, if Crumby knew any actual moth scientific lingo, as opposed to making up his own moth lingo, the sorting through all the Bugguide pictures would have taken less than two days.

Oh the Gloominess, Alas

Here we are. We have been shut up for months. Snowed in. Yet the blizzards keep coming with no end in sight. The cache of Vitamin D ran out weeks ago. And now, we are contemplating our closest kin. For what prithee? Mercy! For copulation and/or gustation.

To help dispel all these gloomy dead of winter thoughts brought on by the terrible Vitamin D shortage which sorely afflicts many during these sunless months, Crumby goes through the pictures he took during the previous warm or hot season. Sadly, this one is underexposed. But still it reminds Crumby of the happy times when he had access to plenty of Vitamin D.

No News is Good News

If true, then the opposite may also be true. All news is bad news. Certainly, from Crumby’s limited perspective, all news is bad news.

You see, Crumby once believed that his responsibilities as a Druid Ovate included paying attention to the news. That’s because news is theoretically useful for patterning. Patterning is how Druid Ovates come to predict the future. But since Red laid down the law and banned news from the CB, Crumby has discovered that the news, which was always bad, clouded his wits. And now, with no news, Crumby’s wits are not the least bit clouded except maybe when he has had plenty of ale. So these days, assuming sobriety, Crumby can Ovate with the best of them.

You may say to yourself, yeah but, important stuff is happening. Don’t you need to pay attention to the important stuff. Well. The answer is, No! No, no a thousand or maybe two thousand times, No! Because the stuff that is happening is not important. It’s just bad news. And bad news is already patterned in. That’s right. More monopoly capitalism and more imperialism are just more bad news.

another beer can flash diffuser

Tecates are delicious. It's best to choose a delicious brand of beer for your beer can flash diffuser. Too bad Negro Modelo doesn't come in these big cans.

Yes. Crumby decided on a big can for his diffuser. That's because the macro lens we are now considering is fairly long. Also it's 1:1 at about 9" beyond the lens. But also because the big cans hold more beer. Crumby decided to guzzle up two big cans in case he screwed up the first can during the manufacturing process.

This diffuser is fairly easy. Cut off both ends of your beer can after you have drunk up all the delicious beer. Use electric tape and styrofoam bowl to fit one end snug onto the flash head. Cut the other end at an angle so that it will point at your bug or whatever at the prescribed 1:1 distance. Get your styrofoam bowl. Staple a rubber band rope onto the styrofoam bowl. Loop the rubber band rope around your flash head.

This system seems to work pretty good for reducing the "specularity".

By the way, the picture is taken using the canon 10-22 with pop up flash. The diffuser used on the pop up flash is a pollen or dust mask that are available almost everywhere. The pollen mask already has rubber bands ready to be attached to your camera under the OVF. How handy is that? And the pollen mask greatly retards, but does not entirely elimnate, the "specularity".

Shoe Photography

Obviously, an average photographer wishing to get into the lucrative profession of shoe photography needs to have a good wide angle lens to accommodate those hard to get in the frame 4Es. Or maybe, some indecisive customer has come in the shoe store yet can’t decide which shoes to purchase. I know, that hard to please customer might appreciate a group picture of all the shoes under perusal that he or she could take home and study at his or her leisure.

Here we have five pair of shoes and boots lined up with the boots on the left. All these were easy to include employing the Canon 10-22, even on a 1.6 crop body. The fact is, Crumby could have probably included another pair or two easily. Uh. Seven pair would need to mostly be facing the same direction as these are. You might not be able to get seven if they were turned sideways.

Course, if you moved far enough back, you might could get a tousand or maybe two tousand shoes in the frame. What’s the record for number of shoes in one picture where you can pretty much identify every shoe?

Snow in Austink!

That’s right. The Merciful Goddess blessed these parts with a little snow last night, a semi-rare event. Here’s my bosom companion, Ray, as he first espies all the snow this morning.

This snow should succor the allergy afflicted for a while. All the schools are closed. Other stuff is also closed. Even though, the snow barely comes up to the ankles of a small duck.

A Two Gun Shooter

Remember the recollection of Little Bill in the cowboy movie, The Unforgiven, regarding a particular two gun shooter. Huh-huh. Pretty funny. Yet many dopey camera consumers may wind up as two gun shooters. That’s what has happened to Crumby, for now.

Huh-huh. You may know that aided by Live View, you too could be a two gun shooter. That’s right. Many generally sport two hands? If so, there’s no reason you could not shoot with a camera in each hand. Hmm. Well maybe operating the shutter button on the camera with your left hand could be a little tricky. But hey, a two gun shooter needs a little ambidexterity.

Yes alas. Crumby has a bunch of Olympus gear. That gear is hard to sell. Plus, it’s worth more as gear than Crumby can sell it for. So Crumby has decided to keep some of it around for a while longer. In particular, Crumby needs to keep the 35 macro.

Here’s the 35 macro in action. The rig is a tupperware lid cut to fit the snoot of the 35 and employed as a diffuser for the onboard flash.

Practice Ad

Anybody need:

Sigma 150mm macro - barely autofocuses on E330 but might do better on a newer body

Olympus 70-300mm - ditto

Olympus 14-42 and 40-150 kits, old ones with metal mounts the 150 is very good

The Color of Dirt

Crumby may need to perform some wetland delineations anon. So Crumby got to wondering, Would pictures of the dirt be useful? The short answer is, Course they would. And with the newer model cameras having olfactory sensibility built in, an average wetland identifier could even do A4, the H2S indicator from a picture. This assumes a native sense of smell not corrupted by allergy or accident.

However, sadly, one would still need to dig up the dirt, plus actually feel the dirt up. And digging up dirt with a billdukey is hard work. Too hard. Yuck! What a troubling aspect. Here is your average wetland delineator mucking around in the muck. Yuck! Then that same individual needs to take pictures. But his or her weary hands are dirty. What then? What then?

Well. Sometimes there is water to wash your hands with, handy, in a wetland. The water is also like, a clue. So go ahead and wash all the dirty mud off your hands before you pick up your expensive dslr. Oh my Goddess! I accidentally picked up my camera while my hands were still muddy. Oh my Goddess! Oh my Goddess!

But all the nonsense aside, could you maybe almost do field testing of the dirt, remotely, from the pictures. Maybe. But your biggest problem might turn out to be your camera’s ability to do White Balance. That’s because dirt colors are so important, dirt has its own Color Chart. Yes. Dirt has the Munsel Soil Color Chart which the average delineator may employ to figure out the Color of Dirt.

OK. Many of you viewing at home may wish to go find your Munsell. Then you can check the colors on your Munsel chart page against those on your monitor. Is it close enough for private sector work? Did you factor in nepotism and cronyism?