Spring Fever

I was outside working in the gardens, trimming the bushes when i saw this little pine seedling. I knew right away what i was going to put it in and how i was going to grow it. When i bought my iPod Nano it came in this little clear box with a lid. I had been saving it for a mini terrarium but i just have never gotten around to it. 

After digging the plant out of the ground i put a little bit of soil in the bottom with lots of the rotten leaf and grass that the seedling was growing in. In order to brighten it up a bit and help keep the small amount of soil from drying out i found some moss and placed it on top after inserting a small piece of a slow release fertilizer spike. Because there are cats in the house i wanted to cover it somehow. After looking around i decided to use this fail attempt at a cup(made out of a wine bottle). Its a pretty nice setup and the wine bottle also helps to keep it moist. 

As a finishing touch i put a small heating pad under the towel that is covering the dresser in hopes that a warm humid environment will make it thrive. I have always wanted a Bonsai tree, especially one that i started from scratch. Hopefully this works and in the future i will have posts about the progress this little guy has made.

Does it deserve a name? If so, what? lol, maybe i should wait until it has survived a year in my hands before i get too attached.

New camera and these make the first ten pics

Did anyone see two men in Tuxes. Nvrmnd u wouldn't remember

Looks like he is full of blood.

Don't ask because i don;t know. The top is a Pill bug or Sow bug or Rolly Pollie Ollie.

Looks like a cricket from Men In Black or something right? These are so creepy looking and sound even worse than crickets.

Don't tell my grandma but this one is roaming the house currently. I had to let him go bc he was still alive and just too amazing to let die such a slow death.

I would make a Harry Potter reference but i'm not a nerd...

Well i have a new found love for spiders. When i saw this i just felt really bad.

This has got to be the biggest spider i have ever seen. Well outside of science centers and zoos. You can even see its face. Maybe i should be a arachnologist.
Crazy guy. He just kind of stayed up there. Florescent bulbs dont get that hot so he didnt fry he just couldn't understand to fly over the edge.
When i first noticed him he was flying in the room with a big strand of grass 3 times his length. He was just flying around like he was lost and i couldn't believe that he could carry it.

Night Birds

I have no idea what these guys are but they scared the crap out of me the other night. I was going out with my sis and we stopped at a gas station and all of a sudden there was a small bird like a sparrow or something fluttering around our heads until it ran into the wall and we discovered it was this thing. Cool bug though.

Garden Spiders from Stuart Charbonneau on Vimeo.

Not my best video but i havn't uploaded my others yet.

These are some garden spiders from around the house. The las pic was only taken at 3 MP so that i could use ISO3200 because he was in the shadows i think it turned out pretty well.

This is one nasty looking fly. My grandma said its a Deer Fly. I would hate to have one of these bite me.

This thing ruined the entire walk for Kaylee. The entire rest of the walk she was complaining. The entire time i have been here i have been telling myself i have to get a picture of a live snake. Its freaking South Dakota for Pete's sake. Finally I found one. It was on La Fromboise Island. I believe it is a Bull Snake.

Wolf Spiders

This guy is a wolf spider I think. (Correct me if I’m wrong). I found him in my room here in Fort Pierre. He was pretty big but not the biggest I have seen here.

Walking Stick

This Walking Stick was on the outside of my door. I havn’t seen very many of them in fact this is this is the only one that I have seen in SD. There really are only three types of bugs. Grasshoppers, Flies, and Spiders. These are cool though. If you have any info on them let me know.

Toad

A garden variety Toad that I found outside my great aunt’s apartment building. I think one of these got into my room because I have been hearing some weird sounds. I don’t mind as long as he eats the flies and grasshoppers that get into the house. I have no idea as far as identification goes if you know just tell me. I know that it isnt a Cain Toad though.

Garden Spiders

My grandfather has always called these Grden Spiders and I don’t lnow if that is what they are actually called or not.They have really pretty webs with a zig zag line down the middle as long as the web is still in shape. The two were huge. The grasseppers here are about an unch and a half themselves.

I just looked it up and used the following website http://www.badspiderbites.com/garden-spider/ . According to this it is called a Argiope garden spider. I think they are so cool and probably my favorite spider and i have memories of feeding them from when i was still really little

Grasshopper Mutation

I dont really think that this is a grasshopper mutation it is just prob a differenct species. When i saw it i was a little Weirded out because i couldnt tell what was different about it but i knew something was.