Wildlife Wednesday - tropical fish

It's cold here and we had a long weekend which put my internal calendar out, so I figured I needed some tropical fish here today to warm me and so the post was short.

Call me slack...I've been like that for weeks now. I'm not a fan of winter and it's biting me hard this year. I think because we missed autumn - just went from warm to freezing.

Anyway, enough whinging! Enjoy the tropics :)

Wildlife Wednesday - caterpillars #2

The last few weeks I've had an infestation of caterpillars munching on my pot plants. It doesn't seem to matter what plants, or what I do to them, they're still there. They've eaten two plants to the roots - one a begonia that was looking so good and now is gone.

This one is a totally different caterpillar to those I had everywhere the other week (post is here). Those ones were hairy fellas and weren't confined to a food source like these guys are. It must be caterpillar season at my place!

So...ID is not easy (is it ever for me?) but maybe it's these (page of info here) - a caterpillar species of Spodoptera picta.

These are pests in Sydney garden that love 'lilies' of varying types - and the first plant they ate was one of those before they moved across to the begonia. They eat right down into the crown (which the varmints did), and they're about 5 cm long (which they are).

They do turn into quite a pretty fluffy moth (you can see it here), so maybe I won't mind too much - so long as my plants grow again!

Have you had lots of caterpillars this year? Or have I just been lucky that conditions here suit them?

PS Cool that these guys love you, Miss Lily! :)

Phallic Friday - Sex and Disability

Sometimes, strange things happen in my life where I begin to wonder how the Fates have conspired to make all this happen - how do they stitch such odd occurrences together so they come back to make sense?

Many many years ago, I met a guy (let's call him G) through a friend (let's call him F) who suffered from Muscular Dystrophy. He was fairly crippled and confined to a wheelchair, but he was my age (at the time late 20s) and there was nothing wrong with his mind/emotions/feelings/needs.

These two guys had been childhood mates and they remained the closest of friends until G died a few years ago. One of the things that struck me about F and G was that they had very similar minds - intelligent, enquiring, evaluating, and open - yet G was trapped inside his body. So while F was leading a 'normal' life that included picking up women, G was stuck in his chair. I can't imagine how frustrating this was for G, yet he never seemed to let it bother him.

And then I found out that when they hit their late teens, F argued (and organised) that G should be allowed to have sex. Physically, G could do this if the woman took care of his needs and was sensitive to the things he could not do, but G couldn't just pick up a chick in a bar like F did. So F organised for a prostitute to regularly visit G. It was my first awakening to the fact that people did need sex and connection and intimate friendships, regardless of their limitations.

It's something I greatly admire about F - that he can see the needs of others, and can work out solutions to problems.

So, fast forward more than a few years and in a quirk of fate I've found out about an organisation that actually does what F did. Touching Base is a charitable organisation based in Sydney, that enables people with disabilities to connect with sex workers. It's existed since 2000, so I'm late finding out about it.

I'm really pleased to find out that there's such an organisation. And I feel some sort of synergy when I stumble across an organisation that takes me back in time, to a discussion that began to open my eyes to the need for sex/intimacy/connection regardless of ability.

Wildlife Wednesday - Spittlebug

I have no idea about this bug but it has a funny story.

A couple of weeks back I'm sitting watching TV with hubby and I keep hearing a noise like flapping. He can't hear it. It's really bugging me but no matter where I went in the house, it was there. So I decided it was on me - or in me. So I stripped off and checked my clothes, checked my body, but no bugs. I was starting to think it was a bug in my ear and I'd have to be pouring olive oil down my ear or something to save my sanity. Anyway, when I re-dressed, I must have dislodged it a bit because then I started feeling something on my arm. The jumper comes off again. I start peering at the wool carefully all around my arm area. And there, attached to the threads is this weird looking bug.

It took me forever to free it from the wool fibres of my jumper but eventually I did. And thankfully, the flapping noise left with the bug.

But I've no idea what it is. It's tiny, maybe only 5mm in length (the black and grey is my woollen jumper).

Anyone got any ideas?

I'm going to try 'long nosed bug' in google and see how I go!

Well, I found things that are similar, and they're Spittlebugs. But I haven't found a lot of info about them, or even if they're in my area, but here's some info from Brisbane if you're interested. Oh, here's a bit more info (with a key) and they do occur here, so it's possible. At least the size and body shape is kind of right. And maybe it's the genus Philagra.

Spittlebugs are so called because many of the nymphs live in a 'ball' of froth (that looks like spittle) on vegetation, which they believe deters predators or prevents dehydration. The adults don't live in this froth. They are sap suckers, so are most often associated with vegetation.

You know, until I began doing this segment, I really had no idea how many fascinating critters were right in my backyard. I mean, I knew there were a lot, but these kind of bugs leave me astounded! I never even knew they existed, much less lived right here.