Yesterday evening, after the sun fell behind the trees across the road from my rural, Missouri home, I decided I’d try once again to do some mowing. I tried to mow 2 weeks ago, but after only 45 minutes, I had to stop, go inside and lie down. I needed to just lie flat on my back for 2 hours, before I could get up and move about. In that 2-hour period, I tried to sit up at the computer several times, but only got dizzy, making me lie back down. Guess I tried mowing too soon after my surgery!
Two weeks later, I mowed for about an hour, then called it quits. I had no after-affects, so I guess I’m beginning to heal. I still have about 7 hours of mowing to do, so will take me some time … especially since it’s forecast to rain some more this coming week!
As I was finishing mowing, I spotted a rather unique insect … one I don’t ever recall seeing before. It was a clay-red colored grasshopper:
I did a brief look through one of my reference books, but didn’t see anything that looked like my little friend. I doubt if it is just a “stage” that our typical hoppers go through; if that were the case, I’d likely have seen some before now. If anyone out there knows more about this insect, please let me know.
Photographic Equipment Used:
- Canon 5D Mark 3 body
- Canon EF 180mm, f/3.5 macro lens + Canon 1.4X TC, totaling 252 mm used
- Handheld
- ISO 500 for top 2 images and ISO 1600 for bottom image (was in a patch of grass and much less light)
- Aperture f/8 (all images)
- Shutter 1/40 sec. (top image), 1/15 sec. (middle image), and 1/20 sec. (bottom image)