You can take the GRITS out of Florida, but you can't take Florida out of the GRITS!

Saturday, September 1, 2007

A couple of unknowns

Found this at work Friday. Some kind of leaf roller did it's thing on a wild coffee outside my office. I tried to find out what it could be, but didn't have awhole lot of luck. Could be a skipper moth caterpillar? Or some other kind of leaf rolling creature? Regardless of what it is, I think it's cool. It looks like the leaf has been stiched with thread. Pretty neat.

And here's another thing I can't identify. It died shortly after I took this picture :( But I have never seen a moth like this before. Some kind of sphinx? It was big, too...a good 3 inches across.

*Note: Thanks to Chris J. who found that this is a Gaudy Sphinx.

It has just been too hot to go out and do any real exploring. The heat down here is oppressive. I did manage to go to Home Depot this evening and buy some herbs. Oregano, basil, cilantro, rosemary and thyme. Put them all in a big round pot. Now if I can just keep them alive and remember to use them, I'll be happy! I also bought a small pumpkin (at my baby's insistance) and a tomato. I never have any luck with tomatoes, though, so I really don't know why I bothered. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

On a personal note, my 3 year old finished his first week of swimming lessons. I am totally amazed at how good he's doing! He just does NOT like learning to float on his back. Not at all. And everyone within a 3 miles radius of the pool probably knows this. My sister is paying for his lessons. They are private and through Infant Swimming Resource (http://www.infantswim.com/).

This is a video my older son took. You have to remember, we don't have a pool and he's pretty much never been in water over his ankles before. I can't say enough about how impressed I am so far. If you have small kids and they can't swim, this is the best thing you could ever do for them. A HUGE THANKS to my sis for doing this for him :) We love you!!!

**Five more weeks to go and he'll be swimming like a fish!**

If you have plans for this Labor Day weekend, I hope you have fun and stay safe :)

4 comments:

C.L.J. said...

It looks like a Green Sphinx Moth to me. It's just on the opposite side of the planet from where you'd expect to find it.
http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/red_list_2004/speciesprofiles_EN.htm#moth

I hope you've kept it; you should have it looked at.

SwampAngel65 said...

That's what I was thinking it had to be, but nothing I found talked about them being in Florida. Of course, the next morning when I got to work, the moth was gone. I looked around but whatever took it made a clean getaway. If I ever see another one, I'll keep it and take it to our nearby ag-center for proper id!

C.L.J. said...

It's a Gaudy Sphinx:
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/sphinx_moth_4.html

SophieMae said...

How cool! I've never seen a green sphinx moth before. Must be a southern thang. 8-]

The leaf rolling pic is awesome! Wonder what sews like that.

I'll try to watch the video when I get back. Dial-up just takes way too long to load the least little thing.