Entries by Michael

Moth Night

This is something that I’ve always wanted to do, and have never done.  Now, I’ve hung around outside buildings and watched the moths and other night-time insects come and go… but I’ve never done the full-on, out-in-the-woods, light-and-a-sheet type experience, where you trap moths with light and count and observe and all that.  So, I […]

Sneak Peek

I’m sorry about the previous post being locked – it’s got a lot of information that’s not quite public domain yet.  But the general idea, I can give you….   Before Bill Wyatt passed in 2009, he and I had a talk about getting somebody to replicate his silk reel design.   These nice folks […]

More passionflowers

We’ve had a beautiful weather year for the garden.  The moist spring turned into a warm but not parched summer, and our fall cold front came almost a month early, bringing lovely cooler nights and plenty of rain.  Because of the way our weather works in this part of Texas, it’s almost like we have […]

Trapped!

The composting worm bin lives in the upstairs bathroom adjacent to my office/studio room.  So when things get weird in the bin, I know about it. I think that I picked up earwig eggs when I added compost from the outdoor compost bin – I always do this to help stock up the micro-flora.  However […]

Scientific American

I have a very definite niche.  Many of the things that I do, not a lot of people do.  And, I document most of what I do – with lots of pictures, which I post online.  So, when people are searching the web for something related to my unusual interests, they often find my pictures.  […]

Skeeterbag

This is not a paid ad.  I have received no promotional support for this endorsement – I just think these things are cool, and want to tell my friends. We live in a lovely, wooded area of south Dallas.  We back up to the confluence of two year-round creeks, Crow Creek and Five Mile Creek.  […]

Summer Update 3: Passionflowers and Butterflies

It’s been an exceptionally good season.  We had a warm, mild spring, followed by an unusually wet summer – so everything is green and lush! I’ve been a fan of passionflowers for a long time. I have begun seriously collecting the hardy varieties, focusing on flowers and fruit.  Many of the new hybrids are cold-hardy […]

Summer Update 2: Silk

Summer is usually a slow time for silk work.  I’ve got a couple of wild native species caterpillars going, but no China silkworms, and not a lot of projects in the chute.  But in March, I took my silk show on a live news show, to drum up interest in the Dallas Handweavers and Spinners […]

Summer Update 1: Chickens

I have been a bad blogger. I got busy, and caught up in other things, and I realized that I haven’t posted here since February, and it’s now mid-July. I realized that part of it, is that I’ve been posting quick photos to Facebook, rather than writing things out; my new phone makes it easy […]