Weeks 5 and 6 at Home

It’s now been eight weeks since I came home from the hospital after low sodium caused me to collapse and hit my head on a piece of furniture and a hard floor. That produced a traumatic brain injury and a brain bleed; and somewhere along the line a bacteria that normally inhabits our skin infected my bloodstream.

Such is my tale of woe, but I’m much better now – the infection is gone, the pain and stiffness in my neck is much improved and the blood around my brain is mostly resorbed. I can walk fairly well, H had driven me to have coffee with friends and out to the lake and I'd been taking photos around the house.

Here they are, some of the most interesting photographs taken during the third two week period I’ve spent at home, all taken within 50 feet of the house –

As summer heats up insects become more active and so this set of images has an abundance of “bugs” even though there are only two true bugs (members of the order Hemiptera) in the batch.

The squash vine borer is one of the clearwing moths that have transparent sections in their wings.

The spotted lanternfly is one of the true bugs (the other is the red-banded leafhopper), it’s an invasive insect that originated in southeast Asia and feeds on many crops and ornamental plants.

Dead man's fingers is a fungus, the fruiting bodies of which vaguely resemble the fingers of a dead person. 

The garter snake’s blue eyes indicate that it’s preparing to shed its old skin as a new skin has formed beneath the old. Snakes shed their skin as they grow larger as well as to repair injuries or get rid of parasites.

The chipmunk in the photo is a juvenile, newly on its own and gathering leaves to line its burrow.

Now I can drive again and get out in forest and field where I walk very carefully – the old noggin can take just so many falls.

The time spent in and around the house and yard prove, once again, that it’s not necessary to travel far and wide to take interesting photographs – they can be taken anywhere.