Tiny Candy Striper

This tiny colorful creature is a candy-striped leafhopper, in the same super-family as cicada, shockingly.  Anyway, they are very tiny - about 1/4 inch (6mm) or so, and have a propensity to...well, hop when one gets too close.  This morning, however, it was too cold for anything to be hopping or flying, so I was able to get fairly close before it implemented another strategy - dropping.  Well, at least I got two shots and I stacked them in Helicon for this slightly imperfect image.  

I also found a bumble bee and a tiny hoverfly in the garden, none warm enough to fly, making them ideal candidates for some photos.  I posted two shots on Flickr, if you'd care to have a look...
Bumble bee, making his way slowly across the coneflower
and
a super-close up of a tiny hoverfly - you can see the compound eyes if you view full screen.  First time I've ever managed to get the eyes.

I am still working on a tethering solution.  I've downloaded the Nikon App and ordered a refurbished Nikon wireless mobile adapter.  The reviews I've read on the app say that it is very buggy so I'm not sure who well this will work, but figure it's worth a try.  If it doesn't work, I may look for a cheap used netbook that I can tether with a cable.  All of this so I can use the "Remote" feature of Helicon to shoot my images for stacking...  (Okay, no one is more shocked than I am to see these words appearing on my screen...)

Hubs left this morning for a quick 2-day trip down to southern NJ to work with a new client his company just signed up.  That means the cats and I are in charge of things tonight.  And that means Parmesan/pepper popcorn for dinner!  Yay!!!

I believe this is JensPhoto's last week of hosting TinyTuesday - thanks so much, Jen!  

TTFN,
Debbi