Uh oh

You may think the title refers to the menacing yellow-jacket wasp, but you'd be wrong... the Uh oh is in reference to the rental of the Nikon 105mm macro lens. Big trouble. HUGE. Monumental. I'm afraid that I like this lens VERY much. A lot. Gobs. MASSIVE amounts.

I think you get the idea.

I took over 500 shots with it (thanks to an early delivery - yay, FedEx), enough start getting a feel for it, I think. It's insanely fun to use. There is a bit of a learning curve, but not nearly as bad as I anticipated. I'm anxious to take it out again tomorrow to try to get some dragon shots. Today, I focused (ha - get it!?) on bees and skippers and insects mostly with a few flowers thrown in for fun.

I posted my 7 favorite shots from today starting with this fuzzy black jumping spider, HERE on Flickr. The spider isn't the scary sort, so relatively safe to view even if you're a bid spooked by spiders (as I am). In fact, I thought seriously about blipping the spider, but I'd like to wait to see if I can get a better shot...

Thank you for all the comments, hearts, and stars on my monarch - wasn't expecting that! It was so exciting to finally see one this summer. Many of you know that the monarch migration from Mexico this year was pretty much non-existent. In fact, the winter population of monarchs in Mexico was down an estimated 80% this year for a number of reasons, some caused by man and some by nature. The best thing you can do for monarchs, if you live in the northern US/Canada is to encourage growth of milkweed. Instead of ripping it out, try planting some in your gardens - this is the only food of the monarch caterpillars and is essential for the survival of the species. (stepping off the soapbox now...)

Hey, people, it's Friday ... and you know what that means...it's the weekend!! Enjoy!

xxoo
Debbi