I guess that Andy is still the master of his domain-name.
Anyway,
The backyard here in Pickering has been au naturel for the past two years. I did not have the time nor the free opportunity to render it in a contrary state and therefore what unfolded is all in accordance with nature’s plan whenever man ceases to interfere. Weeds of many tribes have conquered the lot, thus taken it to a space well beyond what normally passes for dreary suburbia. They have thus definitively demonstrated nature’s algorithm of ever increasing entropy. It had reached the point where the neighbours took offence. Yes, they literally leaned over the fence brandishing a DIY sort of medieval weapon of dubious legality. Now I’m obliged to rectify the canted fence and thoroughly electrify it so that the next incursion will be more entertaining. Why only take half measures.Circumstances on the care-giving front have changed somewhat and recently made it possible for me to occasionally venture forth onto the killing field and battle the infidel weeds that fail to worship the urban demigods, order and decorum. The nastiest weeds were the prickly demons that pierce and prick with a vengeance and for these adversaries I donned chainmaille gloves. Actually, they are just heavy leather gloves, but you see, I like to pretend. I also like to watch, but that revelation will need to wait for another time. The most ornery plants were the milkweed. A beneficial species for sure, but one that has rhyzomes as thick as...a few things that come to mind. I did thrust my trusty spade deep into the realm of the beast and still many roots avoided the blade. All along I thought that I was in control, that a few roots were no match for the king of spades. My plan to annihilate the subterranean menace was then scaled back. I mean, it was like dropping depth charges on an elusive submarine. Try as I might, no number of forays with a sharp spade got them all. After a few days of respite new shoots emerged. I have even taken to throwing the soil, roots and all, onto a mesh screen to capture the roots and let the soil fall through. While deeply engaged in ineffectual hand-to-stem combat I noticed a Monarch caterpillar on one of the smaller cowering milkweed plants. They mostly fear me now and that is as it should be. I saw another caterpillar and then finally a third. They were all in the same general location, hanging out as if bivouacked. They were definitely aware of each other and the biggest one was the ring leader. I named them: Curly, Larry and Moe. Yes, I agree with you completely, that was rather stupid. I went inside and got my camera and am pleases to admit that it was a smart move. A riskier decision was to grab an old kit lens from my mothballed film-based SLR (58mm f1.4) and then adding it to a #2 extension tube of comparable vintage. The coalition was then facilitated with an adapter that allowed coupling to my Canon 650DSLR. Not having AF or IS with that arrangement I had to use a tripod because attempting to use a bipod would epitomize a special kind of stupid. I needed a small aperture and f11 seemed adequate because choking the lens down even more just seemed cruel, although disturbingly cathartic. I tried a combination of flash and a reflector. The latter as a means to redirect some of the sky’s light onto Moe, for all three of these carnival-striped clowns were rather dim. A macro lens would have been really effective in this scenario but I don’t have one. Also, using one for such an extemporaneous exercise would be kindred to showing off. In retrospect, I now really wish I had one, although then I would need to precisely determine hyper-focus and thereby take the fun out of everything.
