McKinney All Weather Again

Due to the fact that I couldn't breath very well, I had to decline the Enchanted Rock climb. But as the morning moved forward I got to a point where I was doing much better. I practically forced my husband and son who both hate hiking to go on a hike and picnic with me...ok, that's not entirely true. Russell claims he doesn't hate hiking, he just prefers to be indoors and he also tells me that our walk yesterday was his idea. Ben still hates hiking :). Anyway, I HAD to get outdoors and am glad I was able to for a short while.

Although Russell will most likely never be a solid hiking/backpacking partner for me, there is still hope for Ben...he's young and there is still time to mold him Mwahahahaha. I'm doing my best to get him interested in the outdoors and am hopeful that when he is a teen he will want to hit the big trails with me. But if in the end he has no interest I have to respect that. Here are some pics. Don't forget you can click on them to see larger images with better detail.

Cool fungus
This grasshopper is shedding its nymph skin. I can't tell if it has more nymph stages left or not. I'm thinking maybe it does...although this insect was a good inch long already. The wings seem underdeveloped. What an awesome find! Too bad I didn't get on the scene sooner, I could have taken several photos of the progression...would have been cool.

This is a different grasshopper from the one above. These were all over this particular tree and I think this one is young too, but man is it big! They kind of creeped me out a little.

Now here is a grisly scene of sorts. These butterflies are feeding on some sort of scat.

Here is a different view. You can see bits of grasshopper in the scat. Blech!