doribug
New member
This is exciting that I have found a place where other mantid enthusiasts "hang out." Called a "nature nut," I do indeed spend as much time as I can, in any kind of weather, outdoors. If I'm not working on something outside, I'm exploring outside, even in the cold, snowy months. And like I posted in my profile, I'm a dedicated wife of a hard-working husband who often needs to go out of town on business; challenged mother to two teenage girls (yikes!) who are as different as night and day; and devoted daughter to my dear, aging mother for whom I've been renovating, as much as I can on my own, the family home-place inside but mostly outside.
One of the biggest thrills I've had this past year spent at Mom's was witnessing hundreds of nymphs emerging from an ootheca hidden under the bird bath this past early spring. I was able to "gather" up as many of them as I could so they could jump off my hands and arms into the nearby crepe myrtles. The reward for that has been to spot about five mantises around the house and yard. There are two of them -- hanging out on opposite sides of the house -- that have gotten so used to me and my work outside near them that they turn their heads to look at me and then continue preening themselves. *That*, to me, is how it should be: working alongside nature.
I'm also an artist, musician and business woman, but I've shelved that more and more as the years have gone by to raise my daughters, be there for my husband and to now help my mother.
One of the biggest thrills I've had this past year spent at Mom's was witnessing hundreds of nymphs emerging from an ootheca hidden under the bird bath this past early spring. I was able to "gather" up as many of them as I could so they could jump off my hands and arms into the nearby crepe myrtles. The reward for that has been to spot about five mantises around the house and yard. There are two of them -- hanging out on opposite sides of the house -- that have gotten so used to me and my work outside near them that they turn their heads to look at me and then continue preening themselves. *That*, to me, is how it should be: working alongside nature.
I'm also an artist, musician and business woman, but I've shelved that more and more as the years have gone by to raise my daughters, be there for my husband and to now help my mother.
