Something unexpected and life changing happened a few days ago. Jared brought home a dead dragonfly he had found at work. My first thought was, "Oh cool, I can put it in a shadow box and hang it up. Too bad it's just plain brown and kind of gross." But after I did put the creature in its frame, I decided I wanted to figure out what kind of dragonfly it is. I found a website, Digital Dragonflies, which blew my mind. Click that link! I bet you never knew dragonflies could be so beautiful! Well it turns out they are all super beautiful and exotic once you take a good look at them. 
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Ain't she a beaut?! Look at the delicate amber wings! The perfectly petiolate ovipositor! 
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And look, there are sharp little teeth on her arms, which is why dragonflies are in the order Odonata, meaning toothed. Check out the brown and green stripes on her thorax...or abdomen or whatever. And if you look close enough you can see the same brown and green motif on the tail. Once I discovered all these wonderful details, I was able to identify her as a female Swamp Darner, Epiaeschna heros. Then, I researched this particular type of dragonfly, and learned even more cool things! Apparently, this is as big as dragonflies get, 3 inches long and 4 inch wingspan. Plus, these guys fly super fast and mostly higher than the average dragonfly. Also, they can see very very well on account of their huge eyes, so they are nearly impossible to catch! What a find, huh? Jared has started carrying around plastic bags just in case another awesome bug happens to die in front of him. 


So in light of this discovery, Jared and I have developed a new hobby of amateur entomology. We have already taken a lot of neat pictures of bugs that I'll share soon. I wanted to tell everyone about our new hobby, so I created this blog! Plus I thought I would throw in all my other hobbies, like cooking, knitting and praising or complaining about restaurants, and any other interests I pick up along the way. Hence the name of the blog, requies, the Latin word for rest, leisure, or hobby. I hope you enjoy reading!
Jared
6/6/2010 05:02:30 am

Wow, you mentioned me! This is my new favorite blog!

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Bonnie
6/9/2010 12:08:21 am

Really enjoyed your blog!!! Great experience and very informative! Keep up the good job!!!

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