The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

Category: Oddities

Who’d’a thunk it?

Funnel Web Spiders

This critter took up residence in our kitchen window:

Funnel web spider in window

She’s between the outer storm window and the inner sash, having secured her funnel web to both panes across the entire width of the window. We’d opened the storm window to clear an air conditioner vent and spiders know a good location when they see it.

We know she’s female, because a (smaller) male appeared and conducted negotiations for the better part of an afternoon. After she accepted his offer of a small, somewhat battered, moth, the two hooked up for the rest of the day; we feared for his life, but he hung around until the next afternoon, then departed.

She normally stays tucked inside the channel running along the edge of the window frame, with only the tips of those two front legs visible, and retreats at the slightest vibration, so we’ll leave her in peace until we must close the storm window.

2020-09-26
Long-gone Labeling

These appeared while I was extricating the 3-axis positioner from an old project:

Migrated felt-tip pen labels

I’m reasonably sure those labels started with blue ink from my all-time favorite Ultra-Fine-Point Sharpie markers on address labels covered with ordinary matte tape. Fourteen years on, the X, Y, and Drive legends are pretty much indistinguishable.

Nothing lasts …

2020-09-19
Monthly Image: Mantis Mating

The Praying Mantis in the Butterfly Bush is definitely female:

Praying Mantis Mating – front

I’d noticed her distended abdomen a day or two earlier, when it was highlighted in the sun and pulsing slowly. The indentations under the male’s legs shows the surface is definitely softer than the hard chitin of most insect armor:

Praying Mantis Mating – rear

The tip of the male’s abdomen twisted around to make contact, but I have no idea what all the little doodads common to both of them back there were doing.

The whole process started in mid-afternoon, they were still locked together six hours later, and the male was gone in the morning. The stories about female mantises eating the males seem greatly exaggerated, but she did manage to catch and eat a moth while otherwise engaged.

We’ll keep watch for ootheca on the tall grasses again, although we’ll never know the rest of their story.

2020-09-15
Cicada Time

Even though cicadas are completely harmless, Mary was quite startled to discover one crawling up the back of her garden pants:

Cicada – left front

It seems the cicada mistook her for a tree.

They’re handsome creatures:

Cicada – left dorsal

They’re very conspicuous on fabric:

Cicada – right dorsal

I teleported it to a maple tree, where it was better camouflaged:

Cicada – on tree – right

When last seen, it was headed upward at a pretty good pace. We wished it well on its adventures …

2020-09-13
Striped Hairstreak Caterpillar

Mary found this gadget gnawing holes in a bean:

Striped Hairstreak Butterfly – caterpillar

The lump on the right is frass, not a mini-me tagging along behind.

We had no clue what it might be when it grew up, but Google Lens suggested a Striped Hairstreak Butterfly caterpillar and, later that day (and for the first time ever!), we saw an adult Hairstreak fluttering on a goldenrod in the corner of the garden.

As with all caterpillars, you’d never imagine the adult butterfly. It seems they move their hind wings to make predators aim at the south end of a northbound butterfly …

2020-09-12
Toad Time

The toad population has apparently been spending more time near the Mighty Wappinger Creek, rather than around the house, during this very dry summer, so this small toad at the garage door came as a surprise:

Toad at garage door

A few days later, Mary spotted a larger toad tucked into the spice garden:

Toad in spice garden

Small tree frogs sound off in the darkness around the house, but we’ve never seen any of them.

We wish them great success in their future bug hunts!

2020-09-05
Outdoor Junction Box: Stretch to Fit

For whatever reason, a two-outlet junction box stands outside the Credit Union:

Outdoor Junction Box – angled conduit

The slanted conduit certainly looks in need of an elbow to line it up, doesn’t it?

It seems whoever installed it, many years ago, simply forced the conduit to line up, no matter the consequences:

Outdoor Junction Box – open wiring

The threaded entries on the die-cast outlet box were never intended to cope with that much misalignment; half the bottom has vanished. I think the round box on the top originally held a floodlight to wash the (uninspired) building facade at night, but those days are long gone.

If the conduit has horizontal underground runs, both are certainly full of water by now. The white(-ish) “Romex” cable insulation looks like ordinary indoor wiring, not the grayish direct-burial sheath, but it may be sun-bleached after years of exposure.

Surely there’s a tripped GFI on that circuit …

2020-08-30