Cynipid

The bottom of the photo shows wood cabinets with tall but thin openings filled with sheets of glass standing upright. Above the wood cabinets is a black metal shelf with 3 rows of brown boxes. The boxes are 4x5x16 inches deep and have a small black label on the front indicating the color of scrap glass inside.

My stained glass storage just upped its game. The sheets are stored in old insect cabinets that are turned on their sides. My newest addition are the retired specimen boxes for housing Odonata specimens that I use for my scrap glass pieces. #stainedglass

Interacted with several individuals that were surrendered at the animal shelter when I was working in animal husbandry. I'm apparently allergic to them in some way 😭. I had red swollen rashes wherever they touched my skin. Problematic when you generally lift them with their torso along your forearm

A wood pole with metal on one side and the metal forms loops with hooks at either end. There are picture frames all around it.

A very cool wooden yoke. I have many ideas for this piece.

A slab of red stone with most of the face etched away leaving a shape that looks like a fat cat.

My gray and white cat laying on a desk-top, belly-up with his hind legs stretched out behind him. Part of his chest is in the sunlight shining in through the window.

HIS COMING WAS FORETOLD!!!
Found this petroglyph-like cat etching in stone and also received this photo of my cat from my husband.

On the front of the white table is a green/black metal candle holder and to the right of that a gray metal candle holder that is bars bent into ornate shapes. Behind them is a collection of brass, black wire, yellow, and teal containers.

I have a winner here. It was a tough choice. The one on the right was too short so I would have had to make a base for it. The green metal one is actually perfect. I'm going to go with that.

A piece of driftwood leaning against a fur coat. The piece of driftwood has an unhappy face carved into it. There is a bible placed near the base of the driftwood.

A close-up of the unhappy face that is carved into the driftwood.

🫢...😯...😍😍😍😍. I love that someone felt that they needed to put a bible next to it.

Wood spools shaped like dumbbells stacked on top of each other. There are some small dishes below.

Another possibility! Maybe too plain though?

Another wood spool; this one is lighter colored than the last one. There are many things in the background and next to the spool (deer head, wood carvings, metal "things")

Another spool...

Shelves filled with wood boxes for old glass bottles of soda, beer, and many other items. There is also a "stop" sign and a "no parking" sign on the wall above them.

I love old wood boxes. This might be the same seller for the dynamite box that I bought in highschool and used as a box sculpture.

Glass balls wrapped with rope inside of a large metal tub. Each ball is about 5 inches wide.

Might have a use for some of those soon...

A candle holder with a black base shaped almost like a come and it has notches missing. There is a silver plate at the top with a brown candle on it.

Possibility #2. Closer... Not quite right.

A wood rod labeled spool. The base is wider and ridged. There is also a welcome sign hanging to the left and a clear glass oil lamp to the right.

A possibility for my second item. I need something shaped like a candle stick or vase that I can use to build a miniature table. It needs to be 12-13 inches tall.

A piece of wood that is a light tan with a blue-gray streaking. The lower edge had bark on it.

Found item number 1 that I needed. Beetle-kill, blue-stained wood plank with bark.

Red and cream serving dishes. The center dish is round and surrounded by dishes shaded similar to lungs and with what appear to be branching veins across their surfaces.

Lungs? A friend suggested lettuce but no. It's obviously lungs.

A gray carpet isle stretching before you set between shelves on either side, filled with miscellaneous items. The exposed rafters show that the building is a tall metal warehouse.

A tight path between cluttered shelves. The back wall has old wooden boxes and signs. The surrounding shelves are filled with ceramic jugs, old metal lamps, antlers, leather suitcases, and many other items.

Visiting the flea markets today in search of a couple things. (🧵Thread below if you need a/an mental/emotional break)

The Parks contact those museums for confirmation of specimen quality every couple of years. The lists can be long.

They generally have an official repository. As an example, the CP Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity is the official repository for several National Parks and Monuments. Insect specimens from those parks are generally all deposited there regardless of where the researcher is located.

Already know one that is interested!

They are so excited! 😁

Two mushroom-headed tooth fairies (with very toothy-grins). The green one on the right is holding up a tiny book with insect illustrations. The orange one to the left seems very excited! There's a tiny deer skull hanging on the wall behind them with moss hanging from the ceiling and copper-embroidered dead leaves all around them. A cozy environment for their studies...

Two mushroom-headed tooth fairies (with very toothy-grins). The green one on the right is holding up a tiny book with insect illustrations. The orange one to the left seems very excited! There's a tiny deer skull hanging on the wall behind them with moss and mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. Copper-embroidered dead leaves surround them. A cozy environment for their studies...

I am glad I found you here! Update on Moss and Aria: I got them books! They're studying our world; knowledge is power! Their current discussions are about interesting insect morphologies. They'll learn about nudibranches in the next volume. Thank you @saimihanma.bsky.social for the beautiful books!

I also plant certain native plants in protest of ranchers that want to eradicate them because they call them "worthless" when in reality those plants are foundational to native ecosystems. They just hate these species because they can't exploit the plants in some way.

I'm a taxonomy nerd anyway but I mostly blame my love for interesting plant-insect relationships for driving me to become an obsessive collector of certain plant groups. I love a good specialist herbivore or pollinator. Some colleagues brought plants home because they were rearing the insect.

Most nurseries sell mostly non-native or nativars at best. Some of the latter will be labeled as "native" despite being cultivated and from unknown populations. There's only one nursery in this part of the state that does natives but they are online-only which my Dad is very uncomfortable with.

For my Dad it's the learning curve. He has no idea what's native and he hates researching on his phone. I've started doing "drive-by gardening" where I plant native plants in his beds and drive off before he notices. I'm slowly teaching him what should be pulled as weeds and he's leaving the rest.

This was the Hand and Foot card holder. It housed our very beloved card-set which consisted of 8-10 standard card decks all shuffled together. Instantly recognizable in my family.

A green and brown tin with a framed image of a house on the lid. The text under the image says "The Original Toll House Cookie".

What would you associate with this container? It has a very specific purpose in my family. When I grew up and moved out on my own I had to find one just like it at an antique store in order for me to store this item(s) in my own home.

A bug that looks like AI but it's actually real:

The big-legged bat fly, Megistopoda aranea

Gotta love funky dipterans! It's this it or Blepharcerid pupae which always remind me of the original Mickey Mouse caps with ears.

📷 By S. Ware at the Field Museum of Natural History

Drug patents generally have exclusivity periods if 5-7 years when there are no generics allowed. How many people will die in that time because of their greed?

A collage of photos of bearded irises in different colors. The top left (Tango Amigo) is white on top and the falls are tan with a soft violet hew. Top right is Cinque Terre and it ranges from purple to dusty-rose, and gas orange highlights near the base of the falls. Bottom left is Sunrise Splendor which is mostly white with a bright gold in the center and a splotch of purple on the falls. Center is Black Suited which is nearly black with deep purple beards. Bottom right is Be My Honey which has dusty-maroon standards and the falls are a deep gold rimmed with deep wine color.

Here are some of my later blooming iris varieties. Tango Amigo, Cinque Terre, Sunrise Splendor, Black Suited, and Be My Honey.

Yep! May not be able to do species level IDs but usually you know what you're looking for on stickies so that's generally not a problem.