The Bugs of Ixtac

 Hola Chicos,

I have a special post for you this time. Its all about the Bugs of Ixtac....The creepy crawlies that thrive around our little plot of land. There are so many more bugs here than what I was used to seeing in Florida and so Ive started to photograph them.

Click to enlarge

This little guy has something of an alien face on its back...

Here´s a photo of what I think is an Atlas moth. I had the cocoon on a stick hanging for months in our outdoor kitchen. One morning found this.....

Nice orange black and blue fly....

Hey how´d this guy get in here, Not really a bug but hey.....

There are allot of different beetles here. I hope to get more pics of these guys. This one had such a fantastic green color and design...

some weevil thing??....

Found two of these incredible guys one day....the body´s about an 1.5 inch....

Maybe some kind of stinkbug....

Love on a leaf....

Here's a Mini Mantis that was on my arm. I flicked it off onto this piece of cardboard and snapped this photo....about an inch in size......

This is a dreaded papaya fruit fly. These ravish our papayas here by laying eggs via the ovi-depositor. The eggs hatch inside and become worms that eat the fruit from the inside. I caught this girl laying eggs one morning and snapped this picture. I now have been getting good papayas by bagging them in large bags when they're small.....

 

Found this salamander one morning in the rain. The people here actually kill them because they say that they crawl up inside women at night! I don't believe it & think its awful.

One of the strangest caterpillars found on an agave. Spectacular!

This sticky little dude was walking across the table....

Little torpedo-like bug with big feet....

Another awesome caterpillar.....

 An honorary mention, though not a bug.....a young Tlacuache or Opossum was found in one of the wall footers one morning.....

It is now well known that the insects of the world are quickly dying off at alarming rates because of our ridiculous night lights, lawns, chemicals and on going destruction of natural areas. 

These photos represent a tiny fraction of the what we've seen here on our small piece of land. We also see beetles, fireflies, snakes, black and brown widows, spiders/tarantulas and different bee species among many other lifeforms unknown.

I plan on keeping this page updated as I get more photos of the remarkable diversity of tiny life crawling, flying and jumping around here.

 I hope that these little guys living here will continue to thrive. We will try our best to do our part to protect them. Turning off lights at night, not using chemicals, not planting a lawn and minimizing the destruction of weeds, unknown plants, leaf litter etc.

I hope you´ve enjoyed these photos of some of the small life found on our property here in the Mountains of Veracruz.......Till next time.....

Saludos,

KT

La Casa

 Here's a quick post to show how the house is coming along....This picture is facing the front but only the second floor and roof is visible.....The small area on the roof towards the back is where the stairs go up to the rooftop....so those stairs are inside.....

Click on pictures to enlarge!

                  

 

 

 

Lower level in this picture is the living room, dining area, and kitchen. Upper level is the studio apartment with its balcony....

 

This picture shows the front corner where the main entrance is on the lower level and upper level is the classroom or extra room with half bath.....There will be a staircase to the second floor running up along the wall where you can see the wooden ladder now.....

...its made of red brick and stucco....

 

This is the view from the roof....you can see the church where the center of town is...

Hopefully we can move in i about a month or less. Ceilings & walls area being painted now. Cistern is also under way.

Thats all for now. 

KnJ

La Casita

 Back By Popular Demand... The Life and Times of KnJ.....
Last June we decided to buy a piece of property right here in town a few blocks from the plaza. For us, the lot had obvious intrinsic value....fruit trees, coffee, palms, no grass, a nice Mexican Magnolia and some other good size trees...
click on pics to enlarge.

We moved  onto the property as soon as we could and spent 4 months living in the van during construction....

Through a recommendation from a friend and architect we built La Casita out of recycled PET bottles and mortar. Thousands of bottles were used, each with a cap and only air filled.

Held in place with chicken wire and finally filled in with mortar using plywood forms.....

We have two large Hass Avocado trees which produce from July to November....

A lot of mature coffee

Two big chocolate pudding fruit trees...

and plenty of bananas...

Thanks for checking out the pics....

More to come.

Canada, Vancouver Island and Vancouver

The final leg of the Upper North American Tour 2018 😃...
After a few weeks in Port Townsend it was time to catch the ferry up into Canada's Vancouver Island.
It was very smokey as there were over 600 wildfires burning in B.C.
But it was a beautiful day for the trip. Here's a few pics upon arrival to Vancouver Island....

We stayed with friends Debbie and Yella we had met camping in Baja California back in 2010. They were great tour guides and hooked us up with a room in their house. Many thanks to you guys for the comfortable stay and yummy food!

They took us to see where lived on a boat for many years in beautiful Maple Bay.....

Then it was on to Cowichan Valley to see one of the tallest Train Trestles in the world, the Kinsol Trestle. At 187 metres in length and standing 44 metres above the salmon bearing Koksilah River, the Kinsol is an incredible structure. Its one of eight trestles in the valley....

Then it was off to visit one of the community gardens....

and to see the big trees at a nearby old growth park...

The town of Chemainus, famous for its 39 outdoor murals, was another place we stopped off for a visit...

Vancouver Island has allot to see and the smallest city in Canada...Duncan, B.C. is no exception. Duncan's slogan is "The City of Totems" and they have a great collection of them....

Owner of the Duncan Showroom live music venue...Longevity John (the dude with half a beard)....

A memorable guy and a memorable place.....

Duncan is also home to the worlds largest hockey stick......

After a great trip to Vancouver Island our most excellent hosts took us up to Nanaimo B.C. for the ferry crossing over to Vancouver city....but first a quick Mexican lunch....

Nanaimo is another cool city and home to the DAB Bar where there's no alcohol allowed, only high quality ganja available in many forms!! The bar was closed a few times by the cops in the past, but now its legal.

 We caught the ferry from Nanaimo over to the city of Vancouver. Had a nice time in Vancouver, then caught the directo to Mexico city. Its was a great trip for sure!


Thanks for checking out this edition of KnJ's blog the Upper North American Tour 2018.....see you next time...