Here is my tiny pic of the day--baby praying mantis.

Viburnum Dentatum. About 9 feet by 8 feet. The blossoms stink!

What do the flowers smell like, Jim?

I remember buying some paper-whites years ago, and couldn't figure out why our home smelt like cigars. Phew! Threw those suckers in the garbage.

Some of you have already met 'Donna'. She is allowed out only when all possible salt is gone from the roads. Even with all that glass, she still has a sunroof.

Gazinia, I *love* Donna!!! She's a beaut. Pacers were underrated.....glad you have kept her in tip top shape!!!

Roseate spoonbills at Alligator Farm, St. Augustine, FL

The missus and I talked about the odiferousness of the plant and all we could come up with is something rotten. Fortunately, they last less than a week. What follow are a gazillion berries that the birds will eat in September.

Dees, my DH has always loved the Pacer. Always thought they were a design ahead of the times. We have had 3 over the years. This one we bought from it's original owner (whose name was Donna) in 1999. Our Donna is all original with about 22,000 miles. We didn't know till about 20 years ago that the man credited with the Pacer design was married to a girl that was my next door neighbor in childhood.

Gazania, I probably mentioned this the last time you posted a picture of Donna. When my son, who is 46, was 16 he had a real thing for Pacers. He wanted one so badly that he wanted me to call the lady up the street, who owned one, to try to talk her into selling it. I don't remember if I did or not. He hasn't yet gotten his Pacer. He might one day. His wife has an old red Beetle convertible.

Marcia, how small was the mantis? I am not sure of the plant id, so cannot picture the scale. I once caught and photographed the hatching from an egg case. Unfortunately, ants had found them too, so many of the young were being carried away as they emerged. There were so many of them though, quite a few escaped.

The mantid above was about one inch long. Here is my photograph of them hatching from several years ago.

And here is a full grown one!

That would give me nightmares!!! LOL Gazania, I love Donna too. One of my nieces had a brown one back in the day. Yours is very cool and such low mileage. Still a little nipper!!

I find Mantises fascinating, and have managed to get a few good pictures:

This picture shows the size of the mantis in the second photo.

Oh, from the appearance of the egg case, you have the Chinese variety of mantis, marcia. Those get huge in comparison, so it isn't surprising they start out larger. Great shots.

Thanks, gyr_falcon. I didn't know there was more than one kind of mantis--silly me! What kind do you find?

I think they are the native California mantis; they only get to about 2.25" in length. The newborns were about 1/4-3/8". The butt-biter below is one of those tiny 1/8" black ants, but the camera angle makes the mantis appear larger in comparison than it truly was.

Have to love the attitude in the expression of Bob's truck climber. Dinner fresh off the grill!