Robin's Nest

05/27/2026

p🌸nk in honor of my first granddaughter

05/23/2026

Dwarf-crested Iris
Ajuga, aka bugleweed Tropicana

05/19/2026

A couple months back recap.
New video of the warm crops soon.

05/12/2026

What variety of tomatoes are you growing this season?
What's your favorite to eat and how do you like to eat it?

05/10/2026

Excited to see new buds emerging in hues of green.

04/30/2026

Awesome

A car tire should be the end of a beetle.

For the ironclad beetle, it is basically a rude interruption.

The real trick is not that its shell is hard.

Plenty of insects wear armor. This one wears architecture.

Its wing covers are fused shut, which means flight was traded for a body built like a locked vault.

Along its back, the two sides of the exoskeleton interlock like a puzzle seam, spreading pressure instead of letting one crack become a disaster.

That is why scientists do not simply pin it like a normal specimen.

Its shell can bend pins, forcing researchers to drill through the armor first. Imagine being so overbuilt that even the people studying you need power tools.

There is a cost, of course.

This beetle cannot fly away from trouble. It survives by becoming trouble’s least convenient option.

Nature did not make it fast, flashy, or elegant.

It made it extremely difficult to regret underestimating.

04/21/2026

Give a guess to what I'm adding to the garden when life gives you lemons....

04/13/2026

Garden peek as we transition into warm weather.
Salad bar and plan for the garden this season

04/13/2026

02/20/2026

No, no, no.... don't be fooled!