On my way to camp this morning, I thought I'd stop by my favorite "milkweed place" to see if the weekend activities of the High Sierra Music Festival crushed my milkweeds into oblivion. They're right by the roadside on Lee Road where thousands of people drove or walked by this past weekend. Sometimes weed eater crews come in advance of the crowds and mow everything in sight, including the milkweeds I've come to think of as
mine. I was thrilled to find over a dozen blooming plants still intact and some apparently happy guests, my favorite bug, the Red Milkweed Beetle,
Tetraopes basalis. When I put one on my left hand and took a few photos with my right, she assumed a perfect position to reveal the source of her name.
Tetraopes means 'four eyes.' The antennae attach to the head in a way that appears to split each eye in two, giving the impression of having four eyes. Part 2 of my survival story will post tomorrow. It has to do with the fact I'm 'mad about
Madia.'
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