techmanb: Sunday, November 7, 2010

Snow in Altoona... I took my wife and son to Altoona this weekend to visit her parents and winterize their house. It actually snowed there Saturday morning! Nothing like putting up plastic and insulation in wind-driven snow and rain...

While we were putting up the plastic and insulation we found the most amazing thing - a live praying mantis! It was actually walking up one of the walls that we were working on - outside the house. It is a beautiful creature, and once we brought it into the house, it began moving around with a spring in her(?) step. We put it in a large pretzel container for Aaron to bring back and show his classmates. I was really amazed because they are not that common this far north to begin with, and to find one alive on a day as cold as it was Saturday...
We looked up praying mantis online when we got home, just to get some information on them. Did you know that they have five eyes? In addition to the two large ones located on either side of their head, they have three others between them on their forehead. And their head can actually swivel more than 180degrees! The one that we found is almost six inches long, and is extremely agile and graceful...
For those of you interested, there is a wonderful National Geographic website for animals. It is:

Isn't it amazing what the smallest of events can inspire you to do? This one little insect is all that Aaron has talked about since we found it!

Quote for the day:

techmanb