The Attention Span of a 3-Year Old

While I have always known that I can be distracted by anything out of the ordinary, but especially by things of a "crawly" type nature, it was never more apparent to me just HOW easily distracted I can be than when I was at Wolf Hollow this past Saturday. Here I am, making the second to last of five 1/4 mile round trips to the compost heap with straw I had mucked out of the fawn pen stalls, and I am thinking "Just one more trip...just one more tr...oooooohhhhh....WHAT'S THAT?!" I squatted down to get a closer look at this tiny distraction and yelped something along the lines of "COOL!" as I bolted inside to get my camera. I then raced back outside, flopped down on my stomach (one of the many reasons I constantly wear jeans and t-shirts...I am VERY hard on my clothes), and got up close and personal with this big girl:

She is about 1 1/2 inches long and by far the biggest beetle I have seen out in the wild, here in the US, that is.

I know it's hard to see, but she actually has hair/fur right behind her front legs! I have never thought of beetles as fuzzy. I looked her up, and I say "her" because all the websites say males have bigger antennae....big surprise...and I believe her to be a Lined June Beetle, mayhaps even a Ten-lined June Beetle. After taking a few photos I moved her off the foot path to a somewhat safer location. But unlike a 3-year old, I did remember what I was doing pre-distraction and finished the mucking job.

Okay, so this isn't one of the many animals we have in rehab right now, but it's still interesting, right? Hello? Anyone there?! Well shoot!

Look, I promise I'll post more animal pics later in the week, after I "woman" the Wolf Hollow booth at the San Juan County Fair this Wednesday night. I will also be entering two of my WH photos in the Fair for all and sundry to see and judge. Which two?

This one.....


and this one.

I feel that they both have major "awwww" and "woobies!" factors going on, so it will be interesting to see what the public's take is on these. I am also curious as to which "category" these will be placed in, as they aren't "pets", yet technically they aren't "wildlife" either, in the sense that they weren't in the "wild" when photographed. I'll let y'all know what they decide. Til next time...