Proserpinus vega fifth instar, Fort Davis, Jeff Davis County, Texas,
October 16, 2012, courtesy of Agnete and Ole Breum.
Proserpinus vega fifth instar, Fort Davis, Jeff Davis County, Texas,
October 16, 2012, courtesy of Agnete and Ole Breum.
Hi All,
I had an interesting trip and a good visit with my parents and sisters in New Jersey (October 22 - November 6) despite the trials that came with Hurricane Sandy. My condolences to those in the hardest hit areas of New York and New Jersey. Many people lost their lives. The destruction is almost unbelievable.
I left PEI on October 22 and overnighted in Attleboro, Massachusetts, with my sister and her family. I had a very nice visit with nephews and niece, my sister and her husband. Lucas, the youngest of the three children, beat me at two games of chess, and we had a great time doing some jigsaw puzzles and playing some other games.
Around noon on the 23rd I headed to New Jersey and stayed with my oldest sister and her husband in Pittstown. I was fortunate to see their son during my visit, and was glad to help with a small service project while enjoying their company and hospitality.
There I unpacked and inspected the many packages of cocoons and pupae that had arrived, and was very pleased with the quality of stock. My sister helped me box up some of the approximately 60 orders that were shipped out on October 24-25. An additional 5-10 orders were shipped in early November before I left New Jersey, after my wife confirmed that payments had been received on PEI via mail.
On Sunday October 28 I became concerned that the driveway at my parents' hillside home might washout, as torrential rains were indicated as a possibility with the storm. I decided to move my car from the lower driveway to the road. I was also concerned that falling trees might be a hazzard along the roadside so I tried to place the car in a spot where potential damage from a falling tree was reduced. The power went out at 4:50pm on Monday. The winds were really howling by midnight, and I could hear the crashing of many uprooted or broken trees through the darkness.
When I arose the next morning, the winds were greatly diminished. I went out through the lower entrance to check my car. There was a large maple tree down in the exact spot where my car had been parked less than 24 hours earlier. I said a quick prayer of thanks and headed to the road.
I could see no damage to my car, but when I looked at the road, I could see large trees down in both directions, totally cutting off access to the house. A large private lane that ran almost perpendicular to the main road was also blocked by downed trees.
The next day I was able to locate some neighbours with chainsaws who cleared the roads and also the driveway. That made it possible for me to get some medical supplies as the oxygen supply warehouse was not making deliveries.
The power was out for nine days, but my father had a generator and we were able to make some adjustments to house wiring so that the furnace and circulator could distribute warmth to the house in the morning and evening. We played many pinochle games during the day and enjoyed the glow of candles at night.
A third sister and her husband, who also had a chainsaw, arrived a few days after the storm and we worked together to clear most of a tree that had fallen into the pond. My fourth sister was a great help in getting some additional oxygen tanks, food and gas to run the generator. I was able to have dinner at her house one evening and did some magic tricks for my two nieces.
It was very nice to see everyone.
I am sorry to see on the news that many people are still without power, and many have lost everything.
I will be making humanitarian aid donations in the coming months.
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On a much happier note, I have received many beautiful Saturniidae and Sphingidae images and hope to have time to work on them over the next week or so, and then will also work on the extensive photos that Leroy Simon sent me on his new DVDs. They are available from Leroy at $12.00 each, I believe. Leroy Simon.
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Kirby Wolfe writes, "Our Giant Silkmoths book is finally being delivered from Amazon.com in the U.S. In Europe it has been selling very well and is being translated into German. It is now no.2 of Insect & Spider books for Amazon Canada, and it hasn't even been released there yet. Here's the URL for the U.S.: http://www.amazon.com/The-Giant-Silkmoths-Mimicry-Camouflage/dp/1906506256/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332781819&sr=1-1
"I imagine many of your members would be interested in this book, which is large coffee table format with over 100 color photos of live saturniids, and is very reasonably priced. The reviews in Great Britain, where it has been available since early November, have been filled with superlatives."
I (Bill Oehlke) have read some commentary on the new book, and it has all been very good. Check it out!.
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Sphingidae Express
Ole Breum of Denmark was very kind to send the following images taken by his daughter Agnete:
Proserpinus vega fifth instar, Fort Davis, Jeff Davis County, Texas,
October 16, 2012, courtesy of Agnete and Ole Breum.
Proserpinus vega fifth instar, Fort Davis, Jeff Davis County, Texas,
October 16, 2012, courtesy of Agnete and Ole Breum.
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Catocala Capers
Many Catocala images have been arriving, and I am incorporating them into respective files.
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Please note: I reside in Canada at the following address and payment for Saturniidae livestock (eggs, cocoons, pupae) and/or sleeves must be sent to me only at this address:
Bill Oehlke
Box 476
155 Peardon Road
Montague, Prince Edward Island, C0A 1R0
Canada
Postage from USA to Canada is $0.85 so please use that amount on your envelope with your payment.
If you are in US and order cocoons or pupae from me this fall or winter, you will probably see a New Jersey return address on the shipping box. Do not send payment to the New Jersey address; send it to name and address above please.
This website has been created and is maintained by Bill Oehlke without government or institutional financial assistance. All expenses, ie., text reference support material, webspace rental from Bizland, computer repairs/replacements, backups systems, software for image adjustments (Adobe Photoshop; L-View), ftp software, anti-virus protection, scanner, etc. are my own. The one-time-life-time membership fee that is charged at the time of the registration covers most of those expenses.
I very much appreciate all the many images that have been sent to me, or of which I have been granted permission to copy and post from other websites. All images on this site remain the property of respective photographers.
If you would like to contribute to the maintenace of this website by sending a contribution to
Bill Oehlke
Box 476
155 Peardon Road
Montague, Prince Edward Island, C0A1R0
Canada
your donation would be much appreciated and would be used for
1) paying for webspace rental;
2) paying for computer maintenance and software upgrades;
3) purchases of additional text reference material (journals and books) in an effort to stay current with new species;
4) helping to pay my daughter's tuition.
I also hope to expand the North American Catocala site as well as the Sphingidae of the Americas site, to worldwide sites, and that will require additional funds for reference materials, etc. Both of those site are linked from your WLSS homepage.
If you are mailing a check from USA, please use $0.85 postage. Donations can also be made through Paypal via the button below.
Donations are not required to maintain your standing as a WLSS member, nor do they gain you any preferencial treatment with regard to livestock and/or supplies (sleeves), compared to othe rWLSS members. All WLSS members get first crack at my annual offerings and get an approximate discount of 10% as compared to non-members.
I do usually ask donors if they have any special requests for material on WLSS, and I try to accomodate when appropriate or within my ability to do so.