Another visitor to our office

If you keep your eyes open, you can see a lot of amazing things around you - even when you're around an office building. Today, one of the other engineers saw this Praying Mantis hanging around behind our office. It seemed to be in really bad shape (not erect on its legs, not trying to get away) until I picked it up! Then it got very alert and followed my movements. When it finally came time for me to go back to work, I had a hard time getting rid of it. It held on quite tightly.

The second picture shows it on a tree branch after I finally convinced it to let go. As with all of my pictures, just click on the images to see them full-size.

I wish I could have taken a better picture of the Mantis in the leaves. It was amazing how well it blended in. I picked a bad angle for the Sun and it made the Praying Mantis look obvious.

Of all the things in the world that are scary or unknown or big or fearsome, the Praying Mantis is the thing that scares my mother the most. I remember, when I was young, that she used to talk about previous encounters with them and how it terrified her. I was scared of them before I ever saw one. When I finally got to see a real Praying Mantis, I wondered what the big deal was. But I always respected her fear and never played a joke on her with one. So, please don't tell Mom about this post.