November 14: Exoskeletons

[neverspent]

It's about the end of the line for the non-migrating summer insects. There are still a few spiders out spinning orb webs in the warm sun of the late afternoon, but they've all laid their eggs and the others are curling up, drying up, exoskeletons that I find when I'm out sweeping the porch or crunching through the leaves. Today I found a venerable grasshopper clinging to a yearling persimmon tree. In life he was probably a pretty yellow-green color with some brown spots; now he has started turning brown-grey. I wonder how long he'll cling there.