Of aphids & caterpillars

This is the real reason I decided to join the ranks of billions of other unemployed/severely underemployed world citizens who waste their time posting daily minutiae on the internets. My partner Travis has a cool camera with a neat macro lens that some people with a steadier hand than mine can use to take close-up pictures of tiny things like bugs and flowers. This is where I will post my 1 in-focus picture per ~1000 pictures taken of tiny things from my yard (or maybe other people's yards if mine gets boring and I have Trav's camera with me).

Some pretty yellow aphids eating my morning glories. This was taken just before they were unceremoniously removed by blasting them away with a garden hose. Apparently, they secret a vile substance called "honeydew" that ants will eat. Although "honeydew" sounds like something that I would need The Urban Dictionary to define (where it apparently is found to have multiple definitions), it is in fact what you call aphid excretion.

This is one of many types of caterpillars I find destroying things I plant. I'm actually not sure that these vicious looking creatures are actually guilty of eating my plants but I kill them anyway. I feel like that's justified since I know of two other similar looking types of caterpillars that ravage anything with leaves. Interestingly, my chickens refuse to eat this particular type of caterpillar.