cousins

Science projects...I don't remember having many of those as a child.  So I found it neat and fun that a friend of mine was collecting bugs for her son. Not just any bugs, mind you, but specifically, insects.  And I've learned a few cool things these last two weeks while looking and listening.
We had a yellow jacket nest outside the door which I sprayed and easily bagged up.  There were wasp nests on the front porch, but evidently they've abandoned the nest (or else heard the eldest J was coming to get 'em), for there's no wasps to be seen the last few weeks. We knocked down a few dirt dauber's nests and pulled two apart.  We didn't get a complete dauber, but we get enough broken parts in the nests that it should count. Since the Mom wasn't familiar with this crazy insect, and I was woefully ignorant, I googled it.  Turns out the dirt dauber has three different names throughout the US. The south calls it dirt dauber or mud dauber.  The west calls it mud wasps.  And essentially that's what it is.  A wasp that builds its nest out of mud.  Part of the nest is for food storage, and the other part is for nesting. The debate is still on as to whether or not they sting.  Most people claim they don't; others ferociously claim they do.
But I digress.  What's cool about the yellow jacket, the black wasp, and the dirt dauber, is that they are all in the same family... cousins, if you will.  All very different, all distinct stings, but still related.

the black wasp

the yellow jacket

the dirt dauber

So the next time I ponder families with cousins like mine (blond hair, blue eyes/ brown hair/brown eyes/ red hair, green eyes/ and all sorts of sundry mixtures of those deviants), I can point to nature and simply say, "God likes variety." 
Courtesy of a 4th grade science project.  :)