WTF...

 Last month I was trimming the ivy which grows too high on the side of the house. I came upon this critter hiding among the vines.  We put a measuring tape up nearby to it; it turned to look at the tape, which was cute to watch.

Seems to be a brown stick mantis. Never seen one here before. After we stopped fussing over it, it crawled back into what I left of the ivy. On with the hunt; life in the suburbs.