Here's last Wednesday's picture:

And this is what it was cropped from:

Not an alien catepillar or a horribly enlarged bedbug, but a cactus.

Lisa got it right: "Cactus? Demonspawn caterpillar? Right AND funny...I like that! Amy the black's answer was funny...to me and possibly other Harry Potter fans: "Mimbulus Mimbletonia?"

As always, thanks for playing! By the way, all photos used in What Is It Wednesday are marked as "private" in my flickr account...that's so no one can view the picture at a bigger size to get a better look!

So this week...

What is it?

looks like the inside mechanism of a big clock

My first thought was the gear mechanism for the Whirly Pop Popcorn cookers that you (gasp!) use right on the stove top WITHOUT the use of a microwave...

But further inspection into the background tells me otherwise. Any chance it's a close up of the mechanism of a beater?

Hrm.. My first thought was that it looks like the gear mechanism on the inside of one of those squeeze handle melon ballers (or cookie dough scoops, which is what I use it for!), but now that I look a little closer, I'm wondering if it's not a small handheld crank drill..

I am thinking maybe a blender or mixer of some sort....either that or a pencil sharpener...

Blender of some sort - milkshake maker or something like that?

I'm going with the rotary beater that rusvw suggested.
N.

rotary schmotary... it's the inner workings of your brain! i can see inside your head!

Indeed! It's the wheels in your head spinning as you were reading Harry Potter!

Or maybe the inside of the drill at the dentist office you visited last week? ;-)

I hope it's not a dental drill - there's some rust on it.

My first thought was some kind of mixer/blender as well.

It's a really cool picture, though.

It looks a bit more fancy than just some kind of drill or mixer. I'd say it's part of a clock. I just wonder what time it is? Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?

Surely it is the latest invention by Xenophilius to ward off Death Eaters?

Or maybe it is part of a muggle hand mixer?

Hi from the Bay of Fundy! I am on the boat and going across to Nova Scotia!

Hi from the Bay of Fundy! I am on the boat and going across to Nova Scotia!

It looks like some kind of gear, like inside a clock?

I am going to go out on a real limb here and say.......
......I have absolutely positively no clue what that is this week!

I think it's part of a Sneak-o-scope!

Part of an ice cream scoop? The shaft for a clock-work timer for a toaster oven with the tab that causes the bell to ring?

This is really annoying, as I recognize that thing, but can't remember where I last saw it...

Is it a grinder of hops to make beer?